Travel Technology - What do you use as a backup to your DSLR?

Especially now with increased security, it is becoming less and less convenient to travel with my DSLR with me everywhere I go. I am thus now on the market for a compact digital camera and to be honest, I haven't shopped for one in a very long time.

I plan to take this as a point and shoot replacement for my DSLR (I own a Nikon D70s) when I can't travel with it, or as a backup to stick in my camera bag to keep along with it. Since I currently use CF cards, my prospective backup camera should also do the same. Would like small size, decent zoom, and would like to pay less than USD $500. What do y'all use/recommend? :D

The Canon PowerShot cameras are really great! Yes, they use different memory cards, but I think you'll find most of the smaller point & shoot cameras use cards that are smaller than standard CF cards. I've got a PowerShot SD550 that I'm very happy with. I would likely buy the SD700 IS or SD800 IS if I was buying today.

but I think you'll find most of the smaller point & shoot cameras use cards that are smaller than standard CF cards.

Ah, a testament to how clueless I am with the latest point and shoots. As a Nikon buff, I was lookin' at the Coolpixes, but since the Canons are the ubiquitous choice, I was also led, unsurprisingly, to look at the sd700 IS as suggested.

The Kodak EasyShare V610 looks interesting also-10x zoom without a huge protrusion thanks to a dual lens configuration. Too many choices out there!!

I got a Panasonic Fx-7 almost two years ago and it remains phenomenal today. I think the current model is FX-01 and it is same basic model but with one more megapixel, longer battery, and widescreen pics. Highly recommend it for image quality.

I personally love the Casio Exilims and find them to be the best "packages" on the market.

Ditch the D70. I used to have one and I stopped bringing it on travels as it was too big.

Get a canon 350D instead. It is small and frankly, takes better pictures. Take lens and body apart and it will fit with laptop etc in to a costco laptop shoulder bag.

Or get a crumpler laptop bag with compartments for the camera.

I have an HP compact which I used more than the D70 and hardly use at all now when I have the 350D. Actually, I lent the HP to a mate of mine who doesn't even live near me.

/E

Ditch the D70. I used to have one and I stopped bringing it on travels as it was too big...Get a canon 350D instead. It is small and frankly, takes better pictures.


For those of us who have limited money to drop another grand on a camera and a few more on lenses, this is alas not an option :) I am really looking for a pocket sized point and shoot anyway, to supplement, rather than replace the DSLR. In my view, the small difference in size btwn the 350d and the d70 is not a reason to replace it with another DSLR.

And before this degrades into a Canon v Nikon debate, the reason why I chose Nikon is for the superior lenses. I am also now used to working with NEF files and don't care to figure out how to work with another raw format.

I have a nice tiny Nikon P1 that I got in March for an trip to Philippines. I love it. It has 8mg files, great big screen and otherwise tiny little digital Point&shoot. BTW, I am about to get a D80 to travel with too. There are times when the little camera is great, others when you need the full size one.

:)

Canon S2 or s3? No raw support :mad: and not Compact Flash, but SD cards are dirt cheap.

It is small and frankly, takes better pictures.

If you qualify that with "I can take better pictures with it" you've a fine statement.

For those of us who have limited money to drop another grand on a camera and a few more on lenses, this is alas not an option :)


Sorry I forgot to add the smiley.


I am really looking for a pocket sized point and shoot anyway, to supplement, rather than replace the DSLR. In my view, the small difference in size btwn the 350d and the d70 is not a reason to replace it with another DSLR.

Actually, there is a rather big difference in size.

I'm not knocking Nikon at all. Great cameras, just never was my friend. I should really say that I take better pictures with the canon then I did with the nikon.

And before this degrades into a Canon v Nikon debate, the reason why I chose Nikon is for the superior lenses. I am also now used to working with NEF files and don't care to figure out how to work with another raw format.

Raw is raw is raw. I used raw on the nikon. never went near their nef as raw is industry standard.

I stick to high res jpegs though. works for me.

Again, I have an HP M-something which actually does take some great pictures. I've gotten some really nice aerial shots of YYZ skyline using that. Even use those pis as desktop background.

