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When setting off a long-term trip for the first time, it’s common for people to bring far more than they need; the uncertainty of what the trip may bring can lead to a mentality of packing things “just in case”, or for comfort.
I remember my first 2-week trip to Thailand, hundreds of full moons back; my backpack looked like the one to the right and embarrassingly I even brought socks for that expected cold night in the tropics. Ahem!
To help you towards the way of traveling light, guest writer Steve James - also guilty as charged for over-packing on his first round the world trip - offers a subjective and irreverent look at ten common backpacking items which in his opinion should stay in the wardrobe:
1. A Huge Backpack to rival the SAS/Navy Seals
Take a stroll down the Khao San Road and you’ll see wave after wave of fresh recruits arriving from overseas kitted out like Special Forces, tottering under the weight of bulging 70-80 liter capacity backpacks. Don’t do it to yourself! You really shouldn’t need a backpack bigger than 50 liters. Any more and you need to seriously reconsider the items you’re packing. Are they really necessary?
2. Jeans
It seems like a natural choice to throw a pair or two of jeans in your bag, but denim is not suited for life on the road by any means. Jeans are thick (making you hot in balmy climates), heavy and take an age to dry. You’re far better off with a pair of trousers/pants made from a lighter, quicker-drying fabric.
3. Sleeping Bag
As this is no longer the 1970s, virtually all hostels worldwide will provide you with adequate bedding for free. There is absolutely no need to bring a sleeping bag on your trip unless you are doing an awful lot of camping. Instead, consider bringing a cotton (or silk, if your budget stretches that far) sleep sheet, which will take up hardly any room at all in your pack and will be useful to separate you from the odd festering mattress you may have to lay your head on.
4. Hiking Boots
Unless you are walking around the world, leave the hiking boots at home. Big, clumpy and stinking, a pair of boots weighing down your bag will quickly become irksome, particularly when you’re in a sandals climate. You’re far better off hiring boots when you fancy doing some serious hiking, although a pair of sturdy trainers/sneakers will often suffice for “accessible” walks.
5. Laptop
Increasingly in dorm rooms worldwide there will be one or more travelers busily tapping away on their laptops. A laptop is a luxury item, and certainly not an essential item for backpacking, unless you require one for working en-route, so think seriously before bringing one on your trip. What might seem like a great idea at home may not be so genius on the road when it is stolen or broken.
6. SLR Camera
Hand-in-hand with a laptop on my list of no-nos is an SLR camera. You’d have to be seriously committed… to photography to bring an SLR. Heavy, bulky (especially if you bring along a selection of lenses) and prone to breaking or being pinched by shifty travelers, swallow your artistic pride and bring a crap point’n’shoot digital camera like the rest of us.
7. Enough Medical Supplies To Make Florence Nightingale Blush
One for the hypochondriacs. A compact, basic first aid kit is essential to bring with you, such as plasters, a small tube of anti-septic cream and so on. But don’t go overboard. Unless you are really going way off the beaten track, leave the sterile syringes at home and put your money into comprehensive emergency travel insurance instead.
8. A Pacsafe
Don’t know what a Pacsafe is? Good - keep it like that. Suffice to say, it is something your Mum would think would be a good idea. It’s not.
9. Mosquito Net
Mosquito bites are intensely annoying, and need to be taken seriously, as a little nip can be deadly if the blighter is a carrier of malaria. However, there are effective ways of protecting yourself without resorting to carting a mosquito net around (such as using anti-malarials, covering up at dawn/dusk and using DEET or natural repellents). Nets take up far too much space in your pack, and are not needed in most of the world. For the areas in which you may appreciate having one, such as particularly infested parts of Africa, pick one up locally if they are not supplied at your accommodation.
10. Guitar
Because there is a common consensus that people who travel with guitars are wankers.
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Steve James is currently eight months into his second round-the-world trip and has recently started putting his experiences to paper in his very own Budget Travel Guide. Check out as well his site at overlandtales.com.
