We just returned after 14 nights in Spain. This was my first vacation without a "real" camera, just a smartphone. More than 10 years ago, I used a DSLR. Over the last 10 years, I used a decent point and shoot like a Canon S120. This time, I only used a Pixel 3a which is about 3 years old. The newer phones have more advanced technology.
I took and kept more than 150 shots per day. At the same time, I took and deleted another 100 shots per day. My philosophy is to shoot, review, edit, crop, or delete and re-shoot as I go. It saves time later so I don't do any post-processing plus I get the shot I want knowing it is unlikely I will every get chance to get the shot again. I try to get shots quickly so as not to annoy the wife.
With so much shooting, I went through my phone battery very quickly. With a real camera, I carried a spare and just popped it in when the battery died. With the smartphone, I had to plug in a battery pack. With all the shooting, I had to charge-over about two times the phone's battery capacity, which is 3,000 mAH. Therefore, my 10,000 mAH powerbank was sufficient. As much as possible I recharged while having coffee or lunch or while walking between attractions. Quite often, I had to take photos while the power bank was attached to the phone which was awkward at first, but doable. The power bank is about the same size as the phone but about twice the weight and there is a short 6-in charging cable.
I carried a pocket foldable tripod with a small phone clamp, but never used it. After a few days I just left it in my backpack at the hotel. With my past cameras, I would have to use a tripod, brace the camera or find a flat spot to set up the camera in order to take long exposures in dim lighting. The Pixel 3A and all the newer smartphones have fantastic night shooting modes. I found I was able to take handheld shots in very dim lighting. This was a real timesaver compared with a real camera.
The shots in poor lighting came out well exposed and sharp. The photos are as good and usually better than my Canon S120. There are obvious advantages with a large sensor on a DSLR or mirrorless, but I am not a pro and do not make large prints. In fact, I have not printed a photo in more than 10 years. On a large computer display, my photos look great.
With a smart phone, it is easy to take a selfie at arm's length (no stick!). Sometimes, I would hand the phone over to another traveller to take a full length shot scenery shot with the wife. Because phones are so ubiquitous and user friendly, people are happy to do so. I always ask them to take two or three shots and once I cropped for the horizon, at least one of the shots turned out well. I helped a fellow traveler take a few shots of him and a pan of paella with his Sony A7(?) with a special manual focus tilt zoom lens. I had a heck of a time focusing with my old eyesight. I just bracketed and hoped for the best, so maybe one of his shots turned out.
Every night, I downloaded, labelled and organized my photos from my phone onto an old lightweight netbook. It saved time having to do this at the end of the trip and gave me a backup in case I lost my phone. PS, my phone cover has a wrist strap. At one church bell tower, my wife almost dropped her phone. PPS, I took more photos in one day than my wife did during the whole 14 day vacation.
