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Whether you look at them as the most expensive photographs you've ever taken, or the least expensive souvenirs you've ever purchased... whether you "take snapshots" or "create images"... '''travel photography''' is one of the most popular activities for those who travel.

Revision as of 21:14, 26 April 2007





The single most important choice to make is what kind of camera to purchase and/or bring along. There's no single "best" camera – or even kind of camera – for travel photography. The kind of pictures you want to take, how much flexibity or ease-of-use you want, your budget, and even how much you want to carry all factor into it.


  • Consumer cameras tend to be cheapest, smallest, and easiest to use. These fit your pocket, are light, and can be taken almost everywhere. Most ordinary travelers will be happiest with these. One increasingly common subset of this type is the built-in camera on many phones, which are best reserved for very casual low-volume use.
  • Professional cameras have the most features (e.g. interchangeable lenses, various exposure control methods) but you pay for it in complexity, size, and expense. If you're serious enough about photography to own one of these, you probably aren't reading this introduction to travel photography.
  • "Prosumer" cameras fall between the two in most respects, and are best for non-pros who feel limited by the capabilities of consumer-grade cameras, and are willing put up with some bulk, complexity, and expense to get the kinds of pictures they want to be able to take.


How your camera records images – digitally or on film – is probably the biggest choice in selecting a camera today. The good news is that this is because either of them is a good, viable choice for most people. It used to be that a film camera only got you prints you could pass around, and a digital camera only got you files you could use on a computer. If you wanted them in the other format you had to scan them or print them yourself. But photo processors increasingly offer the option of getting files on a CD from your film negatives, or high-quality prints from your digital files.


The price of digital cameras has fallen significantly, and the quality of the images they capture has increased, to the point that they're rapidly replacing film cameras in many travelers' luggage. They have the advantage of usually allowing instant review of the shots taken and deleting/repeating those that went wrong. Digital storage can hold far more pictures in a smaller amount of space; you may be able to take hundreds of photos without reloading. The storage cards can also be reused from one trip to the next. You also save the cost of buying and developing film.

However, digital cameras still tend to be more expensive than film cameras with comparable features, and high-end digital cameras with interchangeable lenses command a substantial price premium over 35mm SLRs. They demand much more power (i.e. more battery recharges/replacements) than film cameras. While digital cameras are suitable for most applications, if you want poster-sized enlargements you'll still need a film camera, preferably medium format.

The various storage media (xD, SD, Memory Stick, Compact Flash, SmartMedia, etc.) are all pretty much the same in terms of how well they work; all that really matters is the capacity of the little cards you buy. Longer trips will require more memory, unless you bring along a laptop or another way to backup your pictures and clear your memory card.

For some travellers, perdiodically getting the pictures burned to a CD works out well. This is easiest if you use a 512 MB memory card so everything fits in the 600-odd megs of a CD. For example, in China this service is available in any big city or tourist town for under a dollar. For safety, get your pictures burned twice at different shops before you erase them from the camera.

You could also consider buying additional memory cards, especially if your camera came with only a small capacity card or if you are visiting somewhere like Singapore where such products are cheaper. Note that the price increase for storage capacity is often not linear; in general, twice as much storage costs less than twice as much as the smaller card. The exception is for really large capacity cards which may use scarce parts and command a premium price.

Digital cameras usually have different quality modes available which use more/less storage space for each picture. They have confusing names like SHQ, HQ, and SQ1, and different resolutions (how many pixels). Experiment ahead of time to figure out what quality setting you want to use. Keep in mind that you don't need multi-megapixel images to fill a computer screen or make a pocket-sized print, and you'll be able to fit a lot more photos on the same card with lower settings. But don't use the in-camera display to determine what setting to use; look at the final printed or computer-screen results. The ability to use lower quality settings can also be useful if you're running low on storage space in the middle of your trip: better to have the last couple dozen pictures taken at a less-than-ideal quality setting, than to run out of exposures before you reach home.


Film cameras still have a slight edge in image quality, which is noticeable if you want any of your pictures enlarged. Not only do they tend to be less expensive in general, you can get real bargains buying used from owners who have decided to switch to digital models, and a cheap camera is less of a loss if broken or stolen. Standard 35mm film can usually be replenished easily and cheaply if you run out, and offers resolution roughly equivalent to a 10 to 22 megapixel digital camera.

Film can be fogged – or even ruined – by x-rays. Most modern airport x-ray machines use low enough intensity beams that a dose or two probably won't show up in your photos, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Also, older x-ray machines used in some countries might not be as film-safe. As a general rule-of-thumb, most x-ray units used for carry-on luggage are film-safe, while most units used for checked luggage are not. When flying, keep your camera and your film in your carry-on luggage, and give it to security to inspect by hand instead of running it through the x-ray machine. Note that in many airports, all carry-on material including films must be x-rayed.

