Buckeye, Arizona.

With my retirement as North Dakota Wing Commander, I give up access to a business phone provided by Civil Air Patrol (CAP). When I took that job four years ago, my personal phone was a Samsung S6. Other than occasional use, most of the time, it was shut off and all calls were sent to my CAP cell phone so I wouldn’t have to carry two phones around.

Almost exactly coinciding with my change of status at CAP, Samsung announced the Galaxy S20 series. I knew when I went back to using my own phone daily, I’d want an upgrade. The S20 Ultra with its super-hires camera appealed to me. This week, I’m publishing the first photos that I’ve downloaded from my new phone. I have a lot to learn about its capabilities, and I’ve seen scuttlebutt on the Internet that there are some issues with the camera that are being addressed in a future update, but overall, I’m happy with the camera’s capabilities. In a month or so, I’ll have a post featuring some of my first impressions of the camera capabilities.

On our first hike with the new cell phone, a walk along the Petroglyph Trail in the Verrado Trails system, I captured several photos. This three mile hike takes you to a large rock that is covered with petroglyphs left there centuries ago. More images from that hike will be featured in upcoming Cellpic Sundays. (OK, I know this camera is a “ringer” in that it’s far more capable than cell phones used to be. More and more it’s becoming that the best camera to use is the one you have with you.

About the photo: This image is a 10X zoom of the desert west of the Buckeye development known as Verrado. What I saw and captured was Estrella Mountain looming in the background. After tweaking the photo in Lightroom and Luminar 4, I was amazed at the detail I was able to bring out in the mountain. On my next Travel Tuesday, I have more information about using Luminar on a day-to-day basis. If your browser allows, you can click on the image above for a closer view. Check out how much detail is captured in the mountain terrain. Detail is captured in the camera, but not really visible in the jpeg file the camera created. You’ll see an A-B comparison in Tuesday’s post.

Stay safe, my friends, in these troubled times. My wife and I discovered hiking is a great way to practice social distancing this year of the COVID-19 virus.

John Steiner