I recently wrote about how our smartphones have replaced many items in our life becoming a multitasking tool that we can use in just about any aspect of day to day living. One of those items listed was the camera as I, along with many others, now stick to using my phone camera and my old digital camera is gathering dust in the cupboard.

To show how much my phone snapper has made my digital camera obsolete I even left it at home during my recent trip to Italy, instead opting for using the camera on my Note 2 instead.

I did debate about this for a while before going, could I really leave my 20-megapixel digital camera at home and just use the 8-megapixel camera on my phone? Well yes I can and I did.

One of the advantages of this was that I didn’t have to cram another item into my handbag, and as I had downsized to a little handbag for travelling around this was very much a good thing .

Another benefit of just using my smartphone camera was that I could share my snaps instantly with friends on Facebook, Twitter or Whatsapp. With my digital camera I would have had to take the cable for transferring pictures as well as a laptop to put them on so I was able to travel much lighter than usual. My friends may have become bored of my constant sharing, but I rather enjoyed being able to show everyone the amazing things that I was seeing.

Inside the Coloseum, taken using “Panorama Shot”

One of my concerns was that the smartphone camera wouldn’t capture everything I was seeing or would lose detail or clarity, but I needn’t have been concerned as the results were fantastic.

Naples

The large screen on my Galaxy Note also meant that we could browse through the days sightseeing at dinner each evening and re-live the wonder of it all, something I couldn’t do on the tiny screen on my digital camera.

View of Vesuvius from Naples

I don’t particularly use lots of filters or faff much with snaps when taken (even if they probably could do with it) so I possibly didn’t put the camera through its full paces but I have to say I am more than happy with what I captured.

Statue of Homer on the Naples Archaeological Museum

My hundreds of photos from Rome, Naples and Pompeii are now on my laptop and they stand up just as well when viewed on the big screen and I for one am a complete convert to using my smartphone camera above anything else.

Villa Dei Misteri, Pompeii

Professional photographers and DSLR users, of course, will want something more than their smartphone can offer but for the average holiday snapper the smartphone camera is more than enough and as my 8-megapixel camera is now only considered mid-range from what you get these days more recent models will offer even better images.

Would you leave your camera at home and use your smartphone on your holiday instead? Have you done this and been happy or unhappy with the results? Share your story with us in the comments below or join us on Google+.

Written by: Carmel Brown