When I noted  a few days ago the equipment I was planning to take with me to Cuba, I forgot one essential item.  It is the most popular camera in the world--a cellphone.  I am definately not a photo-purist.  Although I have a good amount of expensive and sophisticated Nikon photo equipment, I would rank my Iphone as one of my most important photographic devices.  Why? Because I am a subscriber to the maximum that the best camera is the one you have with you when you need to capture an image ASAP.  I have my cellphone camera with me at all times,  I can whip it quickly out and grab a shot in a few seconds.  I can think of several instances where I got a great shot because I had the phone, and not the Nikon, readily available (see below).

The captures the Iphone makes are actually quite good--and the sensor is larger than the one in my first Nikon camera--a d50.  The editing software in the latest release is excellent and there are a number of very good free photo editing apps available from the Apple Store.  It is noteworthy that National Geographic, in addition to its many photo workshops for DSLR shooters, also offers classes in how to take great images with a cellphone.  It may also be argued that the cellphone has become the standard and the DSLR is the outlier.  Instagram, Facebook and other social media sites are much more "friendly" to cellphone photos than those taken with a DSLR.  Also, the cellphone is on the tip of the cultural phenomena know as the "Selfie."  

There is a downside to all this, of course.  As cellphones have become ubiquitious, jobs for and appreciation of photographers have declined, especially in all major print publications including, most recently "Sports Illustrated."  Photographers may not like cellphones but they are here to stay, and are get better all the time.  For me, I know I am taking my cellphone with me to Cuba, as I did when I went to Antarctica.  I plan on having it ready to get that great shot that I might have missed trying to get my Nikon ready to fire.