Henning
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 p.9 #19 · Photo Equipment for a month long? trip to Italy | |
An interesting thread, as we have travelled a lot (all continents, many countries) and I've always photographed. In the 60's I hitchhiked through most countries in Europe and North Africa, usually with 2 cameras and 5 or so lenses and then later with family and 4 or more cameras and lenses from 15 to 400 with the Nikons and 15 to 90 with the Leica's. We drove through 15 countries in Europe, including many communist ones with that. Also trekked in Nepal and the Andes with 2 Leica's, a Mamiya 6, a 'blad SWC and a Noblex 150 (no, the sherpas didn't get to carry any camera gear or film).
Now, I usually carry 2 Leica's and lenses from around 14 to 90 around Europe, or more usually, 2 or 3 m43 bodies and a variety of lenses, mostly depending on available subject matter. In Europe it might be just a 7.5mm Laowa, an Olympus 12-100 and a fast 17 while for Australia and NZ it was a 4mm fisheye, the 7.5, Panasonic 12-60, Panasonic 50-200 with 1.4x while for Africa and Antarctica a 100-400 and/or a fast long tele would be added. My wife is quite tolerant of my photography, and on one of our very first dates she asked whether I ALWAYS carried a camera. Yes, except for in bed and in the shower, but even there, I've been into the shower with my Olympus m43 gear to rinse off all the salt caked on from Zodiac excursions.
I have a couple of Sony bodies, but they don't travel with me very often. The bodies aren't too big, but the lenses, if AF, are. If I want to shoot MF, I prefer to take the Leicas.
M43 makes me work a bit harder if I want to wind up with 30x40 prints, but technically, my prints from my GM5 and 12-32 zoom, which together are smaller than just the Sony 35/1.8 alone, are better than I used to get from my medium format film shots. I was happy with those shots then, and I'm happy with these tiny sensor shots now, and the camera just doesn't get in the way of anything. I'm not going to compete with a travel photographer who spends 3 weeks at one location to get 4 good shots for travel promotions; I'm going to get shots that are part of my memories.
I was a professional architectural/construction/commercial photographer shooting with mostly 4x5 and sometimes 8x10 cameras. There and then, I tried to get the absolute best shots I could within the budget. Now I have different priorities, and m43 suits those best, most of the time.
Mostly though, shoot for yourself on your trips, and don't get bogged down. It also doesn't matter if you're a one camera/one lens kind of photographer or someone that packs a lot, as long as all that gear is useful to you. I think the OP learned that. 
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