Ollantaytambo, iPhone 6 Pano
With all of its amazing wonders, Peru is one those “bucket list” destinations. Amazing culture, giant megaliths, the Andes mountains, and the largest fresh water lake in South America make it a favorite for anyone wanting a little adventure. So you can imagine my excitement when my wife and I signed up for a three week trip back in 2017 to see the sights of Peru!
As a photographer, I was of course most interested in the image opportunities, but as it happens this particular tour was centered around the Q’ero of the high Andes. We would be traveling with a few of their “Paqos”, or spiritual leaders, to many of the sacred sites around Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Lake Titicaca. Being on a tour as such, there were all of the usual limitations such as time restrictions, location restrictions, itinerary limitations and so on.
While I could write pages and pages about Peru, the culture and sites, I will restrict this article to my experience using the two point and shoots that I brought along to capture the trip – a Canon G1X, a Nikon Coolpix A, and of course my trusted iPhone. The Canon has a built in zoom (28-112 equivalent), 1.5” sensor, flip up screen and the ability to shoot raw. The Nikon has a fixed 28mm (equivalent) F2.8 lens, and an APS sized sensor shared by the D7000 DSLR, and also shoots raw files. You can read more about both cameras in the Articles section. The iPhone I was using at the time was the version 6. My hope was that between these two cameras and the phone I would have everything I needed to get some great images in Peru.
To follow along as we go through Peru, check out the little video I made of the trip below. Mind you that there are far more images here than I would normally show on a blog site – it was really just something to show our friends where we went and what we saw – it’s about 26 minutes long.
If you’d rather not sit through the whole video, here are some images and takeaways from using the two cameras on the trip. While I was hoping to take the DSLR, I have to say that I didn’t miss it, and I was satisfied with the quality of the images that I got. I definitely appreciated the small size of the point and shoots over a big DSLR with a heavy lens attached. The Coolpix A was especially small, sharp and had a super fast response time when pulling it out to take a quick snap of something.
Cusco, Nikon Coolpix A
Cusco, Nikon Coolpix A
Cusco, Coolpix A
Because I wanted maximum image quality and dynamic range, I set both cameras to shoot in raw. This was a key feature, as there was a lot of contrast and clouds in most of the scenes throughout the trip that needed some work in post, and having the raw file to work with was essential. None of these images came out of the camera looking like they do here. All were processed later for maximum quality. For the casual shooter on vacation, jpeg is a better option. While I had a small tripod with me, I often just propped the camera on a ledge or rail to get stable shots, and left the tripod in my suitcase.
Cusco at night, Nikon Coolpix A – propped on handrail
Machu Picchu, Nikon Coolpix A
Huayna Picchu, Nikon Coolpix A
The light was changing constantly during the entire trip, so it was important to be ready when the light was at it’s best. I wore a “Scotty Vest” with tons of pockets and so had the Coolpix A in my pocket at all times, as well as the G1X in a small Eagle Creek bag over my shoulder.
Alto Plano, Canon G1X set at full zoom – 112mm
Above Cusco, Canon G1X – 112mm
The city of Puno on Lake Titicaca, Canon G1X
I found the Coolpix A to be much more responsive to use than the G1X, so if there was something that required a real quick response, I usually went for the Nikon. The G1X is not a quick camera. To use it to it’s best advantage, you need time to get it out, turn it on, and set it up properly. This often means using a split neutral density filter, which I keep in the bag with the camera. The trade off for this is better image quality. The larger sensor of the G1X requires a shorter zoom lens, and a larger, slower body than small sensor point and shoots. So it has it’s limitations, but I find them acceptable for the images that I get from it. Which is not say that I didn’t get a lot of grab shots with it – I did – I just had to have the camera ready to go first.
Canon G1X
Nikon Coolpix A – shot through the van window
One of the things you always end up doing on a tour is riding in a tour van. That means shooting out of the window or just letting all of those scenes pass by without getting any images. I preferred the G1X for these types of images as using the zoom allowed for less window glare, and also less motion blur from the moving van. Luckily, we did not have tinting on the windows.
