Can you use your smartphone as a travel camera? Of course you can!

While smartphone cameras will never be able to replace professional cameras, the gap between smartphones and cameras are closing in every day.

You’ll sacrifice a bit of quality due to the super small camera sensor in phones, but if you’re only publishing images online, most people won’t notice.

Some other downsides to smartphone cameras are the lack of a physical zoom (digital zoom looks bad), not many lens options, few manual controls, and of course the battery drain on your phone if you use them regularly.

Here are some of the best smartphone cameras for traveling…

1. iPhone 11 Pro

Smartphone cameras are continuing to eat into the camera market share and the iPhone 11 Pro is one of the best on the market. With THREE dedicated lenses built-in: ultra-wide 13mm f/2.4, wide 26mm f/1.8, and telephoto 52mm f/2.0 — you have a variety of viewing angles to choose from.

The out-of-focus areas are surprisingly well rendered as well; while not as good as what you’ll get with a larger sensor and fast aperture, still amazing given how small smartphone sensors are. You can even adjust the background post-shoot using Depth Control to enhance background bokeh and make your subject stand out.

• 5.8-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display
• Water and dust resistant (4 metres for up to 30 minutes, IP68)
• Triple-camera system with 12MP Ultra Wide, Wide, and Telephoto cameras; Night mode, Portrait mode, and 4K video up to 60fps
• 12MP TrueDepth front camera with Portrait mode, 4K video, and Slo-Mo
• Face ID for secure authentication and Apple Pay
• A13 Bionic chip with third-generation Neural Engine
• Fast charge with 18W adapter included
• Wireless charging
• New and used from £1,023

Claim up to £400 when you trade in your iPhone: As of 04/05/2020

Order now Amazon

2. Honor 20

The Honor 20 Pro is another competitive smartphone camera that packs a surprising punch for a hybrid device. This smartphone packs 4 different cameras on the back! The main one has an impressive f/1.4 aperture — making it amazing in low-light.

There’s also an 80mm telephoto lens, a 16mm ultra-wide lens, and a macro lens for shooting small things at very close range. Pro Mode gives you as much control as you would using Manual on a dedicated camera, with ISO, shutter speed, color temperature, and more to control at your fingertips.

I haven’t tried this one but it’s been recommended by some of the expert travellers that are very focused on using smartphones with their on the spot element of travelling

• The world’s First-Ever 48MP Camera +3D TOF camera with Superb Pixel and Depth Quality. 25MP front camera
• The first 7nm AI-enabled Kirin 980 chipset equipped with a dual-core NPU – Propelling AI to a New Benchmark
• The world’s first under-screen camera, allowing a nearly 100% full-screen display. Invisible Nano Texture with Aurora Effect – V-shaped Color Edge Pioneers a Fresh Look.
• Display: 6.4 inches, 1080 x 2310 pixels (398 ppi density), Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• Android 9.0 (Pie)
• £399

3. Google Pixel 4

Google’s new Pixel 4 has one of the best portrait modes you can find and intelligently sharpens the borders around your subject while allowing for micro-adjustment of the background blur. The low light photography experience is also very good.

Night Sight allows for exposure stacking using multiple images taken in tandem and even non-stacked images properly preserve dark areas and bright highlights without excessive noise. With three total lenses available the Google Pixel 4 is one of the best smartphone cameras on the market right now.

Google Pixel 4 14.5 cm (5.7″) 6 GB 64 GB Black 2800 mAh Pixel 4, 14.5 cm (5.7″), 1080 x 2280 pixels, 6 GB, 64 GB, 16 MP, Black

Studio-like photos. Without the studio. Capture rich detail and color, even in the dark, with the next generation of Night Sight. The camera that can take photos of the Milky Way. Challenging shots, made easy. Adjust exposure in separate parts of the photo and capture vivid colors, even with photos you take in your favorite apps. Focus on what matters. With a second camera lens, Portrait Mode is now even better. Backgrounds fade into an artful blur, giving photos a DSLR-like quality.

Order now from Amazon

New from £583.00+ £13.34 Shipping

Smartphone Accessories For Traveling

4. Smartphone Gimbal Stabilizer.

If you have money,why not try a stabiliser for your smartphone, it does a make deliver a great picture and ideal for video footage.

The 3 axis gimbal stabilizes the tilt, pan, and roll of a camera. So if you move side to side, up and down, back and forth, the gimbal stabilizes the video even if you are shaky. Tilting is moving up and down. This feature of a camera stabilizer is used to take a video of an object moving up and down or vice versa.

$100 is still a hefty investment regardless of your budget, but smartphone gimbals still prove their worth over just using the in-body OIS systems in smartphones. Fortunately, once you buy one, you’ll be able to use it for years with subsequent phones too.

Hohem 2019 Smartphone Gimbal Stabilizer 3-Axis Handheld Gimble with Face Object Auto Tracking for iPhone Xs Max Xr X 8 Plus 7 6 Newest Mobile Plus Isteady Gimbal for Android Phone

From Amazon for £89

Price:

£89.00

There’s no shortage of travel apps cluttering up the Android and Apple marketplaces these days — and that’s a problem, as most of them are terrible. Sorting out useless ones from those worth installing is not the most fun you’ll ever have with your smartphone, but no one wants to pay for a worthless app.

