Best Camera for Travel? LG G4 Phone!

 

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Sunrise at Diplomat Resort & Spa, Photo Credit: Lisa Niver, LG G4

People often ask me about my travel photos. “What do you use to take those great pictures?” they ask. I carry one camera around the world, my LG G4 phone. I can highly recommend it for many reasons.

The LG G4 uses Google play for buying android apps which is very easy to use. Sign into the phone with your Google ID and synch easily with Gmail and Google Calendar.  This phone uses a 3,000 mAh battery which can be removed. I carry a second battery when I am traveling and I never run out of power. I can always charge one battery on a small external power bank.

I use a Trident cyclops case and have added a camera strap so that the phone is more secure when I am taking photos over the side of a boat or on the edge of a mountain. I have accidentally dropped the phone while in the case and never had a problem. The photo below was shot from my 17th story hotel room window at sunrise in Jerusalem and honestly I nearly dropped the phone! Thank goodness for the camera strap around my wrist! To see LG G4 video of the same sunrise: click here.

Sunrise in Jerusalem, Israel October 2015 Shot on LG G4
Sunrise in Jerusalem, Israel October 2015 Shot on LG G4

I have traveled with many groups of travel writers, photographers and videographers this year; everyone has been impressed with the quality of the photos from this incredible phone camera. They are impressed with the large screen which at  5.5-inches is bigger than the Galaxy S5.  The camera has a 16 megapixel f1.8 camera lens with optical image stabilization and laser autofocus. The front sensor is 8 megapixel so you can take amazing selfie photos. The manual mode will allow you to shoot like a professional with the option to  fine tune each exposure with advanced controls usually seen only on DSLR cameras. Capture your moment with high quality RAW files,  adjust your images exposure +/- 2 stops, use ISO 50 to 2700 to suit the environment or your style. The color spectrum sensor detects white balance levels from 2400 to 7400 Kelvin. Adjust the shutter speed as slow as 30seconds to as fast as 1/6000 for fast-action shots or leave it on automatically and let it do its magic!

When I traveled in St. Kitts with two other travel writers, they carried between them 3 phones, 2 DSLR cameras, and 3 Go-Pros. After our trip, I made six videos about our time together. After I shared photos from the trip in my article for USA Today, one of the other writers said, “You did all that with your phone?” She was impressed with the quality of all of my photos and videos.

In September 2015, I was invited to speak on a panel at the Western Regional Marketing Conference for Fairmont Hotels at the Fairmont Miramar. There was some disbelief that the LG phone could have a better camera than the iPhone. So I took a photo with my LG G4 and with Michelle’s iPhone. Everyone wanted an LG G4 after this set of photos!

fairmont nov iphone photofairmont photo LG G$

In August 2015, Digital Trends said: “The LG G4 is the best smartphone of 2015, and its camera is so good that it often outperforms the iPhone 6 Plus.” I have to agree!

All the buttons are on the back of the phone, so turning it on or changing the volume happens from the back. If you want to play music without headphones, I would bring an external speaker.

Let me know any questions you want answered about the LG G4, for me it is essential to my traveling, photography, video and writing. See more of my videos on my YouTube channel or on my website. Thank you! Lisa Niver

LG G4 Specs

5.5-inch 2560 × 1440 Quantum-HD Display

6-core Snapdragon 808 processor with 3GB of RAM

32GB internal storage (Micro-SD expansion up to 128GB)

16 megapixel f1.8 camera with OIS+, laser auto-focus, 8 megapixel front camera

Android 5.1 Lollipop

WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, 4G LTE, FM Radio Antenna, and Infrared laser for remote

3,000 mAh battery with wireless charging

Genuine leather in 6 different colors

VIDEO: Sunrise in Jerusalem

Lisa Ellen Niver

Lisa Niver is an award-winning travel expert who has explored 102 countries on six continents. This University of Pennsylvania graduate sailed across the seas for seven years with Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Renaissance Cruises and spent three years backpacking across Asia. Discover her articles in publications from AARP: The Magazine and AAA Explorer to WIRED and Wharton Magazine, as well as her site WeSaidGoTravel. On her award nominated global podcast, Make Your Own Map, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors, and as a journalist has been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded three Southern California Journalism Awards and two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist twenty-two times. Named a #3 travel influencer for 2023, Niver talks travel on broadcast television at KTLA TV Los Angeles, her YouTube channel with over 2 million views, and in her memoir, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty.

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