One camera, one lens (not the usual thread)

[Roger Hicks]

For travel, one camera and one lens sounds to me like a really rotten idea. If the camera and/or lens stops working, what are you going to do?

More than two cameras, on the other hand, and you can be looking at a lot of weight and bulk, especially if you're walking much. There's also the point that you may spend more time wondering which camera to use than you will spend taking pictures.

The only way I'd carry one camera is with another -- good, cheap, reliable -- camera that I can leave in the room without worrying too much if it's stolen (Konica SIII in a locked suitcase) or in the hotel safe (e.g. Nikon F + 50/2, both of which are cheap nowadays) or even in my pocket if it's small and light enough (Retina IIa).

But as this is part of my livelihood I normally carry two Leicas, or one Leica + 1 MF (Alpa or Linhof). With the Alpa 12WA, the body is just a spacer and can't really go wrong, but I carry 2 lenses, 2 backs and (following the time I forgot, on a trip to India) 2 viewfinder masks.

Has anyone had a problem with taking just one camera that then breaks/is lost or stolen/otherwise fails to deliver the goods?

Cheers,

R.

[zuikologist]

No problems so far with manual cameras, more usually with digital SLRs, where even a seemingly fully charged battery suddenly discharges and I am left high and dry.

My usual holiday or short trip combination is digital SLR with general zoom and one good prime (usually a 24mm, to give about 35-40mm fov), one mechanical rangefinder (usually a Bessa R with Nokton) or mechanical SLR (Pentax MX with 50/1.7) and a Vivitar slim & wide (21mm fov) or Pentax Espio mini (which has a great 28mm lens and is surprinsingly versatile). This usually comes with a mini tripod and film, 2 charged batteries for the SLR.

It is difficult to shake off the paranoia of being without a camera of some sort......

[marcust101]

Roger

I was in the Alps once (mid winter), with an OM 1 which was performing very nicely. My girlfriend of the time spilled some water on it accidentally, and didn't tell me then I took it outside.....

The unfortunate thing froze up, luckily it was only the exterior controls and not the workings inside that got wet.

Once it thawed and dried it was fine. Ever since I bring a spare of some kind and I still use the OM regularly

regards

Marcus

[pvdhaar]

Originally Posted by Roger Hicks

For travel, one camera and one lens sounds to me like a really rotten idea. If the camera and/or lens stops working, what are you going to do?

Enjoy the trip. At least, that's what I did when my Hexar completely froze when I was on holiday in France three years ago. I figured out what was wrong (mid-roll rewind button stuck) two days after. But I did manage to have a jolly good time without it..

[maddoc]

Until recently it was always only one camera / one (or two) lense(s) and I never had any problem (either with my DSLR or film camera) Now, I carry one Leica / one lens with me and a TLR. Leica for BW film and TLR for color, all in 400 ISO. I have a quite large messenger-style bag and carry both cameras and some rolls of unexposed film with me, already exposed film kept in the hotel room.

[pinafore2]

An older, but reliable, manual SLR with at moderate zoom (35 - 105) and/or Retina 1a

[ChrisN]

I took my Pentax dSLR out for a walk once, and forgot to put in a memory card. I felt very silly.

Anyone ever forgotten the film?

[kuvvy]

i've never had a problem on holiday. come to think of it, I've only had one repair to a camera in over 30 years. Not bad going.
When on holiday I tend to take a main shooting camera and a pocket compact. The main shooter could be anything from a DSLR plus short zoom, my CLE plus 25 & 40 or my Hexar Silver. I don't really shoot with long lenses so any of these suit me fine. Depends on where I'm going and what I fancy using at the time.
The pocket option is usually my Espio Mini, like Zuikologist mentioned above.
I have been away with just a compact in my pocket and shot the whole holiday on just that and to be honest I can manage quite well, though you sacrifice some control. That said I would still take two compacts, one as backup.

[maddoc]

Originally Posted by ChrisN

I took my Pentax dSLR out for a walk once, and forgot to put in a memory card. I felt very silly.

Anyone ever forgotten the film?

