Camera Weight on Foreign Airlines

Hi --

I have a wonderful Nikon D7100 which I love dearly. But when I fly a foreign carrier, I find that the weight of the camera plus an additional lens uses a lot of my carry-on allowance of around 11 pounds.

Should I consider purchasing a mirrorless camera for use in foreign travel? Somehow, it resonates with me that the smaller the sensor, the less image quality I will get. I will never put my camera and lenses in checked luggage!

Any solutions?

ZU

Hi --

 

I have a wonderful Nikon D7100 which I love dearly. But when I fly a foreign carrier, I find that the weight of the camera plus an additional lens uses a lot of my carry-on allowance of around 11 pounds.

 

Should I consider purchasing a mirrorless camera for use in foreign travel? Somehow, it resonates with me that the smaller the sensor, the less image quality I will get. I will never put my camera and lenses in checked luggage!

 

Any solutions?

 

ZU

...carry on the camera, lenses, and anything else that is essential - meds, glasses, etc. Pack everything else. Certainly your call, but buying a whole new camera set up just to have less carry on weight does not make a lot of sense to me. If you want another camera as a back up for other uses - or are considereing a change already - then that's another conversation.

Carry it over your shoulder out of the bag then it doesn't count (put it back in afterwards). I had no issues doing this.

Hi --

 

I have a wonderful Nikon D7100 which I love dearly. But when I fly a foreign carrier, I find that the weight of the camera plus an additional lens uses a lot of my carry-on allowance of around 11 pounds.

 

Should I consider purchasing a mirrorless camera for use in foreign travel? Somehow, it resonates with me that the smaller the sensor, the less image quality I will get. I will never put my camera and lenses in checked luggage!

 

Any solutions?

 

ZU

If you are considering mirrorless, take a look at the Sony A6000. It has a newer version of the 24MP APS-C sensor in the D7100, blazingly fast hybrid autofocus and you can easily find a manual focus adapter for using your favorite Nikon lenses on it.

I moved to the Sony NEX system for travel after giving much thought to weight and convenience and have never regretted it. Same image quality as my A77 with a fraction of the weight and volume. I still have the DSLR for long lens and studio flash work but the mirrorless has become my go-to camera for most situations.

Link to a NEX-only cruise gallery: http://galleries.pptphoto.com/reflection2013

I was very nervous about leaving the DSLR home for the first time.

Dave

Hi --

 

I have a wonderful Nikon D7100 which I love dearly. But when I fly a foreign carrier, I find that the weight of the camera plus an additional lens uses a lot of my carry-on allowance of around 11 pounds.

 

 

Any solutions?

 

ZU

You can buy travel vests that have loads of pockets that let you carry lots of stuff. You may look like the Michelle doughboy but who cares. Do an internet search to find one that works.

DON

weird, I never had my carryon camera bag ever weighed on international flights

We once had to move weight from carry on to check in on Air Lingus at ORD.

Also,when you fly within Europe on a ticket not linked to an overseas ticket, you are allowed much les than on North American flights.

For the most part I've not had trouble on International flights but when it happens it's a major PITA. Alitalia is one that stands out in my mind as being very strict.

I was faced with a similar problem. With some lenses weighing several pounds each it does not take long to reach the carry on limit. I looked seriously at mirrorless and in my opinion Sony had the best bodies but the lens selection was not up to the Canon L that I wanted to replace so I came to the conclusion that the time was not right to trade DSLR for mirrorless. Getting close, but not there yet.

I ended up getting a Sony RX100ii. It's major difference in thought over a DSLR. It can do what most DSLR's can do and even with a smaller sensor is on par with my Canon 50D in many respects and... it fits in my pocket. Couple that with it's high quality f1.8 lens and it's a surprisingly useful option.

Carry it over your shoulder out of the bag then it doesn't count (put it back in afterwards). I had no issues doing this.

Hope I don't raise too many eyebrows when I walk through the terminal with a Mamiya Rz67 slung from my shoulder. :D

Hi --

 

Should I consider purchasing a mirrorless camera for use in foreign travel? Somehow, it resonates with me that the smaller the sensor, the less image quality I will get. I will never put my camera and lenses in checked luggage!

 

Any solutions?

 

ZU

After carrying an Olympus E-5 for years on vacation, I switched to an OM-D M-1 with two fixed lenses (25mm and 45mm) and two zooms (12-40 and Lumix 35-100) that combined weigh less than half of what my E-5 with 50-150mm zoom lens weighs.

All reviews and my experience proves the switch to Olympus mirrorless was the right thing to do and with no loss in image quality.

My camera bag is lighter in weight and much smaller. As stated above, all of my camera gear could now fit in the pockets of a safari jacket.

Hope I don't raise too many eyebrows when I walk through the terminal with a Mamiya Rz67 slung from my shoulder. :D

I will block for you by carrying my 8x10 view camera and tripod - LOL. If they let me through, they will not even notice you.

DON

I will block for you by carrying my 8x10 view camera and tripod - LOL. If they let me through, they will not even notice you.

 

DON

So what you're saying is that in order to block for you, we need to look for someone who will carry aboard an easel and set of paint brushes... although the TSA might not allow them to bring paint tubes through as carry-on.

Hope I don't raise too many eyebrows when I walk through the terminal with a Mamiya Rz67 slung from my shoulder. :D

Really, why would you carry a paper weight slung from your shoulder.

:p

framer