Technologies
Should You Bring a Camera When You Travel or Is a Phone Enough?
Apple iPhone, Samsung Galaxy Ultra or mirrorless camera: Here’s what it’s like to shoot travel photos with each.
For most travelers, the smartphone in your pocket works just fine for taking photos of adventures. But what are you missing by relying on your phone alone? I used my recent trip to Germany to explore when a casual sightseer would benefit from having a dedicated camera or if their phone would be enough.
While everyone’s kit is different, most travelers won’t be hauling around a DSLR or pro-quality mirrorless camera. Instead, they’ll debate between buying a fancy new phone or a more affordable everyday mirrorless camera. (Though there are point-and-shoot options if you want a standalone camera, they may not outstrip your phone’s photo capabilities.)
I’m no pro photographer, so don’t expect expert advice on how to get the most out of this kit, but for casual photo takers who leave their camera on the auto settings, this is a good comparison to see what each device can handle without much fuss amid a busy trip abroad.
My kit isn’t the best you’ll find, but it’s probably not far off from what many travelers may pack in their pockets and bags: my personal iPhone 12 Pro, a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (to test a more camera-intensive phone), and a snug Sony ZVE-10 mirrorless camera with a Sigma 16mm f1.4 DC DN (an affordable prime lens).
Here’s the breakdown for what each device did best — and what they couldn’t do.
iPhone 12 Pro
The iPhone 12 Pro is a few years past its October 2020 launch date but still plenty capable, and its photo capabilities are probably similar to what many older premium and newer cheaper phones can achieve. When it debuted, the iPhone 12 Pro retailed for $999 (£999, AU$1,699) but years later it isn’t really sold anywhere aside from refurbished at sub-$500 prices. You can still pick up a stock iPhone 12 on Apple’s website for $599, but it lacks the 2x telephoto lens.
The iPhone 12 Pro took basic photos well, albeit with the warm tones typical of iPhone photos. Images I shot didn’t have quite the same color accuracy as the Samsung S22 Ultra or the Sony ZVE-10. Still, the iPhone 12 Pro was great at taking daytime shots of streets, museums and breezy lunches. It struggled with dimly lit dinners and at night, with photos having a grainy texture from image noise.
Another limit was the iPhone 12 Pro’s 2x optical zoom, which was far inferior to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s telephoto capabilities. Since I was mostly seeing landscapes, I rarely felt the need to zoom in on a distant subject. The ultra-wide camera was more useful, and its 13mm-equivalent focal length allowed me another option to the 26mm-equivalent main camera for framing a specific shot.
In head-to-head comparisons with the mirrorless camera, the iPhone 12 Pro held up surprisingly well. The phone captured near and background distant subjects in crisp detail. The mirrorless camera was more selective in its focus, largely homing in on one or the other and requiring a bit more finesse.
As I was using the iPhone for every other travel-necessary app like navigation and wireless payments, it was in my pocket every day and wasn’t a burden to carry. That meant it was on-hand for me to take quick photos out the windows of our train or rental car of passing scenery at just the right time.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
While superseded by this year’s Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra I took on my trip is still a camera powerhouse. It has a 108-megapixel main camera and a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera with 120-degree field of view, but it’s really known for its zoom photography. It has not one but two telephoto lenses: a 10-megapixel with 3x optical zoom and a 10-megapixel periscope-style capable of 10x optical zoom.
As expected, the Galaxy S22 Ultra took great photos at a distance. Did I need zoom photo capability? Not really! Most of my subjects were 20 to 50 feet away.
Unless, of course, you’re taking shots of distant buildings, like the Neuschwanstein Castle on Germany’s southernmost border, nestled in the foothills of the Alps within spitting distance of Austria. It was nice to have more control to frame the photos with the zoom capability, even if I didn’t need the 100x «space zoom.» The feature combines optical and digital zoom with AI tricks to home in on a cropped-in corner of zoomed-in image. The 30x was enough and rarely necessary. Regardless, the S22 Ultra’s 10x optical and digital hybrid zoom produced far better photos than the iPhone 12 Pro’s grainy 10x digital zoom.
