I carried a Panasonic Lumix on my recent 2 month ride in South America. I also carried my Android phone.
The Lumix is dust/shock/waterproof (to 12 meters). It powers on and is ready to take a photo in about
2 seconds. I always kept it handy in a jacket chest pocket and got many one handed photos while riding.
I even dropped it once at 15 - 20 mph while rushing to get a bridge photo before a military checkpoint in
Columbia. It survived that just fine and dozens of rain showers and hundreds of miles of dusty roads as well.
Photo quality is better than my Android phone. I occasionally would have liked an SLR but didn't want to carry
all that weight and take up that space. Plus, this wasn't the kind of trip where I always had the kind of time I
tend to use if I take photos with an SLR.
The Android phone was used as a back up camera and it was especially convenient for posting photos to Facebook
and emailing photos as it seems just about every hotel and most restaurants had wifi. But I always kept it bundled
up against the dust and rain, and would have missed hundreds of photos I got with the Lumix. One of the guys I met
in South America used an Iphone exclusively for his photos. He had a clip on lens, a remote, and a couple light tripods;
and got a bunch of nice photos suitable for viewing on a computer. But the fragility of Iphones has always made me
nervous.
The Lumix is dust/shock/waterproof (to 12 meters). It powers on and is ready to take a photo in about
2 seconds. I always kept it handy in a jacket chest pocket and got many one handed photos while riding.
I even dropped it once at 15 - 20 mph while rushing to get a bridge photo before a military checkpoint in
Columbia. It survived that just fine and dozens of rain showers and hundreds of miles of dusty roads as well.
Photo quality is better than my Android phone. I occasionally would have liked an SLR but didn't want to carry
all that weight and take up that space. Plus, this wasn't the kind of trip where I always had the kind of time I
tend to use if I take photos with an SLR.
The Android phone was used as a back up camera and it was especially convenient for posting photos to Facebook
and emailing photos as it seems just about every hotel and most restaurants had wifi. But I always kept it bundled
up against the dust and rain, and would have missed hundreds of photos I got with the Lumix. One of the guys I met
in South America used an Iphone exclusively for his photos. He had a clip on lens, a remote, and a couple light tripods;
and got a bunch of nice photos suitable for viewing on a computer. But the fragility of Iphones has always made me
nervous.