It is said that the best camera in the world is the one that you have in your hand at the time, I usually carried a small compact in the car – a Canon A2300. It  was a jolly good little camera, with a decent resolution and a not bad optical zoom. But on the odd occassion where it wasn’t in the car, I would take the photograph with my mobile phone.

The phone has been a permanent attachment for a number of years now, so it is very rare that I don’t have it on me. So how does the phone compare with the Canon A2300. Well with all the functionality of the phone aside, just comparing the pictures – actually it does OK.

In the 20 or so years that I lived in Skye, I was sans camera for almost 200 visiting aircraft. Some I had photographed with the DSLR or the Canon on previous visits, but quite a number were just on their way through to somewhere else so just take the picture.

As you can see from the picture above, the quality of the image is not too bad and certainly a lot better than no image.

Within a few minutes of where I lived on Skye, there were two airstrips and a number of helicopter landing sites that were used on a regular basis. These were not heavilly used as I worked away most of the time, it is difficult to gauge how many movements. But if there was ever anything in at Plockton or Broadford (Ashaig), I’d pop in and photograph it – usually taking a picture of the con plate as well.

And the camera on the phone did the job admirably, so I for one don’t mind taking a picture with phone if it is all that I have.