Here’s the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera from the road at the foot of a trail leading up to Neuschwanstein, with shots from the main camera at 1x, 3x, 10x and 100x zoom.
Compare that to the iPhone 12 Pro’s main camera at 1x, 2x and 10x.
The Galaxy S22 and iPhone 12 Pro both did a decent job shooting photos with a mixture of dark and light foregrounds and backgrounds, especially with bright skies that can be easily washed out. Below is a shot from up on a balcony of the Neuschwanstein castle, looking west into the valley.
But it’s easy to see how cool the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s zoom capabilities are when perched above the landscape and using successive zoom intervals to get closer shots of a subject.
Lastly, here’s a simple comparison of shots of the castle itself, with the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s main camera versus the iPhone 12 Pro’s camera.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra is one of the best phones we’ve tested, which garnered a CNET Editor’s Choice Award in our review. It’s more convenient to handle than my mirrorless camera, though it doesn’t have as many photo settings.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra is a large phone, so it took up a lot of space in my pocket. Even if I were to buy it to replace my iPhone 12 Pro, it would still be cumbersome to yank out for casual photos. As it was, there were a handful of situations where I might have lost the S22 if it had been in my pocket instead of the smaller iPhone 12 Pro, including a bobsled-like roller coaster on a hillside in the middle of the Black Forest. (Which, sadly, wouldn’t allow phones on the course, but there are ride-through videos on YouTube.)
Sony ZVE-10 mirrorless camera
The Sony ZVE-10 is aimed at vloggers with its 4K video shooting and light weight, but that also made it great for taking still photos with its 24-megapixel resolution. The camera is reasonably affordable at $700, and has swappable lenses via a lens mount.
I used the ZVE-10 with a Sigma 16mm f/1.4 prime lens I picked up for $399 to take better product shots. The Sony body and Sigma lens combo took superior photos to either phone in medium to close range. Thanks to the ZVE-10’s crop APS-C sensor, the 16mm lens was more like a 24mm lens, and had essentially the same field of view as the standard rear cameras on the iPhone 12 Pro and Galaxy S22 Ultra.
For the majority of the trip, the short-range prime lens was fine, and I didn’t miss being able to zoom in on distant objects. You can get pretty close to any subject that’s worth taking photos of, though I would want a telephoto lens at a concert or for shooting wildlife. I did miss not being able to zoom out with either phone’s ultra-wide lenses, especially in cramped quarters like awkwardly small museum rooms.
The ZVE-10 performed fine with landscape shots but excelled in reasonable-size enclosed spaces, capturing greater color contrast and lighting/shadow variance. Compare these photos below of a fresco on a low roof in the Cologne Cathedral, shot with the ZVE-10 and the iPhone 12 Pro, respectively.
When shooting close subjects, the ZVE-10 excelled at capturing evocative lighting, and the f/1.4 Sigma lens’ natural bokeh led to moodier shots compared to the uniform brightness of the iPhone 12 Pro.
And while the iPhone 12 Pro produced uniformly brighter and crisper photos, the post-processing to get such clarity led to some flattened color and shadow. In photos of this iron statue of the Chinese mythological aquatic monkey demon Wuzhiqi located in Berlin’s Humboldt Forum, you can see more detail in the iPhone 12 Pro’s shot, but it loses the red-brown tone from years of oxidation.
It was also easier to get the ZVE-10 to produce a depth effect naturally. With the iPhone 12 Pro, portrait mode requires more fiddling and an ideal distance between the phone, your subject and the background. But the camera’s depth effect made it tough to keep everything in focus when I was taking photos of food and wanted to show the whole plate.
Weight comparison
| iPhone 12 Pro | 189 grams | 6.7 ounces |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra | 229 grams | 8.1 ounces |
| Sony ZVE-10 and Sigma 16mm lens | 709 grams | 29.1 ounces |
Unsurprisingly, the ZVE-10 and lens far outweighed the phones. Though not enough to be cumbersome, the weight and size differences are noticeable. The camera and lens fit snugly in my compact camera bag, which stayed out of the way while slung over my shoulder. But the camera was more annoying to lug around and pull out to take photos than a phone in my pocket.
