What gear for travel?

[largo703]

I have travelled around the world with a SLR and few lenses and often found this setup heavy and difficult to use in crowded places. Swiching lenses, carrying heavy teles in a backpack, some of which can draw attention from people on the streets. How about just taking and advanced amateur camera like the Panasonic Lumix / Fuji s9000 etc ? I am preparing for travel to Asia and want to make it more efficient then my previous trip Any experiences ?


Luke

[tachlit]

Hey Largo,

I am currently in Asia and planning to travel a bit more in the next few months, went camera shopping this weekend and after being tempted to upgrade into an SLR, I finally resorted to a Sony DSC-H5 as the weight of the SLR would've been too much hassle..

The lack of image stabilizer was the reason I didn't go with the Fuji, and the noise on the Panasonic (although it just might be my problem as I'm pretty new to photography)...

As far as drawing attention with an SLR, I wouldn't be concerned...in the cities at least...every second person is walking around with an SLR and a tripod (Well..a bit of an exageration but you see..) and in main cities of Korea, China and Japan..self portraits in public places are a common way to pass time.

[heez10]

Canon S2 IS or S3 IS, 5 or 6 MP, 12X zoom imagestabilized, 400 dls. or less

[wietsej]

Sony DSC-R1
Carl Zeiss lens 24-120 mm 995 gr
Better then DSLR with cheap zoom lens

[agroni]

I don't know about you guys but i always take my 300D with all the pieces tha i have. When scouting i have the camera with a 18-55mm, on my belt i have a case for the 70-300mm and in my back i carry the 50mm, Flash, Batteries and all the cleaning kit.
Changing the lenses was never a problem except once. There was a situation accross the street and i needet the huge zoom, but it was to late to unmount and mount it again.
As for security i can assure you that as long as you are in the big cities, nothing will go wrong. I never was in Asia but i was in Kosovo which for many people it's still the most dangerous place in EU!!!
Cheers

[largo703]

On my backpacking trip to India, I carried a SLR with 4 lenses. It worked out great because I lost some weight. Since then , I swiched to DSLR and recently traded my Sigma 18-125 for a 17-40L which I should have done long time ago. I also use 70-200L and 50mm f1.8. This setup works great but my new Panasonic Lumix takes much less space and would be easier to replace in case of theft or damage. But during travel, you get these great photo opps , you wished to have the best gear.
I hope to return to India later this year and may just take it all with me

[bcplaces]

I have a Sony DSC-H5 12x zoom too. I also have a 1.7x tele extender, which gives a maximum optical zoom of 20.4x.

Thus, the range of the camera is 36mm - 734.4 mm. And all that range is achieved with only one additional tele lens (which is not big at all).

The price at under $1,000 for the camera and tele lens combined.

The image quality of DSC-H5 is good, with some shots as good as DSLR. Of course, DSLR would always have a better average image quality. But to get a 36-734 mm range with a DSLR you'd need how many lens? At least 3, maybe 4. And the price for the camera body and all these lens would be close to 10 thousand dollars (Canon 600 mm lens alone is 7 grand). Plus the additional weight and bulk...

Personally, I'll stick with DSC-H5

[maxfar]

IMHO the problem is the packing.
I explain you better: if you use a photo backpack you are much more visible then if you use a bag like Billingham or Domke. These two shoulder bags look like everything but a photo bag carrying some thousands dollars worth of photo equipment. And they are easily accessible and much faster to change lenses in the street.
Prosumer like S9500 or FX Z50 or DSC R1 are nice cameras but te quality of images are less than with a DSLR.
IMHO a travel worths few kilos more on my shoulders.
Cheers!

[mahowel]

Sony H2 or H5. I have a bag with every possible attachment, lense, filter, battery and memory card available. The bag is made for the Sony and is smaller than my wifes purse. Unless you really want to do something fancy the camera with a filter is enough for me 99% of the time and I have less than a thousand tied up in everything.

[nfl]

Nothing like Sony H5.
Take a look at some pictures from my travel.

[christophertravels]

I bought a Canon S3 12x zoom with IS for my trip to Australia. I knew I needed a powerful zoom lens to see those wonderful animals. This worked well, I think.

I had to respond here, because I am stuck with a point and shoot camera. DSLR cameras for me are too bulky. I guess it all depends on how you want to travel and why you travel. I am not a professional photographer, and I've been travelling for two months at a time, staying in hostels. I do not want to carry all that expensive equipment with me.

I know there are times when I could use a DSLR because it focuses better in low light, it focuses faster for moving animals. Perhaps I'll buy a DSLR in the future, but for now I have my S3 with a good zoom and my A540 with a wide angle adapter. Quite a versatile combination, without the weight. And those P&S cameras have a decent macro lens.