Like many of you, I've been trying to reduce my travel kit size and weight while still being able to take the photos I like (for me, manly landscapes and interior/exterior architecture). I weight my minimum kits and posted to the Fuji X thread, but I thought it would be interesting to see what others carry on trips and the weight tradeoffs you make.
I have three base travel kits now. Note I have not included the charger weights in here nor carrying bags, filters, extra batteries, etc. That could be interesting to, but I thought this would be a better "camera" comparison.
I have five options I choose between to carry now:
1) Fuji XT-1 (35mm Range 15-200mm), 10-24 F4 OIS, 18-135mm 3.5-5.6 OIS -> 3 lbs, 1.2 oz
2) Nikon D7100 (35mm Range 15-300mm), 10-20 Sigma 3.5-5.6 (no VR), 18-200 3.5-5.6 VR: 4 lbs, 6.8 oz
3) FZ1000 (35mm Range 25-400mm) F2.8-F4 IS, 1 lb 15.6 oz
4) D600 (35mm Range 16-300mm) 16-35mm, 28-300mm, 5 lbs, 10.5 oz
5) Fuji 10-24 + FZ1000 (35mm Range 15-400mm) 3 lbs, 12.5 oz
Add ons:
A) One piece of equipment I like to add to the Nikon kit is my 10.5mm Nikon fisheye which adds 11 oz.
B) A tripod of course! My latest is a Oben 3431 Carbon Tripod With BE-108T head at 2.5 lbs total.
Of course, I'm also game on reducing the bulkiness of my kit. By far right now that's the D600, which is why, although I love it, I *almost* never take it on trips (except maybe a photo day trip). I did take it on my Grand Canyon hikes...pretty heavy though!
My newest addition was the Fuji. It's suprisingly heavy but not bulky. The FZ1000 on the other hand is pretty bulky (like the D7100 with a small lens), but not heavy. I left out my Panny G5 (M43), which I did bring along with a fisheye and the FZ1000 on last years bike trip to Nova Scotia, and it's really light. But I'm not that fond of it, and it's going to be sold soon, like my Panny FZ200.
My main camera bag has ...
Canon S3 IS, lens hood adapter, Canon 250D Close-up lens, step-down ring, 2 mini-tripods (one flexible, one rigid), rope with screw-eye (for "tension-stabilization"), camera manual, scissors, graphic arts knife, dark film with old CDs (sun filter), white card, lens cloth, business cards & releases, 2-3 sets of extra batteries (4 x AA/set). Haven't weighed it, but it keeps getting heavier as I find another nook to stuff in another possibly-useful item ... probably about 5 pounds by now.
I have another little bag (purse, maybe 2x4x8 inches) I only carry when on a "photo excursion" with two polarizing filters (circular and linear -- together make adjustable 4-stop ND filter), graduated ND filter, 0.5 wide-angle adapter lens, 2x telephoto adapter lens, set of 1, 2, and 3 diopter close-up lenses ... this bag probably weighs under a pound.
I have a 2 Slik tripods (pretty heavy), one of which has a carrying case, and a walking stick I can use as a monopod ...
I have no idea the weights, and I usually shoot within a short walking distance from where I park the car. So I just open the hatch of the car, extend the tripod, mount the camera and shoot.
Olympus OM-D E-M1 + Olympus 12-40 f/2.8 + Panasonic 35-100 f/2.8 (24-200mm equivalent) = 2 lb 11 oz. This will fit in the smallest Domke bag. For travel macro, I add a Canon 500D close up lens that I bought used for practically nothing.
The Samyang 7.5mm fisheye adds 6.9 oz.
If I need to go longer than that, currently I add a Nikon 1 V3 + 70-300 CX (200-800 equivalent, 1 lb 15 oz). But I may switch to a Olympus 50-200 f/2.8-3.5 with teleconverter and adapter, which is just over 2 pounds for everything. I'm not entirely convinced by the IQ of the Nikon body, but I need to see if I can get results from the Olympus without having to add a monopod. If Nikon were to come out with a Nikon 1 body that had a sensor that was good as the Sony RX100 sensors, I'd stick with that. The 70-300 CX lens is great.
My wife gets quite results from an Olympus OM-D E-M10 + Olympus 14-150. 1 lb 8 oz. I would be plenty happy with the E-M10 body, but want a faster lens than that.
I don't know how heavy my travel kit is, because I'm afraid of putting it on the scale! On our recent vacation to Turks & Caicos, I took one body and four lenses in my camera bag, and I had another lens and a travel tripod in my roll-on. I don't want to think about what I want to bring on next Winter's vacation (Maui)... I may need to hire a porter!
24-70 2.8l 16-35l 70-200l 2.8 I like to sneak a fast prime in as well so normally 85 1.2l :) and a speed light 580ex
I've got a light weight carbon fibre tripod as well
Also now gotta try get my dji phantom 2 in there so I'm looking at a good compact option maybe Fuji mirror less or a tiny canon slr and 1 lens etc if I pick the drone over cameras
It's hard choice that's why it's good travelling with car or camper
In most of the Africa wildlife areas, you will need a long lens and your big camera, plus a beanbag or tripod.
In most of the reserves/parks, you are not even allowed to hang out of the vehicle, never mind just walking around, so you should mostly worry about being able to carry whatever you wish to the vehicle, and to the airplane.
That said, if you do not have a good long lens, it will probably be best to hire one for your Africa trip. Canon 600 f/4.0 L IS is about $50 a day rented in RSA.
