adamfam

What kind of camera you take depends on the quality of pictures you want to bring home with you and how important pictures are to you. My wife and I both took SLR digital cameras with us because part of our joy from our trips is bringing back photographic memories of the places we visit. I have a Canon 10D with a 100 - 400 Image stabilizing lens and she has a Pentax IST with both a small and a telephoto lens. Both took great pictures that could be enlarged and printed back home.
We love the digital because memory is not that expensive and you can take multiple shots of a subject of which you may only get 1 or 2 great shots of and delete the ones that didn't turn out well. Also with the photo editing software out now (we use microsoft digital imaging suite) you can take a less than perfect picture and make it quite good with a little editing work. Yes, the weight of these cameras is a negative, but if nice pictures are part of the joy of the trip you can deal with it. You can check out some of our pictures at http://badams575.photosite.com
or a trip report at
http://webpages.charter.net/adamfam/

teadrinker

Adam I was really impressed with your pictures as well as your travel diary. Were most of those pics taken with your Canon 10D? Do you know the weight or size of it? I think I'm going to look it up on the Internet..
But I couldn't get over how beautiful the pictures were. The colors were really good.... What kind of rain jacket did you find useful? It's one thing I'm trying to figure out...and did you wear rainpants or not?
Thanks a lot!

adamfam

Hi teadrinker,
Glad you liked the pictures. Most of the photos were taken with the Canon, but the snowcap and another hummingbird were with the Pentax. The Canon weighs about 2 lbs. and the lens is about 3 lbs. The image stabilizer really helped because I shot hand held. The 10D runs around $500 - $600 used in good shape on E-bay. It has been replaced by the Canon 20D which is 8.3 megapixels. The 100/400 lens is quite pricy @ $1300 new. A 75/300 IS lens is quite a bit less and is also a bit lighter. The camera/lens is roughly 4"X5"X11". We bought a camera bag that works well with it. There are a lot of good cameras out there to choose from. For me, the lens is what sets 1 apart from the others.
As far as raingear, we just carried a plastic poncho (Walmart special) with us and slid it over ourselves/gear the few times the rain caught us in the open. We are also getting a raincoat for our camera this trip as well. If you do your main outdoor activities in the morning and early afternoon, the weather seldom bothers you. On our next trip in June/July 2006, we will be taking lightweight, easy dry clothing as cotton, etc. takes forever to dry.
The great advice you get on the Fodor's site will guide you well.

teadrinker

Thank you, I did check your cameras out and they do look good, but seeing that my trip is just about 1 1/2 weeks away, I thought I'd better bring my usual camera which I'm familiar with rather than buying a new one for the trip which I'm unfamiliar with. I just need to find a better camera bag than the handheld one I use. At 7# total, it's a lot of weight. I can't figure out how to use a backpack yet, and carry the camera. Can't have 2 backpacks, can I, yet I hate having to have the camera bag over one shoulder, like a pocket book, while carrying a backpack for my "stuff"... I could throw the camera in the backpack, but it's big... what with the telephoto, extra lens and all... and it seems as though it needs it's own case to protect it from debris in the backpack... Maybe I should call FUJI and ask their advice... give them the specs, etc. I ended up getting a lightweight packable raincoat from Bass Pro for 39.00, so I should be all set there. Thank you for your help.