The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Altenativ to MF for roadtrips..

A

apneaimages

Guest
Back from Greece i have discover that a Hasse H1 with phase one is not a great system to travel. At least not the way i do, all the day out walking for hours and klimping. The quality is exeptional but its slow and heavy.

Soon i go to Albania for a roadtrip and more and more i am thinking to get a smaller camera with a good lens for available light.

Leica M8 maybe but so expensive especially with a good lens.
Any tips for a good roadtrip camera?
 

jonoslack

Active member
Sony A900 with a couple of Zeiss lenses?
Decent resolution, lovely colour, pleasure to use?
Drop in to the Sony forum and have a look around
 

carstenw

Active member
The Sony doesn't save you a lot on weight compared to a Hasselblad though :) For travel, I like some of the smaller cameras, like the Panasonic G1, Olympus E620 or perhaps the new Pentax K7, although I personally use an M8. Expensive yes, but really nice. What are the general requirements?
 

fotografz

Well-known member
M8. Some of the older but very worthy M lenses, Zeiss ZMs, or CV lenses. Can't beat it for a light weight kit that acts like a heavy weight. I just picked up a mint chrome M8 refurb from Leica for $2,655. with a 1 year warranty.

Leica M, don't leave home without it.
 

Bill Caulfeild-Browne

Well-known member
My choice is the a900, almost MF quality up to 16 by 20, with the CZ 24-70 and the 70-300 G. Very light and small compared to Phamiya P45+ etc etc.

Took just that for a month in the South Seas, with an a700 as backup.

Bill
 

micek

Member
If film is an option, a Rolleicord makes an excellent, light, compact, travelling camera. If more than one lens and a lightmeter are necessary, I can't think of anything better than a Bronica RF645: great lenses, excellent ergonomics and no heavier or larger than FF DSLRs. And if you want the ultimate in portability, a Zeiss Super Ikonta B with a Tessar f2.8 lens. I know this sounds eccentric, it is after all a 70 year old camera, but think of it: no batteries, no chargers, no cables, no oversized bodies or lenses; just a camera you can store in a pocket, a fast lens and 6x6 negatives. To top it all, it is cheaper than any entry level dslr. Film has not grown worse with the advent of digital, but better.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
I agree here with the conventional DSLR and a few zooms sentiment.

My DSLR is larger than ideal for travel as it serves some dual-duty as back-up to my MF outfit; a 1DS3. (Even though it adds weight, I leave the L-bracket on for the 'roll-cage' body protection it offers.) I carry the one body with 24-105 attached as my main travel outfit. In the bag I usually have a fast 50 prime and a 12-24 Sigma zoom or other wide, final choice based on venue. The 70-200 is carried only when needed and left in the hotel room when not needed.

On a shorter trip, I don't even bother with a computer for back-up, as I can shoot to multiple cards -- so I carry a host of SD and CF cards instead. Nor do I bother with chargers --- 4 batteries for the camera and I'm good for over a week. On longer or more critical photo trips, I would of course carry the laptop with back-up external drives for editing and storage, and would drop to two batteries and the charger for the camera.

My .02,
 
Sony A900 with a couple of Zeiss lenses?
Decent resolution, lovely colour, pleasure to use?
Drop in to the Sony forum and have a look around
While I don't own one, I think this would be my choice as well. The body is SLR size, but a more like a 5D than 1-series. A couple primes would be good.

You do need to consider the lenses you like though. If you tend to be on the wide side of life, the M8 is a great way to do. If you shoot on the longer side, clearly it won't work. I always said my perfect three-lens kit is probably 20, 85 and 400, which is why I tend to lean toward SLRs for travel, but I do have M8 lust.
 

mark1958

Member
if I do not take my MF set up then I take my 5DII, 24-85 zeiss, 70-200/4 IS and consider a couple of TSE lenses. Now that i have a sigma 12-24 will likely take that along too
 

Geoff

Well-known member
MF with a digital back is akin to LF and film - both in quality and in cumbersomeness.

I agree with the Rollei and film - easy and high quality. Else the M8 gives great pleasure albeit slightly wacky compositional challenges!
 

Paratom

Well-known member
another vote for the M8, if the resolution is enough for your print sizes and if you dont need tele or zoom.
Just impressing image quality for my taste.
 

httivals

New member
if I do not take my MF set up then I take my 5DII, 24-85 zeiss, 70-200/4 IS and consider a couple of TSE lenses. Now that i have a sigma 12-24 will likely take that along too
Mark: Have you used the Sigma 12-24mm much on the 5dII? How are you finding it? In particular, didn't you at one time own the Nikon 14-24mm with 16:9 adapter? Can you compare those two lenses? . . . I have a 5DII and am thinking about a wider alternative to my Canon 17-40mm. Thanks,
 

robmac

Well-known member
If I really wanted to travel light with minimal hassle and almost zero risk of hardware failure, etc - film.

Example - Mamiya 7II and couple lenses AND (if feeling flush) a Zeiss Ikon plus 1-2 fast Zeiss/CV lenses (new CV 50/1.1 for $1100 anyone ?) for low-light work for roughly same as say a used M8 + glass. Compact tripod for bupkus.

Uber-compact, no chargers to lug, no solar chargers for when camping, LONG battery life, batteries at any drugstore, cleaning is a blower and lenspen (no static-charge brushes, swabs, fluids, etc) or t-shirt, film anywhere, etc. A kit that, short of running it over, won't break (and if broken is probably fixable by many camera shops) and (especially with the Mamiya) very nice IQ.

