Welcome to my Photo Meets Tech and Travel newsletter. This edition is free, but I’d love you to show your support with a paid subscription.
When I packed for recent trips to Japan, Italy and Spain, I left the big cameras at home. I didn’t want to drag the big, heavy things with me all day as I toured Barcelona, Taormina, Osaka and other exotic locales.
The picture quality has gotten so good on late model smartphones that there was no compelling reason to pack the Sonys for travel photography. And I didn’t regret it.
However, for the recently concluded PhotowalksTV 2024 Road Trip, I made sure to include the big camera in the bag.
This was a road trip, and packing light wasn’t an issue. But had I flown to Yellowstone country, I would have taken less T-shirts and made room for the big cameras.
I watched a lot of people struggling to get great shots of wildlife and such on their smartphones. Here they really needed a camera.
Want wildlife shots of bears, owls, foxes, bisons and wolves? You’re not going to get very far with your smartphone. Period.
I was nowhere near the bear that you see in the above photo. I was on the side of the road, looking into the woods, where the bear was walking along.
I captured the shot with a compact $1,700 Sony RX10IV camera, which is the best compact tool I know of for getting wildlife shots. It has a built-in 24mm to 600mm lens and a 1-inch image sensor, which is at half the size of full-frame mirrorless cameras like the Sony A74 or the Canon EOS R or Nikon Z series. Those cameras sell for $2,000 to $3,000 and you’ll have to buy a lens or two as well. To be well-equipped, you’re looking at around $5,000.
However, the RX10 sensor is way larger than what we get on a smartphone and images look great.
If you follow what local Cody photographer Amy Gerber and tour guide Heather Cole tell me in the video: it’s not safe to get in the face of the animals. You need to stand back further than you think.
Amy uses big zoom lens like a 200-600mm, which gets you a lot closer to the animals without really being there. A good camera can cost anywhere from $1,500 on up, and What to do if you don’t have one of these?
RENT!
This used to be something that only pro photographers, living in urban areas, knew about, but now, there are websites that make it easy and affordable to rent, for periods of 7-days.
At Lensrentals.com, my beloved Sony RX10IV is $99 for a week. A Canon 5D (full-frame sensor) Mark IV camera and a 100-400mm lens will cost around $200 for a week.
Lensrentals is based in Memphis, Tenn., for one reason—easy access to the Federal Express hub. Everything goes straight to the hub, along with pre-paid labels. Just put the camera back in the box and drop it at FedEx and you’re good to go. Lensrentals recently bought its competitor, Borrowlenses.com. Where else can you rent online?
Rentglass and camera giants B&H Photo and Adorama also rent.
Smartphone travel photography
Remember that iPhones, Galaxys and Pixels do an amazing job 80-90% of the time. For travel photography in good light, where you don’t need ultra closeups, you’re in great shape. You can get great, pro-level quality from your phone. Yes, the top Galaxy, Pixel and iPhone 15 Pro Max have a 5X telephoto lens, and that’s an improvement over what we had before. But not good enough for wildlife. Remember, my shots were at 600mm.
If you want a field of Bisons grazing in the grass, you’re in great shape with your phone. But if you want a close-up of a bear, you’re out of luck.
News you can use: A Two-sided charging cable
When I travel, I bring a power brick with two slots, so I can charge two phones at once. But hey, what if we could buy a two-sided cable instead? I haven’t tried it, but the folks at Anker have just introduced just that, a $25 cable that plugs into a wall outlet (via a charging brick) but forms into a Y to charge two devices at once. “Designed to minimize clutter, it's ideal for keeping your space organized and carrying less while on the move,” says Anker.
Apple’s New Final Cut Camera app
This week Apple debuted a new video making app for the iPhone, but to really get use of it, you’ll need the latest high-end iPad as well. (The one that starts at $999 and maxes out at $2699!)
The Final Cut Pro Camera app, named after the video editing program for Mac, offers manual controls for your video on the iPhone, but the fun happens when you connect it to the iPad, where you get a monitor to better compose and remotely control your shot. Plus, you can plug in multiple iPhones and control the different angles on the iPad.
ICYMI: LA and NY propose banning phones in schools
Saying smartphones are distracting students, the Los Angeles school district and NY’s governor has proposed banning smartphones in public schools. And the nation’s Surgeon General wants to put a warning label on social media usage. (For the doctor—are we talking just Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, or are we adding Reddit, Discord and FourChan as well?)
Great idea, but good luck. I can’t wait to see how government is going to outsmart kids on this one.
Question of the Week
In the Cody episode, Joe asks: “How do you hold onto a smartphone and the raft going through rapids?”
By cheating. We had a 9 people on the raft, and the organizers knew I was photo first. So they stuck me in the middle without a paddle. Instead, I held onto my Selfie Stick, with an iPhone screwed into a Small Rig phone cage. Yes, I got off easy without having to paddle, however, being in the middle has its disadvantages.
Namely, as you can see in the video, everytime we went over a wave, I would fall backwards. (Made for good video though, but boy did I get sopped!)
Yes, I’m back home again. For a few days. Then off to Temecula, California for three days of Photowalking and hot air balloon riding. (I’m having so much fun planning on how to shoot from up in the skies! I’ll fill you in on how it went on the live show Thursday at 4 p.m. PT.)
Thanks as always for following me and reading the newsletter.
Jeff
Excellent animal shots! Will have to try an actual camera next time!