A travelling quandry?

Gandhi

Gandhi

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I don't know if anybody can help me with this but I just want to bounce some ideas around and see what people think.

I'm off to India in march next year for 6 months of hippy type back-packing, trekking and such like an I'm not sure how I'm going to approach this photographicaly.

Option 1; Take all my digital gear, camera, chargers, an image tank, lenses, etc. It's quite a lot of gear and I'm pretty much convinced it's going o be enough of a burden at some point to make me want to chuck the whole lot in the Ganges, shave my head and join a monastery. Power is going to be an issue, especially if we go to nepal and tibet as planned.

Option 2; Take the d70, an 18-200vr if I can find one and some sort of portable dvd/cd writer so I can burn discs as I fill the image tank and post them home.

Option 3; ditch the Dslr gear, get a compact and a fat capacity memory card and a memory tank. Compact will have to be one powered on AA's and I'll then be shooting jpegs. Hopefully then, I'l be able to ditch the naff shots by viewing on the image tank and if I get a pdx70 with a 100gb HD it should last the trip.

Option 4; Take my contax TvS film compact and shoot bulk loads of film, still readily available in India. Issue then becomes cost of film and processing, which should be fairly cheap in situ. Keeping the film with me at all times will not be possible due to extremes of temperature. Quality out of the Contax is great but I'll need brush up on my film skills.

Option 5; Sell everything, including a kidney, get a leica and one lens
and do the same as above.

Option 6; Accept the fact that I'm not going to be able use this as the photogrpahy mission I dearly want it to be, either that or accept some sort of compomises in either itinerary or accomodation or photography!



Any thoughts any of you have on the above will be very gratefully accepted as I'm currently going a bit barmy on this one. An I haven't even had my jabs yet!
 
I think you have to accept from the outset that you're not going to tackle all the photography you'd like to unless you have a couple of yaks and sherpa porters. Obviously you want to do some photography, but you want to enjoy the holiday too. In India the quality of light is beautiful...and Nepal too! Chance of a lifetime pics wise, so I would want the best tool for the job.

I'd take a DSLR and two lenses, a wide angle and a moderate tele, accepting from the start that it's going to be a compromise for some opportunities. Zoom versions of both would be better.

The biggest problem then is storage of images, so it's lots of cards, or an Epson P2000 type thingy to store your images and keep your CF cards in use. The P2000 stores 40 gig. There's an 80 gig version out now too.

Film means a hell of a processing bill, or a lot of time messing about in the dark when you get back.
 
option 4 or 5, and post the films home as you take them, that way if something goes wrong atleast the films are not with you. and as you send them home (or 2 a friends house) you dont run the risk of having a film wrecked by a crappy photolab cockup while your out there.

im just on my way from youth hosteling round some of canada and bringing the laptop with me was quite a weight when i had to carry it with me. however it did provide a useful port to the real world so id definetly travel with it again:clap: i took my 20D an 18-50mm f2.8 sigma and a longish tele zoom, which did the job, although as i managed to break the tele (it was pants anyway) ill have to buy a new one when i get back


its tricky combining a holiday with true out and out photography, somethings you just dont have the time to do, especially if your traveling in a group or with wifes/girlfriends/family etc the best i could manage was just to taake snapshots, technically they aint gonna be the best ever but they're a reminder and a memento of the places ive seen and visited which is more important than that killer shot!
 
my sister went traveling for a year, and she used her old slr and sent the film back to our mum. it ment she wasnt carrying thema round with her and she knew they were safe, as whitewash says.

but being a digital monkey, i would do option 2, or CT idea. I think your gonna regret not having a decent camera more that then regret carrying the weight IMO.
 
Only problem with digital is power, the group of people I'm going with have been to India a couple of times before and reckon some of the places we're going are a bit short on juice. I think I may be able to counter this by the occasional stay in a 'proper' hotel.

I think it's gonna be the Dslr, a pdx70 with a 160Gb laptop drive in it and the nikon 18-200 vr jobbie if I can get hold of one before I leave. May take the sigma 10-20 if there's room. Tripod is a definate no-no and I will probably take the contax 35mm compact as a back-up device should I get low on juice. The pdx70 takes AA batteries so should be fine, it just has no screen for viewing images so I can't use it to delete the dross. I'm also not sure how much I'd trust one device with all my data, especially with something as potentially wobbly as a hard drive in it.

If I shoot jpegs, I should have no problem fitting them all on the drive as I reckon I'll be there for about 6 months and I rarely shoot more than a gig's worth of images a day, I'm quite disciplined in that respect.

