The Forever Question ... What camera to bring on a trip?

Smaug said:
Gorillapod.

Re. "using it effectively" it doesn't have to be sitting on its own. I found I could brace it against columns and railings and trees and just hold it in position with my hand; it doesn't need to be free-standing on a horizontal surface all the time....
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I just found the tabletop length type support to be clumsy in use. I've used them for bracing against other things quite often, but it didn't work for what I wanted on the ship or on the excursions I went on. A real tripod would have been much more useful. So I'm going to give it a go this year with the Travel Tripod. ;-)

G
 
madNbad said:
After reading through the thread, my only suggestion is to pack some extra Polaroid film. Be ready for the “Can I get one of those?” Sounds like fun.
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I added one more pack of color. Five packs, forty exposures. That's enough to hand out a few.

JeffS7444 said:
Fujifilm hybrid SQ Instax camera, maybe? Like the SX70, it has TTL viewing. Unlike the SX70, flash and close focusing are built in, and there are no worries that you’ve given away your best / only photos.
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No time to buy another camera, but none of the Fuji SQ Instax Cameras can get close to the capabilities of the SX-70 (SLR670x). Even my Lomo SQ (manual focus settings, a decent lens, etc) is seriously challenged to get close, although it is a good thought instead of the SLR670x as it is much less costly and I wouldn't care if it got lost or damaged. I'll have to think about that. I have forty exposures of SQ film (both color and B&W) in stock too. It's even a little smaller package to carry, and has its own remote release built in. Hmm.

raid said:
Your i-Phone 8 Plus is your spare tire, just in case your quirky camera does not work. keep it challenging, and pick a camera that is "non-standard". Have fun.
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:)

Indeed. I know I can get everything done with the iPhone 8 Plus. The addition of an instant film camera is really a luxury bit for the entertainment. I can even do Polaroid simulation with it that's pretty darn true to life:


Me & The Dancer
iPhone 8 Plus, Portrait camera, + Travel Tripod
ShakeIt Photo app​

But I can't print them out and put them on the door...

G
 
Whenever an overseas/major trip comes up, I go through the 'which gear' dance for weeks or even months before. I mentally try different combinations of Sigma, Ricoh, Leica, Panasonic, even film with Contax and Pentax, but I always come back to what I find most versatile and reliable:


- Leica M9 with Zeiss 21/2.8, Voigtlander 35/1.4 and Leica 50/2
- a single m43 camera. In the past it has been the Olympus E-M5, now it is the Panasonic GH4 or GX85, depending on whether I feel like I want stabilization. Lenses include the Olympus 12, 25 and 45, along with the collapsible pancake 12-32 for a flexible zoom range during the day.

- a single pocket camera. In the past it has been the Ricoh GRD III, then the Panasonic LX7, now it will be the Panasonic LX10.


Other times, I think of taking the LX10 and Sigma DP1 as a really low-weight alternative; in the past, I've traveled with the Canon G10 and Sigma DP1, which worked surprisingly well, although I now want better image quality from the zoom camera. Hence, why I now use the LX10.
 
My last trip, I took a Rolleiflex 3.5F to France and shot 30+ rolls. Loved it. Like the Polaroid, a HUGE intro and conversation starter. Of the cameras shown... take the Polaroid. You'll have the iPhone anyway in your back pocket. Polaroid will be fun ON the trip. iPhone photos almost never see the light of day two weeks later... unless you really work it.

What happened to your Leica? I've been shooting film in M's a lot lately. Having a blast with just the 35mm. However, like I said, the Polaroid will be a fun part of the trip. SX-70 is memory lane, too.
 
roscoetuff said:
My last trip, I took a Rolleiflex 3.5F to France and shot 30+ rolls. Loved it. Like the Polaroid, a HUGE intro and conversation starter. Of the cameras shown... take the Polaroid. You'll have the iPhone anyway in your back pocket. Polaroid will be fun ON the trip. iPhone photos almost never see the light of day two weeks later... unless you really work it.

What happened to your Leica? I've been shooting film in M's a lot lately. Having a blast with just the 35mm. However, like I said, the Polaroid will be a fun part of the trip. SX-70 is memory lane, too.
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:)

The Leicas are just fine, all four of them. I use them often. But as said, the iPhone is really the perfect camera for this trip and the Polaroid is a fun extravagance.

Just finished packing. Everything fits in my planned two bags; I'll carry the tripod externally in its case, that's what worked out best. The main bag with clothes mostly but a couple of the minor accessories will be checked for the flights; all the photo/electronic critical stuff is in the shoulder bag (an old faithful traveler now).

Got a day to make any revisions, early morning flight out on Saturday. Woo hoo!