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Nice one about the guitar! I work on the internet for a living so I need a laptop and just bought an SLR, but you are right about them. The additional adapters are also heavy.
about the guitar
about the jeans, are you sure? apart from its thickness, jeans most of the time are good as an ‘armor’. It’s good for ‘protection’ of your legs, a thorn will be difficult to penetrate jeans rather than a cotton pant, so to speak
Hey Steve, nice one. Keep up the great writing. I agree with the jeans statement, except I never seem to follow that rule myself.
Louise Brown
TravelPod Community Manager
[...] Over at Nomad4ever.com, roving travel writer Steve James lays out his list of things you really shouldn’t take backpacking. [...]
Absolutely no jeans, I agree - they take forever to dry. Try wearing a pair during the rainy season and you may be stranded for a week waiting for them to dry. There are plenty of good quality trousers that are tough enough to be protective.
Steve, I’ll have to disagree with the mosquito net. Having traipsed around the back roads of Africa for years, I’d never leave home without my mosquito tent - it’s shaped like a tent but keeps out mosquitoes. Yes, it’s a bit cumbersome, but in rural areas off the backpacking trail you will not usually find nets - and if you’re gone for any amount of time you know the ravages that Lariam can cause… as for DEET, that’s fine for a day or two in the rainforest but not for a month. Nor have I found natural substitutes to be effective. Malaria kills, and if you’re far away from medical care, in my opinion this is the number one danger (other than slicing yourself up with your machete trying to hurl it at palm trees to swipe a coconut).
What? No guitar?!?
These are great tips, and I’ve made every single one of these mistakes myself at one time or another…
For me the list is a 90% fit, just the laptop I’m not so sure about. Guess I mentioned that in some previous posts already, but then everyone has a different setup. And yeah I don’t know what a Pacsafe is, although Steve mentioned that it’s probably not so well-known; but now it really made me curious. Have to find out finally what that piece is….
Yep, a mosquito net is vital if you’re going anywhere off the beaten track! Pacsafes are huge chain nets you put around your bag to keep the world out - basicaly cumbersome, painful when you catch yourself on them and like carrying around an extra few kilos.
[...] Steve James is a frequent contributor to the TravelPod forums and he has recently written an article on the blog, Nomad4ever. [...]
I’m looking at a guitar carrying wanker as I read this…..and I’m not even traveling.
Great idea Steve! Your suggestions are right on. We brought nets during our 8 month trek and never used them. Many establishments where we stayed had their own nets. The best tool we had was the duct tape to fix the holes in them.
The amount of space the net took in my backpack could have been replaced by that awesome pair of shoes I saw in Argentina!
However, being a mom and travelling with my two sons, I had to bring the biggest medical/pack with me and it proved to be quite useful; we needed the syringes. Unbelievable what boys can get into! Go Florence Go! =D>
Great list but like Chris said I am not sure about leaving my laptop behind, actually I world probably go through a coming off of heroin like withdraw if I was away from my laptop for more than 2 days – lol
Hey! Thanks for blogging this. Its really useful tips.
Wow Steve. I looked at your site and see you have never been to countries where you trek. Pakistan, you can’t hire sleeping bags or boots, and in India, it can get pretty cold on those trains.
Pathetic. you really need to take a good long hard look at yourself in the mirror
And that is his view and having read his blogs, I see that he has never been to countries where you cannot buy/hire. Personally, he comes across as the typical person who does not venture off road, and stays where backpackers are.
In Pakistan, I’m glad I had my sleeping bag and boots. They were not available.
In India, in the winter, I’m glad I had my sleeping bag because on the trains, they don’t supply you with blankets
I have travelled with/without an SLR, but I want to remember my trips through my photos, and nothing beats the quality of an SLR
But lets be realistic. Would you put YOUR feet in a pair of used boots. I wouldn’t. I would rather wear a pair that I have broken in myself.
