After years of packing my professional cameras and lenses on every family trip only to leave them in the bag the whole time, I chose to document our beach vacation entirely with a point and shoot camera.
As a professional lifestyle family photographer, I’m used to complete control over my settings and multiple lenses for precision and intention. But something about the idea of stepping back from all that technical control felt liberating (and really fun).
The experiment was partly about proving to myself that expensive gear is only a piece of the craft. I wanted to remember the why. To feel it.
I know that good photos come from understanding light, composition, and timing, regardless of what’s in my hands to do it with. Even though I always have my phone with me, and it obviously has an excellent camera, I was curious about how changing my tools to something more rudimentary might change my approach to capturing our family memories.
Would I miss the creative control I’m used to? Could I still create images that felt authentic and beautiful?
And most importantly, would this shift allow me to be more present with my family while still documenting our time together?
Over this six day challenge, I was pleasantly surprised and delighted.
I was forced to focus on strengthening composition when other settings weren’t at my disposal. I was stuck with one focal length, and even though I typically shoot with prime lenses, this perspective pushed me to photograph differently.
Some moments were frustrating when the camera couldn’t keep up with motion or my usual precision timing. But other times, I was delighted by the layers that happened unintentionally and gave the images a more natural quality.
In this post, I’m sharing the exact point and shoot camera I chose and why, pros and cons of the simpler gear, and some powerful lessons I learned through the process.
If you’re deciding whether to bring expensive camera gear on your family vacation, or if you’re a photographer curious about intentionally limiting your tools for personal work, I hope this honest account gives you the insight you need!
Read more: Photographing the Holidays and Making Personal Work More Fun (You can also listen to this on the Photo Fuel podcast here on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.)
The Point and Shoot Camera I Chose
I chose the KODAK PIXPRO C1 Zoom Digital Camera. It has 13MP, is super compact, and features a 26mm focal length. I liked its retro design, the fact that it’s rechargeable (no eating batteries), and was excited about the flip selfie feature! It also can take video, which I was excited about experimenting with but ended up not using at all on this trip.
Honestly, I was also eager to find a point and shoot camera under $100.
I wanted a budget-friendly point and shoot that still delivered clear focus and crisp image quality. I didn’t need anything professional since I wanted to limit technical complexity and focus on moments and skill.
I wanted that nostalgic, documentary-style vibe without expensive film or dozens of throw-away polaroids, and this camera delivered.
The ONE time I Reached for My DSLR
I still packed one of my professional cameras for this vacation – the Sony A7Riii with a 35mm lens – because I wasn’t super comfortable with the point and shoot yet. I wanted to make sure I had backup in case the point-and-shoot camera images were completely falling flat. I only reached for it on ONE occasion and ended up photographing for about 5 minutes with it before setting it down again. The family milestone happened indoors in low light, and I didn’t want to risk missing it due to blur or underexposure from the point and shoot.
I’m glad I had both tools to at least have the choice, but mostly , I loved the lighter load of the point and shoot for everyday activities.
The Pros and Cons of Using a Point and Shoot Camera for our Family Vacation Photos
I was nervous to rely on such a comparatively “low-quality” tool for our vacation photos, but was delighted every day by both the experience and results.
Pros:
- Because the camera was so tiny, it felt less intrusive to pull out and take snaps here and there. Naturally, this lent itself to images that feel really authentic and natural, without pretense, and truly in the moment.
- The lack of settings to choose from, or really any manual control, freed me up to focus on the seeing part. I was reminded of the power of composition. (Even though camera does have zoom capability, I didn’t use it once. Like I mentioned, I shoot with prime lenses normally, so I am used to “zooming” with my feet.)
- I photographed more because I was more likely to pack the point and shoot in my crossbody pouch for trips like mini-golfing and to the beach vs toting my whole camera bag. I also wasn’t as concerned with it getting damaged in the sand, water, heat, etc.
- The point and shoot camera shines in natural light (which is also my favorite kind). Photographing outdoors or with good indoor light was easy and produced those lovely nostalgic color tones straight out of camera.
- THE SELFIE FLIPBACK FEATURE. Okay, this is SO FUN. And also, the only way I made it into these vacation photos.
