Why I May Have Traveled with an SLR for the Last Time

• Nikon D300 DX 12.3MP SLR (2.5 lbs)
• Nikon 18-200mm DX lens (1.25 lbs)
• Nikon 12-24mm lens (1.0 lb)
• Nikon SB800 flash unit (0.75 lbs)
• Canon PowerShot SD960IS 12.1 MP Digital Camera in Crumpler Thirsty Al Camera Pouch XS* (0.5 lbs approx)
• Pentax Optio 7 MP waterproof compact camera with case (0.5 lbs approx)
• MacBook with AC adaptor (6.5 lbs)
• Domke F3X shoulder bag and dry bag (1.5 lbs)
• Cokin graduated ND filter set with filter holder, rings (0.5 lbs)

That's about 15 lbs of gear, most of which has to be carried on my back through airports, since you're not supposed to put cameras or laptops in checked baggage.

Even in taking this pile of gear, I was making a few assumptions from the outside: I was giving up on any but the brightest-lit shots of fauna at a distance (yes, I saw lots of monkeys - no, I don't have a photo of a monkey) on the assumption I was never going to match up to the existing catalog of telephoto shots of those animals. Nor was I carrying the right lenses for low-light shots - I'd have to crank up the ISO a few stops extra and sacrifice quality so I could use these slower zoom lenses instead of a faster prime lens like the Nikon 24mm F/2.8 D.

The Canon SD960 was a late addition to the game. Replacing my Canon SD850, which met its untimely end in Miami last winter, I bought the SD960 at the last minute based on the writeup at Cabel, primarily for its wide-angle lens and stellar HD video capabilities.

Playing the Packing Game

Most experienced amateur photographers have played this game many times: trying to figure out what to bring, and what to leave behind, because the rest of your travel group probably isn't going to be very happy with you lugging a fully-loaded, 45-lb Lowepro Photo Trekker through the trip. (And yes, I've done that, once. It's a Bad Idea(TM) unless you are mostly traveling by car.) And I'd like to think that after 20+ years of playing and a dozen-plus major international trips, I'm pretty good at it.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Sitting here at home, having gotten off a plane from Brazil this morning, it's pretty obvious that I missed the answer entirely on this one. That at least 50% of those 15 pounds, if not 90%, were a mistake to carry. And that means I'm going to have to seriously rethink how the game is played going forward.

Out of approximately 900 frames I shot during the vacation, about 100 are "keepers" - maybe not images I'd publish, but at the least pictures I've picked as good enough that I'll want to have picked out for looking back on the trip someday down the road. The rest aren't terrible or anything; they're often just other shots of the same location or scene, have a slight framing issue, etc. What's really stunning, though, is how those 100 were taken: only about 30 were taken using my D300 SLR and its associated lenses, 5 or so with the Optio waterproof camera, and 65 - the clear majority - were taken with the Canon SD 960 compact camera.

To put it another way, think about it in terms of the ratio of weight to images:

• Nikon D300 SLR: 5.5 lbs / 30 images = 0.183 lbs / image
• Canon SD960: 0.5 lbs / 60 images = 0.017 lbs / image

And this ignores that I also shot 80+ HD video clips using the SD960 as well.

Why So Wrong?

The simple answer is, the newest generation of compact cameras has once against pushed towards the capabilities of the SLRs, especially when it comes to "up the middle" vacation photos. The SD960, in particular, has a spectacularly good wide angle lens that's equivalent to a 28mm view on a 35mm camera. (It's sad that consumers tend to focus on buying longer focal lengths when they'd really be happier with shorter ones in the form of a wider angle option.) And it's exposure software seems to be better than ever: I noticed that in general, on the auto settings, the camera fires the flash far less often then you'd expect from a small compact. Noise is also reduced, as well; you can comfortably shoot the Canon SD960 at up to ISO 400 without serious noise issues. And finally, the quality of the LCD on the back is superb - the resolution is tremendous, and the clarity is very similar to the jump in quality we saw in the LCDs of mid-range SLRs over the past two product generations.

Another consideration also weighed in favor of the SD960 when shooting in Rio: security. To be clear, I never felt any personal danger while shooting in Rio de Janiero. That didn't mean I wasn't concerned that I was probably facing a higher-than-typical risk of property crime. Not only did carrying the SD960 mean I was limiting my potential property loss to $300, it also meant I was a lot less conspicuous than I would have been carrying around an 8 lb. Domke bag with $4000 worth of gear.

Beyond those considerations, it's also just more fun to not be a camera sherpa when you're on vacation, as long as you know you can still get decent photos. Not having my SLR on me meant I could walk farther, see more, and frankly that my girlfriend was happier with me. It also meant that if we wanted wander down to the beach and leave my backpack under the umbrella while goofing around without being constantly paranoid that someone was going to abscond with it. (Still paranoid - it's Rio - but not keep-it-handcuffed-to-my-wrist paranoid.)

Image Quality

(The photo above was taken during my morning run down the beach. So not only is its quality close to that of an SLR, it's an image I would never have captured with my heavier equipment.)

There are certainly limitations to what the compact camera can do. The shutter lag is pretty good, but you're not going to go shoot sports with it. Bright sun from the wrong angle can make the LCD unreadable while shooting. And from other angles, flare is a serious problem.

But don't let the SLR hype fool you. In most situations you're likely to encounter, the quality was great. Photography is about understanding the limitations of your tools and working around them. For the large majority of my vacation shots, I'd happily put them up alongside a similar image taken by someone else using an SLR and a mid-range lens. And realizing that means I have to reconsider how I pack.

(Having a 28mm lens even means the SD960 does a pretty good job shooting panoramas, if you hold it in portrait format. I'd love to know why they have built-in support for landscape panorama shooting, but none for portrait.)

Video

Generally, I like video for some very specific situations but I generally think of it as a secondary media for me. That said, the SD960 takes some nice clips and if you have iMovie '09 it's relatively easy to string a bunch of short shots into a vacation video.

Brazil 2009 - Manaus and Rio de Janiero from Tom Karlo on Vimeo.

This video is viewable in HD by clicking on the embedded version above.

Next Time

Unless I'm going on a photo safari in Africa, I suspect I'll be leaving the D300 at home next time and just tossing the Canon SD 960 with its charger and Crumpler case into my carry-on bag. I love the D300 and there's nothing I'd rather be shooting when taking studio photos, or action, or working in dim ambient light for large-format output. But when I'm traveling for fun and carrying everything I bring on my back, I doubt I'll be able to justify carrying an SLR any more when I can just slip the SD960 in my pocket and take close to 10 lbs of weight off my back.

One last thing: although I've been talking about a Nikon SLR and a Canon Compact, by no means consider this a negative reflection on Nikon SLRs... the statements would hold equally true for a Canon SLR -- I just happen to be a die-hard Nikon user when it comes to my SLR equipment, whereas I truly believe Canon makes the best compact digital cameras and has done so for years.

Feel free to view my Brazil photo set on Flickr for yourself and see what you think; the camera used to take each shot is clearly labeled in the right-side column of each individual image page.

(* The Crumpler Thirsty Al Camera Pouch XS is only $5.51 direct from Amazon right now. That's ludicrously cheap for a very nice compact camera case with effective belt-loop mechanism (you don't have to take your belt off to get it on or off.) If you have one of the older Canon SD compacts, I recommend stepping up a size to the Small - the XS only just barely fits the SD 960 and probably wouldn't fit my old SD 850.)