Take a pared down kit. Camera, battery(s), charger, two lenses, cloth if you think you need it, cards as you think you’ll need them. A bag footprint for a D90 shouldn’t be huge with just that and if you’re doing something like a cruise most of it can sit in the cabin.
If you’re backpacking…well, that’s a different story 
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Exactly.
Here’s the thing- the camera you’ve got (your phone) is always preferable to the one you don’t have because it’s a big, clunky pain to carry around.
You’ll get more photos, you’ll be happier not lugging it around, and the photos will all be 99% as good as the DSLR ones. Even for night shots, modern phones do an awfully good job.
I dragged a DSLR on at least two European trips (Netherlands/Belgium, Italy) as well as a handful of local US trips. And I’ve been on several long trips using just phones, including Alaska, Pacific NW, Colorado/Nebraska/Wyoming/New Mexico, Missouri, etc…
Phones all the way now. Haven’t ever found myself really wishing for a telephoto lens or a “church lens” (really fast for low light) yet.
The one thing I would do if I were you though, is get one of the large capacity fast-charge power banks and take that with you, so that you don’t have to worry about running out of charge.
Way back when I took a DSLR on a week long horseback trip through monument valley. While I have an assortment of nice pictures I don’t have a lot of memories of really taking the place in and experiencing the moment/atmosphere. Too busy putting the camera in-between myself and it.
Of course this was 1999 before the cell-phone cameras but if I could do it again it the DSLR would stay home.
That is exactly the plan. I don’t mind carrying the camera on hikes and stuff, it’s the airports that are the problem. One more carryon bag, but maybe the small camera bag can count as a “personal item” and it won’t cost anything. Finding a way to combine the DSLR and CPAP into one bag would be ideal.
I bring my DSLR when backpacking in the southwest every year, it’s part of why we go on these trips. I could (and do) take photos with my phone but I can capture much more interesting images with the 80D, especially at dawn and dusk. In my experience, it doesn’t keep me from experiencing the moment. Instead, I’m taking in the terrain and looking for interesting angles and subjects.
But I can understand if that’s not for everyone. I think it enhances my trip.
I recently took a trip to Spain and debated about taking a “real” camera. In the end I opted for convenience and just took my phone (LG V60, old). My pictures came out fantastic. As some above mentioned, night shots might not be as good, but I didn’t take many. For me, lugging around the camera was a worse option. YMMV of course.
My Wife and I have turned into light travelers. No checked luggage. Makes it much much easier if you might be taking many forms of transport (I suspect you will be)
I don’t want to worry about anything but my wife and staying in contact while we travel. I don’t want to worry about some expensive equipment that I need to keep my eye on. I keep my eye on my wife. She keeps her eye on me. We are IMHO very good traveling together, and have avoided mishaps.
Stuff happens though and is unavoidable (I remember trying to chase down a train in Germany in a cab. We tipped very well). But I would just consider why you taking this trip. Memories are more important than photographs, IMHO.
Not a photographer, but have done just fine with cell phone cameras. As has be said, they do quite well. YMMV.
Another thing to think about is how capable the camera on your phone is. I have an iPhone 13 Pro, which is quite capable, but for work reasons my job bought me a Samsung S20 Ultra, which has an aMAZing camera on it, 10x zoom that looks really great. I’ve taken it overseas and put a SIM in it and had great fun walking around just shooting stuff with it. It’s several years old now and can be found for a a couple hundred on EBay and makes a great travel camera.
My brother is a photographer (as a hobby). He’d tell you to use your phone for texting/calling.
ETA: he’d also tell you to get down on the ground and aim up for some shots, return at sunset, hike a few miles and shoot from the west, etc
Smart man.
I just found out that on my trip there will be a “Photo Instructor” to help everybody setup their equipment to take the best pictures. There will also be a some camera equipment available for use, but it is unclear if that means rent, wait in line with 50 other people, or checkout for myself.
There is also a 10% off coupon for OM Systems (formerly Olympus) gear. The US and Canada online OM Systems store is closed for a month.
Assuming I am taking this thing, does anybody have recommendations for an exact model of lens cap keeper that will let me snap a lens cap onto the camera strap? I don’t mean a string that hooks to the cap so it swings around while I walk, I’ve got one of those, and it’s annoying. I want exact recommendations, because they’re very cheap, some probably work great, but others are are likely such junk they don’t hold onto the cap or the strap.