Cons:
- The limited creative control with settings also means shutter speed and aperture were unadjustable. Photographing the moving, curious babies and playful running could be frustrating when the images turned into a big blur.
- The point and shoot camera struggles in low light. Sure you can use the built in flash – and flash is really having a moment right now – but for quick and candid, natural-looking shots, it was rough indoors.
- Less flexibility in post-processing workflow – but again, highly processed photos were not the point. I wanted straight-out-of-camera material, so while I applied some general edits, no huge adjustments were needed. The lack of higher image quality or RAW files wasn’t a deal-breaker.
Lessons I Took Away from a week of Photographing with my Point and Shoot Camera.
1. The Power of Composition
I’m a big believer that constraints breed creativity, and this was completely true of the point and shoot camera.
- Without settings to wiggle with, I had to be more choose-y about what I photographed and how. The extremely wide lens forced me into horizontal framing when I typically gravitate towards vertical orientations.
- I became acutely aware of what I included in the frame, which opened my mind about what’s ‘acceptable’ and ‘beautiful.” Because of this, I captured things with a more documentary slant than usual, and the results brought in some special touches I may have otherwise missed.
- I tend to get a little… wonky when it comes to alignment. IE: not straight. Using this little camera forced me to focus on purposeful lines and and focus; without other settings to rise in importance, composition became the leading lady again.
2. No hiding bad light
When shooting RAW and manual, you have a lot more flexibility with correcting lighting and exposure in post-processing. This format makes it abundantly clear how the light is falling – there’s no hiding where shadows fall or how directional light affects the subject.
It was a great reminder about using light purposefully.
3. Creative approaches to motion and depth:
- Blur is having its moment as an artistic choice, and honestly, I’m not a fan. HOWEVER, this opened my eyes somewhat to the nostalgic quality it creates. Point and shoot cameras don’t boast great motion capturing, which made working with kids really tricky. But one of the most pleasant surprises was that some of the slightly out of focus images still felt right. Can’t explain it, but I liked it.
- Point and shoot cameras aren’t as quick on the shutter as DSLRs, so the timing isn’t always precisely what you intended. And honestly? This was a pleasant surprise, too. Some of the unintentional layering that happened as people came in and out of a frame made for more interesting images that the ones I intended to make. Safe to say, I’ll be working on making them on purpose now.
4. Presence matters
Challenging myself with a more basic photography tool forced me to prioritize presence and noticing, and really, isn’t that what photography is all about? It’s really easy to get bogged down with settings and tools and gear, but when you strip that all away, you can either take a great image or a bad image with any tool.
Using the point and shoot camera for our family vacation photos made the whole experience more fun, but also opened my eyes to little delights, not taking it too seriously, and enjoying the act of freezing a moment for exactly what it is.
Should you try point and shoot for your next family vacation?
If your goal is super high-quality, professional looking photographs – by all means, bring your professional gear! Creating beautiful family vacation photos isn’t about the gear so much as it’s about the goal. If your goal is super high-quality, professional looking photographs – bring your professional gear! If you’re looking to practice with your professional gear in personal context or want to make personal work that feels like your professional work to use in portfolios and submissions or just because you love it, that’s great!!
But this experiment reminded me of my photography foundations and brought me back to the fun of it —and that was my goal. Going simpler with my gear helped me feel excited about capturing moments on the fly without expectations or technicalities. It helped me focus on the moment.
Whether you’re a parent looking for vacation photography tips that prioritize presence over perfection, or a fellow photographer curious about stepping outside your comfort zone, there’s something liberating about embracing simpler tools.
The point and shoot camera experiment taught me that when we focus less on having the “right” gear and more on seeing beautiful moments as they unfold, we often end up with exactly the kind of family vacation photos we were hoping for all along.
Featured in these photos:
House rental by Wander
Chef for several of our prepared dinners (including the gorg bbq setup!) : My Mike Cooks
You might also like:
Personal: The Future of Parenting (essay)
For Photographers: Tips for Extended Family Photos
Podcast: Photographing the Holidays and Making Personal Work More Fun