One other thing I have considered is to get some kind of online storage as I should be able to find internet cafes and the like in the more major cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, at least then I'll be able to upload some stuff for safeties sake.

I've already decided that the trip is NOT going to be about photography after a lengthy talk with kellie last night, however much I would like it to be, it just aint practical. So I'm mostly going to end up taking holiday snaps I think.

Will definately be engineering some sort of blog too I would imagine, as well as keeping a paper diary.

Can't wait though, I'm so excited I keep making little bits of wee!
 
My 350d's battery grip comes with an AA battery option, where I can chuck a load of AA's in, don't you have the same with your Nikon???
 
No battery grip available for D70, doesn't need one as it's not the size of a matchbox toy ;) lol.

There is an aftermarket one but I think it only takes the nikon batteries.

If all goes according to plan, I'll be getting a d200 soon anyway and that does have a battery grip. Watch this space!
 
Just had a quick google, and the Hahnel aftermarket one not only comes with 2 normal batteries (giving me 4 in total) it also has an adaptor to take 6 AA's, so that may be the way to go if I don't secure a d200 before I leave.

Latter option is gonna be preferable just for the magnesium chassis and the weather/dust sealing of the d200. It'll stand up to the rigours of life out of a rucksack much better than the d70. And no chance of TBGLOD either!



Good Idea that man. First class. Why didn't I think of that? eh?
 
Should of gone to specsavers Canon.......:canon:
 
Gandhi said:
Can't wait though, I'm so excited I keep making little bits of wee!
Click to expand...


Ewwww :puke: thanks for that mental Image!

My brother went on a round the world backpacking trip a couple of years back. He took his Canon Slr and one lens, and kept sending film back home for my mum to process, although it cost an absolute fortune as she was receiving about 3-5 rolls of 36 exp film per week.

I think you're doing the right thing with with the D70. Just remember that you have to lug all this equipment around with you in temperatures of about 40 degrees +, plus whatever else you have in your backpack.

Just don't do what my brother did and have to cut the trip to India short with a bad case of Shigella :puke:
 
I'd agree with CT also, except I'd take one lens, a 50mm prime or slightly wider. You don't 'really' need a zoom if you have 2 good feet and much of what you will want to photograph will be up close and personal and/or landscapery. The battery grip you found sounds like a good option too.
 
Don't forget security!!!
I've heard of a few people losing their kit in that part of the world.
Make sure you at least keep your images safe, as these can't be replaced.
 
The D200 sounds like a good idea to me.... but TBGLOD? :thinking:

The worry about hard drive storage devices failing is very real, I must admit.

Just to nod in the direction of film - you could shoot reversal stock, which has the advantage of being home processable. If you buy E6 film, you could process yourself on your return and you only really need a developing tank, a few measuring beakers and a thermometer. The light is going to be very trick at times though and reversal stock doesn't have a lot of exposure latitude, so the advantages of shooting in RAW really swing it in favour of digital.
 
If you would like I can loan you my portable cd burner, it's a Disk steno and burns a fair number of disks on one charge. Fairly small and lightweight.
 
Cheers Gary. A scolar and a gentleman, I may just take you up on that!

CT, TBGLOD is the the blinking green light of death! A pronlem that afflicts early model D70's. There is a problem with the hardware that means some of the are prone a random lock up issue. The green memory card access light on the back just starts blinking and never stops, rendering the camera unusable. Nikon will fix it for free, even if it's out of warranty, but wont do anything until it actually happens. Not much use in India!
 
ghandi, you forgot option 7: ditch everything and take me:naughty: :D
 
Gandhi said:
CT, TBGLOD is the the blinking green light of death! A pronlem that afflicts early model D70's. There is a problem with the hardware that means some of the are prone a random lock up issue. The green memory card access light on the back just starts blinking and never stops, rendering the camera unusable. Nikon will fix it for free, even if it's out of warranty, but wont do anything until it actually happens. Not much use in India!
Click to expand...

Gracias! Simple really then. :D
 
I'd try and help more but I'm still googling the word quandry.

I can offer a little sideways thinking though.

What sucks about most point & shoots?

1/DOF. but maybe you will be shooting a lot of scenery so that won't matter? My old p&s takes great landscapes.

2/Not much cop in poor lighting.
Your'e hardly likely to have that problem in India.

Advantages...
1/They are small and light.

