Your experiences with traveling light?

[Archiver]

There is something alluring about the idea of carrying one small, fixed lens camera on a trip, and being immersed in taking photos without the burden of deciding which body, which lens to use.

Back in the day, I only traveled with pocket cameras. Those were the days of the Canon S45 and S70, small sensor cameras with sliding shutter cover. Back then, I didn't know much about photography, only that I loved it. If I were to go back to that setup, it would be with a Panasonic LX10 or Sony RX100 something. I love my LX10, it produces images way better than the old small sensor cams, and I've had many. I was an original charter member of this group when Amin started it as Serious Compacts, back in about 2010, and my love of serious compact cameras has never left.

I like to put together magazines of each year's best photos; flicking through them, it seems it mostly hasn't mattered which gear I used, what mattered more was the care I took to compose, shoot, and edit. Some of my best travel memories have been made with small sensors, and even printed and hung on the wall they're alright.

The day I carried two mu43 cameras and all my lenses on a 10 kilometre hike, I realised I made the wrong choice, so now I leave all unnecessary lenses behind (usually in the car, since I rarely travel any other way). The times I've travelled with one body and two lenses - usually a zoom and a small prime - or just one compact zoom camera, have been generally more enjoyable.

Panasonic 12-35 and Olympus 17 or 25 f1.8 with a Panasonic GX85. A very versatile and fun combo.

Recently, I took my newused small sensor Casio EX-100 on a couple of road trips. It gave me constant f2.8 and 28-300mm reach, where 300mm is pretty terrible, but better than none when trying to identify a distant bird. It wasn't the perfect solution, but I enjoyed the freedom it gave me. I would have had better results from my Lumix GX9 (similar body size) and 14-140mm lens (28-280mm), but with some sacrifice in bulk.

Those old Casio zoom compacts were so much fun.

I want to get a 14-140 for my G9 and GX85. At the moment, I tend to carry either the G9 with the Olympus 17mm f1.2 lens, or the GX85 with Panasonic 9mm and Olympus 17mm f1.8. The f1.2 primes are a bit front heavy for the GX85, even with the JJC grip. When I travel overseas again, the GX85 is likely to come with me.

 

[melanie.ylang]

@melanie.ylang What is this "10 kilometre hike" you speak of, Melanie?
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Heather and I were completely knackered after the "30 minute round trip" walk on Mt Kaputar to look at the Sawn Rocks. It took more like an hour, with me carrying the E-M1 MkII + 12-100 and Heather carrying the E-M1 MkI + 12-50. It was about 35°C ...

Largely unintentional, John! It was entirely in a dry, rocky watercourse in the Flinders Ranges, where the return half was back uphill. I was lucky that my bloke took my backpack off me, carrying both it and the excess gear. I'm a total snowflake!

There's no shame in taking longer, and taking in more of the scenery.

 

[melanie.ylang]

@Archiver I'm sad that serious compacts has fallen into a declining market - no matter how good a phone camera is, the joy of handling a dedicated camera is irreplaceable. I was very happy to recently find a used Canon G5X Mark ii for less than the usual price, so snapped it up. With a 24-120mm f1.8-2.8 lens, it matches the range of my PL12-60mm lens, with much the same subject separation from the faster aperture. I'm really looking forward to using it as my EDC, and on road trips when I don't want the extra weight and bulk.