Typically, they are around 4.5M, far larger than files from my proper camera. Is there any way to reduce them (other than downloading to the computer and playing around in PhotoShop)
How old is your "proper camera" compared to your phone?
Camera resolutions have increased a lot over the years and that increases the image size.
Can't remember exactly when I bought it - but it was a bit before we came up here in 2003 - and it's resolution is fine for what I use it for.
Consumer digital cameras 2003 - https://money.cnn.com/2003/07/28/technology/digital_camera_picks/ 2-6 megapixel
iPhone cameras 2007-2023 - https://lifeinlofi.com/more/iphone-photo-sizes/#:~:text=The%20latest%2C%20top%20of%20the,into%20such%20a%20small%20camera latest is 48Mpx
Megapixels aren't the be all and end all of quality of course but they can be presented as a simple number and the marketing people latched on to that so they have got bigger and bigger as have the resulting image sizes.
I wasn't sure what my phone camera is. The phone is a pretty low end one - a Samsung A52 5G. I paid just over £200 when I got it and they are cheaper now. The camera is apparently 64Mpx or 16Mpx the pics on the camera seem to be 4624x3468 and 4,52MB which is 16Mpx. They are nothing special. I usually just let them go to google photos which compresses them by default.
think that is what I will continue to do - thanks
I'd suggest that if you have some special photos you also keep the originals in case you ever decide to print them which is where a higher pixel count may help.
thanks for the advice - all the pictures are also on the computer