Trying a digital camera….again

#blog/published

For most of the last 15ish years (maybe even longer), my primary camera has been my iPhone. I’m not a photographer but I enjoy taking pictures, sharing them with others, and occasionally posting to social media. As iPhone cameras improved, I saw less of a reason to carry around a separate camera. Unless I was going to use a heavy DSLR (NOPE), the device in my pocket felt sufficient for my purposes. And it was always with me! And I could edit on it! And I could use it to share my photos! A perfect all-in-one device.

However, we travel a decent amount and are frequently outdoors. While my iPhone camera is convenient, there are plenty of instances in nature or when traveling where it is not sufficient, particularly when trying to take a picture of something far away.

Prior to a trip we took a few years back, I decided to invest in a point-and-shoot digital camera. My main goal was to get something that could exceed my iPhone’s capabilities when shooting things far away. I did a lot of research, which mostly involved asking people on Reddit, and ultimately decided on the Panasonic Lumix ZS200. For around $600, it fit the bill primarily because of its longer-range capabilities.

Yes, a digital camera is still better (sometimes)

When doing my research, some people warned me that, compared to the iPhone, the images on even a nice digital camera might disappoint me because I am used to the on-device processing that is done in the background on the iPhone.

The warnings were kind of right, but I know a little about photography, enough to know that keeping the digital camera on its “auto” setting and not messing with the more complicated controls was my best bet. And it worked. I saw a huge difference in the images I could get using my point-and-shoot camera relative to my iPhone.

For example, when we had birds nesting in our backyard, my iPhone could not get a clear picture from far away, yet my digital camera with zoom captured it perfectly. I was inside the house, probably 40 feet away, when I took this photo.

I took this photo of a bird from VERY far away when up in Maine. Not something I could capture with my iPhone, and the detail and colors in the photo really impressed me.

When we were whale watching off the coast of Massachusetts, the digital camera did a much better job given the distance we were from the whales at this moment.

The fine detail and colors in this picture of a sunset from atop Cadillac Mountain Acadia National Park was better than the exact same images I took that evening with my iPhone.

And this night photo from somewhere in Acadia National Park is also something I could have never captured with my iPhone.

Even just very basic images like this one seem to have a depth when taken with the digital camera that my iPhone never captures.

The downfall of the digital camera compared to my iPhone, however, is the portability and set up. It takes up more room in my bag, it requires additional accessories. I have to get it out, turn it on, wait a few seconds, and then take a picture.
My iPhone is much more instantaneous and portable and using it is basically muscle memory at this point. It is unobtrusive. It fits in my pocket. My iPhone can capture photos that are fleeting, images and scenes that would be gone by the time I got out my digital camera.

As a result, for the last year the Panasonic Lumix digital camera has sat unused in a drawer, and I have not learned anything else about how to use it.

2026 - the year I am going to learn how to actually use this digital camera

No, I am not giving up my iPhone as a camera, and it will probably still be the main camera I use each day. But in 2026 I am going to make more of an intentional effort to use this nice digital camera, and that includes actually learning how to use the damn thing (and not just in auto mode).

First thing I need to figure out is my set up. Most days I carry around a small sling bag; this Bellroy one is my current bag of choice. For days when I want to take my camera with me, I think it will work best simply attached to the strap using this case I got, which I like because it’s small and light.

Charing on the go is also important, so I have an extra battery and a USB-C to micro-USB adapter that can attach to the USB-C cable I usually carry with me and charge up the camera in the battery in a pinch. (The most annoying thing about this camera is that if you want to charge it directly, it uses micro-USB.)

Finally, I want a convenient way to transfer photos to my iPhone. While the camera can remotely connect to an iPhone, I have found that to be really finicky, so instead I use an SD card reader. I got this SD card reader by UGreen which is really small and works great. Using this, I can connect the SD card to my iPhone or iPad and edit photos when traveling.

Learning how to use it is a whole other endeavor and I will probably turn to YouTube for that (like this one or this one). I may even look at more general digital photography course. I am not looking to become a pro, but rather need a basic education on what all the settings do and how to navigate the overwhelming menu.

I don’t typically set resolutions for the new year because I think they are stupid. But when I was using some down time over the break to clean out my photos and happened to notice how much better pictures taken with the digital camera were, I decided to dig out the camera and give it a try again. We are also planning a trip to another national park this spring and I would really love to be able to use the time there to take more photos.

But I guess I am kind of setting a goal for myself in 2026 - I am going to be patient and learn how to use this digital camera, not with the aim of becoming a photographer, but rather with the goal of just being able to take better pictures. I feel like doing this will push me to learn how to take better pictures overall.

There’s a solid 50% change this thing will end up back in the drawer, but I am going to try.