Music festival with interesting local bands, memory cards prepared (two of them), battery charged (Nikon D1x, was eating batteries ...) and once arrived at the festival site I realised that I had forgotten the battery in the charger at home...

[D.O'K.]

Some years ago I acquired a secondhand Rolleiflex T which looked as good as new and appeared to work well. I duly took it to Turkey (a brilliantly photogenic country) and over 10 days shot a vast number of pictures. Almost all were out of focus. It transpired the taking lens was misaligned internally, probably (said the repairer) because the camera had been dropped. Externally the lens plate was parallel to the body, so offering no clue to the horrors within. Stupidly, it was the only camera I took on the trip.

A terrible disappointment: but for the totally failed focussing, many of the pictures might have been very good...

Regards,
D.

PS: Ironically, Roger, I've just remembered that the whole sorry episode was ultimately your fault! I'd bought the T as a cheap way into MF as a direct result of reading your Medium Format Handbook (Blandford 1986, pps.30-32).

Happy ending though: post-repair the camera worked perfectly, I've loved it ever since, and it did get me seriously interested in MF. So thanks, really--
D.

[literiter]

If I travel by car I'll take just about the whole kit. If I travel by air, I'll go pretty basic, perhaps the 35mm SLR and 3 lenses.

[sebastel]

[ amateur_mode ]

i do not understand the possibly underlying paranoia. usually, cameras do not just fail. if you plan a trip to areas that put special requirements on your camera - well, then you should know about that beforehand.
and if your camera happens to fail in spite of your planning ahead, be happy if you have your credit card with you and a camera shop nearby.

[ /amateur_mode ]

[ professional_mode ]

if you get paid for taking pictures, having one or more replacement bodies with you is mandatory anyway, and the question should not come up in the first place.

[ /professional_mode ]

[Roger Hicks]

Originally Posted by pvdhaar

Enjoy the trip. At least, that's what I did when my Hexar completely froze when I was on holiday in France three years ago. I figured out what was wrong (mid-roll rewind button stuck) two days after. But I did manage to have a jolly good time without it..

Dear Peter,

Good point. But although I'd not go as far as my late friend Colin Glanfield ('If I couldn't take my camera, I'd not bother to travel') I'd certainly hate to be without a camera when I was travelling. That was true even before I started earning money with the camera -- which is so long ago I've pretty much forgotten what it's like not to rely on a camera...

Cheers,

R.

[varjag]

Roger, when traveling I take just one camera. Currently it's the M4, which haven't ever ruined a single frame to me so far. If it fails, I'd buy an inexpensive p&s with 35mm lens.

But certainly on a once in a lifetime photo opportunity it pays to take a backup.

[kshapero]

I still have not learned this simple precaution. Back in 1991 I was hired to shoot an art tour in the USSR. I took a Minolta 9000 (they were paying for it) and a boatload of lenses. I had just finished a PR shoot in NYC with Olympus and had a beautiful OM-4Ti kit. After some deliberation I decided to go to the USSR with the 9000 alone. The camera kept malfunctioning. AF finally stopped all together. if you think doing MF in an AF world is hard now, try it in 1991.
And yet I recently returned from a 2 week trip. All I took was a Zeiss Ikon and a CV Heliar 50mm lens. It was awesome.

[Toby]

I've had a Pentax 67 break its winder in Israel - they didn't export this camera to Israel so no chance of getting it fixed even though I was there for two months.

Had a sigma zoom break in Cuba - it was almost new, so I've never bought a Sigma lens since.

Both cases I was young and skint with patchy back up, much more belt and braces these days, but it is my living.

[denkrahm]

Like others have said ........ are you traveling to take pictures or are you travelling and take pictures on the way. On a (short)(business)(solo) trip alone just one camera, one lens. On a longer (holiday) trip with my girlfriend I have learnt that taking pictures gets in the way of a good time together (=the aim of the trip). In these cases I take more with me for those moments (I'm an early riser and she's not) that I go out alone for a hour or so. Often to places/spots we'd seen together before and enjoyed without the camera bag as third party!

Dirk-Jan

[oftheherd]

When traveling for pleasure, I have always driven, so I could take what I wanted. That usually included my Fujica ST 901 and Yashica TL Super with several lenses. The Fuji can work without battery in case of emergency, but I always carry a spare battery. I would also take my Super Press 23 and lenses.

