Everyone needs a good facebook profile pic, and how do you expect to make your friends jealous with out some awesome photos?! Seriously though, your photo albums of your travels may well be some of your most cherished memories in your life, so which camera to bring is an important choice. Essentially you have 3 choices:
DSLR:
A digital SLR camera is an absolute necessity for anyone who is serious about their pics. If photography is your thing, then bring your SLR on your travels you’ll regret it if you don’t.
However, if you’re more the type to snap a quick shot and don’t know your aperture from your exposure then don’t deal with the hassle of this cumbersome beast. They’re expensive, huge and scream out “I’m a rich tourist”!
Perfect for: Anyone who genuinely appreciates the art form, can edit pics, and can use the camera on a manual mode. People who ‘travel to snap’
Not suited for: Casual photographers. If you just wanna be happy-snappy then this is not for you. Just cos you can afford a nice camera doesn’t mean you should buy one of these! If photography is not your bag, don’t weigh yourself down with this burden.
Point and Shoot:
You can pick these bad boys up for as little as $50 and all the way up to $500+. Remember folks, the quality of your pics is not defined by how many megapixels, that’s a con from the marketing companies. It’s about the quality of the lense, and more importantly the quality of the photographer.
Personally, I’d pay a little extra if you’re planning on buying a new Poing and Shoot and go for the waterproof, bashproof option. The sort of people who carry these on their travels invariably will drunkenly drop them, smash them rock climbing etc. Spending an extra $100 on a bash- and water-proof one now will save a fortune in future new camera purchases!
Perfect for: Amateur photographers, people who ‘travel first, snap second’. Realistically most of us fall into this group, yet so many people wanna look cool with the SLR, don’t do it! If photography isn’t your passion, a quality point and shoot is perfect!
Not suited for: If you have ever owned an SLR and you know how to use it, it’ll be a curse to have a point and shoot. You’ll be disappointed in the quality of images and curse yourself for not bringing your big one. Also, any safari-goers are gonna want at least one SLR in their group, the point and shoot doesn’t do it justice at all!
Smart phone:
I’m an avid iPhone 4S user and the camera on it is pretty sweet. I hear great reports from the new Samsungs too. The smart phone is fast catching the Point and Shoots but generally speaking it’s not quite their yet.
Perfect for: Everyone, having a smart phone as your camera backup is a great choice. When you lose/break/kill your battery on your main camera, iPhone is here to save the day!
Not suited for: The couple of weirdos I have met around the world who consider photography clichéd “just live the moment man, don’t try to steal it”. Yeah mate, whatever.
On my first few trips I was strictly a point-and-shoot man, then I was P-a-S with a smart phone backup, and now im a DSLR with a smart phone backup so I’ve been there and done it. In all honesty, carrying around my DLSR is quite a chore, I’m no National Geographic photographer and I think I’ve made a mistake with my big camera. I’m planning to downgrade to a hybrid if and when this gets stolen or broken! Hope that helps folks, happy travels!
A statement which makes me cringe when I hear it is ‘I’m going to buy a DSLR so we can take better photos on our holiday…’. So many people do not realize that photography takes time and effort to learn how to make the most of apertures, f-stops and depth of field etc. A person who has learnt some skill in photography will take better photos on any camera. A person who has never invested the time and effort to learn the art of photography will only ever take snapshots on any camera.
I am totally a point and shoot person, but my husband is a keen amateur photographer and I have observed his journey with interest but no desire to participate…
hey anne – i hear ya, so so so true! i’m gonna downgrade until i can truly learn how to use this thing!