Canon G1X shot through the van window
Canon G1X aT 90mm – shot through the van window
I ended up shooting with the iPhone much more than I expected, and got some great results with it – particularly in Pano mode. One thing about the iPhone is that it uses a kind of AI technology that tweaks the raw file in the phone’s software to create an amazing image. While there are apps that will allow you to access the raw file from the phone’s images, you would be hard pressed to get anything as good as the phone creates on its own. The advantage of the Pano mode is a larger file. I will often shoot in Pano even if the shot could have been made using the regular mode. These images are from the iPhone 6 – and I can say that now that I have the newer iPhone 11, I am not afraid to use it for getting great images.
Aguas Calientes, iPhone 6
Food in Cusco, iPhone 6
Ollantaytambo, iPhone 6 pano
I found the many dogs roaming the streets of Peru interesting subjects. While they didn’t seem to be “owned” by anyone – they were obviously cared for and seemed to just come and go as they pleased. They were all very mellow, non aggressive, and all different sizes and breeds. Here are a few of my favorites.
Nikon Coolpix A
Nikon Coolpix A
Canon G1X
I couldn’t cover a place like Peru and not include some of the incredible stone megaliths that have made it famous. Much of the stonework is quite unexplainable, even though the local tour guides will usually give an accepted archeological explanation for it. It’s the number one reason people travel to Peru in the first place, so here are a few examples of the stonework you will see traveling in Peru.
This is a wall in the Temple of the Sun, Cusco. Notice the precision of the blocks. There is no mortar – they are each perfectly created to fit with virtually no space between them anywhere. Notice also the strange bulges – which are found on many of the stones throughout Peru. Consider the ramifications of those bulges – did they carve the rock face flat leaving the bulge? How did they do that?
This is the main complex at the Ollantaytambo site. These massive blocks were quarried from the mountains across the valley (on the left in the image). These are absolutely massive stones – pink granite, very hard and very heavy. I doubt we could move them using today’s technology. Notice again the bulges and the flat faces of the blocks. Amazing!
These stones are at the central temple in Machu Picchu. Again – they are massive in size and each is custom carved to fit perfectly together. Notice the cylindrical protrusion on the stone in the upper left. This had to be a much larger stone carved down to create the knob.
This is an ancient wall in downtown Cusco. Notice the odd shaped stones, each created to fit perfectly with each other.
A wall at Saqsayhuaman, outside of Cusco. I have put my wife in front of the wall just to give an idea of the scale of these blocks. The second image shows one of the large blocks having been carved (shaped?) to include 10 sides. All blocks are custom shaped to fit perfectly together without mortar. Also very interesting is the bulge they all seem to have – like marshmallows. This indicates that the original stone would have had to be larger and carved down to include the bulging shape. One theory is that they had some method of softening the stone to create the shapes and that this created the marshmallow effect. Regardless, the megaliths in Peru are indeed mysterious.
While this is only touching on what Peru has to offer, I hope it inspires you to check out this special destination and to bring your cameras! Don’t forget to have spare batteries on hand and some spare storage cards as well. I did not bring a computer on this trip, so I just brought enough cards to get me through three weeks of shooting. Cards are small, and easily lost or damaged, so consider where you’re going to put them once full and how you will protect them from moisture, dust or worse. While there are stores in the bigger cities like Cusco where you can buy additional cards, I did not see too many available, and what I did see was more expensive than what we pay here in the US.
If you decide to go – check out the special airfares on LATAM airlines. You can sign up to be notified of special rates, which can be quite good at certain times. If you just want to fly into Cusco and wing it – you can definitely do that. There are small tour shops set up all over Cusco where you can buy a combination ticket to all of the local megalithic sites, most of which are fairly close. There are tours offered as well from these shops. If you want to include Machu Picchu, it is best to purchase tickets well in advance as it is the busiest of all the sites and can have as many as 3000 people there in a single day! It is not near Cusco – but down in the valley near Agua Caliente, but there are trains that can get you there.
We definitely had a fantastic time in Peru, and although there were a lot of things that we didn’t get to see, having pre-booked the trip as a complete tour actually allowed us to see and do more than we probably would have had we done it on our own. Either way though, it is a destination worth visiting.
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