2/It wouldn't matter if you have to shoot jpegs. (loads of pics on a decent size card and probaly less need for the latitude of RAW in the lighting conditions)

3/A lot of them have a decent zoom focal range built in.

4/If you lose it or get it nicked, you don't have to sell your house to buy another one (you could probably even buy a replacement out there out of your beer money)

5/you'll still have room in your hip bag for your Ghandi flip flops if they start humming and walking off on their own
 
Sounds like quite a trip.

As for compacts, this shot:

was taken with a Panasonic Lumix LX1. Basically carrying a 5D into London on my three days per week commute from Southampton is a lot of hassle. I wanted a light compact that could also shoot RAW and have good manual control. I've seen great results with this camera from John at http://www.everysooften.co.uk/ and after emailing him and checking the review at http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasoniclx1/ I bought one with a nice black finish. It has a good Leica lens but I would always shoot RAW at ISO80 as it can be a tad noisy at higher ISO settings on jpegs.

You can get about 54 RAW shots on a 1 gig SD card. Maybe also get a cheap image tank or something?

[I bought the cam from: http://www.rankhour.com/details.php?pid=1053465345111477&caid=2&cbid=9&ccid=62 - excellent next day service. Jessops are doing the silver version for the same price instore.]
 
i'm in a very simliar position gandhi. i'm heading to on a 3 month trip this summer, 5 weeks is on a motorbike in india and after much deliberating i'm taking my d70. power and storage are the first problems so i'm going for 4 batteries and a pd70x. i get 500-700 shots on one charge at the min so taking that as 500, i'll have 2000 shots of juice. review of the pd70x like the one from daveyuk show a battery life of 50gig+ and AA's anyway so that should be fine. i'm also going to use 3 gig of cf cards.

kit to take... a headache and a half there. i'm thinking the 10-20 as i cant resist it, and as ct said a short tele-zoom. maybe the 24-120 seeing as i have the wide angle covered or even the 28-200 as it's very small and has a good rep. i'm taking a tripod, the velbon ultra series are very small and light and i'd love some low light shots. i might pack my 50 1.8 too as it's so small.

i'll start a thread about my issues another time, but i hope my thoughts help. and i'll be sure to let you know my experience when i finish in october :)
 
Cheers for the thoughts guys.

Noah, I was discussing this at the weekend as the people I'm going with were on the stag. Looks like we're probably going to be biking it too lol. If that's the case I may have slightly more capacity for kit. Apparently, we can pick up an enfield bullet(?) in Delhi for about £500, so just gonna use that for transport over the whole 6 months. Should be interesting. and dangerous!

Milou, I was down your way at the weekend (well, Portsmouth anyway!)

I used to have a panasonic fz30 before I got the Nikon and indeed, the IQ is brilliant on the panasonics. I may look at getting one, just for pure portability and discreet shooting. There are going to be points when an Slr just isn't practical or very considerate I'm sure. I didn't find the FZ to be too bad for noise, but you had to nail the exposure otherwise it was very unforgiving.
 
lol, that's the same bike i'm after :)

i did read a tale from roger hicks (the man the writes at the back of amateur photographer) saying when he did the same thing the vibrations from the bullet shook the screws loose in his camera!
 
Boon said:
ghandi, you forgot option 7: ditch everything and take me:naughty: :D
Click to expand...

I'm surprised no-one has come up with this one:

Option 8: Take Boon and use him as a pack-animal to carry all your gear!

:)
 
May I also suggest something like this

Solar powered battery charger.

Seems obvious to me, lots of sun == lots of free energy.
 
Damned fine idea sir!
 
SammyC said:
I'm surprised no-one has come up with this one:

Option 8: Take Boon and use him as a pack-animal to carry all your gear!

:)
Click to expand...


Good plan. My very own sherpa! (pack-animal may be a tad-harsh!) I forgot the g/f was coming. She normaly ends up carrying my tripod and sorting the lens caps for me when I need to change lenses in a hurry. Kellie is also getting quite good at using the remote for the camera. I set the shot up, set the bracketing for HDR and then sit back and roll a fag whilst she takes the shots for me!!!!!


I do treat her very well though at all times, so it's not like it's all one way!



BOT though, solar powered charger sounds like a good idea, and no bigger than a normal charger too, might have to get one of those!
 
Brilliant, I had heard it was all about horn and size. General rule of thumb seems to be if it's bigger than you, it as priority. Unless your horn is louder or used with more urgency/vigour.

I'm on my third midlife crisis btw, and I'm only 32!
 
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