Traveling with your camera

[juggler314]

So...I am planning a 3 week long trip to europe and would like some opinions on traveling with your camera. I have a digital rebel as well as an external flash, several lenses, multiple batteries, tripod etc.

For this trip weight is going to be a big issue. I'll have one backpack that can't weigh over 30 pounds (and the pack itself will weigh about 5 pounds - so that leaves me 25 pounds). Additionally a smaller pack that could say weigh another 10-15 pounds - however I'm not sure how much i want to carry around potentially almost 50 pounds...

Also I should mention I'm a huge geek and will be bringing a bunch of other electronics that will already weigh something.

I'm thinking that if i bring the rebel I will probably have to cut down on the number of accessories I bring - likely just the kit lens and one telephoto, plus possibly the 50/1.8 since it's so small and light. The flash is a maybe at this point, it adds a lot of weight that will only be used sometimes. I have a tripod, but will almost definitely want to get a lighter one if I bring it - a nicer carbon fiber one I guess - or possibly switch to a monopod (thoughts).

The other option is to just go buy a new G10 or something similar (I like canon but am open to anything that has the features I want).

I'm not sure the weight of the SLR + lens + flash + extra's is really worth it over just moving to an advanced point and shoot...

Thanks!

[KeithB]

I think that the kit lens, one telephoto zoom and the camera are all you need.  What kind of pictures do you want to "specialize" in?

I assume that this is the kit lens with IS!

Street scenes?  Interior Shots of churches?  Wildlife?  Everything?

If everything, I would ditch the flash, since you have one on the camera (and might not be able to use it where you really want it anyway!)  I would suggest a polarizer, not neccessarily for landscapes, but for shooting inside of display cases without getting the reflections.  (If this is something you want to do, than maybe the 50/1.8 will come in handy!)

Actually, I like my combination of the 17-85 IS and 70-300 mm (though the 55-250 mm will be much smaller and have just about the same reach)  the extra bit of wide angle can come in really handy for architectural and landscape shots.  However, the 17-85 is much larger than the kit lens...