Snap Decisions

The most appropriate of British summer might have passed, but it is never too late to go object looking serve afield.

Alongside food poisoning and jetlag, receiving photographs is an necessary segment of the legal holiday experience.

But airlines' less-than-generous hand baggage stipend means you might have to make tough decisions about that camera to take.

Is the the additional weight and bulk of an SLR camera value the hassle? Can legal holiday snappers obtain divided with a decent mobile phone camera? Or would a condensed offer the most appropriate of both worlds?

In the name of investigate we sacrificed most of my outfits and instead took a smartphone, a mid-range condensed camera and an SLR on legal holiday to see how they fared against any other in a semi-wild environment, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

Over 3,500 animals live in the complex. The safari debate had a preference of print scenarios for testing, inclusive close-ups, rapid greeting shots and far-reaching landscapes.

Model: (Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc)

Weight: 117g in addition to charger, 8.1MP camera

Size: 125.0 x 63.0 x 8.7 mm - SMALL

The phone achieved notably well in landscape mode, with poetic far-reaching point of view shots of the scenery and pleasing colours.

Close-up shots were favourable, even at around 20cm (8 inches) from the subject.

Auto-focus meant all we had to consider was composition, nonetheless we was at the forgiveness of the phone for a lot of the settings - great for point-and-shoot opportunistic pictures, but we longed for a decent visual zoom, so a few animal cinema looked a small distant.

It was easy to share images online over wifi (never with in motion 3G information charges!) but we had to be aware of battery life in box we indispensable to make any calls - discussing of which, the phone rang that then meant we had to answer it instead of tear a rhino being fed apples by a small child.

Perfect for: Weekend town breaks, amicable occasions, and unintentional sharpened where the action is shut to you.

Model: (Nikon P7000)

Weight: 360g in addition to charger, 10.1MP camera

Size: 114.0 x 77.0 x 45 mm - MEDIUM

These advance in all shapes and sizes, but we used a mid-range condensed with a few modernized features similar to being able to arrange the orifice and exposure.

The camera was user-friendly, and gave glorious high quality photos without the bitch of having to change lenses or surroundings it to anything in particular.

It had a built-in flash, and additional settings is to brave to twiddle with, together with a video mode. However, when receiving photos, the shade was tough to see in the object - and the many buttons were a small fiddly.

For cinema that compulsory a rapid wizz in, it was tough to obtain late-reaction shots, as the camera was not as manageable as expected.

Overall a great entertainer - it was probable to change shots and fool around around with height of field, that should keep most people happy.

Perfect for: Sightseeing, unintentional shooting, close-up and remote shots, imaginative photography.

Model: Canon 5D in addition to 3 lenses and filters

Weight: 6.5kg inclusive horse and bag

Size: 152.0 x 113.5 x 75.0mm - BIG

This was the largest and most complex of the three, inclusive swappable lenses and filters.

Of march an SLR is a pro camera that can take unequivocally high high quality images incredibly swift at varying distances.

Changing the lens to make the correct shot authorised for additional flexibility, and the on the whole picture high quality was (unsurprisingly) impressive.

From eye to shot it felt instantaneous, and being able to add, say, a polarizing filter to the lens authorised for even more manage over the consequent picture.

However, when a giraffe leant in to the caravan, we had to end and change the lens before receiving a picture, then change it once again for other shot, whilst others were active capturing the event.

Perfect for: Photo addicts who are going to take their dear camera anyway, strong-shouldered types, assured SLR-users on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday.

Holidays might be a great time to obtain cozy with new kit, depending on our thought of fun, but that camera obviously creates it in to carry-on still waste a matter of particular preference and compromise, not different all else we fill up for a holiday.

The assessment did show that after using a more modernized camera, it might be harder to move down to a reduction adjustable model.

For example, my travelling confidante - an SLR fan - was tender by the compact, but mentioned they would still take their SLR to most events, be they socialising, sunsets or safaris.

Below are a few scenarios that might help with decisions about what to choose.