Best travel apps for 2020

• Download Airbnb: Android, iOS.
• OpenRice is the Yelp of Asia.
• AirHelp, If you’ve ever endured the pain of a delayed or cancelled flight, or been denied boarding because of overbooking, AirHelp will be right up your alley.
• HotelTonight gives you amazing last-minute discounts on empty hotel rooms
• Download Google Translate: Android, iOS.
• Download GlobeTips: iOS.
• LoungeBuddy  The app tells you which lounges you can access at any given airport
• Download In Case of Emergency: Android, iOS.
• LoungeBuddy
• TripIt helps organize your upcoming travel itinerary. All you have to do is forward your hotel, restaurant, flight, and car rental
• Detour is a fantastic GPS-guided audio walk that offers an immersive experience in 17 cities around the world

We use and rely on many of the above which saves on time and much more , download now!

How to use the coronavirus lock-down to improve your travel photography

Are you missing taking photos on your travels? Need a fix? Believe it or not, you can use this time to improve your travel photography from the comfort of your own home…

1. Plan your next shoot

Where will you photograph next? (Bali waterfalls) 2012

As an amateur photographer, sometimes you’ll get lucky. You will arrive at a location and everything will fall into place. Wonderful light, an interesting subject and the perfect composition all combine for that fantastic travel photo. But unfortunately, most of the time you must be willing to work hard to capture the shot you want to take.

Whilst at home during this period, use the time to plan your next photoshoot – wherever that may be. Start by looking online to get an idea of the type of photos you want to take and also what already exists from that destination.

Write down a shot list or just some ideas for specific shots, then work out the best times of the day to photograph that location or scenario. Doing this preparation now means that  when travel restrictions are lifted, you’ll be ready to capture the perfect photograph.

2. Practice around the house

Not your average house

Taking landscape shots of the wilderness might be off the cards for now – unless you are lucky enough to live in the wilderness. But there are still lots of ways that you can practice your travel photography at home.

You can brush up on your portrait skills by photographing people in your household, catch them off guard. Or you can practice your food photography, both indoors and outdoors using natural light. A family pet can help you improve your wildlife photography, and even the flowers, insects in your garden can be wonderful subjects.

You can also try to improve aspects of your photography that you struggle with. For example, being able to shoot handheld in low light conditions, such as the ones you might encounter in a local market. Dim the lights and take photos of your family members and experiment with different settings to see where you might be going wrong.

You might just look back on this time as the period where you took your travel photography to the next level.

3. Read your camera manual or what apps can help enhance your dream photograph

Rainy season Phnom Penh ST93 ( tourandtakein.com )

It may not be the most riveting piece of writing, but your camera manual is one of the best sources of information for your camera. Read the manual cover to cover and keep your camera handy, so you can try out all those buttons, dials and functions that you didn’t know the purpose of.

Once you have a good grasp of your camera you can always extend your knowledge further by searching the millions of photography online for your particular model or make. Not only will doing this allow you to understand your camera better, but it will also help you improve your travel photography, too.

4. Evaluate your work

Be objective , MALDIVES 2019

Use the time you have at home to look through some old photos from your last few trips and seriously evaluate them.

What’s good about the ones you like? What lets down the ones that you don’t? Why is that photo blurred? What could you have done better or what would you change if you could take a particular photo again?

By trying to figure out where you went wrong (or right), you’ll be able to build up a catalogue of mistakes you’ve made in the past – and how to avoid making them again. Often, you’ll learn more from your photography mistakes than your successes.

5. Be inspired by other photographers

Find inspiration in the work of fellow photographers (Kav Dadfar Wanderleust)

As well as evaluating your own work, you can also admire the work of other photographers.

Whether it’s on Instagram or contests, looking at great photography can be inspirational . But it can also help you to improve your own work and encourage analytical thinking.

Try to figure out the settings that they might have used. Or the time of day that the photo was taken. You can even make some notes on the way the shots have been composed. Most competitions will have comments from the judges for winners and highly commended photos. If not, reach out to the photographer on social media.

This can be a great source of knowledge from professionals who really know their stuff, but remember: this exercise isn’t about replicating other people’s work but learning new skills.

6. Learn to edit your photos

Now’s the perfect time to adjust your images ( Thailand 2008 )

Editing photos has always been a contentious issue. There are some photographers who prefer not to edit their photos at all. Whether you decide to edit your photos or not will come down to personal preference. Many great apps now and free ones!

As a rule, almost every photo will benefit from some level of editing. This might be as simple as straightening it. Or it might be more complex and include adjusting the brightness, contrast, saturation, white balance and more. The key is subtle editing to enhance what already exists in the photo.

If you have never taken the time to learn how to use software such as Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop, this could be the perfect opportunity to learn. The good news is that there is a wealth of free information and videos online that can take you from complete beginner to editing expert.

Not only will it help cure some of the boredom you may be experiencing, but it’ll also transform your final images.

Most importantly, ENJOY your travel photographs. They’re memories, after all (tourandtakein)

By the time you finish, you may end up with your very own personal travel blog. Here’s how to start one

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Cruises: The Cruisedirect.com website is packed with information on all the major cruise lines, cruise ships and destinations.

Accommodation

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