Contents

Overview

We often get asked “what camera do you use?”  

We were recently packing for a 6 day travers of the Western Arthurs in Tasmania and asking ourselves the same question:

What on earth should I bring for this trip?

Back home and someone admiring our shots asked online “Did you take a proper camera or just your phone? Debating if i carry the extra weight when I go.”  

So let’s look at the options.  This isn’t a definitive list, rather it’s a summary of what we end up taking, and why, in ascending order of size.

The Phone

First up is the trusty phone. We always have a phone with us whether it’s a walk on the beach, or a remote adventure hike. It would have to be a pretty extreme or remote trip before we’d consider leaving the phone behind.

Phones allow some lovely spontaneous point-and-shoot style pics, but have limited zoom range, and the image from those tiny sensors typically degrade quickly if you edit them too much. More on why this is an issue below.

Our go-to phones have been iPhones for some years now.

Compact Point & Shoot

I spent years shooting with a Canon G11 point-and-shoot and loved it!  After changing systems over the years, this fell by the wayside for many years.

In 2023 after seeing Mark Galer’s summar we each acquired a Sony RX100 vii and loved it from the very first trip. The zoom range is fantastic, the sensor is stunning, with amazing dynamic range and shadow detail that can be lifted out.

A pocketable camera like this can fit in a small pouch on your pack shoulder harness and allows spontaneous shots in tricky situations, with a quality approaching that of an APSC mirrorless camera. 

Like a phone, they can also be thrown around your shoulder as a go-anywhere camera but with far better image quality and control.  A great camera for summit days, very long/rough trips, or at high altitude where weight is critical.

The Sony RX100 is our go-to point-and-shoot camera.

Mirrorless APS-C Size Sensor with Interchangeable Lenses

Way back in 2014 I purchased my first mirrorless Sony a6000.  It was also my first system change after moving from Nikon film SLR to Nikon DSLR way back in 2006.

The APS-C sensor size is smaller than full frame, but still large enough to give high quality editable images.  Tom Dempsey has a great summery of image sensor sizes over here if you’d like to find out more.

The a6000 was so good that I never really used the DSLR again. We more recently added a Sony a6400 to the family.  These have been our go-to cameras for hiking and mountain adventures for some years now.

They give us the control we expect, exceptional image quality for their size, and interchangeable lenses.  

Sensor Size & Image Quality

Sensor size is important because it relates to image quality.  This is a complex subject, but let’s summarise it with this example.

On the left below is a panorama stitched in Lightroom but otherwise directly from the camera.  Exposed to suit the sky with minimal blow out of highlights.  If I’d exposed for the shadows, there would be no detail in the sky.  Tone is unedited on the left.

On the right, is the edited version.  The ability to lift detail and colour out of deep shadows whilst maintaining the sky detail is related to sensor size.  There is no way we could get the same edit-ability out of a phone image.  The best you might expect is shown in the first image example at the top of this page, taken on a phone at a very similar location.

Now perhaps this difference doesn’t matter to you.  If you’re not as fussy as us, or can’t tell the difference then lucky you!  You can take a phone on your adventures and be very happy with the image quality. 

A word of caution.  Phone images are great for social media and small screen use, but if you come to make a large print, you might also be disappointed in the result. 

In our case, we do notice the difference.  And we never know if we’re going to make a large print in the future, so we typically settle on the APS-C size camera for our adventures. 

Interchangeable Lenses & Zoom Range

We tend to carry two lenses each; a wide of some sort, and a long lens of some sort.  We have various ones to pick from depending on the trip.

We typically shoot much wider than a phone would allow.  And much longer.  Not so many of the great shots are ‘in the middle’ where phone lenses tend to sit.

Again, let’s demonstrate with an example.

On the left is the wide image showing the full scene.  A red rectangle frames the image on the right.

I really like the detailed shot on the right, but could never have taken it with any phone that I know of. Even if you could use a zoom attachment, I think it would take too long to set up, and there’d be no image stabilisation in the lens, so very difficult to hold steady.

Full Frame Mirrorless Systems

We never quite made the move to full frame mirrorless.  As a travel adventure and mountain enthusiast we went straight from DSLR to Mirrorless APS-C.  It was primarily about saving weight.  Of course the full frame Sony A7 series of cameras is widely used by many professionals and enthusiasts alike.  The image quality from these can be much higher than we get with our APS-C cameras.  

But for us, not only is the camera heavier, the lenses are generally much heavier too.  So after calculating endless permutations for lens and camera combinations, the compromise between weight and quality has seen us very much in the APS-C camp for now.

Full Frame DSLR Systems

We’ve listed it here as a formality.  It may be the best option for some folks, but I think most adventure enthusiasts would agree that the DSLR has come to the end of its reign in the remote outdoors.  I don’t even own one any more, and my partner’s remains abandoned in our closet.  Occasionally she takes it out and remarks “Wow – I used to carry that everywhere?!?!”

Underwater Photography

Underwater photography is a specialised field and we’re only just scratching the surface.  Inspired by various snorkelling trips and swimming with whales we picked up a second hand housing for our Sony a6xxx cameras.  Shortly after getting the Sony RX100 we got a smaller housing to suit those too.

There are many housings on the market, and we kinda fell in to the Sea Frogs Salted Line series.  Having got the a6xxx one, it seemed logical to have the RX100 in the same brand.  They share many common parts and features, including a leakage alarm in case water comes in, a vacuum pump system to check the integrity before you get in the water, and various pistol grips, covers, and accessories.

We really like them, and hope to have the opportunity to develop these skills further in the years ahead.