G
 
Trips generally require a sensible compromise, combined with the can’t do without. The latter looks like where most errors of judgment occur. Particular trips demand certain things like waterproof camera or telephoto lens. Some cities require a wider lens. My sensible compromise - not much of a compromise - has been the X100. My can’t do without, although on short trips to regular places I have, is the Monochrom; and lenses, 28 f2.8 ASPH, tiny, and 50 Summicron v4, also pretty small.
 
Status report, during the cruise ...

Limited time and bandwidth so I'm not posting much in way of photos, but so far from what I'm seeing on the iPad Pro after transferring files from the iPhone, the kit is working very well indeed. Stabilizing the iPhone with a tripod for critical sharpness works beautifully, the Moment lenses work great when needed, and the few photos I've made with the Polaroid prove an aesthetic add to what the iPhone makes.

What doesn't really work out is using the Polaroid for casual people pictures. Not because the camera doesn't do it well, but the kind of situations where this is approachable haven't really happened much if at all. The iPhone has been better at that, mostly due to its size and handiness.

More when time permits. I'm off to get a snack and then to the pool.. :D

G
 
Canyongazer said:
The Plan:

Two Fuji X Pro2's
16mm f 1.4 Fuji
35mm f 1.4 Fuji
five batteries
Two chargers

Retrospective 7 V2 Messenger bag

That's all folks!
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I met a Magnum photographer a few weeks ago at the "end of the world" in Argentina and he had the exact same kit! :D His XPro 2s were used so much that there was hardly any black paint left on the bodies and lenses and looked stunning.
 
On my next trip, I am bringing a Sigma fp with a 24-105mm f/4 Panasonic S lens AND a Leica LT2 with a Leica 11-23mm Super Vario lens. It is a great, lightweight combination that gives me great image quality.
 
Last trip I took I couldn't take my Minolta CLE so I just packed my Olympus infinity Jr. clamshell P&S. Iit's a completely worry-free camera because it is built like a tiny tank, has withstood many falls with no damage, and was (and still is) cheap, it's a swing on the wristband one-handed camera basically, it takes no space in my carry-on, no manual control but fill flash works beautifully in daylight, and the pictures in good light were honestly as beautiful, in a slightly different way, as anything my Rokkor gives me on the CLE.
 
My last trip I took a bunch of stuff because space wasn’t an issue, but I mostly used an Olympus TG5 and m6. The mp240 came out more when we weren’t going to the beach etc. My 4 year old son has now confiscated the TG5 and has a blast taking his own photos with it daily. Someday I’ll make him a photobook of what he shoots. It’s pretty funny. I always forget my phone has a decent camera on it. Probably a mental thing, but I can’t get into photography mode with it.
 
Here’s something to ponder. Wasaaay back in the 1830s Fox Talbot took a Camera obscura on vacation. He placed tracing paper on the ground glass and traced (sketched) the view on the paper. He was NOT pleased with the results at all. He set about to find a way to preserve the view that appeared on the tracing paper. He figured it out. Every film image made has its root here.
 
I'm back from my trip. A brief summary:

The iPhone 8 plus and Moment lenses worked brilliantly. I made 1000 exposures, still and video, and there are an awful lot of very satisfying photos in the set. Culling presently.

The Polaroid SLR670x also worked very well but proved not to be used all that much. The kinds of situations where this would be the perfect camera just didn't surface on this trip very much and I only made 12 exposures with it. Luckily, they're almost all very satisfying.

The PD Travel Tripod worked beautifully for both iPhone and Polaroid and was worth carrying, even though I made somewhere only near 20-30 exposures with it.

I might repeat this kit during a trip or two later in the year. Now to get to work culling down the total exposures to the interesting ones... :D

G
 
My experience is that something truly pocketable is best for travel.
Your experience seems to bear this out.

Chris
 
@Godfrey, thanks for the update and debrief about your experiences. I've definitely been guilty of taking too much gear on trips and events. Still aiming to find a good balance of gear for different events and places.
 
Playing around... while docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a Carnival Cruise liner docked over in the next slip. I idly fitted the Moment 58mm lens to the iPhone 8 tele camera and made a hand held panorama of seven exposures, using raw mode with the Moment camera app. I merged them in LR Classic ... a little defringe and this is what came out.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/gdgphoto/n85E9r

Yeah, my Leica can do much better. But it ain’t bad!! :)

G
 
Godfrey said:
Playing around... while docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a Carnival Cruise liner docked over in the next slip. I idly fitted the Moment 58mm lens to the iPhone 8 tele camera and made a hand held panorama of seven exposures, using raw mode with the Moment camera app. I merged them in LR Classic ... a little defringe and this is what came out.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/gdgphoto/n85E9r

Yeah, my Leica can do much better. But it ain’t bad!! :)

G
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This is a great result! I take a lot of images (in LR Mobile as DNG) with the intention of stitching them together. Phone cameras in general are great for it, I think.
 
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