What camera for travel

[Paul Howell]

I am going to Paris for a few months, last time I went I took my Sony A900 and had issues with the battery charger. I could have bought one for around $200 US, needless to say I just shot film. This time I'm thinking about dusting off my old trusty Pentax K2000, it uses Lithium AA and in pinch standard AA. Although small has nice range of features for an entry level camera, will take a Pentax film body and 3 lens. Other choice is Sigma SD9, uses both AAs and 2 CR2s, prints up to 8X10, poor high ISO, 100 is good, 200 usable, 400 not an option. and battery life is very poor, I no longer have a Sigma film body. Other idea, uses a rechargeable battery but I have a couple of chargers, is Konica Minolta D7. ISO is good up about ISO 800, 200 is best. Other issue with the Sony is that it takes hours and hours to recharge a battery. Any input is welcome.

 

[David Brown]

I've traveled with my Sony a850. For the purposes of this discussion, essentially the same as your a900. You have to have a good adapter for the Euro voltages, and plan around charging batteries at night in the hotel. I have another trip next month, and the a850 will go. But I am also using micro 4/3 as well. Still have to charge batteries, though. I really don't know any way around that. Having multiple batteries helps.

The first time I went to Europe was 1994 (Italy). I took a beat up, but fully functional Minolta SRt and a 28-80 Rokkor that I had a total $100 invested in both body and lens. I figured if it got damaged or stolen, I was out $100. Shot hundreds of slides. Doing that is still an option, but with digital, one needs batteries!

 

[4season]

I'd just take the A900, spare batteries and perhaps a spare charger:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?sts=ma&fct=fct_brand_name|watson&N=0&Ntt=NP-FM500H
Watson's system is ingenious: They are a "universal" design which can be adapted to most popular camera batteries by means of interchangeable adapter plates which cost a couple of bucks per. I use both mini and dual chargers. Charge times are not going to be faster than with Sony's own charger, but the trick there is not to deeply discharge the camera batteries.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Which cameras are reliable? Which cameras are easy to use so that you enjoy your trip rather than fight with a camera?

 

[Down Under]

+1 for Sirius Glass, he has been around long enough to know what's what about life (and photography)!

Why not take the oldest digi camera you own? Travel is about travel, not dragging along the best(or all the) nice shiny new photo gear you own. Go for the experiences, the people, the food, the joy of being on the road. Good travel has to involve some discomfort, cultural or physical.

New gear lmakes you worry too much about the gear, and encourages you to hide behind the camera and avoid having to deal directly with what you see, or not confronting the reality that you are really uncomfortable at being in new situations. So you miss out. On a lot.Mostly learning about yourself and what it is about new cultures that stimulates you or make you tick. Or yes, even upsets you.

As for what you shoot on the trip, well! Do you download and and put all your nice travel brochure shots OL as you go? Or back home, you post the 27,938 images you took in ten days or two weeks, of beaches, baby dolls in local costumes handing out flowers or (the gods forbid) traditional markets you were taken to on the guided tour of Bangkok or Jakarta or Bali? Also the thousands of selfies of you and the SO taken in front of views that really would be so much more interesting without you/the two of you blocking off the highest peak or row of beautiful palms.

(Selfies are okay, really they are. But do we really have to look at them?)

The KISS principle. Less is better. These days I travel with a ten year old Nikon D90 and the kit lens it came with, a UV filter, two batteries, a charger and a download cord. That's it! Before that, a Canon G10, until it died. (Small disclaimer: I also own a Nikon D700 and too many lenses, but it's too heavy to travel overseas with.)

If I ever have to buy new gear, I will go for one of the small Fujis. And one lens. For me, the 18mm. Or the zoom.

This lets me focus (pun intended) on enjoying what I see, and learning new things. And devoting time to my partner as we go.

On our last trip together, as an experiment in minimalism, we visited Malaysia, Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei with a 1960s twin-lens reflex camera and small bits (lens hood, UV filter, exposure meter, 30 rolls of film). the old pre-digital way. I shot less, but better. Scanned about 100 images, have sold 15 to a book publisher. For me, less is most definitely best.

My partner had a P&S digi camera and shot much less than I did, being more a foodie, museums and art gallery traveler. We went by bus, train and once by river boat, swam at nice beaches, climbed one or two small mountains, saw several interesting cities (definitely no markets), ate our way through three cultures of excellent food, drank Tiger beer in local bars or street stalls, and took long walks. Made friends with a few dozen locals and several hundred friendly cats. A family we met in Sarawak have just invited us to return for their son's wedding later this year.

This is my idea of "a good trip". Yours may differ, but we should all try to not make it only or entirely about the camera.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I would put old d-junk on recycle and get modern mobile phone. Those now are best digital cameras for traveler with film.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I am going to Paris for a few months, last time I went I took my Sony A900 and had issues with the battery charger. I could have bought one for around $200 US, needless to say I just shot film. This time I'm thinking about dusting off my old trusty Pentax K2000, it uses Lithium AA and in pinch standard AA. Although small has nice range of features for an entry level camera, will take a Pentax film body and 3 lens. Other choice is Sigma SD9, uses both AAs and 2 CR2s, prints up to 8X10, poor high ISO, 100 is good, 200 usable, 400 not an option. and battery life is very poor, I no longer have a Sigma film body. Other idea, uses a rechargeable battery but I have a couple of chargers, is Konica Minolta D7. ISO is good up about ISO 800, 200 is best. Other issue with the Sony is that it takes hours and hours to recharge a battery. Any input is welcome.

all my chargers have flexible Voltage input 110-240V.why don't you get those? Then you just need a cheap plug adapter.

 

[Paul Howell]

I decided on the Pentax K2000, three lens kit, 28 to 90, 17 to 50, and 80 to 200 F4.5 MF Pentax A lens and a Pentax film body. What I like about the K2000 is that is very simple to use, the scene mode is good when shooting at night or in a museum, I can shoot raw with a 32MB card, the ISO is good about 1600, still very good at 800. Light, and if something happens only out a couple hundred bucks. As I considered my Sony I realized that I have been to Paris many times, have of negatives, nothing really new to shoot, just snapshots for my wife to post on FB, no need to lug the A900 around.