Connecting digital camera to phone

[alsoknownasDean]

Hello all,

I'm planning on travelling next month, and my cheap Huawei smartphone's camera probably won't cut it for decent holiday snaps. I had a look at my parents' place and found my old Canon digital camera.

Now whilst overseas I'd like to be able to copy the photos from the digital camera to the phone (backups, sending to family, etc). It'd be nice if I could just plug it in (or use an SD card to USB reader), but my phone doesn't support USB OTG.

What should I do? I'd like to travel light, so taking my chunky 15" laptop isn't an option. Do I just swap microSD cards whenever I want to copy photos over (the Huawei has a microSD slot)? Do I buy one of those wifi enabled SD cards? Do I take my spare phone (which does support USB OTG) and just deal with carrying two phones? :)

[trashmanz]

Not sure your old camera even takes better photos depending on how old.

Also you can upload from a net cafe as another option.

[nnls]

Hello all,

I'm planning on travelling next month, and my cheap Huawei smartphone's camera probably won't cut it for decent holiday snaps. I had a look at my parents' place and found my old Canon digital camera.

Now whilst overseas I'd like to be able to copy the photos from the digital camera to the phone (backups, sending to family, etc). It'd be nice if I could just plug it in (or use an SD card to USB reader), but my phone doesn't support USB OTG.

What should I do? I'd like to travel light, so taking my chunky 15" laptop isn't an option. Do I just swap microSD cards whenever I want to copy photos over (the Huawei has a microSD slot)? Do I buy one of those wifi enabled SD cards? Do I take my spare phone (which does support USB OTG) and just deal with carrying two phones? :)

does canon have an app compatible with your phone and that camera? I can transfer photos direct from my digital camera to my phone using wifi and the panasonic app.

[alsoknownasDean]

does canon have an app compatible with your phone and that camera? I can transfer photos direct from my digital camera to my phone using wifi and the panasonic app.

I checked, but my camera isn't supported (it doesn't have wifi). I bought the camera back in 2008 (it's an A720IS).

Not sure your old camera even takes better photos depending on how old.

Also you can upload from a net cafe as another option.

I assumed that the digital camera would have better optics and a slightly better sensor (although both are 8MP) than anything a cheap smartphone can offer. I could be wrong though.

Net cafe is an option, but I'm not sure due to the risk of malware on net cafe PCs.

[Grogounet]

I had the issue before and what I recommend is investing into a Samsung S6 or Iphone that takes great picture and be sure that you back up to Icloud or Google photos.
The reason? While you travel, you can lose your SD cards (did it), your camera (twice), or be robbed (once) and I only wish that I had cloud back up.

Now, this only applies is you're not a pro photographer with your own Canon DSLR obviously. Saying this, with the pix you can get from an I7 or S7... Mamamia, just the phone is enough IMO

[alsoknownasDean]

I had the issue before and what I recommend is investing into a Samsung S6 or Iphone that takes great picture and be sure that you back up to Icloud or Google photos.
The reason? While you travel, you can lose your SD cards (did it), your camera (twice), or be robbed (once) and I only wish that I had cloud back up.

Now, this only applies is you're not a pro photographer with your own Canon DSLR obviously. Saying this, with the pix you can get from an I7 or S7... Mamamia, just the phone is enough IMO

I could get a new phone (and there's some excellent deals around), but I'm not sure if it's the Mustachian option. :)

At this point I'm leaning towards taking the second phone (and connecting the camera to the phone and uploading to Dropbox or Google Photos over wifi). At least then I can use the local SIM in it and leave my Aussie SIM in my main device. I was hoping to travel light and carry just the one, but it's probably not viable.

I even considered buying a cheap tablet for travel use, but I've got enough electronic stuff in my life right now :)

[alsoknownasDean]

I ended up taking two phones, but used my phone for a fair bit of photography (especially earlier on). I was able to hook up the spare phone to the camera and download the photos via a USB OTG cable, and upload them to Google Photos whenever I was on WiFi (although I did do a lot of that after arriving home as WiFi was flaky in some hotels). I also had to buy another SD card while I was overseas as I filled the old one, and kept the SD card and my Aussie SIM in a secure spot in my bag with my passport.

As for camera photo quality, it's tough to compare. My phone worked better in low light, but my camera would focus way faster and had optical zoom. Had I a top end phone I probably would have just taken it and been happy, but I'm glad I took the dedicated camera. The added benefit is not wearing down the battery on my phone as quickly as I would have with just the phone.

Had I not run the risk of screwing things up by swapping microSD cards, I could have just swapped a microSD card into my main phone and uploaded on wifi from there, but one of my SD cards was a full size one.