The Traveling Widower

Tag: sony-cameras

  • I Need More Toys

    A display of various camera lenses arranged on wooden shelves in a store, with blurred store employees in the background.

    This post is about photography technology and my latest obsession with acquiring new toys for my hobby. So, you can ignore this if you want. Just a heads up.

    The last time I bored my faithful viewers with a post about photo equipment, I may have said that I was through making major purchases after buying the Sony 7 IV. Well, it turns out I was just kidding.

    I had figured that I would be relying on the new Sony A7 IV as my primary camera, and I could bring the older A7R II along if I wanted to have a backup on longer trips. That worked fine for singular focused (more unintentional puns) trips, like whale watching or hummingbirds, where all I needed was the new long lens. The Alaska trip was more of a problem. Most days there was a mix of wildlife and landscape photo ops, so I had to either change lenses on the fly, or rely on my phone for the landscape shots. Zodiac photography made things worse – trying to change lenses in a crowded, small, wet boat introduced a high risk factor of dropping the camera either in the wet boat bottom, or worse, the very wet ocean. In Antarctica, it will be a lot of fun trying to change lenses in the cold weather either in the boats or on the shore…standing on ice and snow. With penguins pecking at my boots.  And if you own a mirrorless digital camera, you have probably already experienced the joy of trying to clean a dirty sensor. 

    For all of my upcoming trips I will have that same mix of landscape/close-up vs. longer distance wildlife photography, and was considering using my very old Sony 7R II for landscape (shorter lens), and the new A7 IV with the long telephoto for wildlife. That would work of course, but now I’d have to lug two different sets of batteries and chargers along. Plus, and now for the real reason, this gave me the opportunity to trade in the old camera (10 years) for a new one. Camera shopping!!!! Off to Mike’s Camera!

    Actually, I did a lot of research first. If I was going to make a major investment in another camera body, I wanted to make sure it was the right one. I had been considering a different line of cameras which use a different, smaller sensor technology than the A7 line, the APS-C  versus full-frame. The Sony cameras are a bit smaller, lighter and a bit less expensive than the full-frame line like the A7 IV. They also have a completely different set of lenses that are designed for the smaller sensor, although the full-frame lenses can be used as well. The problem, for me at least, with the APS-C cameras is the cropping factor – the smaller sensor limits the scope/breath of the image, so you are effectively increasing the length of the lens by 1.5X. That’s great if you want more of a telephoto effect, which is not what I’m looking for with landscape photography. So for example, a 24-70mm lens loses the wide angle, since the crop factor makes this a 36-95mm lens. 

    When I got to Mike’s, I was able to try this out with a few of the smaller sensor cameras. I liked the smaller body size, but the cropping did not work for me. What I really wanted was the top-end full-frame camera, the A7R V. And as it turns out, Sony was having an incredible sale on this camera. And with the trade-in for my old camera, it was less than the APS-C bodies I was looking at. And I would not need to buy new lenses either.  Simple decision – convincing myself took about 5 seconds. Now all I have to do is figure out how to use it before I leave for Antarctica. Plenty of time for that – I’m sure I can fit that into my incredibly busy schedule of doing nothing. I’m sure I’ll be able to talk myself into spending some time playing with the new camera.

    Speaking of lenses, now that I have a long telephoto (500mm), I would really like to get to a point where I only need to carry two lenses – the big zoom for wildlife, and an all-purpose zoom for everything else, something like a 20-150mm. This would give me coverage for just about every situation, with just the two camera bodies. Currently, I have a 24-105mm, and a 17-24mm wide angle. I do not really shoot too much at the lower wide angle range, so if I had a 24-200mm for example, I’d just have to lug two lenses along on trips. Well, Mike’s Camera is having a sale in November, with that exact lens. So I may not be done with my toy obsession just yet.

    Two last comments on photo equipment (if you are still awake reading this…zzzzzz). First – I did mention the use of my phone for landscape photography. The new Pixel 10 has an excellent camera, and I’m finding that in some cases, I’d rather just use the phone instead of the heavy digital camera. Cave tours are a good example – it’s difficult enough just winding your way through tight and/or low passages. It is hard maintaining your balance and keep the camera from banging against rocks at the same time. The same goes for kayaking – I have a waterproof case for the phone (and the GoPro too), so I do not have to worry about trying to keep the expensive Sony out of the water. And then there are crazy hikes like the Manitou Incline. The phone was all I could handle. I did not see anyone with anything other than phones or GoPro’s on that little adventure.

    The second and thankfully last point, is why am I taking photo’s with the big, hi-tech cameras at all. I’m finding of late, that rather than using the blog to describe the images I’m creating with the high-end camera’s, the images are secondary to writing the stories of my travels. I’m using more of the jpeg images from my phone than the higher quality raw photos I take with the digital cameras. But I still want to continue submitting photos to contests, and go on tours focused on wildlife photography, like the Kodiak bear trip or an African safari. If I ever get to the point where all I’m doing are cruises, I may have to rethink my priorities when it comes to photography. Hopefully it will be a long time until I have to make that decision. Besides, the phone technology will probably make full frame digital cameras obsolete by then. 

