iPhone 13 Pro iPhone 13 Pro as only camera for trip to Europe?

[Dick Whitman]

So I’m going to Europe in about a month and am wondering whether it’d be a mistake to rely on my iPhone as my only camera. Has anyone ever done this? While I’m often amazed at the IQ from my 13 Pro, I acknowledge that using a dedicated camera is likely to produce better pictures. I recently sold my Fujifilm X100T due to its age but was thinking about purchasing something similar from Fujifilm or even Sony. Still, I understand that acclimating oneself to a new camera right before a major trip is not exactly ideal. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[jav6454]

If you are for point & shot and a bit more advance, it'll be more than fine. However, do carry a charger with you as taking pictures often on any iPhone will drain battery quickly.

 

[CE3]

I guess it all depends on how serious you are about your photography. Is capturing these images part of the focus of your trip / something you’re really looking forward to?

I personally wouldn’t just take an iPhone, but that doesn’t mean it’s not enough. If you’re inspired and know how to compose an image, you’ll return with plenty of good shots no matter what modern camera you bring, and the 13 Pro is more than capable.

 

[nStyle]

Yes, of course it’s enough unless you’re going for a specific shot.

I’m debating taking an iPhone and iPad Mini as my only two devices on my next international trip…anything you can do to trim the weight is worthwhile.

 

[Spudlicious]

I'm sure the 13 Pro will be adequate if you're not shooting for Vogue, computational photography really does squeeze ridiculously good results from what is little more than a pinhole lens. On the other hand, I'm also sure you'll regret not having a large sensor Leica-alike with you if you don't have one. So you can't win. Does that help?

 

[HDFan]

Are you going to need a real telephoto lens? Are you going to be making shots that will need a lot of cropping, very high speed shutter or ISO, etc. that a DSLR provides? Not a great idea to take a camera you have never used on a trip, but if you review your photos every evening on an iPad or such and don't mind missing some then it can be done.

 

[achappy]

Ever since the iPhone X I've only relied on my iPhone as my main camera on all of my family vacations and haven't regretted it. Not once did say "I wish I had my DSLR" with me. Not having to deal with the larger camera, lenses, etc makes it so much easier.

 

[Boyd01]

I spent a week at a friends place in Greece back in 2014. Didn't want to look like tourist and didn't want to lug around my Nikon DSLR or Sony XDCAM video camera so I just brought my iPhone 5s (think that's what I had back then). Had a great time, took a lot of pictures and was really happy with them. That was the first iPhone I had with panorama mode and I used that a lot.

Would do the same again in a heartbeat, especially since the newer phones have so much better cameras.

 

[arkitect]

So I’m going to Europe in about a month and am wondering whether it’d be a mistake to rely on my iPhone as my only camera. Has anyone ever done this? While I’m often amazed at the IQ from my 13 Pro, I acknowledge that using a dedicated camera is likely to produce better pictures. I recently sold my Fujifilm X100T due to its age but was thinking about purchasing something similar from Fujifilm or even Sony. Still, I understand that acclimating oneself to a new camera right before a major trip is not exactly ideal. Any advice is appreciated.

Just to chime in: “the best camera is the one that's with you (and you are familiar with)”

I travel quite a bit — this year it's been to Italy, Greece, Istanbul and locally here in the UK.

I only travel with an iPhone and I have never felt hard done by. My photographs are (at least to my eye) rather good. Well composed and care taken with a bit of post processing in Snapseed or Lightroom.

Truthfully, unless you are more than a hobbyist photographer (in which case I doubt you'd be asking the question), a high end mobile phone camera will do perfectly.

You have one less thing to worry about lugging around.

Often you see the tourists with their massive DSLRs (and these are not professional photographers!) probably only bought for the trip babying their equipment, scared witless that someone might target them as tourists and nab their stuff.
And, yes, nothing screams "I am a tourist! Fleece me rotten!" louder than fumbling with a paper map while a DSLR swings around your sweaty neck.

Go with the iPhone and enjoy your travels. 👍

 

[Dick Whitman]

Just to chime in: “the best camera is the one that's with you (and you are familiar with)”

I travel quite a bit — this year it's been to Italy, Greece, Istanbul and locally here in the UK.