Thanks for all of your comments. I certainly expected a certain amount of disagreement to my suggestions - I noted specifically that this was my subjective opinion on the matter of packing - and indeed one of my intentions when penning the article was to fuel debate. Which it has!
David - I’m sorry that you appear to have taken my suggestions rather personally. If you re-read the introduction you will realise that the article is aimed at first-time backpackers. Personally, I don’t think my suggestions are particularly out-of-line for the vast majority of budget travellers who take the typical first-time backpacking route around the world - of which I was one, as you point out.
Those that have disagreed here, however, have taken the trouble to reply in a courteous manner. I find it a shame that you haven’t managed to follow suit - but your comments are nevertheless duly noted.
I really like these tips, and the jeans definitely make sense. However, many places people go backpacking in the mountains. For me, backpacking is hiking, so the hiking boots are extremely important. I find that I can’t go for more than a mile on a rocky trail in sneakers. However, I suppose it depends on the situation. Thanks for a good article. :-)
This definitely sounds like a “10 things “I” would not bring backpacking” list instead of an end-all, for everyone list of what not to bring. Lots of people probably have lots of different reasons for bringing one or more items on your list.
Well, unless you are backpacking through civilization, which I don’t consider backpacking then you most certainly should not leave a sleeping bag at home. Even if one plans to hop between hostels it is still a good idea to keep a sleeping, because you never know what might happen. My quilt only weighs 15oz, so… Besides if I am hiking I rather sleep outside. Hopefully, someone doesn’t takes the sleeping bag advice and die.
Don’t agree with much of this at all, except for electronics and those wimpy anti-theftbags. They’re pretty unnecessary if you leave your electronic stuff behind. If you are bringing a computer, you’re not backpacking anywhere. Your touristing somewhere.
Jeans- They go with everything clotheswise, they’re both casual and can look semi-formal if combined with other clothes for those occasions when you need to bitch with people at some embassy somewhere or whatever, and they’re durable. As you say, of course it matters where you travel- jeans worked fine for me in Turkey and India, less so in Thailand.
Sleeping bag- Have to agree with the guy above, no way am I going to leave this at home. It doubles as soo many things (pillow, for one thing! I’m so glad I had this with me for those 24H+ trainrides), and I am yet to visit a single hostel anywhere outside Europe that offers “bedding” as you call it. Not any I would sleep on anyway. You never know where you’ll wind up, it’s nice knowing you always have a last resort-bed to sleep in, even if it’s on the ground. Though, again, that depends on what kind of “back-packing” you do. I don’t consider taking cabs between one hotel and another as traveling.
Hiking boots- You have GOT to be kidding.. YET again, I don’t know what kind of traveling you do, but there’s NO way I’d make it through any place I have ever been to without a solid pair of boots.
Medicine- You can’t take too much drugs with you. Of any kind. Ever.
Mosquito net- If you’re gonna pick one up when you arrive, what difference does it make? I’d rather buy a clean, sturdy one at home and bring it with me. They’re not THAT heavy.
Guitar- spot on. Those bastards make me sick.
Regards! - Tom
Found your site via StumbleUpon and glad I did. Look forward to reading more.
Is going to Khaosan road really “backpacking”? If you can’t find anywhere better to go in Bangkok, you don’t deserve to travel due to the fact that you are a moron. If you are planning to go there, bring whatever you want…you may just want to leave a little extra room in your suitcase for the overpriced tourist items you are sure to buy.
Traveling tip: Remember to bring a collection of your coolest T-shirts, you know, the ones that have outdated ad slogans on them…that’s how other backpackers know that you are not a noob.
Steve I would like to apologise for Dave on behalf of the rest of the human race. The list is classic. I’ve made most of these mistakes as do pretty much all travellers.
