[shark]

I just use my iPhone for pics and vids but get fed up with the battery running out particularly in cold weather.

Just been looking at my partners SonyWX220 and impressed with zoom, image quality, size and the fact he got it off eBay for £30.

Unfortunately none at that price currently. Are there any similar models I should be looking out for?

[Wood FT]

I just use my iPhone for pics and vids but get fed up with the battery running out particularly in cold weather.

Just been looking at my partners SonyWX220 and impressed with zoom, image quality, size and the fact he got it off eBay for £30.

Unfortunately none at that price currently. Are there any similar models I should be looking out for?

What's your phone? Most modern phone cameras are stunning. Really no point in getting a compact camera anymore in my opinion.

I've had a RX100MK4, LUMIX L7s etc and they are nothing on the ease of use an IPhone can give if you're just using it for uploading pics to social media, unless you have a camera capable of taking telephoto lens. Since I got my last phone my rather fancy Fuji just gathers dust. I'm going to buy a drone.

Mine is a 13 pro for reference

[Paul B]

Buy a battery pack?

[shark]

Buy a battery pack?

Got one but it’s a faff

[shark]

What's your phone? Most modern phone cameras are stunning. Really no point in getting a compact camera anymore in my opinion.

Mine is a 13 pro for reference

It’s an iPhone7. Didn’t realise there had been so many releases. Good idea.

[galpinos]

Since I got my last phone my rather fancy Fuji just gathers dust. I'm going to buy a drone.

Are you thinking of selling……?

[teestub]

Some time around the iPhone 10 I think they must have changed something with the batteries, as they seem way less prone to discharging (or indicating that they have discharged) in the cold.

Obviously a more expensive option than a £30 camera though!

[Wood FT]

Since I got my last phone my rather fancy Fuji just gathers dust. I'm going to buy a drone.

Are you thinking of selling……?

When the time comes, I'll post it on here first mates rates. Still umming and ahhing at the moment.

[highrepute]

I have same issues with camera batteries not working in the cold as with my phone.

Something like this battery pack to charge it up surely not too much faff?

[Johnny Brown]

2005 called, it wants it's thread back. Seriously though phones are great if you want to get decent wideangle pics with no effort and then easily publish them on social media. If you want to do anything else a compact still has advantages. Main issue with phones is they handle terribly in my experience, I've never taken one on a multi pitch for fear of dropping it. A proper shutter button and grip is a must. I would more or less ignore the pixel counts, 10 is plenty. There should be a lot of cheap options on ebay, I'm not up on options but I see my Panasonic LX7 has held value quite well which is a good sign. Battery life has already been good, how many phones could you pick up and use after a six month gap? The main issue with all cameras is the clunk of posting online, I went to Rhoscolyn last weekend, took some pics but haven't even copied them to my computer yet whereas my mates pics were on insta the same day.

[galpinos]

Interesting reading the phone/compact debate. I have a few keen photography friends who are of the "I just use my phone now" school but I get a lot less pleasure from taking a photo with my phone. however, I've also "gone off" my RX100 (MkI) as the experience of my Fuji X-T1 is just so much nicer. Bit of a pain to carry but with the cheap XC 15-45 not too bad. Currently lusting after an X-E4 (maybe with the 27mm pancake) for the ultimate multipitch camera.

[jwi]

Even a twenty years old compact is vastly superior to the most expensive phones, if you do any form of post processing.

The only advantage with a phone is that it's also a computer and it can post process the photos using the latest software and post directly to the internet. This is admittedly a huge advantage.

I bring my phone on long routes and have not dropped it yet, but when I did a presentation of some multi pitch routes I've done over the years I was chocked when I saw how much better the photos I took with a cheap compact fifteen years ago was compared to my current phone

[Paul B]

2005 called, it wants it's thread back. Seriously though phones are great if you want to get decent wideangle pics with no effort and then easily publish them on social media. If you want to do anything else a compact still has advantages. Main issue with phones is they handle terribly in my experience, I've never taken one on a multi pitch for fear of dropping it. A proper shutter button and grip is a must. I would more or less ignore the pixel counts, 10 is plenty. There should be a lot of cheap options on ebay, I'm not up on options but I see my Panasonic LX7 has held value quite well which is a good sign.

I can't say a grip is of any importance to me when a camera is coming climbing! The fact is on a MP route, my phone is coming with me regardless so another camera is just that, another piece of kit. I convinced myself that a tiny M4/3rds camera was going to be my MP camera. I've barely used it.