I only travel with an iPhone and I have never felt hard done by. My photographs are (at least to my eye) rather good. Well composed and care taken with a bit of post processing in Snapseed or Lightroom.

Truthfully, unless you are more than a hobbyist photographer (in which case I doubt you'd be asking the question), a high end mobile phone camera will do perfectly.

You have one less thing to worry about lugging around.

Often you see the tourists with their massive DSLRs (and these are not professional photographers!) probably only bought for the trip babying their equipment, scared witless that someone might target them as tourists and nab their stuff.
And, yes, nothing screams "I am a tourist! Fleece me rotten!" louder than fumbling with a paper map while a DSLR swings around your sweaty neck.

Go with the iPhone and enjoy your travels. 👍

The funny thing is that I've been content with relying on just my iPhone for local excursions. I've been mostly happy with my pictures. But when I went to Japan several years ago I had a proper camera (my X100T) alongside my iPhone 7 at the time and am glad I did. Of course IQ in the iPhone has come a long way since the 7, and I'm sure I could make do very comfortably with just my 13 Pro. The thing that's nagging me is the idea of embarking on a major trip but without something more capable than just my iPhone (as capable as it may be). If I do decide to pick up a camera before my trip it will most likely be an X100V or an X-T30 as I'm somewhat familiar with Fujifilm having previously owned an X100T. But I agree entirely about not wanting a more cumbersome DSLR and sticking out like an obvious tourist.

 

[ToddH]

I think using only the iPhone will be perfect. I nearly had the same debate for myself going on a trip to Breckenridge Colorado for the week. I asked myself should I take my Sony a 7R3 camera and lenses or just my iPhone with a tripod. I opted to only take my iPhone and I am glad I did. It’s so much more fun to shoot, edit with and share with friends right away your photos. Especially when shooting ProRAW or using the Even Longer app, and other apps such as moment to using ProRAW and editing with Lightroom made a clear choice for me.
These panoramas were taken with my iPhone but unfortunately I can’t shoot raw on a panorama. However it still did great. Hopefully you’ll get some inspiration from some of these photos even though you’ll have totally different subjects to photograph. You can just bring a small tripod and a holder for your phone to sit on top of a table or what have you that will be portable enough for certain shots. I believe the iPhone is more than capable of producing excellent shots especially one shot in raw. So far I’ve printed 16 x 20“ prints that look fantastic from the iPhone.

Samples: panoramas taken with the 3x camera.
Blurred water shots we’re on the iPhone as well with the regular 1X or wide camera using the Even Longer app for 30 seconds exposure time as the iPhone is mounted to a tripod.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I think using only the iPhone will be perfect. I nearly had the same debate for myself going on a trip to Breckenridge Colorado for the week. I asked myself should I take my Sony a 7R3 camera and lenses or just my iPhone with a tripod. I opted to only take my iPhone and I am glad I did. It’s so much more fun to shoot, edit with and share with friends right away your photos. Especially when shooting ProRAW or using the Even Longer app, and other apps such as moment to using ProRAW and editing with Lightroom made a clear choice for me.
These panoramas were taken with my iPhone but unfortunately I can’t shoot raw on a panorama. However it still did great. Hopefully you’ll get some inspiration from some of these photos even though you’ll have totally different subjects to photograph. You can just bring a small tripod and a holder for your phone to sit on top of a table or what have you that will be portable enough for certain shots. I believe the iPhone is more than capable of producing excellent shots especially one shot in raw. So far I’ve printed 16 x 20“ prints that look fantastic from the iPhone.

Samples: panoramas taken with the 3x camera.
Blurred water shots we’re on the iPhone as well with the regular 1X or wide camera using the Even Longer app for 30 seconds exposure time as the iPhone is mounted to a tripod.

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Wow, these are stunning! Definitely helping to convince me to just take my iPhone. I've never shot RAW using my iPhone nor have I used the apps you mentioned but I'll have to try to do so. I'm familiar with Lightroom but usually I just use VSCO to edit my photos. Still, I would think Lightroom is probably the better option.