Needing to manually upload my photos was a bit annoying, too. The Sony Imaging Edge app let me send photos directly from the camera to my phone, but it’s clunky for bulk uploads. And forget about handing your fancy mirrorless camera over to a stranger to take a photo of your traveling party for fear of them dropping it or not knowing how to use it. Thankfully, the ZVE-10’s rotating display meant I could angle it forward to pull off selfies, which consequently took better shots than either phone’s front-facing camera but didn’t capture as much subject matter. Both the iPhone’s and Galaxy’s selfie cameras had wider field-of-views.
Lastly, the mirrorless camera may have more potential for better shots since it can save images in the RAW format, which gives photo editors a lot more data and freedom to tweak. It’s worth pointing out that my iPhone 12 Pro can shoot in Apple’s ProRAW format, while my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra can shoot in Expert RAW format via a separate app (though it’s natively in the camera app as of the Samsung Galaxy S23 series). Both can be edited much like standard RAW formats. I deliberately shot photos in JPG format for all devices in this test, since most travelers will simply point and shoot with the default format. All these photos could certainly look better with some Photoshop touch-up.
Wrap-up
Ultimately, this was an unscientific test rather than a thorough field guide. I set out wondering whether my daily smartphone would miss out on any particular travel shots that a camera-focused phone like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra or my mirrorless camera would be capable of picking up.
Most of the time the iPhone was fine, but there were edge cases where the S22 Ultra and ZVE-10 outperformed my older iPhone. And as I am not an especially gifted photographer, I acknowledge that someone with real skills could finesse far better images out of either the Galaxy S22 Ultra or the ZVE-10 that could likely put the iPhone to shame in all situations.
Also, your mileage will vary depending on which kinds of photos you want to take. If you absolutely need to zoom in on distant subjects, a phone like the S22 Ultra is the right choice — or you could buy a telephoto lens for your mirrorless camera.
But from citywide landscapes to museum art piece shots to selfies, the iPhone 12 Pro handled nearly everything I needed it to do. It also helped that I could effortlessly post my photos on social media from my main phone rather than having to transfer them from the mirrorless camera. That’s essential to the travel experience, as I’d add a photo to my Instagram story and get friends responding in minutes with recommendations for historical monuments and food in my area. And it’s not like my mirrorless camera could make calls or text.
This isn’t necessarily an iPhone recommendation, just reiterating that your daily driver will be just as useful while traveling as it is at home (but better cameras and a quality ultra-wide lens certainly help). The shots you’ll take of yourself and peripatetic partners will mostly be 10 to 20 feet away in bright daylight and low light, with some night scenes here and there. Perhaps a higher-end camera would capture more artistic and high-quality depth shots, but you’ll probably want to capture the fleeting and low-key moments more than the artfully posed ones.
Technologies
Celebrity Private Jets Can Still Be Tracked Despite New FAA Rules. Here’s Why
The FAA’s move to hide ownership details might not stop those who post private-jet information on social media.
Owners of private jets can now request that their names and addresses be kept private, thanks to a rule enacted last week by the US Federal Aviation Administration, which was signed into law last year. According to the FAA, ownership information wouldn’t be publicly available on its websites.
The new rule appears to be partly in response to social media accounts that post air travel information about celebrities such as Elon Musk and Taylor Swift, which has faced criticism in the past due to privacy concerns. Those accounts had also allowed people to post info in the past on who the biggest carbon offenders in private jet usage were.
An electronic request form has been made available for owners to make their private jetting more private.
However, this may not thwart those who run tracking sites, as reported earlier by The Verge, who say they rely on other sources of information for their reports — not just FAA records.
Private jet privacy: not much change?
David Gitman, CEO of Monarch Air Group, a private jet charter company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, told CNET that the FAA’s new privacy control will not prevent flight trackers from posting about the comings and goings of notable people.