I had a guitar thoughout five months of a SE Asia and one of my favorite memories was jamming with two salt of the earth Cambodian fisherman near Sihanoukville in exchange for a hideous blubber fish that looked like it had been cooked in crude oil and some of the local beetle nut whisky that quickly made you forget about the fish… I don’t think I would have had the same experience without it as an icebreaker… bad Eddie Cochrane renditions went down especially well. ..
I didn’t really care if fellow travellers thought I was a wanker, I was having too much fun with the locals.
just remember to buy it over there and leave it over there
I disagree with the sleeping bag - I think one of the tropic-rated ones that can be stuffed into a bag are key to a long trip. Sure most hostels and hotels provide you with bedding but a lot of the time the cleanliness of it is questionable….
A mosquito net is also a GREAT idea to bring with. They don’t take up much room in your bag and are light. Lots of places don’t provide them anymore (especially in SE Asia) and putting one of them up is better than sleeping in DEET in my opinion….
I dont agree with the mozzie net. Its saved me a 1000 times, and weighs next to fuck all.
no…just no.
You’re right about the jeans and laptop, but little else.
If you’re going to backpack in a strange culture for an extended period of time, you damn well better bring a good camera.
Mosquito net? I hope you’d bring one if you’re going anywhere in south america/ africa.
Sleeping bag: Hostels are NOT free. Especially if you’re going to a densely populated area.
Hiking boots: If you’re in a tropical climate you’ll need them. Especially the waterproof ones.
Huge backpack: …
Know what this article is so throughly fucked up that I’m not even going to argue with you anymore. goodbye
Wow, I’m really happy with the discussion here! It seems like Steve hit a good nerve with his suggestions. Sleeping back or not, Hiking boots or not, Mosquito Net or Deet - everyone seems to agree to disagree. And yep the guitar - isn’t that great? While it surely helps with getting the girls; it is a bit problematic to carry it around with you for instance on a RTW trip or overseas. But one has to set priorities, right? And those are luckily different for every traveler!
i think your being sarcastic right? cuz thats my list of stuff to bring
I guess im talking about CAMPING tho, for a journy “into the Wild” 9goodmovie) i can see packing light, i wanna be self sufficent and plant my own crops and weed and raise my own livestock, make music and move on to another part of land, work directly twards what i need to survive instead of breaking your back to make money which you still have to pay a FAKE TAX on to go to the heartless scumbags in charge just so they can exceed far beyond anthing 1 person (like the starving people all around the world) would ever need to survive in a lifetime… and on top of that possibly being arrested for being on “private property” or carrying an “ILLEGAL” PLANT… think of that and ILLEGAL PLANT… ! its so backwards and superficial and technological today i dont even know what to say about where i stand, we cant make it work… nno matter how intelligent the individual is people are still doing a considerable amount more harm than good to the earth.. let alone ourselves.. theres some messed up people out there… and mabye they should die.. to even out the situation of hunger and other population problms, but as long as greedy evil bastards are in charge they keep pushing it further… when are we the people going to say thats enuff im not going to be told things i cannot do that i beleive are right, but its just human nature to disagree and stand up for what we beleive in, i guess right and wrong has never been this complex before tho.. we better wake up now to whats happening in the world and how weve goten here and how where in hell we are going?
Hey,
Nice work but i disagree with the mosquito net … i’ve encountered many occasions where i had no net and there weren’t any to be found … and i’ve had malaria, even while using the anti-malaria pills… its deadly and shitty… TAKE A NET, i can’t say it enough times (and some duct tape to hang it up with)
ill take my guitar wherever the **** i want thank you. like i care if people think im a “wanker”. im a musician. **** you very much.
had to post again.you are an idiot. this page is stupid.
Man this has got to be one of they worst articles I have ever seen on what to bring and what not.
You can tell you have never really done any serious backpacking and I can tell you dude after extensive travel all over this loverly globe if someone was to follow your advice you would certainly screw over their trip.
Jeans are brilliant and will a good pair will serve you well for the occasional going out with the bunch of new travelers you have just met.
