Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Thoughts on Photo Gears to Bring on a Trip

I rarely travelled with my camera equipments and only packed my X100 (it has a constant 35mm lens) for the Santa Fe trip. It did a wonderful job, but I also realized the serious limitation of travelling so light. On my way back, I started to reflect what photo equipments should I bring on my next trip (still got a lot of time to refine the list since I would not be doing any travel for a very long time). Here is what I have in mind after learning from my Santa Fe  experience:

  • A lightweight camera with 1 auto-focused zoom lens (a range of 24-105mm is perfect for most of the travels).
  • The camera should have in-camera panorama feature so no need for any super wide angel lens. (X100 is great in this area. I sometimes thought I bought it just for this feature.)
  • The camera should have high ISO capability (acceptable at ISO 3200) since I will shoot a lot of night scenes hand holding it. 
  • Color and dynamic range are extremely important. Better getting it right when you do the shooting. Nobody likes to photoshop all those photos after a trip. (X100 did a wonderful job in this area.)
  • Battery should last a whole day without any need for recharge. (X100 is not great in this area. Fortunately I remembered to bring two batteries.)
  • Camera should be fast to turn on and auto focus should be lightning fast. (X100 is terrible in this area. This is where my Nikon excels.)
  • Don't forget your smart phone. Learn to use it. Not only it's a wonderful camera, the instant gratification of uploading your photo and getting it "liked" beats any fancy camera you can have with you. 

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