China for 6 weeks. Best gear choice?

[---f]

Easy... M6+35mm

I would concur with the simplicity of that. I was in NYC in the summer for a couple of weeks and I had an M2 and a 50mm and lots of film. And also made sure to visit B&H.

 

[---f]

Seconded. I spent 8 weeks in 2006 hiking up the Yangze River. My advice: pack light. One camera, two lenses 28/50.

And avoid the hotels. Stay in hostels. Very cheap, very abundant, and it'll give you a much better chance of meeting other people who can tell you of great plces to go. You'll also meet more locals because you wont be the the hotel cacoon all day.

Take buses and trains. Go 3rd class on the trains. You'll be with the locals. Also, seek out Buddhist monesteries in the hinterland and stay there.

Bottom line: avoid the standard tourist cacoon and you'll have an AMAZING time.

solid advice above!!!!

 

[KenR]

I used my Mamiya 6 in China a few years ago. Most pix taken with the 50mm, some with the 75mm and almost none with the 150. So, I would concentrate on the wide end of things and not the tele. IMHO stick to one camera (with backup) and don't keep switching between film and digital or B&W and color. I find that I don't know if I'm coming or going if I keep switching around and lose my sense of place. I let my wife take an S90 for digital/color and I stick to film/B&W - let your companion take the complementary system.

 

[KarlG]

And absolutely do not try to mix film and digital on a trip like this. The photographer who tries to cover all the bases winds up covering none of them to his own satisfaction.

I disagree with this. I recently visited Cambodia and Thailand and took my M8, M4-P, 15mm, 35mm, 50mm and 90mm.

Some nights, I only took the M8 with me; others, I only took the M4-P with me. Most days, I carried both.

The weight was quite manageable and I had no problem using both the M8 and M4-P together, with the M8 for colour and M4-P purely being used for B&W.

 

[Sam N]

I mixed film and digital RFs on a trip that involved a lot of walking (but no backpacking). ZI + R-D1 with 15, 28, 40, and 50. I had a lot of fun with the cameras but in hindsight it was way too much stuff to carry all day every day. If I were doing it again I'd have just taken the R-D1, 15, and 40 (OR ZI + 21/35/50 plus a small PowerShot).

Man. I miss the R-D1.