A good SLR is a brilliant piece and will bring back memories for years to come, if you are a little worried about the safety of it or just a pain for space reasons look at the G9 compact camera from Canon.
A pair of boots is a must in so many climates not only are the modern boots lightweight but they also dry fast.
Even in a lot of hostels and I mean a lot you would be better in your own sleeping bags, some of the more western ones are fine as in some parts of Oz but go to Asia or India, or South America and many other destinations you will be glad you have one. Furthermore it is nice to get off the beaten track without one you would be stuffed.
A mosquito net are tiny lightweight and although I would not call them a necessity try 6 days in the tropics without one, also they keep sandflies off as well on beach sleeps even worse than the mosquito.
I believe the author has not actually travelled and all we are seeing is an attempt to make some cash from Google Ad-sense
Let’s see … on my last trip that I would consider “backpacking”, I …
1. Was hiking across desert for almost 2 weeks and in mountains for another. If should have only brought a 50-kilo backpack, what exactly was I supposed to do with my bulky water bottles? Balance them on my head?
2. Sticker bushes and a unexpected 100-mile ride on a donkey through ‘em. ‘Nuff said.
3. Silk sheets and hostels? Are you kidding me? That’s *backpacking*?
4. Hahahahahahaha. You’re funny. Really. And I’m again shocked at the backpacking label.
5. I didn’t bring a laptop but I did have enough electronics to make any geek cry, including a GPS and my …
6. … big honking camera for big honking landscapes. That I’m actually making a little bit of money off of, so how’s that for your “artistic pride”?
7. If there isn’t a risk of nasty creepy-crawly stings and other life-threatening injuries, then where’s the fun? Oh right, this is a list written by someone who’s never been out of the tourist section of Bangkok. My bad.
8 - 10. Meh. More evidence this guy’s on the college bum-around-circuit.
Bleh. I’m going back out there - too many idiots in civilization.
I partly agree with the camera thing, you dont need a bulky SLR, but a quality viewfinder camera with a good lens will do every thing an SLR will for 99.99% of photos, and these days many digitals have an excellent screen viewers instead.
As to the guitar thing, I have to say that what I loved most about travelling was meeting and interacting with people. I am so glad I didn’t pre judge them for their looks or clothes or jewelry or colour or guitar etc. I would have missed out on an awful lot! Leave your predjudices (and jealousies) at home and take people as you find them, you will get a lot more from your travels.
Steve James If your jealous of the attention the person gets for playing a musical instrument, instead of bitching about it, put the effort in and learn to play yourself.
Wow a lot of venom in these comments.
There are countless blunders which could be drawn out of the collective memory of all travellers. These blunders, one might think, would bring a smile to the face of fellow adventurers. As travellers, we have all made such blunders and even a seasoned traveller will not know quite what to expect when travelling. For many, indeed, this is the very point of travel. This list is a tip of the hat to the awkwardness travellers bring to their environments. If you can’t find entertainment in it, as a traveller, you’re jaded, or need to raise your eyes to the horizon. To be in an uproar over it is Monty Pythonesque.
Travelling is supposed to broaden the mind and seeing some of the short sighted dribble above makes me laugh. An homage to the facelessness of the internet.
The difference between the images captured by a good digital camera and an SLR are a ridiculous triviality to argue over. Most people can’t even use an SLR in a way which would justify humping one around the world. You think you can? Good for you. You’re not the majority.
A sleeping bag liner is 1/10th the size and weight of a sleeping bag, and has 100 times the utility in 25-30 degree nights. This Blog is SE Asian. If you’re going to be spending extended time in highlands somewhere, where it gets cool of course you’d consider bringing one.
Jeans are a waste of space for many - the occasional night clubbing doesn’t warrant a starting position. Jeans + SE Asian heat = heat stroke for me, and many like me. Tried to line-dry heavy denim in tropical humidity?
LOL hiking boots. Most surfers, divers and beach bums would do better carrying an old hubcap around.