 

[arkitect]

I think using only the iPhone will be perfect. I nearly had the same debate for myself going on a trip to Breckenridge Colorado for the week. I asked myself should I take my Sony a 7R3 camera and lenses or just my iPhone with a tripod. I opted to only take my iPhone and I am glad I did. It’s so much more fun to shoot, edit with and share with friends right away your photos. Especially when shooting ProRAW or using the Even Longer app, and other apps such as moment to using ProRAW and editing with Lightroom made a clear choice for me.
These panoramas were taken with my iPhone but unfortunately I can’t shoot raw on a panorama. However it still did great. Hopefully you’ll get some inspiration from some of these photos even though you’ll have totally different subjects to photograph. You can just bring a small tripod and a holder for your phone to sit on top of a table or what have you that will be portable enough for certain shots. I believe the iPhone is more than capable of producing excellent shots especially one shot in raw. So far I’ve printed 16 x 20“ prints that look fantastic from the iPhone.

Samples: panoramas taken with the 3x camera.
Blurred water shots we’re on the iPhone as well with the regular 1X or wide camera using the Even Longer app for 30 seconds exposure time as the iPhone is mounted to a tripod.

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Great shots!
Those are perfect examples of what can be done.

 

[Expos of 1969]

Tough choice...

 

[HDFan]

Another possibility is to take a hybrid camera with a long zoom. If you spend a lot of time on public transport where one second you shoot at short range and other times long distance with a very fast shutter speed you need to be able to change the focal length quickly. They have major zooms without the weight and extra lenses.

I have wanted for years to see a Beluga. And here it was, for just a few seconds, from a bus in Spain. Terrible picture but a trip highlight for an aviation fan.

Sony DSM-RX10M3 20 Mp 24-600 Zoom: 1/800 second at F4 ISO 320 @477 mm cropped down from 1616 x 1080




Another one of my top 10 trips was the Edinburgh Tatoo. Took a lot of videos and was constantly zooming in and out.

5472x3648 slightly cropped 1/250 at F 4.0 IS0 6400 600 mm



and just a few minutes later I needed 180@3.5 ISO 6400 22 mm



Attending the Tatoo was a life highlight. Just looking at the pictures as bad as they are still brings tears to my eyes.

So for me it is the memories that the pictures evoke rather than the absolute quality. I don't want to miss any shot if I don't have to. The iPhone just couldn't do any of these except for the last one.

 

[ToddH]

Wow, these are stunning! Definitely helping to convince me to just take my iPhone. I've never shot RAW using my iPhone nor have I used the apps you mentioned but I'll have to try to do so. I'm familiar with Lightroom but usually I just use VSCO to edit my photos. Still, I would think Lightroom is probably the better option.

Thanks for the feedback and complement. I use Lightroom exclusively now. I have tried VSCO before with raw files but I found that it doesn’t control the highlights worth a darn compared to Lightroom. And with Lightroom you can create your own presets to apply them to other photos and save a lot of time. if you do decide to use the Moment app or Halide, don’t hesitate to message me about questions that you may have regarding those. I’ll be glad to help you with everything that I can. they even longer app is great because you can blur clouds during the day and it works so much better than Slow Shutter cam and nightcap etc. but it does require a tripod because it’s not a handheld app. if you have any questions regarding tripod portability and which ones are best etc., I can help with that.

 

[arkitect]

Thanks for the feedback and complement. I use Lightroom exclusively now. I have tried VSCO before with raw files but I found that it doesn’t control the highlights worth a darn compared to Lightroom. And with Lightroom you can create your own presets to apply them to other photos and save a lot of time. if you do decide to use the Moment app or Halide, don’t hesitate to message me about questions that you may have regarding those. I’ll be glad to help you with everything that I can. they even longer app is great because you can blur clouds during the day and it works so much better than Slow Shutter cam and nightcap etc. but it does require a tripod because it’s not a handheld app. if you have any questions regarding tripod portability and which ones are best etc., I can help with that.

I remember in another thread you had started using BeastCam with great results. Are you still using it?

 

[ToddH]

I remember in another thread you had started using BeastCam with great results. Are you still using it?

I am off and on. It’s a fantastic app but takes a bit to learn your way around the app. After exploring its functions, you get the hang of it quickly though. The focus peeking on BeastCam works really well. Ive used it to focus on a thin spiderweb that the default camera would never be able to catch. The image quality from BeastCam is fantastic, but I always shoot ProRAW. The Pro Camera by Moment is also a fantastic app since it has easier manual controls. They are along the bottom of the screen and if needed, the focus peeking is quicker access and to use. Both are my favorite. You will have to go into settings of these apps and set the highest quality for HEIF and turn on ProRAW options.