[cheque]

Depends how psyched you are to take pictures/ what type of pictures you want to take/ what you enjoy about photography/ what you want to do with the pictures though doesn’t it?

Over the last few years I gradually  got into the habit of not taking my camera out climbing with me unless I thought I’d definitely get the opportunity to take proper pictures and had many frustrating moments* where all I had was my phone. Ruminating over these moments last winter and partly inspired by this book I “invested” in a smaller version of my camera and swore that in 2022 I’d take it out every single time I went climbing. I haven’t regretted doing that in the slightest; while I haven’t used it every time I’ve had so much fun and got loads of good shots just by having the camera there all the time.

I only took it up a few multipitches though and I’m about to buy the smallest zoom for the system to remedy that in 2023.

All of this is of course as Shark just needs a new phone/ the battery in his current phone replacing by the sound of it.

*1) numerous times presented with a photo opportunity that a ~30mm focal length is useless for
2) The only time a stranger has ever requested that I stop taking pictures of them climbing- never happens when you look like you know what you’re doing
3) Being asked to submit a picture seen on someone’s Facebook page for publication and having to admit that it’s a phone shot that won’t look so good in print
4) Just ugly-looking phone photos. Obviously it’s just superficial thing like colours and textures but it’s frustrating when you know you have a camera that could have made the same shot absolutely beautiful sitting at home
5) Not being motivated to get on a rope to take pictures because all I’d be doing is waving my phone about
6) Shark’s battery problem

[Dolly]

SonyWX220
[/size]£35 on CEX

[YorkshireTea]

I've been using a Lumix lx-15 for the past couple years but the lens has been making progressively worse cracking noises when extending and retracting and now won't zoom past 40mm. I also had it replaced under warranty due to a lens issue in the first 6 months, although I do what I can to keep it clean I think retractable lens and outdoor environments don't mix well.

Even before the current issues I found myself wanting a larger range more regularly and willing to take a slightly larger camera (but not back to DSLR) as it has become more of my business. Any mirrorless recommendations?

[galpinos]

and partly inspired by this book I “invested” in a smaller version of my camera and swore that in 2022 I’d take it out every single time I went climbing.

Intersting Cheque. So....

• What was it about the book that made you change approach (worth getting the book?)
• What camera did you get?

P.S. I've got that image you took of me on Daydreamer on the wall, not sure the phone version would be there!

[lagerstarfish]

I just use my iPhone for pics and vids but get fed up with the battery running out particularly in cold weather.

Just been looking at my partners SonyWX220 and impressed with zoom, image quality, size and the fact he got it off eBay for £30.

Unfortunately none at that price currently. Are there any similar models I should be looking out for?

I've had a couple (3?) of Canon sx220 hs cameras. Decent zoom, optical stabilization and video quality.
Easily available second hand.
Cheap enough so that I don't mind when I drop it, scratch the lens or get dust inside it.
One downside is that I can't power it directly off a USB battery charger/pack for longer filming.
Another is that the batteries drain quickly when using below 0⁰C. Obviously the batteries are all pretty old now.

[cheque]

Intersting Cheque. So....

• What was it about the book that made you change approach (worth getting the book?)
• What camera did you get?

1. He talks about how he has a fancy camera he uses for most stuff (the book’s from 2000 so it’s a Nikon film SLR) but also a plastic-bodied cheaper version he uses with a kit lens “this Nikon looks so chintzy that I seem to purposely abuse it”  when he needs to save weight.

There are photos of him hanging on belays with his camera in a kind of bumbag and shots he’s got of neighbouring teams on big walls and I just had a lightbulb moment reading it.

2. My main camera is a Panasonic S1. A big camera by anybody’s reckoning… my streamlined camera is an S5 which has the same sensor and mount but is much smaller and lighter.

I got the 24-105 f4 to go with it and I keep the two permanently in a toploader-type bag that fits like a glove. That goes in my climbing rucksack now matter what. It’s still a fairly big combo though (I took it to the States this summer and my mate referred to it as “your huge camera” the whole time) and I’m going to get the 20-60mm kit lens and a smaller bag next week with a view to going full Jeff Achey with it.

I've got that image you took of me on Daydreamer on the wall

 

[SA Chris]

I've never taken one on a multi pitch for fear of dropping it.

I got a Punkcase^tm for mine and it took ages to arrive but it's great, waterproof, has coped with drops from about 12 ft (can allegedly deal with higher, but not tested) and with a bit of poking and prodding I replaced the crappy bit of string that goes through the corner of the case with a bit of old 2mm Dyneema to clip into or cinch round wrist.