Come back and if ready to move away from it, can probably sell for close to what you bought it for - or sell abroad and just bring film back.

While all might be fine with digital, you just never know. No worrying about banding, fatal error codes, crap on sensors, green blobs, back/front focus AF, etc, etc, etc.

While there are some real benefits to digital in the image taking (e.g. ISO, histogram, etc), the REAL convenience of digital vs film isn't in the picture taking per se, but the post-processing. Sadly the real HASSLE of digital is the multitude of junk to lug around when traveling and the risk of something going south when you're 1500 kms from nowhere and there nearest dealer is in the next country.

The more once/lifetime the trip, the more I would tend to film.

Just my $0.02 worth.
 
Last edited:

carstenw

Active member
Actually, the M8 can easily be combined with an M6 as backup, giving you the best of both worlds with little space needed. This is typically how I travel.
 

mark1958

Member
I have not done a lot of testing as of yet. There is absolutely no doubt the Nikon is much better in terms of edge to edge sharpness. However, it was quite a pain to use. Manual focus and the method to adjust the aperture was just too painful. I mean you had to open up to get enough light to see and then not so easy to get spot on focus even then. The Sigma is very decent but you need to stop down. The sweet spot seems to be about f11. The extreme corners are a bit soft even at f11. The distortion not too bad for a super wide. Relatively inexpensive as well. My Zeiss 24-85 (adapted for canon) is clearly better at 24mm at the edges and at wider apertures.

Mark: Have you used the Sigma 12-24mm much on the 5dII? How are you finding it? In particular, didn't you at one time own the Nikon 14-24mm with 16:9 adapter? Can you compare those two lenses? . . . I have a 5DII and am thinking about a wider alternative to my Canon 17-40mm. Thanks,
 
A

apneaimages

Guest
Thanks for the input!!!
Importand for me is to get in a system that lenses can be used in all ways but i dont know that much about rangfinder i only use a Polaroid 600 SE and there is no problem to use MF. On the end i love it way more becauce i can control it way better

So i think any camera with a Leica M mount will be my choise.
Low light is a issue and therefore 35mm lenes i think is the only solution as the new

Voigtlander Bessa R4A (ca 1200 USD with a 28/2 Ultron)
The new Nokton 50mm f/1.1 is to something to take a look.

As Rob say in MF the Mamiya 7II was always a camera in my wishlist but i love to see the new Bessa III 667 to.

But still a M8 is something i love to have BUT i would newer travel just with a digi camera
Dream setup would be a M8 & a film camera that use the same lenses.

(Moneyside... In the new studio we have hasse now so maybe i will seel the Phase one p30 with hasse and lenses)

Project is way to importand for me. Thanks again for all help. This forum is more worth it that all the gold of the moon.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Well okay i will be the devils advocate here. Really no alternate to MF to begin with if that is the files you seek. Mamiya lenses are smaller and lighter than Hassy by a long shot because of no lens shutter and really not much heavier than most Pro 35mm systems. The M8 is maybe the best travel unit around
 

robmac

Well-known member
The only thing that would make me hesitate with the Bessa is the very short rangefinder base-length vs the M series or more so, the Ikon. Might make uber-focus at very fast apertures a bit more hit/miss.

An M8 and an M_ or Ikon, etc would share same lenses and film could be backup in case the M8 does have a heart attack on some Albanian mountainside.

I love what the M8 delivers from what I've seen and from testing a friends (yum, Leica WATE...), but I (my personal view) would be very hesitant depending on one (or most DSLRs as well) on a multi-week trip into the back-of-beyond (versus in a more urban center) unless I'd used it trouble-free for quite some time beforehand. IF (and it's a big IF) it does go south mid-trip, whatever your backup is would have to be capable of stepping in, ideally, seamlessly.

Under the theory (be it an M8, 5D/II, Nikon __ or P__+), "I want light & low hassle, BUT if it CAN go wrong, it WILL go wrong..", I'd be tempted to think of the decision in reverse -- backup first:

1. "Ok, lets pretend I am going to shoot this with film ONLY. What's the best body/lenses to take?"

2. "Ok, have decided that. Now what is the best digital unit to accompany it - as my primary body assuming all goes well?"

Just an idea.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
but I (my personal view) would be very hesitant depending on one (or most DSLRs as well) on a multi-week trip into the back-of-beyond (versus in a more urban center) unless I'd used it trouble-free for quite some time beforehand.
This is a good point, and my personal reason for preferring the 1-series Canons for travel even given their weight penalty. I have had experiences where I've accidently dropped them or fallen heavily and rolled over them, and each time they've come up fully operational, and moreover not showing much sign other than a new rub mark on the body. (Why I also leave the L-bracket on -- it provides added protection.)

By contrast, a friend had a Rebel body go DOA while stored in a day-pack that leaked a bit while trekking in some rain. As such, when I travelled with a 5D I always carried two bodies and believe me, that weighed more than a single 1-series body. With the 1-series, I take one body and figure most places I'm going I can find an emergency replacement digital Rebel or used film body nearby on the chance I somehow trash or lose the 1. If I was heading to nowhere-land, I would probably add a 5D or 50D body for back-up to the 1 though. And I always carry a small P&S cam too -- in my case a GRD2 -- as they take up no room in the bag and are capable of very good images.

All FWIW,
 

robmac

Well-known member
Yeah, you have to love the 1 Series and Nikon F5/D? bodies - take a beating and just "...keep on ticking" as they used to say. Well said on the L-bracket as well. Do make a nice roll-cage/shock distributor.
 
Top