My new travel rig.

Discuss cameras, settings, composition, or anything related to photography - cactus or other subjects.
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leland
Posts: 266
Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2012 11:55 pm
Location: North central Nicaragua

My new travel rig.

Post by leland »

After last year's trip to Mexico City I felt the need for a smaller camera/lens combo.I wanted something that would fit easily in a 12 liter daypack with room for a sweatshirt and a bottle of water for a minimalist rig for walking around.

I picked up a used Canon SL1, the smallest dslr made at this time and 2 pancake lenses, the 24mm and the 40mm. The camera accepts all Canon ef and ef-s lenses and has the same sensor and most of the features of my Canon t51. These can be had used now in the 200 usd range, lest than half of the cost of the newer SL2. The lenses are fixed, 2.8, and on a crop sensor body they are equivalent to 38mm and 68 mm on a full frame, so I have in effect a slight wide angle and a slight telephoto. The lenses have the new STM motor but don't have IS to lessen camera shake. The photo is of the new camera next to my t5i with its 18-55mm kit lens.

So far I am impressed with the fotos this camera/lens combo produces. The photos in Dear Sanctuary Canyon near Sebaco, Nic., were handheld during a hike with a friend, as was the Weberocereus at the house. When I go on a real shoot I should carry and use a monopod to make up for the lack of image stabilization.
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DaveW
Posts: 7369
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:36 pm
Location: Nottingham, England/UK

Re: My new travel rig.

Post by DaveW »

Yes there is a lot of cheap usable equipment more than good enough for most amateur use on places like EBAY, or secondhand in photo dealers windows. My Nikon 10 megapixel D200 cost me body only around £1200 new when it first came out and now goes on EBAY for often under £200. In fact it is the lenses that tend to hold their prices rather than the cameras, simply because they are always bringing out new cameras with far more megapixels than we really need, particularly for web use.

I suppose the way forward for smaller cameras will be the mirrorless cameras, reducing their size by getting rid of the reflex mirror and mirror box by using an electronic viewfinder. However I think both Nikon and Canon have increased the size of their lens mount on these new cameras and though you can get adapters to use their older DSLR lenses on them they are bringing out a new expensive, but so far limited range of lenses in the new mount. This will probably mean that like the older DSLR cameras, the older DSLR lenses will now start to loose their value far quicker than in the past.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/photograp ... less-wins/

However in many fields conventional cameras are loosing out to the smartphone and that is even easier to carry in habitat.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesig ... era-phones

What bothers me though is the lack of specialist Macro equipment for all these newer cameras intended for magnifications greater than 1:1, or life size on the sensor. Nikon and many other manufacturers have stopped making bellows and extension tubes long ago for their cameras and you have to rely on finding secondhand ones, or third party manufacturers for such Macro equipment. Therefore the newer camera ranges seem to be abandoning the more specialised scientific users in favour of just general and Pro Photographers, where presumably the main market is.

In the past both Canon and Nikon used to provide a vast range of lenses and equipment for all specialist purposes, but once the accountants took over from the optical engineers anything that did not sell quickly in sufficient quantities was dropped from their lists. Therefore unless you are just the average type of photographer and only want the normal range of lenses you are no longer catered for.

Yes great pictures Leland, You can always improve everything with tripods and remote releases in studio work, but when it comes to habitat work it is what you are prepared to carry. It's no good having a heavy studio tripod if your not prepared to carry it in the field where all photographic equipment has to be reduced to the minimum, that is unless you can drive straight right up to the plant and don't have to hike, which is seldom the case.
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leland
Posts: 266
Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2012 11:55 pm
Location: North central Nicaragua

Re: My new travel rig.

Post by leland »

There are definitely bargains in used. For the price of a new SL2 I picked up 2 SL1s and a pancake lens, plus I have the 2 kit lenses that came with the cameras to sell. This leaves me with one body to leave in the US for use when I am there with a 50mm 1.8 and a 55-250mm which is a great bargain in beginner level outdoor zooms. Next outting here I am going to bring my Canon 85mm. It is arguably the best quality lens I own.
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