I took three phones to Europe, but only used my Fujifilm pocket camera

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Taking a vacation — especially in my line of work — is often easier said than done. Not because I have a particularly strict schedule or a demanding boss but because the constant stream of smartphone launches throughout the year makes it hard to decide which one (or ones) to bring with me. While most people sit down to double-check whether or not they have enough pairs of underwear packed for a few days away, I sit down to see how many phones I can pack before the TSA thinks I’m a smuggler (I’ve yet to figure out the number, by the way).

So, when I headed off to Amsterdam for a few days off ahead of running my second marathon, I decided I’d bring three great camera phones with me: the iPhone 16 Pro, which still held my personal SIM; the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, which I was in the process of reviewing; and the Google Pixel 8a, which I had just picked up for a six-month revisit. All told, I was heading off with eight modern camera sensors to capture my adventure, which seemed like more than I could need. And yet, I pretty much ignored them all in favor of one much simpler, much less flexible camera — my Fujifilm X100V ($2,120 refurbished on Amazon). Here’s why.




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