This is the first of two last posts on our trip, and jotting down my notes for how each equipment item that came for the trip fared. I’m comparing this trip to the one in Chubu-Kanto Japan last December and not the more recent family trip to Cebu in June this year: this is because the the South Korea trip has more in similarity to our vacations in Japan for several years now in length, type of places we visited, and also weather. Specifically, I took a large number of Drone videos in Cebu, which is why the storage used unusually large.
The dedicated imaging devices on this trip were:
Sony A6600 with the Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 DC DN lens. The Sony 18-135mm kit lens stayed home this year.
Sony RX100 VII in the second major outing
In addition, we had three smartphones between us: the missus and my Samsungs S24 Ultra, and the daughter’s S21 Ultra. And there was also the Samsung Tab S9 which was my mobile blogging tool. Yep, we’re still a Samsung family through and through! Photo and video numbers-wise, here’s the tally post-trip:
Sony RX100 VII: 372 .ARW RAW format (keeping 263/ 5.12GB pictures)
Sony A6600: 292 .ARW RAW format (keeping 216/5.05GB pictures)
Samsung S24 Ultra (Yang): 7,557 photos in JPG (keeping 5,104/29.4GB pictures) + 240/58.7GB videos (keeping 229/58.3GB videos)
Samsung S24 Ultra (Ling): 1,058 photos in JPG (4.27GB) + 89/10.8GB videos
Samsung S21 Ultra (H): 685 photos in JPG (2.4GB) + 25/1.07GB videos
When put into a table of comparison of photos taken using cameras and smartphones over our family trips since 2017:
| Trip | Photos taken | Videos taken | Storage used | Photos kept | Keeper rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Australia (2017) | 5,828 | No records | 77GB | 3,331 | 57.2% |
| Taiwan (2018) | 7,422 | 182 | 148GB | 4,200 | 56.5% |
| Maldives (2019) | 2,320 | 137 | 82.4GB | 1,518 | 65.4% |
| Chūgoku & Kyushu (2019) | 4,951 | 149 | 144GB | 3,283 | 66.3% |
| Kanagawa & Hokkaido (2019) | 7,652 | 216 | 309GB | 5,076 | 66.3% |
| Kansai (2022) | 7,683 | 429 | 196.2GB | 5,539 | 72.9% |
| Hanoi (2023) | 3,137 | 87 | 46.2GB | 2,090 | 66.6% |
| Chubu-Kanto (2023) | 11,663 | 372 | 146.93GB | 8,042 | 68.9% |
| Cebu (2024) | 2,649 | 276 (including drones) | 192.5GB | 2,319 | 87.5% |
| Busan-Suncheon-Seoul (2024) | 9.964 | 354 | 106GB | 6,805 | 68.3% |
The number of pictures we took this time were quite a fair bit less than the Chubu-Kanto trip last December. I reckon this is because of several reasons. Firstly, the kind of places we visited there compared to South Korea: specifically, we visited and spent time exploring a higher proportion of built-up areas, including shopping streets. We visited a number of gardens in Japan trips, and routinely just go nuts with the photo-taking. Then there were also trips like the DMZ where we didn’t (as in not were largely not permitted to) take many pictures. And lastly, odd as it might sound, weather does play a big part: falling snow and snow-covered landscapes make for very pictureseque views that we want to capture, and that sort of setting was largely lacking in this South Korea trip.
Perhaps tellingly too: my use of the Sony A6600 this trip. In the recent Japan trips – Kanagawa/Hokkaido in 2019, Kansai in 2022, and Chubu-Kanto in 2023 – an interchangeable lens camera – whether it was the Sonys A73 or the A6600 – always came along and did most of the photo-taking. This is the first trip to a wintering country where the ILC wasn’t the primary image-capturing device, and by a huge margin even. Part of it again is that I’ve always tended not to use ILCs in street photography. But the other is that the weight of these gear is really impacting my desire to bring them out! The Sony RX100 VII was pretty useful this trip as it fitted nicely into my winter jacket pocket, but the limited dynamic range affected what I could get out in post-processing. This is something I’m going to have to continue observing: if we visit Japan in December 2025, or maybe even China – yes, I’m putting together a drawer itinerary for Chengdu in Dec 2025 – the Sony A6600 will be coming again, but if it doesn’t get used much, then perhaps it’s indeed a signal for me to consider retiring all of my ILC systems. The camera systems on the S24Us are so capable right now, as are also features like ‘fake’ bokeh, make these smartphones extremely capable and sufficient for all but the most discerning enthusiasts. And the intelligence processing it does is extremely good: e.g. in the night shots of Gwangali Beach, or the almost usable out of phone pictures on Day 18 over South Korea when we were flying returning home: the S24U was able to tease out detail and auto color-contrast, balance and automatically remove haze layers to a degree that I could not replicate with the RX100 VII RAW files.
Another note on mobile data on the go. The four Samsung devices were all eSIM ready, but I picked up two eSIM cards to use for the daughter’s S21U and my Tab S9, and two nano-SIM cards for the wife and my S24Us. I guess this is finally because we’re so highly dependent on Internet access that making use of e-SIMs only make me a little nervous!
Finally, my takeaways for the next trip, and assuming we’re going to another cold weather country in Dec 2025:
Bring the Sony A6600 and the Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 to use as general purpose lenses, and my last attempt to see if it’s time for me to give up on ILCs.
Bring the Sony RX100 VII because it’s super-portable.
Samsung S24 Ultras for the win, and maybe even the S25U that should be getting announced in January 2025.
Continue to use a combination of eSIMs and Nano-SIMs for mobile data.
Next post on final notes of this trip!