Best camera for travel?

Hi, Tom.

If "landscapes, churches, and the odd sheep" are what's next, sounds as if you may be able to go "wide" most of the time.

For a full year on the road, I carried a Canon 450D crop with 18-55 and 70-300 glass. Some time later, I switched to a Canon 6D full-frame with 24-105; I also had a 50-prime as the sole lens on select days to lighten the carry or burden time.

A few years ago, I looked for a lighter compact option, and I gravitated to a lightly used Fujifilm X70. It's a fixed-prime that's a little wider (18.5mm/28) than Fujifilm's current X100 series (23mm/35). I had to get used to the X70 not having an optical viewfinder, but I've thoroughly enjoyed using the camera, given the total ease of carrying, snapping, and fiddling with the buttons, exposure dial, and aperture ring (there's no PASM dial). It's by no means a perfect camera, but its size and weight have meant a lot more fun.

I recently spent a month in Vienna, Austria, with the X70. At times, I missed having access to other focal lengths and there were a couple of occasions where I wanted to go "long". But I was very happy not having to lug a big brick-and-glass for hours, day after day.

I still have my Canon system, but it's geared now to specific projects. For the everyday and for most travel, it's the X70. After I wear out the X70, I fully expect to move onto something like an X100 in the future; I'll have to look at the competitors' equivalents as well.

If you haven't already done so, if it's possible and you have the opportunity, check locally if you can rent a compact camera for a day or for a week, and see how that feels.

Hope this helps!

P.S. I also have a wide conversion lens (WCL-X70), a small piece of glass which can be screwed on top of an adaptor ring, which moves the effective focal length to 14mm/21.

As the old saying goes, the best camera is the one that you have with you.

I'm not sure what your "big camera bodies" are, but I'm assuming an SLR system. In that case maybe some small mirrorless system is the best option? That will still give you all the options you need but a lot lighter and smaller. Something like the Canon M6 and one or two lenses?

Sony Rx 100 7. I have the 5. , but would upgrade to a 7 after I master the 5.

The pictures are amazing. You can shoot in raw and jpg at same time. Or choose one or the other. Massive amount of settings as well as manual since you are a pro .

I bought mine for underwater snorkeling photos. With a housing of course. Wow. I’m aspiring to take wow pics and this camera does the trick. I was intimidated by the settings and used auto at the start. Fine. But as I learned, Photographing fish required a faster shutter speed as well as getting the iso correct. I started venturing off auto and did manual and my pics turned out!

I was whale watching last month, shot in raw, used the sport mode and I got pics that were just as good as the pro photographer that was on board to take pics of our group adventure. I got sequences of whales coming out of the water, blowing, and going back under. I couldn’t believe how good they came out.

If my manual settings created great photos, yours will be amazing with this camera .

I subscribe to a you tube channel called Sony alpha labs, where I learned more about the camera if you want to check that out.

After hauling a FF Nikon around the world, I purchased a Fuji X-T1 when they first came out. I currently have a X-T3 and couldn’t be happier. My travel kit of the 10-24, 18-55 and 55-200 is a great balance between size and capability. I’ve literally had the same lenses since the first X body. This kit has been to 24 countries in Europe alone. Depending on the trip I might add a small 2.0 prime. Lately I’ve been using Lightroom on an iPad Pro instead of a laptop to further reduce my kit. Good luck with your decision!

I went through the same decision process last year after moving from a D7100 to a Sony RX100 m3 all the way down to an Iphone 13 Pro.

The X-S10 was high on my list but it was severely backordered and I was concerned about a lack of weather sealing. Likewise, the Sony APSC models were scarce. I eventually decided to go with a full frame Sony A7C for two reasons. First, I liked the low light capabilities of the full frame. Second, I was impressed by the lens options for the Sony e-mount. Much more so than the APSC offerings from either Sony or Fuji (aside from the 16-80 Fuji which was also out of stock for months).

After shooting the A7c over two extended trips, I am happy with my choice. I was very surprised with the resolution and sharpness of the kit 28-60 compact zoom. If maximum portability is an issue, I highly recommend this option eventhough it is only 2.5.

I have so far added a Samyang 24/1.8 and Tamron 28-200/2.8 to the mix. I prefer the 24 as a compliment to the 28-60 and ended up leaving the Tamron at home on our recent trip to Tahiti.

We are going to Germany this October and will hike the Tour du Mont Blanc next summer. I will probably bring just the 28-60 for both. It is that good and so easy to carry along. If I need a decent interior shot camera, such as restaurant interiors, I can always fall back on the Iphone.

Oh, I should add that the Rx100 m7 is a more than capable camera for general travel and I have recommended this to a couple of non-photographer friends as I was so happy with the results of mine.

I would be concerned that the relatively lower level of creative control might bug you as a professional. Plus, the 1” sensor does not do that well in low light with the current M7’s 2.8 lens. For shooting in bright conditions it is excellent. My older M3 goes with me on many fast and light hiking trips instead of the A7c.