I have an iPhone 3G which has a 2 megapixel camera, and takes average photographs as demonstrated on my trip to New York. However I was rummaging around on Flicker the other day and came across this photograph:

I accept that it isn’t perhaps the greatest photograph ever, or even that I have taken, but for a cameraphone shot I was struck by its sharpness, colour and quality of light. Then I realised that it was taken almost five years ago by a 2 megapixel cameraphone: my Sony Ericsson K750i.

So was this:

And this:

I don’t believe that the iPhone would have taken any of these photographs anywhere near as well; so much for progress.

I’d forgotten about my K750i until I saw these photos, and I’ll admit to having become more than a little nostalgic for it. It was a lovely, compact, solid little phone with, as we can see, a great camera.

It is of course woefully ill equipped compared today’s ‘smartphones’, but it did what it was designed to do very well, very well indeed. It made phone calls, and took great photographs both of which the iPhone struggles with.

I’ll admit when I saw the Buy button on this page I was rather tempted, and then quickly disappointed when I found that it wasn’t still in the Sony Ericsson store. I guess the spiritual successor is the C902, and I will admit the idea of a good quality camera in my pocket again is very tempting.

And then when you see a K750i running Google Mail I begin to wonder if I really need need an iPhone.

Here are some more photographs taken with my K750i; this one is a particular favourite.

In Naples when a customer is particularly happy with their espresso they will pay for two; the second being the suspended espresso.

Then when somebody who is homeless, or down on their luck comes to the cafe they can ask if there are any coffees in suspense; and then have a coffee courtesy of the first customer. What a lovely idea.

I’ve been very lucky to visit some amazingly photographic places and have been very pleased with the photos I have taken on my travels. The photos that I have shared on Flickr are available under Creative Commons licence so that others can use them and if I’m honest in the hope that one or more would maybe be published. This is a very nice first step but I’d really love to see one of my photos in print.

You see I have a unspoken goal to “get into” travel photography; not as a full-time job but as “side line” or hobby. Although, who knows maybe one day when my Premium Bonds come up it could be a full time hobby.I’m especially proud of the photos I took in Tokyo and India; in both locations it was impossible to turn around without seeing another great photograph waiting to be taken.

What I especially like about the photo chosen for inclusion in the Schamp guide is that it was one I took with my phone. Proving that you don’t need expensive cameras and lenses just an eye for the defining moment.