Mosquito net - mileage may vary. I don’t use them often enough to carry one (though I humped one around the world with me on my first OE ha ha). Depending on your travel plans, you’re probably more likely to wind up in hospital after a scooter accident than contracting maleria (be very, very careful when using front brakes). The risk to travellers (jap enc b, dengue, malaria…) should not be understated tho. Mosquitos are the devil.
Pacsafe. You’re travel habits are a much better safety measure perhaps. They do weigh a lot…
Huge backpack filled with semi-useful crap - the number one travel booboo. Being prepared for anything seemed like a good idea until you’ve carried the 17kg monster for 45 minutes through Bangkok streets in the middle of the day looking for something you never find.
Huge medical kit - upsized by your travel doctor. I err on the side of caution here but still get a chuckle out of my unused syringes from journeys past (and before you say it yes of course carrying a syringe has saved someones life)
Guitar? My father was a guitarist. I am a guitarist. I would like a Johnny cash song played at my open air cremation. The chances of an individual being a wanker when carrying a guitar on an extended overseas trip are about 95%. Andy, it would seem, is a classic example of this phenomenon. The wanker %’s in the music industry are much, much higher than those found in the general population.
What is important to me might not be important to anyone else so each persons interpretation of the list will differ. Missing this point, as a supposed traveller - someone who enjoys exposure to the differences in this world, is mind boggling.
As an aside, great blog Chris. Been reading for a year now. Nomading through Bali in a week or two so might look you up. Keep posting!
I have just re read some of the comments and noticed that at No.15 Steve James is complaining that Dave was less than courteous.
I have to say I dont think Dave was particularly rude, he didn,t do any name calling and labelling of groups in society!
Seeing you now take the morally high tone after your initial comment and prejudice, I think that his advice to look at yourself is perhaps valid.
Man, comments like these are the reason I never read comment boards.
Obviously, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. But is it really relevant to insist that for your one trip in one location, this list was completely wrong? Of course it was: it wasn’t written for you, personally. It was written for first-timers, who will stay on the beaten path, won’t be desert trekking, and may or may not regret packing that extra 20 kilos of gear.
Anyway, many thanks to those of you who disagreed while remaining civil. I’ll add a note or two to those in that camp:
For those who must have a laptop (blogging for business reasons, etc) I would recommend the excellent Asus eeePC 700, which weighs in at .92 kilograms and can accomplish just about anything.
As for shoes, why not pack a pair of Vibram FiveFingers? They take up as much room as a pair of socks, and can come in handy climbing, wading and hiking when foot-dexterity is of the essence. You’ve got to be good and used to them before trekking in them, since they don’t cushion your feet like boots do, but they do allow you to use the more natural walking motion of your feet.
Anyway, that’s my two cents. Congrats on the great blog, Steve.
I did my backpacking in the eighties - let’s see: sleeping bag - check; hiking boots - check; SLR with lenses - check, check; jeans - check. Not sure about the size of my backpack (it was big). Couldn’t really have done without any of them.
I guess it depends on how light you want to travel. I packed jeans and light cotton trousers/pants.
nice list, thanks for sharing.
Generally folks that feel they must have an SLR with them are generally folks that couldn’t take a good shot with an SLR OR a top of the line point and shoot. You can take as good a photo with a quality point and shoot as you can with all that impressive SLR gear you really don’t need to haul around. And odds are you really don’t know how to use that SLR anyway… when was the last time you took it off “P”?
Good photos impress me…not gear.
While internet cafes can provide adequate resources for most, slim travel models are becoming cheap enough for the average backpacker:
http://www.amazon.com/Eee-PC-900-Display-Battery/dp/B00191PKJK/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1217219168&sr=8-1
regarding SLR, I’d definitely disagree. Yes, you point-n-shoots are fine for most, but the quality of pics you can get with an SLR doesn’t compare. Photos and video are my most precious travel mementos and they say volumes more than a rambling story.