Great to sling in to a handbag, jacket pocket etc when the DSLR is not needed or too big to carry around.

/E

Truth be told, with somethinglike the higher end Exilims, especially the 750 and 850, you can get pretty great photographic results that CAN in fact go head to head against DSLR's (in the hands of the averag person), If you are getting into debates about RAW vs. whatever compression, than this debate isn't really in your ballpark as that is a very professional debate that does not effect 99.9% of users (BTW, back in the old days of film and a very long time ago I won about a half dozen national and int'l photo awards, i used to be a perfectionist and spend days on end in darkrooms - no more, who's got the time and truth be told the results one can get now, as opposed to then, even in point and shoots is like night and day)

You won't find one with CF unless you get one that's 2-3 years old. All the subcompacts use smaller format cards.

I have the Sony DSC-P150 (replaced by the DSC-P200) as a backup for my D70s and am very happy with it. For a P&S and has a very fast startup time and extremely little shutter lag (two of my biggest complaints with P&S cameras). Sadly, the P200 is no longer in production, but you can find them NIB for around $200.

Raw is raw is raw. I used raw on the nikon. never went near their nef as raw is industry standard.


I'm sorry, but there is no "industry standard raw format"

Are you thinking of Adobe's DNG format, perhaps? While there are a small number of cameras out there that support DNG natively, none of the current crop of Canon's or Nikon's do.

The advantage of shooting raw is, with the right software, you can correct for almost every shooting error except focus.

Are you thinking of Adobe's DNG format, perhaps? While there are a small number of cameras out there that support DNG natively, none of the current crop of Canon's or Nikon's do.

A little OT, but the beginning part of my workflow includes converting and archiving my NEF files to DNG for posterity...ya never know if a format will be around 20 yrs from now. Adobe has provided a nice automated tool for this. :)

Thanks for the suggestions, everybody! I'll be reading up on them soon. I should say that I certainly don't need the ability to shoot in raw for the P&S I am looking for, and I've resigned myself to buying SD cards and an adapter...didn't know that CF just isn't used anymore. I learn something everyday from this board! :D

I'm sorry, but there is no "industry standard raw format"



My mistake. I see nikon, canon, olympus etc all talk about raw, just as lightroom, aperture, photoshop and the softare that comes with the cameras.

So I thought raw was industry standard.

you learn something new every day on this board.

Canon Powershot SD630 backs up my Canon 20D

Ended up buying the Powershot SD800 IS. Loving it so far. Small, decent zoom, HUGE screen, 7.1 mp, and very, very good battery life. The downside is that the convenience may drive me to use it as a replacement for my DSLR on many trips.

Thanks for all the opinions!:)

The Canon PowerShot cameras are really great! Yes, they use different memory cards, but I think you'll find most of the smaller point & shoot cameras use cards that are smaller than standard CF cards. I've got a PowerShot SD550 that I'm very happy with.

I, too have a D70s and back it up, so to speak, with the SD550 or very similar model (don't have it in front of me right now). It's certainly small enough.

My other camera is more of a complement than a backup: it's a Nikon 35Ti rangefinder, which I use with fast black and white film for an entirely different shooting experience.

Nice little unit, if a little noisy.

I use my DSC-T1, really cause thats what I had for a while, and I got a underwater housing with all the extras for it, so I do make use of it. Plus when I can't carry my 300D around i.e. drinking, that T1 is just fine. I wish it took raw though

I bought the Fujifilm F30 and I am really happy with it.

.................

Ditch the D70. I used to have one and I stopped bringing it on travels as it was too big.

Au contraire. If I can't bring my D50 I won't bring anything at all. :D

The point-and-shoot photos are fine for email and screen display, but IMO they look like crap once they get to a nice photo printer. And as noted above, the price point on the high end ones are not that far off the low-end (older) digital SLRs, which don't even belong in the same sentence.

I

Panasonic Lumix LX-2 (also sold as a Leica at $100 more).

Plus:-

Small and handy, but not too small to be handleable
RAW as well as jpeg
Lots of manual control and exposure methods
Panoramic format available

Minus:-
No optical viewfinder
Noise at high ISO