Timely

Smartphone only. I used my Galaxy S7 on last holiday and the photo quality was great. I've even had a couple of photos blown up to super A3 for framing. Only drawback is the lack of an optical zoom.

An eg. of how well smartphone cameras have evolved ... this from my S7

dafman:

 

Smartphone only. I used my Galaxy S7 on last holiday and the photo quality was great. I've even had a couple of photos blown up to super A3 for framing. Only drawback is the lack of an optical zoom.

 

An eg. of how well smartphone cameras have evolved ... this from my S7

 

 

 

 

There is no doubt a Smartphones takes a great photo.  My point was, if you want a photo of only the 3rd bike on the right from the position you took that photo... you either

a) Get a real camera with a decent lens

b) Use the "zoom" function of your phonahahahaha ok that's not really an option

or c) Get closer but that defeats my "from that position" bit above. Plus you'll probably get run over.

If smartphones had lens-kits that'd be perfect.  The quality is great, but you're very limited otherwise.

Here's the bad news for camera makers - and the good news for makers of smartphones:

https://petapixel.com/2017/03/03/latest-camera-sales-chart-reveals-death-compact-camera/

The "compact" camera is dying / almost dead.

The more "serious" interchangeable lens cameras are hanging in there, albeit on reduced sales volume which may be more to do with market saturation (many people with an interest already have something more than adequate - and no compelling reason to update). Rumours are around that Ricoh may shut down / sell off Pentax camera division.  

I'm generally very happy with the camera on the Nexus 5x.  The newer dual camera phones are another step on the grave of compact cameras - and will probably start eating into sales of smaller format interchangeable lens cameras.

However, you can't really get over the physics limiting performance of the relatively tiny sensors on smartphones, those being shot noise limiting low-light performance, diffraction limiting resolution, and the relationship between sensor size, lens focal length and aperture on depth of field. 

We use both, but for a time we only took our phones. They are ok, but when you go back to a dslr you realise what youre missing (like optic zoom, shutter speed and so on).

It IS a pain though, especially if you go with a group of people you dont know and want to join in the fun with others. A phone is discrete and easy to hide, a dslr is not.

Both, DSLR gets taken to most holiday activities but there are times where it is too bulky to carry, phone is perfect in these situations.

I use my (well work's) Samsung S6 for snaps, my Sony A6000 for photos.

I just use my iPhone 6 Plus. I honestly can't be bothered with anything else any more. 99% of the holiday photos I take are of people or things that are only a few feet away anyway, so I don't miss lugging the DSLR and array of lenses around one bit.

Smartphone only.  

/me dons fireproof suit

The reality is I'm not a photographer so when I take a photo I'm not trying to capture some amazing artistic shot, I'm just trying to capture a piece of a memory; all I want is something that I can look at in the future and say "Oh yeah, I remember thing X on trip Y. It was awesome." For me, a smartphone is good enough for this and far more convenient than DSLR or similar.

My phone (Galaxy S7) takes good photos and is pretty much always on me. So it's good for casual snaps and situations where I want to take a photo spontaneously, or hadn't anticipated the need. I really like the cameras on modern smartphones, they have improved dramatically.

But it's still no substitute for even my 6-7 year old DSLR (which is overdue for an upgrade when I can afford it). With its external flash and selection of lenses (which means I can cover 16-450mm, 35mm equivalent), decent sensor size, full range of manual controls, remote shutter release and fast optical zooming etc - it simply blows even the best phones out of the water.

If I'm going somewhere where I know there will be memorable photos taken, then its DSLR all the way.

I've been using the camera on my smartphone for years and find it does a pretty good job. I used to use a SLR digital camera but sold it as I felt it just wasn't being used enough. Granted the smartphone doesn't take pictures quite in the same way however, it doesn't do a bad job. Having the microSD card means it's easy and convenient when I want to stick it on my laptop :-)