Cameras and Photography for Senior Travellers

STE’s Photo Editor, John Esser, explains why he has decided to down-size his photographic equipment.

Recently, after months of soul searching, I finally disposed of my faithful Canon 5D SLR camera along with assorted lenses.

STE Editorial Team in the Lake District
STE’s Editorial Team in the Lake District

The 5D is a superb camera and the lenses capable of producing pin sharp images. So why take the decision to sell? Well, about a year ago I purchased a Sony 6000 compact system camera, along with a couple of zoom lenses and soon found that I was using this camera for most of the time, while my semi-professional Canon kit languished in a camera bag at home.

And the reason for this was that my Canon equipment weighed in at over 5kg, whereas the Sony outfit was a more manageable 2.5kg. Quite simply, I was getting too long in the tooth to enjoy lugging around heavy and bulky camera equipment. Whilst the Sony equipment might not quite match the Canon’s capabilities, I found it more than met my needs in terms of image quality, versatility and user control. It was the small size and weight saving that did it for me.

View from Cat Bells summit in the Lake District
View from Cat Bells summit in the Lake District

My thoughts are now turning to what camera gear to take on a forthcoming Round the World trip with my wife, together with STE’s Web Editor, Steve Hanson, and his wife.

Panasonic TZ100
Panasonic TZ100 and Gorillapod

I have decided to minimalise still further by only taking a compact camera, Panasonic TZ100, and a mini tripod, Gorillapod Original.

I chose the Panasonic for its size and capability. It is well featured, allows full user control, has a sensible zoom range and, most importantly, is fitted with a large image sensor enabling high quality results.

TripodThe camera and tripod together weigh in at 355g, making it much more likely that I will be carrying them with me when out and about and increase the possibility of capturing that elusive shot of a lifetime.

I should mention that I have allowed time to familiarise myself with the camera before taking it on the big trip and have included a couple of pictures taken with the Panasonic TZ100 during my recent visit to the Lake District, along with the other members STE’s Editorial Team.

Well, it remains to be seen if my minimalist approach works on the forthcoming round the world trip. I’ll keep you posted. Happy Snapping!


POSTED January 30th 2017 by JOHN ESSER. Check here for his previous photographic articles.