Film comes in different film speeds, referring to their sensitivity to light, and therefore the shutter speeds you can use with them. Relatively "slow" film varieties (ISO 100-200) produce the highest quality images, but don't work as well indoors or in other low-light situations, where they require either the use of a flash or slow (blurry) shutter speeds. Higher speeds (ISO 400-800) are better in low light, but the images can look more "grainy". Since you probably won't have the luxury of changing film depending what conditions you're in at the moment, try to anticipate how much you'll be in each; if you're going to be in low-light situations much, a high-speed film will be more flexible... but a little more expensive.

There are also different types of film — black and white, colour print, or slide film.

  • Colour print film was the most popular option for consumers until most of them switched to digital.
  • Slide film is cheaper to buy and develop than colour print film. You don't have to print everything everything to check the quality; just look at the slides and print only the best. Many pros shoot slide film. The disadvantage is that it has less exposure latitude; the range between the lightest and darkest areas it handles well is narrow.
  • Many of history's most famous news photos or candid street shots are black and white; some photographers will want to emulate these. However, this is not a popular option, largely because doing it really well requires doing your own printing in a darkroom.

People with several interchangable lenses fairly often carry two or more bodies with different film, or even a digital and a film body. This can be an advantage for wide-angle lenses. Put a lens from a film camera on most digital bodies and the effective focal length is increased; a 24 mm becomes in effect a 38 mm or so. Why not load some black and white film into another body and use the lens as a 24? This may give pictures right outside the possibilities of your digital rig.






Consumer-grade cameras usually handle focusing in one of two ways. Fixed-focus snapshot cameras are quickest and easiest to use. They have a lens that's pre-set to get everything more than a meter or two away roughly in focus. They rely on bright light and/or flash to pull this off. Auto-focus cameras tend to produce sharper images and allow you to work in somewhat dimmer light, but can be a little slower to react. This can be a problem when taking pictures of quick-moving subjects like your boyfriend running with the bulls in Pamplona. Professional- and prosumer-grade cameras offer manual and/or auto focusing.


Film cameras may include zoom capability, which is handy for getting a closer shot of something in the distance. (One of the most common errors of inexperienced photographers is not getting close enough.) Digital cameras usually have zoom, but only one of two kinds they feature is "real". Digital zoom doesn't capture any additional detail at high magnification; it reprocesses the same information for a larger image, or just crops off the edges for you. If you have photo editing software on your computer, you can do a better job of that at home. Optical zoom (the kind film cameras use) actually changes the magnfication of the lens, and is better for getting sharp close-up shots of distant subjects. This is the kind of zoom worth paying extra for, and a built-in high-ratio optical zoom (e.g. 10x) distinguishes some prosumer-grade digital cameras.

Most photographers today use at least some zoom lenses, but some feel that the extra weight, extra complexity, and the drop in image quality are not worth it. Consider a 70-200 mm zoom vs an 85 mm fixed lens. The 85 will be considerably smaller and lighter, will take sharper pictures at 85 mm, and will be probably be much faster, so usable in lower light. As for the photos where you want a 200 mm lens, either use a teleconverter (85 *2 = 170) or just shoot at 85 and enlarge it more. You certainly lose something this way, but perhaps are better off overall.


Batteries are an important thing to think about, because it can be extremely frustrating to run out of battery power right in the most exciting part of your trip. With some cheap digital cameras, running out of power can mean losing all of your images; avoid these completely. If your camera uses a non-standard battery type (especially common with digital cameras), be sure to bring extras or a recharger. Some cameras normally use higher-capacity batteries (CR-V3 lithium are common), but can run on standard AAs (with more frequent changes) if needed. The ability to use AA batteries – readily available anywhere from Tibet to Togo to Tuvalu – is a great safety net.







With expensive photography gear, packing it properly becomes an issue. Specialized cases specifically for packing cameras and lenses are available, but they are bulky and inconvenient. If travelling light, it's better just to bring along the original leather pouches for your lens and camera. A T-shirt folded halfway and wrapped around a lens provides some impact protection and guards it from prying eyes.

Wipe down your camera and lenses with tissue after use, before you put them away. In particular, zoom lenses in dusty enviroments should be extended fully, wiped off and allowed to dry before packing them, as grit will wreak havoc on the delicate mechanisms inside.


With fragile Super-8 film cameras and bulky VHS cameras receding into ancient history, compact videotape and digital cameras have made it more practical than ever to take moving pictures of your travels. These can be more entertaining to look at (for you and your friends), and better capture the grandeur of a panoramic view or the excitement of a helicopter ride. But video is also harder to do well than still shots, and bumpy recordings that cut abruptly from one scene to the next can be more disorienting than informative. Movie-editing software can help turn your raw footage into a slick presentation, but it's additional work after you get home.

Some digital still cameras advertise the ability to record moving pictures, but this sounds more useful in the product literature than it is in actual usage: the movies are typically low-resolution and highly compressed, and have poor (if any) sound. If you want to take movies, buy or borrow a movie camera.




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