Camera Woes and Woahs

I have too many cameras. Theoretically they all have different purposes, but sometimes it feels like too much. Most days the big weight that I am carrying is technology, not clothing. I would love to not have to carry the big weight, but photography is an important part of travel for me. The skill of getting a good shot, the memory inducing act of looking through old pictures and of course the blogging. Though some days it can feel lite a trial.

This is a look at my camera tech without really a solution. I did a similar post at Too Many Adapters about computing technology if you are interested.

Big Camera

A few years ago on the night before I was to fly to New Zealand, I broke my DSLR. Yup, dropped it on the ground and it just stopped working. So I had to replace it. One of my biggest complaints was how heavy it is. So when I went looking for a replacement, weight was an issue. I ended up with a Micro 4/3’s camera.

The Micro 4/3s is a half way between a small point and shoot and a bigger DSLR size and weightwise. There is no viewfinder (you look at the display on the back) but it can take different lenses. The exact model I got was an Olympus PL-2. It has plenty of features and I am pretty happy with it over all.

It is still the heaviest camera I have. Especially since I got a zoom lens to go with it. And it still means getting it out of its bag and putting it back, so it can end up a bit of hassle to deal with. I will probably still always travel with it, but it isn’t as useful for just wandering around taking random pictures.

Point And Shoot

I bought this against the weight of my old SLR. I felt I was able to capture more spontaneous things. In so many situations it is nicer to just have a camera in my pocket rather than a big bag. I just walked into the photo store a number of years ago and bought the cheap one with a zoom lens for 99Euro. It isn’t very good in low light, as I find it blurs too easily if I am not very stable. Even still, this was the camera I took through all of New Zealand, so I have seen it take some great photos. See comparison between Fiordland and Rotterdam. The other downfall is that it runs on AAs, not on rechargeable batteries.

I like it and might think about replacing it with one that runs on rechargeable if it took decent pictures. There definitely are times when I like having a camera without the whole big bag.

Camcorder

As I started getting more into blogging and was heading off to Greece, I bought a little camcorder. I thought I would get into video. Yeah, I am not. I can’t really get into video. And yet I still carry the camera around, because “hey I have it. Maybe I will find a use for it, and it has a single-shot mode as well.” The problem is that the single shot is usually crappy, especially in low/artificial light (see above).

I always think it will be handy and it ends up just not being. I would almost always be better with my point and shoot. The benefit of the camcorder is that it recharges via USB rather than the AA batteries of the other one.

Smart Phone

I am not a big smart phone user. I do like it and do use it some but not often as a camera. It does have one so it is convenient sometimes, like shopping in Ikea. I didn’t buy the phone based on the camera, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the camera isn’t very good. There is no zoom and although it has a flash, it really doesn’t take that great of pictures. I have started taking occasional pictures with it in travel situations, so we will see.

I have no interest in instragram or being a smart phone photographer. I always have a hard time seeing the screen and just want to have a dedicated camera most of the time.

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My latest incarnation has been carrying the big camera bag without the zoomlens and the point and shoot and/or camcorder stuffed in its place. Normally I have that whole thing stuffed in my backpack, so it is weird to not have that extra space just carrying the camera bag. I ended up strapped the umbrellas on top the other day, but I need a better solution in the long run.

So the balance seems to be convenience versus quality. I would love the quality of my Olympus with a high zoom and the size and weight of my silver one. To be able to just whip out a camera and take shots without having to dig through a bag. It just won’t work though. I do need to remember to just leave the camcorder at home. I am rarely happy with the pictures it takes, on the other hand I don’t have to worry about batteries.. Hmm.

I really don’t want to spend more money, but I will continue to investigate. As we slow down travel more, I don’t always feel the need to be carrying so much stuff with me and yet I still want quality.

What do you carry? Do you get annoyed with the weight of your camera?