I still use the default camera a lot, the BeastCam and Moment apps I use selectively when I need to take full control over the cameras on the iPhone and treat the iPhone camera like I would a DSLR by manually selecting exposure and focus. These are the options I would take when I’m not in a hurry and want a property composed shot. So, let me know if you have any more questions… hope this helped.

 

[arkitect]

I am off and on. It’s a fantastic app but takes a bit to learn your way around the app. After exploring its functions, you get the hang of it quickly though. The focus peeking on BeastCam works really well. Ive used it to focus on a thin spiderweb that the default camera would never be able to catch. The image quality from BeastCam is fantastic, but I always shoot ProRAW. The Pro Camera by Moment is also a fantastic app since it has easier manual controls. They are along the bottom of the screen and if needed, the focus peeking is quicker access and to use. Both are my favorite. You will have to go into settings of these apps and set the highest quality for HEIF and turn on ProRAW options.

I still use the default camera a lot, the BeastCam and Moment apps I use selectively when I need to take full control over the cameras on the iPhone and treat the iPhone camera like I would a DSLR by manually selecting exposure and focus. These are the options I would take when I’m not in a hurry and want a property composed shot. So, let me know if you have any more questions… hope this helped.

👍 Thanks for the informative reply, I appreciate it.

A while back I started using ProCamera. by Cocologics which I have grown used to and definitely gives me more control… But another tool in the arsenal is always welcome so I'll have a look at BeastCam.

 

[ToddH]

👍 Thanks for the informative reply, I appreciate it.

A while back I started using ProCamera. by Cocologics which I have grown used to and definitely gives me more control… But another tool in the arsenal is always welcome so I'll have a look at BeastCam.

Your welcome… glad I could be of assistance. I used ProCamera before, but the raw files I didn’t like. The Moment app (if that’s what you are referring to) is much like BeastCam. This is the moment app:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pro-camera-by-moment/id927098908
Anything else just let me know, otherwise enjoy your trip. Whichever app you choose to use, get some practice with it before you leave so you will know it inside and out. You don’t want to miss a great photo looking for settings in the app.

 

[arkitect]

Your welcome… glad I could be of assistance. I used ProCamera before, but the raw files I didn’t like. The Moment app (if that’s what you are referring to) is much like BeastCam. This is the moment app:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pro-camera-by-moment/id927098908

This is the ProCamera I use https://apps.apple.com/us/app/procamera/id694647259?ign-mpt=uo=4
All these ProCamera apps with confusing names. 🤣

Anything else just let me know, otherwise enjoy your trip. Whichever app you choose to use, get some practice with it before you leave so you will know it inside and out. You don’t want to miss a great photo looking for settings in the app.

Alas, I'm not the OP… had a few trips earlier this year, and the next one is probably only going to be in November… no idea yet where we'll be going.

 

[ToddH]

This is the ProCamera I use https://apps.apple.com/us/app/procamera/id694647259?ign-mpt=uo=4
All these ProCamera apps with confusing names. 🤣

Yes… that’s the one I no longer use. The Moment app is a better choice for me. The BeastCam will serve you well I think.

 

[Nbd1790]

I had the same thought when I went to London in 2019. Brought my Sony a6000 mirror less with my iPhone X at that time. Carried a backpack with me most of the time when we were on a planned day. Popped out the Sony here and there but ultimately used the iPhone significantly more and the image quality was actually fantastic. Toward the end of the trip I really just used the iPhone. Sure the MP was significantly higher on the Sony but the ease of use and not having to toggle settings to slow down our trip was well worth it.

so in short, yes. The 13 pro cam is significantly better than my x was at the time and I think you’ll get some great shots! I created a joint folder of my Sony and iPhone shots for the trip and looking back at it, you’d have to really pixel peep to see which one was shot on either device.

 

[ToddH]

BeastCam using the focus peeking (manual focus) Apple ProRAW. Lightroom edit. The second shot is a heavy crop for detail.
13 pro max, 1x camera (normal)

 

[Agent OrangeZ]

I recently sold my Sony a6400 after a year of ownership... because I used it so infrequently. It had less than 100 shutter count after 1 year! I just use my iPhone more... plus it is easier to share right from the phone.