Sensible or silly? A camera for your hobby and holidays

GSM is indeed not an option. I have the Sony RX10 IV. A little magic box and great for taking on vacation as long as you don't have to photograph indoors. Because of the small sensor, you're limited in ISO. But other than that.....Great!!!

Hi Nando. It can get even crazier; after many, many years sold everything to do with Canon and switched to the 6700. Enjoying it.

Well, a classic problem, I would say. Do you go to a place you visit more often, or do you go to a once-in-your-life-time place. Of course, it's not a matter of black or white and a middle ground might be a possible solution? Questions like: What quality do you demand of your photos? Do you consider holiday photos important? What are you going to do with your photos at home? Do you want to be able to handle all situations, or are you willing to make compromises? Are you going out with a bag/suitcase, or are you keeping it simple? All questions that can produce a different answer for each person. This is how I do it myself: 1) I don't want inferior quality photos, 2) I take my EOS 5Dmk4 (full frame) with the 24-105mm "L" series and accept that I can't take super wide-angle and super telephoto photos. In practice, this has shown that I miss about 5% because of that, and I can live with that, 3) to avoid carrying a ton, I simply leave the rest at home. I do make sure to bring a few extra 64GB cards because I photograph in RAW format, weight-wise it makes no difference. You never know... I once had a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1, a 4/3 camera with a 14-140mm and I regret ever getting rid of it. If you ask me about an ideal holiday camera, that was it.

Making a beautiful trip usually coincides with the most beautiful moments - including wonderful views and spectacular sights, unique strange faces and a scene full of situations - that you will experience that year. A shame to leave your most high-performance and best equipment at home at those moments. Indeed, it takes some courage and effort to drag along all that stuff (although?). As a photographer, do not let yourself be tempted by the great multitude that no longer wants to carry more than “a flat thing with a stamp-sized window” called a smartphone. You are a photographer to put something in the picture that is better than average. If not, you are not worthy of that title. In addition, as a good photographer, you do not only spend time making your photos during the trip, but the main work, which you enjoy doing, still takes place afterwards at home. Here too, away with the annoying comment: I want to spend as little time as possible on that afterwards, or even, on the very day you took the photos: you can send them to me tomorrow. Remember this: if you want to take good photos, this will in any case require time, a lot of time, an enormous amount of patience, and unfortunately as much knowledge of photo editing as possible. Above all, let there be no misunderstanding: Do not trust AI too much, especially not currently. It is far too inaccurate, and remember that your brain is more capable than any form of AI. My conclusion: Are you a real photographer, then you take as much photographic equipment with you as possible, with pleasure and without any feeling of obligation.

Raphaël De Vos

To Bernard Veerman
That's what I like to hear. I also work with a Canon 5D MKIII and MK IV. What I would do in your place: obviously no supertelephoto, unless you're going on safari, but I do find a wide-angle essential, especially if you're going to visit cities or something. In quite a few cases, with a 24/105 mm you'll find yourself embarrassed that you can't get the beautiful building in the picture. And on top of that, a 16mm/35 mm lens doesn't really require an immense amount of space. But indeed it's something else that gets added again

Don't underestimate the current generation of (top) smartphones. Photos taken with, for example, the iPhone 15 Pro Max really don't fall short of many (including top) cameras. It is also possible to shoot in RAW. Naturally, it also depends on the type of holiday. You won't be lugging a 600mm lens around on a city trip, and on a safari you'd really look like a fool with your iPhone.

Since so far I have taken 2 tours with a group through a travel organization and there was little time in between to take photos, I used the iPhone. Otherwise I would get such a rushed feeling and that is not what I am on holiday for. It may differ depending on the organization.
Not that a smartphone gives such a fantastic image, especially not for an enlargement, but good enough to show the atmosphere and the object or landscape for an album. You can also get a long way with Photoshop or another editing program. Also because you can shoot in RAW with an iPhone.
There is also a course for this on the Academy and there are books about it for sale. It gave me the time to calmly take in nature, the atmosphere, the scents and the colours. We shared the photos in a group app anyway.
Personally, I therefore think that the smartphone is too much maligned for working with it.
I can imagine that this may differ per tour and group. Everyone should do what makes him or her happy.
After this article, I am now considering a nice compact camera. My birthday is on the 23rd, so…….maybe a nice gift to keep in mind now.

Fritsflow wrote on Tuesday 20 February 2024 at 14:34  | reply

If possible, I leave my Nikon DSLRs (D750 & D810)at home. Too much lugging around because then you also want to bring a few lenses. Preferably, I only take my Leica Q3. Since you can't change lenses anyway, you become much more creative too.

I photograph with an Eos 5Dmk4, on vacation I always take a compact camera with me. In recent years that has been the Sony RX10 IV with filters and tripod. Camera etc fits in a small bag. Can shoot beautiful photos, am very happy with the ease and result.

Stefanie wrote on Tuesday 20 February 2024 at 14:48  | reply

Vacation and photography trip are the same thing to me, I'm not a beach lounger, so I bring a well-stocked camera backpack

For portrait and technical photography, I use the Canon R6, which sometimes also comes along on location, but that depends on the subject I want to photograph.

For the reports of walks that I post on my YouTube channel, I have been using the Canon G5X to my satisfaction for years. A handy compact camera that is an excellent alternative for this purpose. At the time, I bought this camera to avoid lugging around a large camera and lenses.

