What Camera to Take While Traveling?

In 7 years, we have acquired 7 cameras. While some have broken down or no longer suited our needs, they have all contributed to the over 20,000 travel photos that today are the memories and testimonies of our past adventures.

I don't believe there is a camera that is better than another for traveling. It all depends on your photography knowledge, budget, and preferences. Therefore, I will present a history of the cameras we have owned, along with their pros and cons, and the lessons each of them taught us for the next cameras.

In 2007, I had a Medion MD-9700. It's safe to say that today, just its appearance would deserve a spot in a museum! It was a terrible camera, both externally and for its use. It required 4 AA batteries that drained almost instantly. Slow to start, it was just as slow when taking photos. Eventually, we left it on a bench in Fuerteventura, and when we returned 10 minutes later, it was gone. We didn't mourn its loss; perhaps it brought joy to someone else!

But we already had plans to leave for Latin America in January 2009, so we needed a new camera. While visiting a supermarket, I wanted a more powerful one, but DSLRs still intimidated me, so I opted for a Sony DSC-H3 bridge camera. It served us well until its demise in seawater in the Galapagos. The only point that bothered us during the trip was its battery at Salar de Uyuni: 4 days without being able to recharge it limited the number of photos we could take. It was decided, from then on, we would have at least one spare battery. We recovered only its battery, which was still in working condition.

In the Galapagos, we found ourselves without a camera and with almost empty pockets. With a friendly local merchant on the island, we managed to order a low-cost camera from the mainland, the Samsung M110. It's safe to say that this device left us with just as many bad memories as the Medion did. Its only positive point compared to the Medion was its lightweight and compact size.

Once back from South America, I took the plunge and bought a Canon 450D DSLR. It was with this camera that I truly learned photography technique and attended courses last year. We purchased an additional battery and replaced the standard wide-angle lens (18-55) with a zoom wide-angle (18-200). This choice was based on our lifestyle. While traveling, there's no way to miss an animal because we need to switch lenses. Nor do we want to start cleaning the sensor in the middle of the desert because sand or dust flew in during the lens change. The result is slightly less impressive than using a 18-55 and a 55-200, but the convenience and the hassles far outweigh the benefits of the more complicated setup.

Amandine also began to take an interest in photography, so we bought a successor to our Sony DSC-H3, the Sony DSC-H55. And good news, the package includes a second battery. Better yet: it uses the same battery as the DSC-H3, so we now have 3 batteries! The choice was made for reasons of weight and discretion. With the Canon, we sometimes felt uneasy taking it out on the street in certain neighborhoods. Similarly, during our honeymoon evening in Venice, we preferred to travel light.

But summer vacations on a sailboat in 2012 were fatal for it: after less than 2 years, it gave up the ghost, and Sony refused to repair it under warranty for obscure reasons. I think sand entered the lens opening mechanism and prevented it from opening. What a shame, we loved that camera!

So, we needed another new camera (once again!), especially as a trip to Peru was waiting for us a few months later in January 2013. After much thought, it was the Sony NEX-5N hybrid that won our hearts. It was a camera with capabilities almost identical to a DSLR, but without the bulk and weight of one. So we left, with an extra spare battery, to test this claim in Peru: me with the Canon 450D, Amandine with the NEX-5. This camera is a true delight! The only downside was the lack of a control dial. Sony understood this and made adjustments: since the NEX-5R, a dial has been added to the top of the device.

Today, we are convinced of the efficiency of hybrids compared to DSLRs, at least in our way of traveling, which is always lighter and less cumbersome. Therefore, we decided not to travel anymore with the Canon 450D, and we acquired last week a strange device to replace it: the Sony Alpha 3000.

This camera is surprising in many aspects. It has the appearance of a DSLR but is much smaller and lighter. Like hybrids, it doesn't have a mirror. The battery is identical to that of the NEX series, and finally, it shares the lens mounts of the NEX and not those of the Alpha DSLRs. Its sensor, however, belongs to an Alpha. So we currently have 2 Sony cameras with the same lens mounts and batteries (temporarily 3). The Alpha 3000 does have a few flaws, starting with its low-quality screen (I won't even mention the electronic viewfinder, a disaster!), and some plastic that falls short of the usual Sony camera quality.

The Alpha 3000 is equipped with an 18-200 lens for the same reasons as the Canon. The NEX-5N keeps the basic 18-55 because the 18-200 is expensive, and the weight and size difference between the 18-200 and 18-55 are still significant.

Thus, in 7 years, we have had 7 cameras. Only the Medion and the Samsung have never been our favorites. We also had an underwater camera for diving, but its choice has, until now, never influenced those of our travel cameras, so I won't discuss it here.

From a low-end compact camera to a hybrid camera with its batteries, and through DSLRs, we have tried many combinations before arriving at what is now our almost ideal travel arsenal. What we now lack is an even more portable and discreet camera: a compact. We are waiting until this summer to find one that can take great photos both above and underwater, as our underwater camera gave up the ghost during our last stay in Sicily.

I leave you with these 4 photos, the Medion MD9700 (in 2007) for the first 2, the Canon 450D (in 2010) for the next 2. These are of course the same places, but 3 years later, it's difficult to capture exactly the same angle!

And you, what camera(s) do you take when you travel? And what criteria do you base your choice on?

UPDATE 01/20/2014: We have ultimately given up on the Sony Alpha 3000: the external screen was of too poor quality (shaky image), and the electronic viewfinder was a disaster (bluish image). We exchanged it for a Sony NEX-5T, which is a pure delight!

UPDATE 01/14/2015: For this eighth year of photography, an eighth camera has joined our collection: the Canon EOS 6D.

UPDATE 02/24/2016: For this ninth year of photography, a ninth camera has been added to our collection (the big question: what is the 10th year preparing for us?): the Olympus OM-D E-M5 MARK II.