Travel companion

[chris_law1]

Hi all! I am about to embark on a three month tour taking in the States then

India and expect to do a lot of walking around. With this in mind i am looking

for any thoughts you guys may have regarding which of my cameras to take.... I

have a Pentax Spotmatic with 55, 135 and 200mm primes, all SMC / Asahi

originals and a sweet little Rollei 35 ( original German ). They are both

capable of taking lovely shots but i dont want to take them both and cant make

up my mind which is best suited.. I reckon, at a push the Rollei will get

better results but it is less flexible with only the one lens. So although in

the right conditions when i get a good picture it will invariably be better

than what the Pentax would produce there are likely to be more occasions when

the Pentax would produce better. Obviously the Rollei lends itself to travel

more than the Pentax - size and weight - but i just cant decide if the lack of

flexibility would be too limiting? Another option, following the recent of my

Hasselblad would be to plough the money into the Leica M2 that my local camera

shop has in stock... Less money for beer tokens but a tempting proposition none

the less! Any advise would be gratefully received!

[Jerry_]

You could find a camera body (that runs on 4 AAs, i.e., a Nikon N8008s or a N90s) and one older zoom Nikkor lens. Something like a AF 35-135mm zoom, or the AF 28-85mm zoom. One camera body, one lens, and you will have some variety in what you shoot. [Off-hand, the Pentax in its day was a very good camera, but for a 3month trip, if it breaks down, you are not going to get many shots.]

[cj_bas]

I'd bite the bullet and take both the Roelli and the Pentax. The Pentax is a fully mechanical camera and isn't likely to break down. But you'll feel safer if you have the Roelli as a back up.