Boston Globe staff photographer John Tlumacki was surprised at the quality of the results he got using his BlackBerry Pearl cellphone camera during a weekend in Vermont. If he had his choice, he would not take a point and shoot camera on his getaways because of the convenience and simplicity of this device. Here is some advice from a photographer who is usually weighed down with 20 pounds of camera equipment:

Testing out the focusing range of the BlackBerry cellphone camera, I tested the close-focus distance on a bunch of asters. This photo was taken with my work camera, A Canon EOS 1 D. The view on the screen is about 1 1/2 inch wide, and is a live image of what the cellphone camera sees. The closest focus I could get with the cellphone camera was about 6 inches.