Travel photography and the search for the best camera to take along on vacation continues. I have been struggling with this issue for years as the idea of going on vacation with my big set of cameras and lenses started being a little too much to handle. Why would I want to have the responsibility of carrying and caring for this expensive heavy set when I want to take some time off work and relax?

I have just come back from a ten-days vacation at Ras-el-Shaitan (view on Google Map) on the red sea in Sinai and have taken my iPhone as the main camera for the first time. there are a few reasons why I decided to do this, one of which is an amazing new application called ‘The Best Camera’ that allows you to creatively edit and share your iPhone images more simply than ever before. I started playing with it a few weeks ago and loved the results. Along with Photoshop app for iPhone I can now get some really cool results from the phone’s camera.

The other reason is that I am a bit exhausted from the perfect image and results of the pro cameras. Digital photography had become so advanced that there is almost no chance of making any mistakes anymore. The iPhone camera, being imperfect and slow at times, enabled me to have to play with the uncertain again. It is difficult to see the screen from an angle, especially when shooting in mid-day light, and the shutter is not as fast so one has to plan well before pressing the ‘click’ button or miss the moment.

On screen, after editing, the images look fantastic and I was very happy. When downloading to the laptop after coming home, there was a bit of disappointment. The image size is not enough for printing although still OK for internet purposes. Being used to the full frame D-700, the images of the iPhone have a lot of noise. I must say that I am still using the iPhone 3G and it is possible that the camera on the new model is far better.

The plus side is that no one suspects you are a photographer and so it is sometimes easier to get close to people and have a good picture without taking too much attention. I can’t wait to have an iPhone with a really high resolution camera that will enable me to actually work like this.

So here it is. For more images go to my facebook gallery or my Flickr page

Moonrise over Ras el Shaitan on the day we arrived. I played with the image color saturation but the vignette creates a circle in the center of the image that almost looks like the sun. I love the colors but the circle is too strong for me.

The low tide exposes the reef completely so people can walk over it looking for sea urchins and star fish.

I actually walked to the edge of the reef during low tide and took this picture standing over the corals and the blue sea. The water is so clear that you don’t even need to dive in order to see the fish. Simply and amazing experience.

My daughter held this inflatable chair against as she was going into the water and I shot directly into the sun using the plastic chair as a filter, hence the dark underexposed colours.

These are the real colours, believe it or not!