I'll admit right off the bat, that I'm not a very good travel photographer. I don't take many 'memory' photos of myself and friends having a good time, and I sometimes can't see the forest for all the trees as it were, giving too much attention to looking through the viewfinder instead of just experiencing the place for it's own sake. I think John Mayer said it well in 3x5:
didn't have a camera by my side this time
hoping I would see the world through both my eyes
maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm
in the mood to lose my way with words
I'm currently in the planning stages for a 2 week trip to Japan late next month, and think it'll be quite the experience. I like being other places but I hate getting there, so that 14 hour flight is going to suck, and I'm not big on local cuisine, so it'll be noodles for me. That said, I can't wait just to see some of these places and experience these cities. I've always wanted to visit Hiroshima, so that's going to be quite special.
I've been feeling a bit depressed and burnt out lately, so part of me was actually considering taking a break from photographer and just not bringing a camera at all. <gasp!> I know! But, maybe what I need is to see the world with both my eyes. But then I think about the visual opportunities over there and I just can't help myself. I don't take travel pics as a record of my trip though, for me it's about taking pretty pictures along the way.
Now, there's also the question of equipment. You want to be able to carry it all day long while walking around, but you also don't want to forgo quality. Again, I'm not much of a cellphone snapshot for facebook kind of guy. There was an article on Luminous Landscape recently where a guy said he ended up using his Canon G9 much more than his Leica M8, because it was always in his pocket. And that he was astounded with the quality when he had decent light.
For my many trips to europe in the last 5 years I went with both digital and medium format film. Say my 5D body, 28mm prime, 50mm prime, the 24-104L that I once owned. And then my Hasselblad with a dozen or so rolls of film. I really love the Hasselblad for travel. It folds up small, the quality is unassailable, you take your time when shooting so each shot counts more, and the images just 'feel' like memories. Chromes especially; looking at my slides from Paris on a light table at Duggal a couple years ago was one of those sublime moments. That said, dealing with film when flying can be a giant pain in the ass. Security people who don't speak your language don't always have the same idea of the importance of not putting your film through the x-ray machine as you do.
My current idea is to bring the 5D2 with a couple primes (35? 50?) and then borrow Meg's 24-104 as a general walk around lens. It's got IS and the 5D2 is great at high iso, but f/4 is not exactly a lot of light coming in, so that worries me a bit. But I don't want to leave myself stuck with 50mm as my longest, and the extra weight and annoyance of swapping glass.
Or maybe I should go the LL route and bring a little pocket camera and don't make a big stink out of it all. People really love that Panasonic LX3. Damn, this should be easier. At least I have a few weeks to think about it and collect your thoughts. So if anyone has any experience in Japan and would like to give me some advise, please do.
Damn, now I'm looking through photos from paris and am thinking of doing just the hasselblad. <sigh>
The LX3 is a great little camera with a nice fast wide angle Leica lens. Highly recommended. It's the camera I use when I want to be really lazy and not bother with post-processing images. The dynamic black and white film setting produces great JPEG images straight out of the camera. I do, however, shoot in Raw+JPEG mode just in case I ever want to go back and post-process for the best possible image quality.
The best thing about using the camera? I draw absolutely zero attention to myself on the street. I look like every other tourist walking around with a point and shoot. Very liberating. It should be said, however, that as good as the image quality is on the LX3, it still can't equal the quality of images produced by even the most low end consumer dSLR.
One last thing. Select camera stores around the nation are currently carrying the silver version, but the black model appears to be almost impossible to find unless you're willing to grab one for a premium price on eBay. I'm only mentioning this because you seem to be a black camera sort of guy, and I know how you are with adorning your cameras with black gaffer's tape. :-)
I kept 1786 photographs from the ones I made during our most recent trip, a two week stay at the Côte d'Azur. I had all my lenses with me all the time in my LowePro Nova 3 AW bag. Lightrooom tells me:
Lens Count
17-40 .... 371
28 ....... 1042
50 ....... 6
70-200 ... 321
85 ....... 0
The next time I go I only take three lenses and it won't be a big deal to carry or swap these.
What about your Leica? I would think if you like the look of chromes and the portability of a lighter camera, that might be your best combination?
I can't remember if you have enough lenses to give yourself the reach your want, but that would be a fun toy to have along on a trip. Oh, and buy the film there, and get it processed before you leave if you can. No x-ray problems that way.
Hey Jeff-
Yes, I considered the Leica, but somehow 35mm film isn't very satisfying to me most of the time. Maybe because it's a pain to scan. Plus I've only got the one 50mm lens for the Leica. ;-(
In the past I've thought about buying and processing the film there. But with medium format it's getting harder and harder to do. In London especially, it's really expensive. Like 2-3x more than it is in the US.
Maybe Japan is difference and yours is the way to go. I'll check it out.
I've traveled to many foreign locations, and I know exactly what you mean. There are times when I'll be looking through the pictures I took and not remember actually being there in that moment. So what I started doing was leaving my camera in the hotel every other day (or so). Go out, see the sights, then take pictures of things I really want to have a recorded memory of.
I've found that there are many things on this world that cannot be captured by camera. For instance, the smell of fresh baguettes wafting out of the nearby patisserie as it mixes with the smell of a nearby patch of grass covered in dew on a cool spring morning in Paris with the early morning sun warming my face as it crests over a distant apartment building and it's ray's sprinkle through the branches of a tree.
I find that when I have my eyes to the viewfinder all the time, I miss out on so much, and I regret not stopping and slowing down.
Anyway, have a great trip and take lots of pictures!
(but not too many) ;)
I have occasionally looked back at my pictures (and life) and noticed that I only really bother to take pictures when I'm bored. When I'm really doing something interesting or exciting I never bother to break out the camera and interrupt the fun. So I'm left with lots of memories of the most boring times. One of life's ironies, I guess.
For example, I've spent just about a year of my life in Japan over about a dozen trips, and I think I have maybe 5 pics from there in my possession that were given to me by friends from their disposable clicky cameras. I can't think of a single shot I have from Europe reminisce over, and I've spent years of my life there.
Totally off-topic . . . can you believe we went to school with John Mayer?!
Hi Bill, Funny thing is I'm In Japan right now, and had to go through your exact dilemma just a few weeks ago. that being said, i wish i had toted the hassy with me. i have a little rangefinder with me cause i could not just dispose of the idea of not having film with me, but more often than not i roll out for a day of personal shooting with a 5D2 and 3 lenses, a 50 prime, 28 prime and a 70-200 2.8 IS. yes, it hurts, but a day hasn't gone by that im not happy I've had all that glass with me. and that same time i have quite a nice back ache towards the end of every day. don't know if this helps or not but its one perspective.
safe travels
Hard decision. I'm always snapping that I have the equipment you do but... sometimes I just have to put the camera down to experience what I'm doing. However, I do not regret the 1,600+ photos from my trip to New York in the fall. I look at them every other week and something else pops out at me. I'm glad I snapped yet even if I missed something else here or there because I'm seeing it through one eye!!!
After reading your reviews & finding out more about cameras, I've checked a few out and you definitely have HIGH END equipment. (Lucky you!) Ken Rockwell praises the G9 also. I looked it up but not sure...
I'm trying to decide on a Nikon D40 for a great price or go with Nikon D60 or D80. DUNNO! Digital SLR's are so different from my film cameras that I'm lost in the mumbo jumbo of decision land.
Enjoy your trip! I know you'll have a few photos to share with us!