Antique SLR's for travelling

We are still deciding about what type of camera to take with us for our up coming RTW. I'm wondering about anyone's personal experiences with Rollei cameras (35's). I like the idea of having a camera with a simple design, less moving parts, and have a less flashy look than a newer SLR or digital...but am curious if anyone out there has used one/something similar for a long trip and if they would recommend it or not? Thanks!

I travel with a Nikon FM, circa 1981 and a Mamiyaflex TLR, from the 60's. And oh yes I am a professor of photography and worked as a commercial photographer for 6 years.

I travel with a Canon Ae-1 Program which is great for travel except for being heavy.. but with it's full auto features it works like a point and shoot when you want to. But when you feel creative you can also us it in manual mode.. I also use a Kodak Digital 4900.. Nothing like the sound of the shutter and the ease of use.. But like I said it's bulky and heavy.. Great quality pictures though.. So worth it I think...

AE1's are excellent for travelling. Durable, reliable, and battery-independent. (excepty for the meter, but you can still take pictures without it if you have a feel for light and exposure) Any other similar SLR like mechanical Nikons, Pentaxes, Yaschicas or whatever would be good, too.

Depending on how much you invest into your photography while travelling this could easily be:

a) Your one and only all-purpose, all-weather camera

b) A second camera to pair off a digital point and shoot, providing with higher quality glass and durability characteristics on the occasions where the friends-shooted-digital won't do.

I have a Yaschica similar to the AE1 and it's always thrown in the backpack. It's not my first-choice camera, but I always find myself in some situation where I thank myself for bringing the dependable meachanical workhorse.

Travel Photography Blog

I'm digging this old thread back up. I'm leaving on sunday for Croatia and I'll be taking my old Canon AE1 with me as well. I have a digital camera as well, but I prefer the AE1 at the moment I placed every lens and everything i own in the camera bag and it weighs now over 2,5 kilos. I hope I won't regret it. Maybe I could leave out the flash. I don't think i take a lot of pictures at night anyway. And maybe I'll leave behind also the 80-200mm lens. Does anyone travel with this kind of zoomlens? Do you find yourself using it a lot?

I'd say def bring the zoom. It's good for details of things you can't get close to. Also, the 80 mm end is good for portraits should you meet any locals so willing.

I'd also bring the flash. I figure it this way, if you are willing to lug all the other stuff, how much extra could these two things be?? I bet that if you leave them, you'll need them, and nothing else. Normally I say minimize, but if you are already lugging a heavy AE1, whats a bit more??

PC

thanks for the reply PC. I just got back from my trip to croatia, it was just 12 days. I took both the 80-200 zoom and the flash. I took 2 pictures with the zoom and one with the flash out of the 120 in total. I think i'll leave them at home next time
The camera back was 3 kg and my total luggage 12 kg. But you need some dedication for good pictures i guess