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Travel photography with the D7

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Emmanuel54656

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In a few months I shall be using my D7 as my main camera duing my holiday. My Dynax 7 shall take a back seat (or even stay home) during my visit. My reason for doing this is that I want to see how well I can get by just using a digital camera for travel photography. The D7 has all the features I require but my main concern will be ensuring I have enough batteries to last the day. I think four sets of battieries should be enough for an all day shoot.

This will be my first holiday where I don't have to find space for 30 rolls of film and my 70-200 f2.8 lens. Not that my D7 can match my film cameras for overall quality but the results are certainly better than I would get from a compact 35mm camera and offer more control. If only I could get a shallower depth of field, faster AF and remote flash capabilities it would be great.

I think as long as I don't try and use my D7 in the same way I use my film SLRs I should do fine.

Emmanuel
 
If we can find a good teleconverter that works over the whole zoom range, that will help with the depth of field. I've got an A-200 in the mail and I'll post results when I get it.

Make sure you have plenty of storage to save all those photos. People with film cameras take one photo and hope it turns out. I take as many as I can and review those before I leave if I can.

Enjoy your trip!

Jim
 
Jim A Hunt said:
If we can find a good teleconverter that works over the whole zoom
range, that will help with the depth of field. I've got an A-200
in the mail and I'll post results when I get it.
Click to expand...
Yes, please do! I'm seriously considering one of these too, and would be interested to hear how well it works.
Jim A Hunt said:
People with film cameras take one photo and hope it turns out. I
take as many as I can and review those before I leave if I can.
Click to expand...
Ain't that the truth... my wife laughed at me the other night because I stood there snapping a dozen pictures of one of our girls in her "new" (flood repair!) bedroom... but I got some great expressions on a few, while several were mere throwaways. I love that I can simply keep shooting until I'm sure I've got a good one, then later delete the rest.

I'm through with film.

--Mike
--Dimage7Powerbook G4Canon S800
 
I generally don't like to use teleconverters as the tend to compromise image quality. On my 35mm SLRs I use teleconverters as a last resort. On reason for going for the D7 was the 28-200 lens. When I use film SLRs my main travel lens is either the 24-85mm or 24-105mm. I use f2.8 zoom lenses when I need shallower depth of field but on most digital cameras f2.8 does not give the same effect.

I do tend to shoot a lot of photos and I suspect that during the evenings I will go through the days shoot and delete photos that don't make the grade. I don't tend to do this during an actual shoot as usually there is not time.

I'll be bringing my laptop along (very light weigth with 10" screen). I'll use it to store my photos.

In the future I'd love to go trekking in Nepal but I cannot imagine how I could take my or and digial camera on such a trip as I cannot be sure where I would get a chance to charge batteries.

I've never posted any photos here but anyone interested and view some of my photos at the following links;

http://www.minoltians.ws/gallery--4.html#anchor70221

http://www.minoltians.ws/D-7.html

Emmanuel
Jim A Hunt said:
If we can find a good teleconverter that works over the whole zoom
range, that will help with the depth of field. I've got an A-200
in the mail and I'll post results when I get it.

Make sure you have plenty of storage to save all those photos.
People with film cameras take one photo and hope it turns out. I
take as many as I can and review those before I leave if I can.

Enjoy your trip!

Jim
Click to expand...
 
I don't think film has had it's day just yet but I don't see myself buying another film camera for a long time. For times where you are trekking in the middle of nowhere I think you cannot beat the film camera or when you require extra detail in your photos.
mcaswell said:
Jim A Hunt said:
If we can find a good teleconverter that works over the whole zoom
range, that will help with the depth of field. I've got an A-200
in the mail and I'll post results when I get it.
Click to expand...
Yes, please do! I'm seriously considering one of these too, and
would be interested to hear how well it works.
mcaswell said:
People with film cameras take one photo and hope it turns out. I
take as many as I can and review those before I leave if I can.
Click to expand...
Ain't that the truth... my wife laughed at me the other night
because I stood there snapping a dozen pictures of one of our girls
in her "new" (flood repair!) bedroom... but I got some great
expressions on a few, while several were mere throwaways. I love
that I can simply keep shooting until I'm sure I've got a good one,
then later delete the rest.

I'm through with film.

--Mike

--
Dimage7
Powerbook G4
Canon S800
Click to expand...
 
