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| Due to limited space as well as this road trip not being primarily about photography, this is the totality of the gear I will take. All will live in this old Domke shoulder bag except the battery charger (suitcase) and tabletop tripod. Backup camera? Nope. I have full confidence in the Nikon gear. (click to enlarge) |
Next week is the beginning of my coast to coast road trip with the portion between Chicago and Los Angeles following Historic Route 66. You can read more about the details of the road trip in my last post here.
Since there are four of us traveling in a Subaru Outback, space is limited. I'm taking one suitcase, a small backpack and a small camera bag—an old Domke olive drab canvas shoulder bag that I've had for more than 25 years. It is anything but fancy. It is very basic, tall, lightweight and narrow which fits nicely against my side. Just large enough for a camera, lens and some basic accessories. The small backpack is where my laptop and all of my electronics will live.
As for gear, I will be taking only the Nikon Z7II and the 24-200mm f/4-6.3 lens. No room to take additional cameras and lenses. Some may question relying on a ‘super zoom’ as they generally haven’t had a good reputation for excellence. However, I’ve thoroughly tested my lens. For images posted online, it is fine as is. Although it is not quite as sharp, corner to corner, as a $2500 lens, if in the future I want to make a large print, with the judicious use of DXO PhotoLab’s Camera/Lens correction modules and/or Topaz Sharpen AI’s plug-in, from my tests, the results are excellent! Those two plug-ins can correct any minor deficiencies in the edges or corners of an image file. I can live with a bit lesser initial image quality as well as add some additional editing to have the size, weight, cost and convenience of this combination. In fact, the Nikon Z7II plus 24-200mm lens combination is almost exactly the same size and weight of my former Olympus E-M1 Mark III and the 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens. Hard to believe but true.
For accessories, I'll take an L-bracket, a tabletop tripod, a polarizing filter, two extra batteries and battery charger, a CFExpress card, two XQD cards, four SDXC cards, a small Rocket blower, four lens cleaning cloths, five Zeiss disposable lens wipes, a Peak Design wrist strap with two extra Peak Design connectors. With the exception of the tabletop tripod and battery charger, all will nicely fit into the Domke bag.
I received a couple of questions about why I chose the Nikon over other cameras. In a nutshell, the Nikon met almost all of my criteria including cost (which is a big factor). Also, I'm very familiar with the Nikon system as I’ve previously owned and used nine Nikon digital cameras since 2002. The menus and operation are familiar and I know how they feel in my hand. In other words, I won’t have to learn how to use the camera, understand complex autofocus settings, how to set it up, where the controls are, etc. Additionally, I had two additional Nikon batteries from when I owned previous Nikons, an L-bracket that I purchased for the Z7, a CFexpress card, two XQD cards, card readers for both CFExpress and XQD, and a remote release that works with the camera. There were no accessories I needed to buy saving me a considerable amount of money—hundreds of dollars.
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| Nikon Z7II and the 24-200mm lens (click to enlarge) A good example of how good the 24-200mm lens is. |
I feel confident the Nikon will serve me well. I have no qualms about not taking a backup camera. In the past I've taken along an additional third party battery charger 'just in case.' However, with the Z7II I can charge at least one of my batteries in the camera if the charger is lost or fails.
If I find I need a wider angle lens for a particular scene, I can turn the camera vertically and merge a few exposures together to cover the angle necessary. If I need a bit longer focal length, I can crop in on that 45.7mp sensor significantly and still have plenty of image to work with. Then there is Topaz Gigapixel if I need to enlarge a file after cropping. Best of all, no autofocus issues as there is with my X-T4!
Along with this kit, I will take my 2022 Dell XPS 15" laptop and charger, two tiny 1 TB external SSD hard drives and various electronic charging and connecting cords. Along with the laptop I'll be taking my 12.9" iPad Pro (it is now a few generations old but I can write and edit on it if necessary) and my AirPods Pro.
Since my laptop is my primary and only computer now (I replaced my previous desktop and laptop with just this Dell laptop) with Lightroom, Photoshop, the Topaz Plug-ins as well as DXO PhotoLab 5 and the NIK plug-ins on its 2TB SSD hard drive, I have now created a 'travel catalog' and plan to keyword and import my images each evening. The images will be stored on an external SSD drive and backed up to the other SSD hard drive. When I return home, all I have to do is merge the travel catalog with my main catalog (stored on an external disk that will stay home) and there will be very little additional work required.
That is about it. If you have any comments or questions about my kit, methodology, etc. please comment or email. I'll be happy to answer. You might have even thought of something I missed.
I’ll see next week on “The Mother Road!”
Thanks for looking. Enjoy!
Dennis A. Mook
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Have a great time Dennis, sounds like so much fun.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the gas prices won't break the bank.
Thanks, Jim. Luckily we’ll be splitting the costs of travel.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for a safe and fulfilling trip. The gear is well chosen. Sensor dust becomes a non issue when the camera is never opened. I am intrigued with the use of the Dell laptop as a replacement for a desktop at the home base. Perhaps that can be the subject of a future post. Looking forward to reading about the experiences along the way!
ReplyDeleteGood to know about the size comparisons between the Nikon Z 7 & Olympus EM-1cameras. I have that Olympus kit wondered what the Nikon size equivalent would be. I am thinking of the Z6 since I don't think I would need those larger image files, mostly from a file management perspective. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteChris, the Z6 is relatively inexpensive now, especially when Nikon has it on sale or buy refurbished from Nikon, and those 24mp files most likely would serve your needs perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI recently added a refurbished Z7. There is a difference between the 45mp and 24 mp files but it is only visible if you look very closely, crop, or print large. I wanted the 24-70 lens. The bundled pricing was structured so there was little difference in cost between the Z7 and Z6. Otherwise I would have chosen the Z6.
ReplyDeleteI also chose the Z7 because I had difficulty seeing the level in the EVF display on the Z6II. My hybrid kit now is a Z7 for landscapes and architecture, Olympus for everything else.