Photography gear and travelling light?? Yes, it sounds like a dream.. it is possible… kind of, sort of, depending….. confused? Bear with me.

Travelling in 2008

Back in 2008, travelling, with ‘gear’ for me, was a small digital Panasonic Lumix that just popped into my handbag.  My ‘flight’ luggage was a carry-on compatible suitcase with clothes.  I prided myself on always travelling light.

Two Years Later

Then in 2010, I bought a Canon 450D with a twin lens kit, and everything changed.  The camera and two lenses went into a backpack, along with filters, spare batteries, and battery chargers.  This became my carry-on.  Clothing now went in a medium suitcase as it had to also fit the length of the tripod in, and it had to be checked in due to size and the fact that my camera gear was now my carry-on.  This still worked reasonably well until 2012. Up until then, coming in under the 7kg limit for carry-on wasn’t a big issue. Camera gear weighed about 5kg, and I hadn’t started including a laptop as part of my gear,  so I had enough left over for an iPad, phone, handbag, etc. (yes, if you travel budget airlines, they do weigh the handbag as well if the plane is full).

Travelling in 2012

In 2012 I upgraded to a Canon 7D M1 with a 24-70 lens. Travelling with gear became a major headache of not exceeding the limit.  The Canon 450D weighed 475g without lenses.  The Canon 7D M1 weighed 1.467g body only, and the 24-70 lens was 950g.  Almost a full kg heavier just on the body alone! Add the zoom lens, sometimes the macro. The 7kg carry on limit has now become a significant issue.  There was no way I could meet it with what I wanted to take, a camera, plus two lenses (70-300 and 24-70) plus filters, batteries, battery charger, and remote. Add the weight of the actual bag. It became a ‘smuggling’ mission to get on board. 

Staying Under Cabin Limit

I always wore clothes with heaps of pockets that were full! So with the camera’s weight around the neck a significant issue, I bought a Peak Design Slide Strap. Excellent strap and is so much more comfortable than the horrible neck straps that come branded with the cameras. (For the huge amount of money good cameras cost, you think they would be able to provide you with a decent neck strap, no, it seems too much to expect).

Fast Forward to 2016

In 2016, I bought into the full-frame is better for the low-light school of thought. Consequently, I moved from the 7DM1 to Canon 6D Mark1 with 24-105L.  Again a drop in weight down to 770g, with the 24-105L at 670g, I was saving 697g on the camera body – not earth-shattering, but a bit better. 

It’s 2016, and I again upgraded to the Canon 7D MII with 24-105. The camera body was 1,388g – again. heavier (what was I thinking?), then I added the Canon 100-400 M1 with a weight of 1.365g.  Add the fact I now took a laptop to download my images, plus a portable hard drive to back them up to, it was impossible to travel with gear, plus a laptop, iPad, etc. and come in under the 7kg carry-on allowance. Coming home on a flight from NZ once, I saw them weighing handbags, so we quickly left the queue, went to the toilets, and the iPad went down the front of my pants, the phone went into the back pocket, batteries came out of carry on and went into yet more pockets….aghhh! 

2017 and something’s got to give

In 2017 on a trip to Qld, I risked putting the 100-400L into the checked luggage.. well cuddled in bubble wrap, inside a padded bag, in the middle of the suitcase, surrounded by clothes.    Opening that suitcase on arrival was nerve-wracking.. would I find smashed glass?  Thankfully it arrived there and back ok, but it wasn’t something I wanted to repeat.  I looked into Pelican cases that could be checked in, and the gear was safe.. but I didn’t like letting it out of my sight, so that thought was discarded.

The Decision is Made

Crunch time came on another trip to Qld.  Walking around Seaworld all day with the 7D M2 plus the big 100-400L, we had 2.5kg around over the shoulder, plus handbags, in 35C heat, and we were hot, grumpy and exhausted.  By the end of the day, that camera and lens over the shoulder seemed to weigh comparable to a cannonball.  We went back to our hotel, showered, sat on the balcony with a chilled bottle of wine.. and planned our next ‘system’.  Cause we were going home and selling those cannons,  Canons!

Mirrorless Options

I looked at Sony, as I could use my current lenses, but the weight saving using the adapter to take the canon lens.. and then the lens.. was so negligible to not be worth it.  It seemed like I was going to change over; it made more sense to do it completely,  complete with the new camera body and native lenses.  I also wanted a camera that still looked like an SLR with a good grip.  Call me shallow, but if I was paying a couple of thousand for a camera, I didn’t want it looking like a simple point-and-shoot.  I also looked at Panasonic and the Fuji (and this was before their latest releases), but Olympus kept coming up with better specs and looked the way to go.

Olympus

Looking at the Olympus OM-D E-M1 MarkII, I liked the ergonomics; the 5-way stabilisation, 18 plus fps, was weather-sealed and freeze-proof (and with a trip to Norway coming up, a significant factor).  The battery life was also better than the sony, and the pro lenses to go with it are of fantastic quality. It has a fully transitional back LED, built-in WiFi, Automatic focus stacking, auto HDR, love the live comp for night shooting, plus loads of other features… and at only 530g, it was a winner.  The lenses are also light, and I added the 12-40 F2.8 Pro, 80-140 F2.8 pro with 1.4 converters, 7-14 F2.8 Pro, and the 60mm F2.8  Macro.  Being a micro four-thirds system, you double the focal length to equal the full frame.. so I have basically from 14mm to 392mm (when I add the converter to the 80-140)

Any mirrorless will save you loads of weight. But, of course, the system you choose will depend on your shooting style.  For myself, I do landscapes and wildlife, so Olympus is perfect for me.  Sony mirrorless is probably the way to go if you are sold on full-frame.  But I’m not.  My image quality going from full-frame (Canon 6D) to crop (Canon 7D MI and MII) to Mirrorless Micro four-thirds (Olympus OM-D E-M1 MarkII), in my opinion, has not degraded at all. Of course, I expect it not to perform as well at ISO above 3200, but I never shoot that high anyway, so it’s a non-issue, and I prefer a long exposure over a high ISO.

The final analysis

My crop-sensor kit weight was around 10kg .. the micro four-thirds is just 5kg. So adding the weight of the bag and the laptop, I can now make the 7kg carry-on.  So yes, it is possible to travel pack photography gear and travelling ‘Light’. But not if you use a high-end crop sensor or full-frame DSLR.  And my clothing still goes in checked luggage.