I’d like to see a bit more justification for this to be a serious article, specifically about the pac-safe.
I agree with your “10 Things to Leave at Home” from my experience I highly regret bringing jeans. They are heavy and take ages to dry after washing. I know its vital to have a nice pair of pants for clubbing or going out but bring something else instead! Lighter is better!
Look guys the quality of the photo comes from the lens and the composition, (yes , and the film/ccd quality) not weather you have a blooming great glass penta-prism and reflex mirror (SLR) stuck on top, The camera body is irrelevant as long as it is light tight and stable.
If you dont believe me take an early Leica for a spin (viewfinder camera with arguably the best lenses ever made) It had parallax correction and a coupled rangefinder, so image centering and focus were never a problem (and interchangeable lenses),
The only time you really need to look through the lens (SLR) is if you are doing super critical depth of field adjustments with aperture, but if the SLR has split image focusing in the centre, the chances are that as soon as you stop down the centre will go dark and the depth of field can’t be judged anyway, so you have to resort back to the depth of field markings on the lense body and may just as well have used a smaller lighter viewfinder camera in the first place.
As I said previously, a good viewfinder camera will do 99.99% (if you know how to use them) of what an SLR will do. SLR’s became popular as male jewelry and boys toys, and became a must have by nearly every amateur , the myth that you had to have one was encouraged by every camera shop so that they could sell you a more expensive bit of kit!
Yes! I know SLRs are lovely to use but we are talking about saving space and weight.
Bear in mind also that modern digitals have a screen to show you what the lens sees and almost completely removes any advantage the SLR has.
If you can genuinely think of a photo that you took with an SLR whilst backpacking that you couldn’t have got with a suitable quality non SLR Then I genuinely would be interested to hear about it! but they will be few and far between! (unless you went to alot of airshows and had some really big telephotos :o)
Depending. In Tropics, you can travel with short pant all the time. Backpacking is just the terms. I believe everyone has their own preference while ‘traveling’. Perhaps, it is easier to talk about what you want to experience from the trip than what to bring. It is like choosing the best guitar while you can’t decide what song to play
Great tips, me and my girlfriend always pack way too much, this should help.
Why even bother brining a camera at all? Isn’t that just a luxury item? And jeans will dry over night, especially in the winter time when heating is on compared to ac. Why bring anything other than the clothes on your back?
I originally thought using forums and asking people what they brought would help, but I’m binging to realize that some backpackers carry a badge of honour for being a minimalist for no good reason. I look at people like Matt Harding now; he is the fellow that has traveled the world dancing. He takes hiking boots, a laptop, etc and he doesn’t complain or so I’m guessing he doesn’t look at these forums for advise. I think people just need to learn by experience and do it and be your own person when traveling.
It is the same thing with food, everything is good for you in moderation. Likewise, with clothes and things you use day to day. For instance I carry my SLR everyday in NYC, sometimes treking for 6 hours and I don’t find it heavy or a nuisance. And what drives me nuts is this thing people keep mentioning: if you have an SLR you will stand out like a tourist. First of all, many people in these countries use SLR cameras, just look at flickr, so that is not true. Secondly, what is wrong with looking like a tourist? You will get more help from locals if they think you are not from around here also. Plus you are a TOURIST! Just be smart about things.
Silly, I feel like a hater on youtube, so I apologize I don’t mean to be, but I find this whole website/forums silly now.
I disagree with Neil. For the average individual the SLR camera may have no advantage. This debate of SLR vs. point and shoot is a long standing one and I think it arises from people’s lack of knowledge of aperture, shutter speed and especially ISO. If you have a bigger lens, that has a bigger sensor to capture images, you will a) need less light (so an SLR works better in low light conditions without sacrificing ISO) and b) the saturation of colour will be better for your images. Depth of field is hard to achieve with many point and shoots, unless you really know what you are doing. This is why, among many other reasons, an SLR camera is better than a point and shoot and why people use them.