«There is no material change,» Gitman said. «The FAA ruling allows the aircraft owner to block the ownership information, not the actual tracking of the aircraft. Most aircraft are not owned by the individual, but rather by a corporation or a trust.»
Gitman said that because high-profile people are often photographed arriving and departing on planes and those photos end up on social media, it isn’t hard to track them.
«Once an aircraft is connected to a person, it becomes easier to track, as nothing has changed on that side,» he said.
Gitman said private charters like his can make tracking more difficult for trackers because different planes are being used at different times for different customers. However, tracking as a whole isn’t going away.
«In my opinion, aircraft tracking is a given fact, a modern reality, just like the paparazzi stalking celebrities outside of restaurants,» Gitman said. «Any aircraft movement, from Taylor Swift to strategic bombers, is available online.»
Daniel Findley, associate director at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education at North Carolina State University, said that the FAA move is not likely to affect people in his field or other research areas where flight tracking is done since occupants are not the focus.
«For the vast majority of people who track flights, who owns the plane or who is on it is not as important,» Findley said.
Technologies
Speed Up Your iPhone Charging With These 9 Smart Hacks
Power up your iPhone in less time using these straightforward charging tips and tricks.
Spring is here, and with longer days and packed schedules ahead, a dead phone is the last thing you need. Whether you’re out enjoying the sunshine, meeting deadlines or powering through school assignments, staying charged keeps you connected and on track. The good news? You don’t have to wait around for your iPhone to juice up.
If you’ve ever found yourself sprinting out the door with only 5% battery, you’re not alone. There are a few quick and easy charging tricks that can get your iPhone powered up fast — no stress, no extra accessories. Whether your phone’s hanging on by a thread or you just need a boost before heading out, these tips will help you charge up in record time and keep going strong all season long.
Looking for more charging power? Check out the best power banks for the iPhone, and if you’re still rocking an iPhone with a Lightning port, here are some of the cheapest fast chargers you can find.
1. Juice up with a new charger
The quickest way to charge your iPhone is with a fast charger: at least a 20-watt power adapter with a USB-C to Lightning or USB-C to USB-C cable for iPhone 15 models or later. As long as you own an iPhone 8 or later, you can fast-charge your phone from dead back up to around 50% battery in about 30 minutes. If you have an hour to spare, you can fully charge it. Even just 10 minutes of fast charging can boost your battery by double digits, so if you’re short on time, always go for the fast charger option.
Apple no longer provides power adapters when you buy a new phone, only the cable, but you can purchase Apple’s 20-watt power adapter from Apple and Amazon. According to Apple, you can also use other compatible fast-charging power bricks, but you’ll need at least a 20-watt brick to fast-charge an iPhone 12 and later.
2. Charge lightning fast wirelessly
The second-fastest way to charge your iPhone is with Apple’s MagSafe charger and a 20-watt power adapter, but for this to work you must own either an iPhone 12 or later to get the faster 15-watt wireless charging. If your iPhone is dead, you should get to around 30% battery in about 30 minutes of wireless charging.
This doesn’t mean you can use any Qi wireless charger (the industry standard) for fast charging. While the MagSafe charger supports 15 watts, a Qi charger only gives you up to 7.5 watts, which is much slower than a MagSafe and only slightly faster than the traditional 5-watt wall charger. Be aware that magnetic wireless chargers that aren’t MagSafe-certified will also charge at the slower 7.5-watt speed.
3. Stop relying on your computer to charge your phone
Your laptop might seem like a convenient way to charge your iPhone, especially if you spend most of your day in front of a computer and want to keep a close eye on any incoming text messages and notifications. However, your computer will always charge your phone slower than any wall charger or wireless charger.
Your computer’s USB port, whether it’s a bigger and older USB-A or the newer, smaller USB-C, cannot deliver the same amount of power as any wall outlet can, even a 5-watt power adapter. That’s especially true if you have an older computer with a faulty USB port or an incompatible charging cable, both of which can slow down the charging process further.
4. Stop using your iPhone while it’s charging
If you want your iPhone to charge as quickly as possible, try to stay off of it as much as possible. If you’re streaming videos or playing mobile games while charging your iPhone, the battery will charge much slower, so just leave it untouched if you can.
