I am finally reviewing some of the pictures from our recent vacation to Spain that were shot on our Sony NER 5X instead of my iPhone XS.

A few observations on photography.

  • The Sony photos still look better, mostly because they seem to do a far better job with dynamic range and noise.
  • I take worse photos with the Sony camera, I think because the screen for previews is less good and difficult to see in bright lights. Additionally, the larger body means that I feel more awkward doing the work of physically moving to better frame my photos.
  • It’s so freeing to take lots of pictures and delete many.
  • It’s amazing what a small amount of cropping, color and light adjustments, and retouching can do for a photo. Spending 60-90s per photo makes a world of difference, and I don’t know what I’m doing at all.
  • I really enjoy having true optical zoom, even with the kit lens. I think I’m going to end up either buying more lenses for the Sony or picking up a new camera soon to step up my game.

Here’s two pictures… can you tell which is which, even after processing and being resized?

A close up in San Sabastian Another close up in San Sabastian