    A smiling photographer with gray hair and glasses, wearing a green shirt and a blue backpack, surrounded by multiple cameras hanging from his shoulders in a scenic outdoor setting.

  • How to fit 50 lbs of stuff in a 25 lb bag

    A variety of bags and luggage arranged on a bed, including a blue suitcase, a black travel bag, a green backpack, and a canvas tote.
    Most of what I packed for the Road Scholars trip – no problem with a Subaru Forrester!

    As I alluded to in a previous post, this one will take a crack at explaining how I have been cramming everything you need for photography, kayaking, snorkeling, hiking and general purpose living for a long adventure, and meet the stringent baggage rules for airlines, small cruise ships and even worse, single engine planes. Yeah, some of the trips I’ll be going on are in remote places, and the only way to get there is on small planes. I even get to go on a float plane for one trip. That will be a real treat. 

    You have already seen photos of the camera gear I may bring along on a trip. As I mentioned, there is much more than just the cameras and lenses – there are lots of chargers, cables, extra batteries, memory cards, lens cleaning stuff – just a lot of extraneous but thankfully small objects that need to find a place somewhere in the luggage. I have four options now for packing camera gear in carry-on luggage:

    1. A Think Tank camera roller bag, which can hold pretty much all my stuff, including the GoPro, and it fits in all overhead storage, including commuter jets. I will never check in my camera bag – too much temptation for baggage handlers. The problem with this bag, is that I wind up with two roller bags in the airport until the big bag is checked. Awkward at best. The photo below illustrates how much you can fit in this bag – 2 camera bodies, the big lens and 3 others, the GoPro gear with plenty of room to spare for a laptop, books, a sweater. The weight with the gear below comes in at 17.5lbs.
    An open camera bag showcasing organized compartments, including a camera body, a large lens, and accessories such as a lens cap and personal items.
    Think Tank photo roller bag.
    1. A LowePro backpack, which holds the same amount of gear as the roller bag, but it’s a real backpack with great back and shoulder support. It also fits in overhead storage, but weighs more than the roller bag. I have yet to use it, but likely will for the Antarctica trip. As you can see below, the backpack holds even more gear than the roller bag, and is comfortable to carry with padded shoulder straps and a real waste supporting hip belt. It too weighed in at 17.5 lbs. My only fear is that it might not fit in coach overhead compartments on smaller planes. I usually fly business/first class, so hopefully it will fit.
    An overhead view of an open camera bag, featuring a Sony camera, a large lens, a camera lens cap, and various compartments holding accessories.
    LowePro Backpack – Tons of room
    1. A mid-sized back pack from Think Tank – this was the latest pack added to my collection, and can hold a limited amount of gear. If I bring the 500MM lens, I can fit one camera body, and maybe 2 other lenses. It also has limited space for the other stuff you like to bring along on carry-on luggage – meds, iPad, maybe a light sweater, batteries. I almost need to bring a second, small carry-on for that stuff. The proverbial small piece of luggage that fits under the seat in front of you. Where my big feet are supposed to go. As you can see in the photo below, there is a lot less room for gear in this pack – I can fit all the regular camera, gear, but not the GoPro case, and there is little room for extra stuff in the front pockets. But, it only weighs in at 14.5 lbs, and easily fits in any overhead compartment. Plus, I can use this as a pack for hiking.
    An open camera backpack displaying two cameras, various lenses, and additional accessories organized in compartments.
    1. And last and least – a smaller LowePro camera pack, with even less space for cameras than the other bag. Good for a trip requiring only two smaller lenses, or just the 300MM and one camera body. It’s basically a day pack. 

    For my trips to-date; Option 4 worked fine for Colorado, since I only needed one body, and 2 smaller lenses; Option 1 worked best for the Galápagos Islands, where I carried pretty much everything I owned for this spectacular trip, where snorkeling and underwater photography were on the agenda; I struggled with packing for the Baja trip – I wanted to see if I could pack less, and wound up buying the in-between sized pack (Option 3) at the last minute (I like shopping at camera stores, almost better than REI). The new pack really was not large enough, and I wound up carrying all the extra stuff in the luggage, which was really full. But it worked. My next two trips will be easy – I’ll need the big lens and 2 bodies, so I’ll take Option 1 or 2, either of which should fit in overhead for all the flights. I hope. 

    One of the key factors to check for each option is the overall weight of the packed bags. Some international flights limit your carry-on weight. For the flight from Guayaquil Ecuador to the Galápagos Islands, I believe it was 19 lbs. The roller bag (#1) worked, but the big backpack (#2) did not. My trips next year will also be a problem, since both have really small planes to get to the final destination. I have not quite figured that one out yet.

