Which camera would you bring
 

Hi. My Mom and I are leaving for our trip to Italy in two weeks! I am trying to decide which camera would be best for me to bring. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

For my birthday, a couple of months ago, my husband gave me a Panasonic Lumix. It has 8 megapixels, 12X optical zoom and weighs about 1 1/2 pounds. To sum it up, it takes fantastic pictures, but is bulky. My husband has an Olympus Camedia digital camera with 4 megapixels and a more standard type of zoom lens (not sure how much). It is lighter and smaller. It does not fit in my pocket, however. It takes good pictures, but obviously not as good as my new camera.

Up until 2 months ago I was using my 35mm Olympus point and shoot. So I have three cameras I could bring. I have thought about bringing two, one for my Mom and one for me. My Mom's hands are kind of shakey (no known health problem, she has been this way for as long as I can remember), but it causes her pictures to come out blurry. So then, I will be the primary picture taker. Her best bet would be with a digital, because if the picture doesn't turn out we can delete it.

We will both be wearing travel wallets underneath our clothes and I'm not planning on carrying anything else (lipstick in one front pants pocket, small change in the other, and a few sheets of copied information in my back pocket (for sights, restaurants, etc.). So I'm not worried about being distracted while dealing with my camera. I'm just worried that it may get tiresome to have the camera strapped across my neck/body while walking all day. However, it is really important to me to get great pictures to enjoy for years to come.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance for your help.
Carol

Good question CV.

I have the same question, should we take both cameras or only go with the smaller one? The smaller one will take better low-light pics, but the larger one has a longer optical lens.

Looking forward to your responses.

VS

Personally, I'd bring the Olympus digital, but I'm not really a serious photographer, just want some decent pictures, without hauling a big thing around. If your mom really wanted a camera to use as well, you could also look into buying a cheapie digital camera (you can get them for around $100 or so that'll take decent pictures, and not be very big at all); compared to the cost of a trip to Italy, that's not much, if it'll give her added enjoyment. Don't bother with film, it's just a pain. If you are really serious about pictures, of course, take the nice one, just figure out a decent way to carry it comfortably.

I have a Canon Digital Elph with 2.2 megapixels that takes great shots but has limited zoom. It fits in my pocket and is very easy to carry.

Having said that, I just purchased a Canon 5 meg digital with a 12 optical zoom as I really needed some better zoom on a recent trip. I would take your new camera and shoot. Use the zoom for some great "people" shots far away.

I also have a Panasonic Lumix and have never regretted taking it rather than a smaller camera. The 12X optical zoom makes it possible to get all sorts of pictures I couldn't otherwise.

I would take both digitals. When you set out for the day, you can kind of guess whether or not it is going to be a great picture opportunity day and then you can take the one you want. You don't want to be wishing for your other camera the whole time!

If you are going to Venice, definitly pack the Lumix. There are so many opportunities to take amazing artistic photos that you are going to want to blow up and hang on a wall.

kind of related - I have been buying a black & white disposable camera and taking that along. I have gotten some really cool shots with it, I was quite surprised. I like black & white photos and it is hard to get them when I have just one 35mm camera. I have not advanced into digital yet, but I'm sure I will soon! Have a fun trip!

Hi!

I am not familiar with the point and shoot camera you have, but I will say, that from using my first and only 5 megapixel 6x optical zoom, I realize that one does not necessarily need all 5 of those pixels, ya know? I would say to go with the 4 pixel camera over the 8 pixel camera if it feels more comfy for you. I am sorry, but I am not sure which camera would be good for the shaking issue.

I think the answer to which camera to take will be based on the question as to why you want to take the pictures. If you and your Mom want photos of yourselves for your album take the smaller camera. If you want to take pictures as part of your hobbie ie photography take the lumix. I find when I do the later, it is often when I am traveling alone and can dawdle a bit and "look" for shots. That being said, some the best photos I have have been with my smaller camera (a point and shoot with zoom). Why? because I am never without it. It is always in my pocket and therefore the picture isnt missed.

If it were me, I'd take the Panasonic. I just bought the Canon S2 specifically for the 12x optical zoom. We are moving back to Germany next week and the one thing I wished were different with my Canon G1 was a longer optical zoom. I missed so many shots last time we lived there because I couldn't get close enough and they were grainy when cropped. This time those gargoyles on the cathedrals don't stand a chance!