About 5 years ago I put together a kit for a trrp to Germany that I never made after all. It consisted of a Yashica FX 103, 50mm Contax 50mm f/1.4, three zooms; 18-28, 28-70, and 75-150. A backup Yashica FX 3 body, a Yashica 221 dedicated flash, a 2x teleconverter, an odd filter or two, and film. Also a Welta 6x6 folder and a Gossen Luna Pro. It all fits in a small bag about 8 1/2, by 14, by 6(including the pockets). I keep and often have that in my car while commuting to work. I am considering replacing the Welta with a Zeiss Ikon non-rangefinder(light) or a Moskva(heavy).

As an aside, I have several zooms, but find I don't like even as small as an 80-200 most of the time. I am surprised how many photos a 50mm can take. I also have learned to prefer primes, 18mm, 24mm, 28mm, 135mm. But as I said, I like the kit above too, for the versatility of the zooms. And that for weight as well.

To the point of your question Mr. Hicks, I don't recall ever having a camera fail while on a trip or work. Even a Yashica 124 MAT that slipped out of my hands and hit a rock while changing film still worked, even though I had to rachet the film advance. My main cameras, the ST 901 and the Super Press 23 have worked well for over 30 years. I have had cameras fail, but never on a trip.

[Matt White]

I take everything my baggage allowance permits. Not because I'm scared of breakdown, but because holidays are my most important and least repeatable regular photography opportunities, and I like to mix scenery, wildlife, people and whatever else is worth making images of. So I take whatever I can carry, and then choose day-by-day what gear to go out with, leaving the rest in hotel or apartment. I lock stuff away when I'm not using it if I can, but if I can't, I try not to worry: it's all insured and nothing is irreplaceable except exposed film and image storage devices - which I always put in a safe if there is one.

[Oliver H]

When I travel around I always have just one body and one lens with me. One of my favourite combinations for cities and countryside trips is a Bessa L with the 15mm lens. In October my girlfriend and me are going to Lanzarote again - then I will be pretty high-tech: zeiss 4,5/21mm and the bessa r2a.

I`d never take two or more lenses with me - I want to concentrate on a special angle of view and compose my photos depending on this.

Regards,

Oliver

[Nikon Bob]

I don't do photography for a living but travel for pleasure. If it is to a place I may never see again then I take a back up body. Luckily my wife likes to snap too so having a back up is not a problem. OTH I have not had a body fail on a trip, touch wood.

Bob

[Livesteamer]

Take Two. In 42 years of shooting film only one failure. My honeymoon I had only one Nikon F and two lenses. The F lost all speeds above 1/60th so I got very little. OK, I bought it used from Wall street photo in 76 and put several thousand rolls thru it in college but I never expected an F to let me down. Joe

[Al Patterson]

Originally Posted by sebastel

[ amateur_mode ]

i do not understand the possibly underlying paranoia. usually, cameras do not just fail. if you plan a trip to areas that put special requirements on your camera - well, then you should know about that beforehand.
and if your camera happens to fail in spite of your planning ahead, be happy if you have your credit card with you and a camera shop nearby.

[ /amateur_mode ]

[ professional_mode ]

if you get paid for taking pictures, having one or more replacement bodies with you is mandatory anyway, and the question should not come up in the first place.

[ /professional_mode ]

That depends on where one is going. A few years ago, I took three cameras to Durango, CO for a rail charter trip. One day it rained, if if I hadn't had the Pentax 90WR weather resistent camera as the backup to my two SLR bodies I would have had less pictures at the end of the trip.

Now if I'm rained out a few blocks from home, I can go back another day or swing by the house and get another camera.

[like2fiddle]

So far, not a problem with mechanical cameras. Have had numerous "temporary" problems with battery-dependent cameras over the years (dead batteries).
I don't travel often, but generally carry one M and one or two lenses; Also an ultra compact digital P&S as backup - fits in shirt pocket.

[ClaremontPhoto]

I'd only ever take one camera.

So long as it was a quality camera.

Why buy a good camera, and then take a back up?