    My solution for the carry-on weight problem, is to pack all the extraneous get (chargers, monopod, extensions sticks…pretty much everything but cameras and lenses, in the checked baggage. That seems to work.

    So how about the rest of the stuff you may ask? That depends on the trip. Life was easier for packing before my wife passed – we had two large checked bags plus two carry-ons, and were able to distribute most everything we needed including SCUBA gear, my large shoes, all of my wife’s fancy clothing (I dressed a little more casually). There was always enough room. She had more shoes than me, but hers fit inside mine. We were a great match. Now I’m limited to one reasonably large bag for everything but the camera gear. Bummer. But, by figuring out how much clothing I really need, I can leave more of the space for hiking/snorkeling necessities. The magic key is “on-board laundry”! We did this on our one long cruise to the South Pacific – we paid for the laundry package, and had clothes cleaned almost every day. That left plenty of room for other things. I did that as well on the last Geographic cruise. It’s not that expensive, and relieves a lot of packing pressure.

    Fortunately, for the trips I’ve been on so far, I have been able to just bring very light layers, enough for getting there and back, and a few days worth on board before I send stuff off for laundering. Plenty of room for fins, mask, wet suit, and other items needed for excursions. Trips to colder climates (Alaska, Antarctica) will not be a problem either since I will not be snorkeling – I’ll just need more layers, and some of my expedition level hats and gloves. National Geographic provides a parka and fleece layer for the Antarctica trip, and their are outfitters that provide boots for both trips. No need to try and pack heavy footware for those trips. I’m not sure how I’ll get the heavy parka home though – shipping from Santiago Chile?

    Here is all I packed for the Galapagos Islands – that included snorkel gear (fins, mask, etc), a thin wet suit + other neoprene things, water shoes, light deck shoes, a hiking stick and enough clothing for 6 days to cover travel back/forth to US and a few days on board. The small backpack fit in the luggage. And I wore my huge hiking boots on the flight.

    A collection of travel items including a pair of shoes, a black backpack, a small black suitcase, a large blue suitcase, and a travel guidebook titled 'Galápagos Islands' arranged on a bed.

    For the Baja trip, most everything was the same except I had fewer camera components – no large lens and extra body since I thought the whales would be close (sniff). I also left the Sea Life camera behind, and just brought the GoPro. Which I never used (sniff). I wound up repacking the camera gear in the new mid-sized back (Option 3) instead of the smaller bag shown in the photo.

    A blue Samsonite suitcase and a black Lowepro backpack sitting on a woven rug in a room.

    And then there are auto trips. No problem packing on those, especially with a large SUV acting as my traveling closet. For the long Road Scholars trip, I basically emptied out my closet into the back of my car. Well, not exactly, but I did have a lot of stuff in the car. Plus I could carry all of my camera gear without worrying about weight restrictions. Same goes for whale watching, hummingbird chasing, and anyplace else I decide to drive to this summer.

    One of my trips in 2026 will be a major packing challenge – Baja Jones. For this trip, I’ll be sleeping in a hut on the beach along Laguna Ojo de Libre, which is in the middle of nowhere, Mexico (I upgraded to a hut with an en-suite shower…woo hoo). To get to this very remote place on the Baja peninsula, I will first drive to San Diego (a favorite place), stay overnight in a hotel, and the tour will begin the next morning with a limo drive to Ensenada, Mexico. Assuming our countries are not at war by then, there we will board a single engine Cessna for a 2.5 hour flight which hopefully will land safely in Guerrero Negro. There is a single runway airport there – it looks like it is paved.  I’m not sure what the weight restrictions will be, but I doubt if I’ll be able to carry too much. I’ll probably have more weight dedicated to camera gear than clothing – no hiking, no snorkeling or swimming, so bare minimum for clothing, enough for four days in the hut. Everyone will probably smell like salt weather and whale breath after a day anyway, so who cares what you wear. I’ll have fresh clothes waiting in my traveling closet when we return to San Diego.

    The Kodiak Island (or How to Not be Eaten by a HUGE Bear) trip will likely be a bit simpler – this is a photographers trip, so they will expect the 8 passengers to be carrying a lot of heavy camera gear. Plus, I’m guessing we can leave a suitcase at the hotel in Kodiak, so I can just bring what’s needws for the four days on the fishing boat. That will be a very strange trip – sleeping in a converted shipping container, with a shared bathroom for four people, and sleeping in bunk beds. Not a lot of room for luggage, or anything else for that matter. No laundry on this trip. I hope my roomate does not snore. Or is an axe murderer. Something else to worry about.

    So, I’m definitely learning the ins and outs of photography travel – I hope to have it down by the end of this year, and continue to slim down what I take for each trip going forward. Maybe someone will come up with spray-on clothing.