The struggle of “which camera to take with me” during this Christmas break produced a winner named Sony RX1R II, which is unsurprising considering its high-end specs in such a small package that makes it the perfect travel camera. And a very powerful one, with a 42 MP full frame sensor and a Zeiss 35mm f/2 lens – what else do you need?..

However, a family trip during Christmas season means commuting around the country attending family activities with tons of gifts and a Santa Claus-esque logistic… So in such scenario where your hands are seldom empty, it’s not that I always have my camera hanging around my neck.

As a result, surprisingly for me, I’m using my iPhone to snap photos more than I’d expect. And while this is happening, I’m starting to get serious about it. Not that I ever doubted the growing potential of phone photography, but to be honest I never took it seriously.

This is obviously not comparable to the results I get from my “real” cameras, nothing compared to the dynamic range, the sharpness, the details and overall super high quality outputs of my APS-C, full frame and medium format cameras.

But the point is, it’s not supposed to.

Phone photography it’s good for what it is. It’s digital convenience taking to the extreme. The immediacy is incomparable – no file transfer, no SD cards… I shoot, I edit and I upload to my blog right here, using my iPhone. Everything in one single platform – and the results are very good indeed.

I actually think I could be more inspired and engaged shooting with my iPhone if it had a better grip. I know there are some third party accessories for this, I’ve seen iPhone cases that provide a large external grip and a shutter button.

Perhaps I need to get one… Anyway, as of now I’ll keep shooting as is and – shame on me – my RX1R II will spend more time in the backpack.

Do I feel some guilt?.. Frankly, it doesn’t matter. I shoot for fun, I don’t shoot for my cameras. And right now I’m having fun uncovering the potential of my iPhone.

Cheers for this!