Depending on the type of holiday, I take my Canon R5 with me or the compact Panasonic DC-TC200 (Lumix), sometimes even both . The TZ200 has a 1-inch image sensor, 20 million pixels, a Leica 24-360mm telephoto lens, image stabilizer and you can photograph in RAW. By now I have taken many beautiful pictures and made videos with it. Two large, high-quality photos of approx. 1 metre, taken with the TZ200, are hanging on the wall. Filming in 4K is simply excellent outdoors! Haha, while skiing it is of course not doable and especially very unwise to take an R5 with you. In short, the choice is quickly made, and that without too much loss of quality.

My wife and I have been taking active holidays for 30 years. I now take my Sony A7 IV with an 18 and 50 mm lens, and my wife, as a female birdwatcher, has the Sony SX 70 Hs with a 21-1365 mm zoom. Great for all the little birds.
We do a lot of walking in the mountains or along rocky coasts, treks of up to 275 km in 2 weeks. And then you don't take an excessive amount of equipment with you. That's why I don't shy away from the iPhone either, it's fine for souvenir photos.
At the beginning of this month we were in Finnish Lapland, just try photographing behind the Huskies, reindeer sleigh or on the snowmobile at - 30 degrees with a large camera.
Yes, for the Northern Lights you do need a good, fast prime wide-angle lens and a tripod.
Even while skiing you can actually only use a smartphone.

Liesbeth Verkade wrote on Tuesday 20 February 2024 at 16:03  | reply

Once started taking photographs with an Olympus Pen half-frame camera. A handy camera, because small . Fit in your pocket. Disadvantage: fully automatic. Got the taste for photography and received a Sony DSC-W7 for my birthday in 2005. I took beautiful photos with it during various holidays, but gradually I wanted more. More possibilities to adjust settings, interchangeable lenses for telephoto or wide angle. That is why I bought a Canon Eos 500D in 2010 with kit lens and 70-300 zoom lens. Never regretted it and lugged it along every holiday in a good backpack that could also hold provisions and extra clothing.
I have now had an Eos 90D with an 18-135 mm lens for a few years, a 2x teleconverter and still my 70-300 lens. That goes along every holiday, in the same backpack or sometimes in a more compact small one when we go into the city. I am still glad that I have always done it this way. The photos I ink took with the Canon cameras are of very good quality (composition or exposure not always) and easy to edit in LR or PS. I have been able to make beautiful photo books thanks to the good quality of the images. I only use my phone to take a snapshot of the grandchildren or very occasionally of something when I don't have a camera with me. I wouldn't want to take any other camera on holiday than my Canon. I am very attached to RAW, because it can be edited well afterwards. Then I will just lug a little more. It is worth it to me.

A good holiday consists of having fun or resting, relaxing and recharging your batteries. When you go on holiday alone or with a group of photographers, I don't see any problem with dragging along all your photography gear and belongings. But you're not going to ruin a holiday with family or friends who show little or no interest in photography with all your photography stuff, are you? Selfish.
Holiday photos are purely memory photos for me, where quality is secondary. Photos taken with a mobile phone are therefore perfect.
Hopefully, after your trip, you won't bore friends or family by organising gatherings to show your travel photography. They will come, but not with any real enthusiasm ... pfff another evening where we get nothing out of it.
Either you're a hobbyist and then you practise photography together with people who are interested, or you're a professional who takes a trip to earn a living from it.
I ... only take photos with a mobile phone or a little trouser-pocket or waistcoat-pocket camera to capture nice memories that may ‘one day’ be retrieved electronically. Printing travel photos? No way.

Dear Ton, thanks for your response, and for your information: until recently my equipment consisted of 24 kilos. And now, therefore, of 2 kilos. Regards, Hans.

Ton, a bonus: this did include the [licht]weight of the Fotok, a kind of handcart that I developed for this purpose. Folded up, it fit exactly around my backpack. Foto Konijnenberg brought it to the attention of interested parties. But yes, I sold my weight and Konijnenberg / Den Ham is also a thing of the past. Since this year, my website has been offline and the photo rental has been limited to a few friendly business relations. Regards, Hans.

nice subject Nando, on vacation you want to take portraits, landscapes , small subjects, capture cities , visit a museum or church, capture a candlelit dinner. in short you need all the disciplines of photography. The only thing is that I would like to keep the weight of my equipment limited. So besides my fast zoom I also have a travel zoom with a nice range of 24-240mm and also the Canon RF 100-400mm, nice and light in weight and also reasonably good macro. besides that a nice little wide-angle of 16mm a fixed 24mm 1.8 a a 50mm 1.8 which weighs nothing either. I can handle just about any situation with it with good results.

Hi Elja, Kamera Express.

An interesting dilemma, which I also ran into when taking our city trips in the (recent) past. I have been photographing with Olympus cameras for more than fifty years and followed them in their switch to MFT via FT and have no regrets about it. I have two OMD cameras for the "normal" photography work and a Pen EPL-5 for holidays and short trips. This camera is also always in the bag when we go babysit the grandchildren. The first time going out with the Pen camera took some getting used to, but now I do notice that with this device and 1 or 2 lenses you can still take the photos you would want to take.

For my vacation I bought a Lumix Bridge fz200.
A camera with a large zoom range, manual, preference for speed and aperture etc. Even if the settings are limited compared to my Canon 500. No more changing photo lenses during walks, for my wife it has really become relaxing. And I am very satisfied with my photo books