One other comment. I understand perfectly your desire to not carry a bag of any kind, but everytime I travel I end up picking up booklets, small souvenirs, etc and the few times I went without a bag I regretted it. Now I carry a small messenger-type bag that I can sling across my body and easily pull to the front when amoungst people. I've never had a problem with pick pockets, etc by doing that.

Whatever you end up doing, have a fantastic trip!!!

Even though I try hard to pack light, I like to take two cameras. If pictues are REALLY important to you, you need a backup. Stuff happens. Like in Spain when my camera was in my purse, and I dropped the purse. Camera stopped working.Glad we had an older back-up.
Vera

We take both, only because if our computer crashes, we still have the negatives from the "old" style cameras. Definitely take your new camera. Actually, in Sorrento, we picked up for my son a new Nikon digital after his older one kind of died. Price was a little less than what we would have paid at Best Buy (and we did check the internet before we bought!). The cool thing was we could now just recharge the battery without getting an adapter in Europe, but did pick up an American adapter at the airport coming back to the U.S. Also cool was it also takes 2 AA batteries, so you're never at a loss to take pictures when the juice runs out of the rechargeables.

I'd bring 2 cameras with you especially if you don't have spare rechargeable batteries for either digital camera. Inevitably you'll be someplace where your battery will run out of juice and you'll regret not having a backup camera. Of course you could always buy a spare battery (I bought spares everytime I've purchased a new digital camera--I've got 3 now, including a digital SLR--and it's saved me countless times.

I wouldn't worry so much about the mega pixels, but I'd definitely take the Lumix as a primary camera with the Olympus Camedia as a backup. The 12X zoom is what you'll be glad you'll have more than anything.

Also, be sure to have the largest sized memory card you can afford. Don't just go with the card that came with the camera. With 8 MP's you'll eat up space on a small memory card quickly, especially if you have the camera on the highest quality setting, which you'll want if there are any photos you want to blow up and frame. And it's easier to have one big card for your cameras than a few memory cards with smaller capacity. Just one more thing that could get lost. I'd recommend at least a 1 Gig card if not more. You can get a 1 Gig Sandisk memory card from Amazon.com for about $60; a 2 Gig card for about $100 which will hold a LOT of pics and a good investment.

Have fun. Hope this helps.

Hey CV, thanks for this thread as it has helped me decide.
VS :-"

Wow, you guys have been so helpful! Thank you so much. I am going to bring 2 cameras (one of them will be the Panasonic).

This discussion has also made me think about talking to my Mom about getting herself a little digital camera. I think she would really enjoy being able to take her own pictures. As I wrote before, with digital, she can just erase a picture if it is blurry. I am going to look around to see if one comes with an anti-shake feature.

I also realize that I need to get some type of little backpack or side pack to carry. I'm just concerned about having too many straps hanging around my neck/shoulders between a bag and the camera. It may get cumbersome. Next big decision and hunt for the perfect travel day pack!

Thanks again. You guys are great!

Viaggio, what did you decide to do?

Carol

Coincidentally, I'm leaving for Italy in 3 weeks and just bought the Panasonic Lumix w/5 megapixels, 6x optical zoom. Haven't even used it yet, but after reading these threads I hope I won't regret not having the 12x. I also have an older Olympus, which I love, so I'm still trying to decide what I'll actually take.

The Lumix is a really good camera and IIRC has an image stabilizer built-in as well that should compensate for the hand-shaking.

Panasonic also makes a very small FX-9 that takes pretty good pictures (6mp) with a f/2.8 aperture Leica lens and also features IS. I got mine for about $199 at Costco on special.

I carry it for the 'hey we we're here shots' when I don't want to lug my slr gear around.

The new Panasonics have anti-shake technology and the new Pentax A10 (8mp, 3x zoom, $350) will have it too, but it is not going to be released until March 10. You may be gone by then. The Pentax looks great because theoretically the video it takes is good enough quality to be shown on tvs.

If your mom buys a new camera, make sure the screen on the back is big enough to see if the shot is blurry or not. I would recommend 2.5 inches. I have a smaller screen and shots that look great on there are sometimes blurry when seen for real.

What also works great is a tiny tri-pod. She can rest the camera on bridges, walls, just about anything. Here are some cool ones from $7 on up.

http://tinyurl.com/znnd3

Have a great trip!