The Great Adventure of the Road; Wrap-up and Comments on Photography Gear

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico (click to enlarge)
These dunes are made of eroded gypsum from the nearby mountains.  They look like sugar from a distance.

This latest adventure is now over.  I look forward to the next one, but before I, again, embark on another road trip of wandering around America, it is important to look back on this past trip and see what lessons have been learned.

First, a few comments about gear.  On this trip I only took a full frame digital SLR kit.  The Nikon D810 performed magnificently.  No question.  The overall image quality was as good as it gets for digital SLRs.  With a 36mp sensor the resolution was superb.  The dynamic range of the new sensor is over 14 stops.  The color palate, white balance and micro contrast were first rate.  The camera is a tad smaller and a bit lighter than my D800E with the grip feeling better in the hands.  All in all, you can't go wrong.  But...

What is the but?  The size, weight and bulk.

Street performer, New Orleans (click to enlarge)
I watched him for about 15 minutes and he never moved a muscle.
He must be very strong and very self-disciplined.

I took four lenses covering 16mm to 200mm plus a 1.4X tele-converter, which when needed, gave me 280mm.  Along with that, I took a polarizing filter, two ND filters ( 6-stops and 10 stops), 3 extra batteries and charger, an SB800 flash and cleaning accessories.  Really, that sounds like a lot, but considering taking a 3-week road trip and it is not that much.  I took what I deemed necessary to handle 95% of anything I may encounter that presented a possible image which I would want to record.

All in all, the Nikon kit in my old 1977 Domke canvas bag weighed about 17 lbs. (7.71 kilos).  My equivalent M4/3 kit, covering the same focal lengths as well as same accessories, weighs in at about 6 lbs. (2.72 kilos).  That is a huge comfort difference on days when you have to carry your gear all day or a long way.  That is the rub with full frame.

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining (too much) about full frame.  But, I've come to some conclusions as to when I will use the large, heavy full frame Nikon D810 versus a M4/3 kit, versus a small, fixed lens compact.  Additionally, I've come to the conclusion that if I only have my full frame kit with me, I will need something smaller, very portable but high quality to pick up and take with me when I don't expect to be making images.  An example of those situations may be going to dinner, running errands, times when I may only want to make snapshots, shots of my wife and I at various venues we visit, etc.

When only carrying a full frame kit, I think a small, high quality camera such as the Panasonic LX 100, Panasonic GM 1, Sony RX III, etc. would fit the bill.  Very small, very high quality and perfect for making memorable images that are strictly for personal use.

One of the other "visitors" at the Int'l Alien Mueseum
in Roswell, NM (click to enlarge)
A very nice chap!

When will I use full frame versus the M4/3 kit?  In the future I plan to use my full frame Nikon gear when I will be working out of my vehicle, when a sophisticated flash system is needed, when I have a specific subject that has a very high dynamic range, when a very large photograph needs to be made and when photographing sports, moving wildlife or other fast moving subjects.

I plan on using my M4/3 gear for normal photography, travel, photography when I will be walking or hiking a long way or when I will need to have a bag on my shoulder for a considerable length of time.

As far as image quality, the M4/3 will suffice for all but extreme situations.  I would try to avoid using it if I needed to use a very high ISO, subjects were fast moving or I needed extremely large enlargements.

In other words, they both have their place in my photographic endeavors.  And rightly so.  I don't plan to artificially limiting myself for the sake of only have some of the gear I need rather than all of the gear I need.  That doesn't make sense to me.

One more thing I must mention about my full frame, high megapixel gear.  I normally carry three 32gb compact flash cards, three 32gb SD cards and a plethora of smaller capacity cards with me when I travel.  Since my D800E and D810 hold a CF as well as an SD card, I set the camera for "overflow" so if one card is filled, the camera automatically switches to the other.  I went through two of my three CF cards in about two weeks on this trip.  They are Lexar 1000X cards.  Excellent cards.  The third is a Transcend 400X 32gb card.  THE TRANSCEND CARD WOULD NOT WORK IN THE D810!  The indication I received was the card was defective.  Well, the card worked fine in my other cameras, so I take it that this card is not compatible with the D810.

Lesson to learn:  check the functionality of all of your cards before you leave the house.  In fact, check them a couple of weeks before you leave so you can replace them if needed.

The other lesson I learned is that I need more than three 32gb CF cards.  I didn't really shoot much on this trip and I still went through the cards quickly.  I will have to pick up a couple of more cards in the near future, probably when they go on sale on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

The Grand Canyon in northern Arizona in all its grandeur.  (click to enlarge)

Now, onto the summary of the recent road trip.

The road trip was another good one.  We experienced a variety of weather and a variety of locations. We only ate at local, non-chain restaurants and we did not get a single bad meal.  We met a number of wonderful individuals along the way.  Additionally, we participated in some educational endeavors which opened our eyes and sharpened our minds.

I don't know if I can say that any one thing was the best thing we saw or did.  Some of the highlights for me are the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma and some of the Route 66 restaurants in which we ate.  I did think that stopping in Gatlinburg, Tennessee was a pure waste of time.  I don't have any reason to ever go back there.

As far as cost, gasoline was less expensive than for my last three or four road trips.  Hotels seemed to be a bit less expensive also.  Here is a partial breakdown of expenses.  Some of these expenses were split between the two couples so we saved money on those things.

Time:      18 days
Total number of states visited:     13
Total mileage:     5920.7
Overall fuel mileage:  26.9 miles per gallon (four people and lots of luggage coupled with high speed limits on the Interstates in the west affected this, no doubt!)
Cost of gasoline:     $611.22
Cheapest gas we found was in South Carolina around $2.61/gallon
Most expensive gas was in the western states; about $3.50/gallon
Lodging:  Averaged $105.50 per night

That is about it.  I have one more trip planned for this year but there may be other short ones that are yet unplanned.  I look forward to getting out, wandering, finding interesting subjects and making more photographs.

Thanks for looking.  Enjoy!

Dennis Mook

Many of my images can be found at www.dennismook.com.  Please pay it a visit.  I add new images regularly.  Thank you.


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