5. Speed up battery charging with this easy tip
Even if your screen is sleeping, your phone is still working in the background. If you want your iPhone to charge quickly, the best thing to do is to turn it off.
Note that plugging in an iPhone that’s turned off will sometimes power it back on, so plug it in or place it on a wireless charger first, then power it down.
6. Switch to airplane mode if you don’t want to turn off your phone
If you don’t want to turn off your iPhone but still want to help it charge faster, you can turn on airplane mode, which disables all wireless transmission functions like cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, all of which consume power. If they’re off, your iPhone can charge quicker. This way, you can also quickly turn airplane mode off to quickly check on any text messages or phone calls you might be waiting for.
7. Tweak these iPhone settings to charge your battery faster
Do you know all of those tips that help you preserve your battery in the first place? You can use those same features and settings to help your iPhone charge faster if you don’t plan on turning it off.
- Low power mode: Turn it on to reduce or affect battery-consuming features like 5G, display brightness, auto-lock, background app refresh and automatic downloads.
- Dark mode: The jury is out on exactly how much dark mode actually saves battery life, but turning it on while you’re charging your iPhone doesn’t hurt, especially if every percent matters.
- Lower your screen brightness: One of the most power-hungry pieces of any gadget that has one is its display. The brighter your screen, the quicker your battery drains, so turn it all the way down while it charges.
8. Optimized Battery Charging may be slowing down the charge rate
Apple has a built-in tool that helps prevent your iPhone battery from degrading as fast, but this same feature also makes your device charge slower. While the feature typically only slows down your iPhone during long periods of charging, and usually overnight, it still might be worth disabling when you’re charging your phone. Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health and toggle off Optimized Battery Charging to disable this feature.
9. You might just need a new iPhone battery
In the same settings page where you can disable optimized battery charging, you can also check out your battery’s health. If you see a message, like «Your battery’s health is significantly degraded,» you should look into making an appointment with Apple to replace your battery. A degraded battery doesn’t hold charge as well, so it’ll drain more quickly. A new battery will improve your overall battery life.
You can check out how much it will approximately cost to replace your battery on Apple’s iPhone Battery Service website. The price depends on your service coverage and the make and model: for the iPhone 15 series, the estimate is $99.
For more tips, check out 23 more iPhone tips and tricks you should know and how to get more space when your iPhone’s storage is running low.
Technologies
Katy Perry, Gayle King, Lauren Sánchez Space Mission Launching in a Week
Katy Perry will «shoot across the sky» with an all-female crew, including Gayle King, Lauren Sánchez, a NASA rocket scientist, a bioastronautics research scientist and a film producer.
Blue Origin, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ space company, is making history by sending an all-female crew on its next spaceflight this month. The American spacecraft company’s 11th human mission, NS-31, will include pop singer Katy Perry, Bezos’ fiancé and former journalist Lauren Sánchez, CBS host Gayle King, NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyễn and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
The mission’s planned liftoff is April 14, with a launch window opening at 8:30 a.m. CDT, depending on weather and other factors. According to the Blue Origin website, the astronauts will ascend toward space at more than three times the speed of sound. Once they pass the line, the crew can unbuckle and float weightless before returning to Earth.
The mission is part of Blue Origin’s New Shepard program, which has flown 52 people above the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space about 62 miles above Earth.
First all-female crew since a Russian solo flight in the ’60s
The flight will mark the first all-female crew since Russian engineer Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963.
Bowe told Elle magazine in an interview published this week that she’s «been training for and waiting for this moment my entire life.» Nguyen agreed, calling it «a dream come true.»
Reactions among the others varied:
«I have wanted to go to space for almost 20 years,» Perry said during the interview with Elle.
«I had a lot of trepidation — I still do — but I also know it’s very interesting to be terrified and excited at the same time,» King told Elle. «I can honestly say it has never been a dream of mine.»
Blue Origin has taken many notable names up above the Earth before, including actor William Shatner, Good Morning America host and retired NFL player Michael Strahan and Bezos himself.
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