For instance a fast lens will work great in churches without a flash. You won’t even need to increase the ISO of your camera, unlike a point and shoot that leads to grainy pictures all the time in many low light or indoor situations. It is rather shameful to have a picture ruined by grainy-ness.
Take one if the reason you travel is for picture taking. Don’t take one if the reason you travel is to travel and not take pictures. I travel to take pictures, and my SLR camera has always been with me.
Hi “on SLR’s”
Actually you didn’t disagree with me, If you read my comments I have never recomended a point and shoot, (although there are one or two now on the market that I would recomend) I said “one doesn’t need an SLR”. And yes obviously a faster lens will allow more light into a camera, but if your talking dim churches without flash, then a very fast lens will probably be required (eg f1.2) if you want to take advantage of all the other things you mentioned such as low iso (eg 25-150asa).
Such a lens probably won’t be a zoom (if it is you sacrifice ultimate quality) so now we are talking at least two lenses if you want versatility.
Also if you use the lens at this wide aperture your depth of field will be very limited and a large part of your church interior will likely be out of focus, which is fine if you are trying to pick out the alter or a window for example but not if you want to show the interior.
Also a lens gives its best image quality around it’s mid f stop (so around f5.6-f8 on this example) so for this sort of critical photography we now need a tripod!
You are incorrect in saying:” If you have a bigger lens, that has a bigger sensor to capture images, you will a) need less light (so an SLR works better in low light conditions without sacrificing ISO)”
A bigger lens diameter of a given focal length on a given size sensor will allow
more light and therefore be faster than,
a smaller lens diameter of the SAME focal length on the SAME size sensing medium.
If however you reduce the size of your film/ccd then a shorter focal length is required for the same field/angle of view so a smaller lens diameter is required for the same lens speed.
(focal length/front element diameter=lens speed in f or focal ratio)
so a smaller lens will do the same job on a smaller film/media as the larger lens on a larger film media. also the smaller lens on the smaller media has other advantages, such as reduced parallax error when shooting long or tall buildings for example, and cost, size , weight and potentially quality.
You also said: “and b) the saturation of colour will be better for your images.”
No! colour saturation is film dependant or in the case of digitals, setting dependant (usually set low as default setting, so learn how to adjust your new digital, people!)
I also take my SLR on weekend trips and carry it about all day, I even carry a medium format technical camera and kit around for a day occasionally, but I dont take either one on long term backpacking trips,
I take a suitable viewfinder camera and nowadays that is a digital with zoom, because this will give me more versatility than I could possibly carry with the same weight and size in SLR format.
And you didn’t mention a shot that you couldn’t have taken with a viewfinder camera (or digital screen viewer) ie. non SLR whilst backpacking?
Simply put, there is no point in buying a nice SLR camera if you don’t use it on those trips that will lead to great images. I guess I didn’t mean to use the word colour saturation. But a big sensor leads to better quality. The dslr image sensor is the size of a post stamp, unlike a point and shoot that has an image processor the size of a finger nail. No matter what you say, the slr will have better quality images overall, in terms of colour capture, detail etc., since it has a larger sensor to capture everything with. Megapixels don’t matter in this regard.
As for a pictures that a point and shoot can’t take, just look at some pictures on flickr. There are many times I have used my point and shoot and it has lead to incorrect light capture. It also doesn’t have many focus points to control what I want to focus on. It also is not quick enough because it lags. MOST importantly, ISO above 400 hundred suck and lead to grainy-ness! Most point and shoots work fine in decent lighting. The canon G9 unfortunately doesn’t do well in high ISOs at all. With my dslr, even when I shot with a f3.5 or 4.5, I can move the ISO up to 800 and have a great image. So when I travel I only take one lens, but that lens can work indoors under high ISO and not have grainy images like a point and shoot.
Many indoor shots, such as museum art, with a point and shoot will suffer, unless you go with something like a G9, but its benefits are only