Emmanuel said:
In a few months I shall be using my D7 as my main camera duing my
holiday. My Dynax 7 shall take a back seat (or even stay home)
during my visit. My reason for doing this is that I want to see how
well I can get by just using a digital camera for travel
photography. The D7 has all the features I require but my main
concern will be ensuring I have enough batteries to last the day. I
think four sets of battieries should be enough for an all day shoot.
Click to expand...
I was away in August for over two weeks. Three sets of batteries
worked fine -- I rarely needed the third. I took two chargers and
a laptop for dumping images. I have a 1Gb microdrive. I also had
a lightweight full size tripod and a small clamp/table tripod plus an
old 3500xi flash. At the end I'd only used up two 35mm film rolls and
the only reason I used my film camera was that I had a 500mm lens.

I wouldn't bother taking an SLR next time unless I definitely needed
the lenses or specialised flash.

Battery management wasn't an issue after the first couple of days
and I was confident that I had enough total capacity. These days
I also carry Lithiums but I've not been forced to use them. I started
leaving my backpack behind and just carrying the D7, batteries,
lens cloth, and clamp/table tripod when out during the day using
just a belt pack.

The D7 is a great little travel camera -- the compact size/weight and
versatility are excellent. It's also discrete -- less noise than an SLR
and it looks less 'threatening'.-----------------Andrew.
 
Thanks, that is interesting to hear. I have not travelled with my D7 because I was concerned over the battery issues. Now that my batteries are better conditioned I don't worry so much about the batteries. I do have Minolta Battery Power pack for the camera which I tend to use when I am doing a lot of shooting and using the large LCD for shooting or reviewing shots.

Emmanuel
Andrew Cruickshank said:
Emmanuel said:
In a few months I shall be using my D7 as my main camera duing my
holiday. My Dynax 7 shall take a back seat (or even stay home)
during my visit. My reason for doing this is that I want to see how
well I can get by just using a digital camera for travel
photography. The D7 has all the features I require but my main
concern will be ensuring I have enough batteries to last the day. I
think four sets of battieries should be enough for an all day shoot.
Click to expand...
I was away in August for over two weeks. Three sets of batteries
worked fine -- I rarely needed the third. I took two chargers and
a laptop for dumping images. I have a 1Gb microdrive. I also had
a lightweight full size tripod and a small clamp/table tripod plus an
old 3500xi flash. At the end I'd only used up two 35mm film rolls and
the only reason I used my film camera was that I had a 500mm lens.

I wouldn't bother taking an SLR next time unless I definitely needed
the lenses or specialised flash.

Battery management wasn't an issue after the first couple of days
and I was confident that I had enough total capacity. These days
I also carry Lithiums but I've not been forced to use them. I started
leaving my backpack behind and just carrying the D7, batteries,
lens cloth, and clamp/table tripod when out during the day using
just a belt pack.

The D7 is a great little travel camera -- the compact size/weight and
versatility are excellent. It's also discrete -- less noise than an
SLR
and it looks less 'threatening'.
--
---------------
Andrew.
Click to expand...
 
Emmanuel said:
Thanks, that is interesting to hear. I have not travelled with my
D7 because I was concerned over the battery issues. Now that my
batteries are better conditioned I don't worry so much about the
batteries. I do have Minolta Battery Power pack for the camera
which I tend to use when I am doing a lot of shooting and using the
large LCD for shooting or reviewing shots.
Click to expand...
Could you please let me know how many shots your getting out of the powerpack and the re-charge time?

Im going on a 6month trip through s/e asia and maybe nepal. I was just going to buy about 10 sets of AAs but the bat pack may be an option.

Thanks
Emmanuel54656 said:
Emmanuel
Andrew Cruickshank said:
Emmanuel said:
In a few months I shall be using my D7 as my main camera duing my
holiday. My Dynax 7 shall take a back seat (or even stay home)
during my visit. My reason for doing this is that I want to see how
well I can get by just using a digital camera for travel
photography. The D7 has all the features I require but my main
concern will be ensuring I have enough batteries to last the day. I
think four sets of battieries should be enough for an all day shoot.
Click to expand...
I was away in August for over two weeks. Three sets of batteries
worked fine -- I rarely needed the third. I took two chargers and
a laptop for dumping images. I have a 1Gb microdrive. I also had
a lightweight full size tripod and a small clamp/table tripod plus an
old 3500xi flash. At the end I'd only used up two 35mm film rolls and
the only reason I used my film camera was that I had a 500mm lens.

I wouldn't bother taking an SLR next time unless I definitely needed
the lenses or specialised flash.

Battery management wasn't an issue after the first couple of days
and I was confident that I had enough total capacity. These days
I also carry Lithiums but I've not been forced to use them. I started
leaving my backpack behind and just carrying the D7, batteries,
lens cloth, and clamp/table tripod when out during the day using
just a belt pack.

The D7 is a great little travel camera -- the compact size/weight and
versatility are excellent. It's also discrete -- less noise than an
SLR
and it looks less 'threatening'.
--
---------------
Andrew.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
The Power Pack does last a long time. I have found it last me a whole days shoot with plenty of use of the main LCD. I have only used mine indoors and not while travelling so far but I'd rate the power pack as providing a least double the battery life as the AA rechargeables.

I have yet to use my camera for travel photography so I'm not sure what practical advice I can give. But I would say take a fast charger. I have found with the Duracell Ultra M3 battieres I can get over 100 shots (no flash and auto EVF mode) so it's worth taking a few of those in case of emergencies.

Emmanuel
mark caplin said:
Emmanuel said:
Thanks, that is interesting to hear. I have not travelled with my
D7 because I was concerned over the battery issues. Now that my
batteries are better conditioned I don't worry so much about the
batteries. I do have Minolta Battery Power pack for the camera
which I tend to use when I am doing a lot of shooting and using the
large LCD for shooting or reviewing shots.
Click to expand...
Could you please let me know how many shots your getting out of the
powerpack and the re-charge time?

Im going on a 6month trip through s/e asia and maybe nepal. I was
just going to buy about 10 sets of AAs but the bat pack may be an
option.

Thanks
Mark Caplin said:
Emmanuel
Andrew Cruickshank said:
Emmanuel said:
In a few months I shall be using my D7 as my main camera duing my
holiday. My Dynax 7 shall take a back seat (or even stay home)
during my visit. My reason for doing this is that I want to see how
well I can get by just using a digital camera for travel
photography. The D7 has all the features I require but my main
concern will be ensuring I have enough batteries to last the day. I
think four sets of battieries should be enough for an all day shoot.
Click to expand...
I was away in August for over two weeks. Three sets of batteries
worked fine -- I rarely needed the third. I took two chargers and
a laptop for dumping images. I have a 1Gb microdrive. I also had
a lightweight full size tripod and a small clamp/table tripod plus an
old 3500xi flash. At the end I'd only used up two 35mm film rolls and
the only reason I used my film camera was that I had a 500mm lens.

I wouldn't bother taking an SLR next time unless I definitely needed
the lenses or specialised flash.

Battery management wasn't an issue after the first couple of days
and I was confident that I had enough total capacity. These days
I also carry Lithiums but I've not been forced to use them. I started
leaving my backpack behind and just carrying the D7, batteries,
lens cloth, and clamp/table tripod when out during the day using
just a belt pack.

The D7 is a great little travel camera -- the compact size/weight and
versatility are excellent. It's also discrete -- less noise than an
SLR
and it looks less 'threatening'.
--
---------------
Andrew.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
mcaswell said:
Jim A Hunt said:
Don't forget that neutral density filters can also help with depth
of field.
Click to expand...
Why is this?

--Mike
Click to expand...
It would only help on programme mode by reducing the light so making the lens select a larger apperture and the shutter a slower speed. Not really the best solution. Better to select the apperture yourself using apperture priority setting and you will then get the fastest shutter speed possible.
David.
mcaswell said:
--
Click to expand...
 
Andrew Cruickshank said:
I was away in August for over two weeks. Three sets of batteries
worked fine -- I rarely needed the third. I took two chargers and
a laptop for dumping images. I have a 1Gb microdrive. I also had
a lightweight full size tripod and a small clamp/table tripod plus an
old 3500xi flash. At the end I'd only used up two 35mm film rolls and
the only reason I used my film camera was that I had a 500mm lens.

---------------
Andrew.
Click to expand...
One criticism I read of the Dimage 7 on one of the review sites was that because the tripod mount wasn't in the same axis as the lens, setting up panoramic series was difficult. Do you have any experience with this?
--Jim Robertson
 
I also own both Dynax 7 and Dimage 7, and I can almost never take my hands off any one of them... both cameras are great cameras and they are good in their own fashion.

Too bad the two cameras are not water or dust-proof. :)
 
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