I think phone cameras add a lot of processing to the shots. Makes them look nice at a glance but it can effectively destroy parts of the original data.
That’s a downside if you want to do anything to the pix later (such as Photoshop). If your phone has the option you might want to shoot RAWs so you have every bit of photo information available.
Yeah, I just discovered a little while ago that my Pixel can save in RAW format, which is excellent.
I am having the same conversation as the OP for a trip I am about to take that involves some long hikes. I am dreading lugging the DSLR and tripod, but also feeling like I want the better quality for those scenery shots I am hoping to take. Arg.
I’m currently looking to upgrade my phone to a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. I wonder whether that’s going to change my calculus on bringing the DSLR.
(OMG, did you start that thread on City-Data?)
To @commasense:
I won’t link to it because I’m not sure it’s OK to do that, but one of the commentators there said basically to forget bringing a dedicated camera because you can just look at photos taken by professionals to remember the sights you saw.
I responded that their argument was ridiculous, because a professional photographer isn’t capturing your experience.
To that, now I’ll also add: You know how they say the best camera is the one you have with you? Well it’s also true that the best photographer is the one who is there; in other words you.
Having said that, if you expect that you will be rushed around with a large group of people, and won’t have time to properly identify good photo subjects, let alone setting up your shots, only then would I say don’t bother bringing the Nikon.
No, but a link might be interesting.
It’d be way cheaper to just go to the library and look through some whale picture books than take a cruise in Alaska! Exactly like you said, I want to capture my experience, not somebody else’s.
I’m really not sure what it will be like. My thought is that I’ll use the telephoto to take pictures from the big boat of things on shore or out at sea, and my wife will use the macro lens to take pictures of vegetation and minifauna during the land excursions.
I very much do agree, though. If I have adequate time to both enjoy the experience directly, and capture it through a camera, then I’ll be glad to have the DSLR. If I’m too rushed, or the unique moments are too quick to do both things, then the DSLR will just be getting in the way.
Check your messages.
I just got back from a trip to Italy and I can say that any time I had to carry something around it sucked…big time. Not a camera, mostly luggage, but even this small anti-theft courier bag was annoying (although massively useful…would use again).
If you are deeply into photography and need those unique shots where you can use a macro lens or telephoto lens or change settings for very low light and whatnot then it may be worth the hassle. Otherwise, your phone camera will suffice for most photos you want to take and will save you a LOT of problems schlepping a camera and lenses and batteries around. Especially if it is during a hot summer.
I also have never forgotten something my very well-traveled brother once told me:
“I do not want to experience the places I go through a viewfinder. I take my camera out only rarely for a special shot or to record I have been somewhere. Otherwise, I mostly leave my camera in the hotel room.”
YMMV
I agree! I brought with a Nikon Coolpix on a trip to Europe and got some very cool shots that I blew up to poster size. Also some interesting incognito snaps of the local cops and a wedding procession along the Seine River. It fit in my palm and no one knew I was snapping away.
My counterpart otoh had a big lenses camera hanging about her neck that she mostly used to snap pics of her niece in various poses. This one also brought two suitcases with her, weighed down she was.
I see sentiment like that quite often, and it really is a matter of balance. If you’re the kind of person that wants to sit and stare at the mountain (or ocean, or cathedral, or whatever) for an hour, then a camera is probably not for you.
I’ll look at the mountain for a few minutes, and then I need something else. The camera (phone or stand alone) is a toy to pass the time waiting for the rest of the group; a means to capture the experience to enhance remembering it in the future; a new way to view the mountain, and think about it’s relation to the light, sky, foreground, and people; a way to include distant people who care about the people at the mountain; and, of course, a way to bore distant people who don’t care that much about the people at the mountain.
I’m a tourist who wants some picture to share with the grandparents, and to record the location. I’m not a professional photographer who is there to do a job and capture the perfect image, and actually enjoying the place is a distant second. It’s possible to both experience the event, and photograph it.
I think some people get confused about their priorities. I also think there are lots of people in the “stare for an hour” group who think anybody not staring for an hour is missing the experience. They’re looking down at the people taking pictures, and also at the kids who saw the mountain, but are now more interested in playing with some terrestrial crustaceans on the trail.
I know the DSLR is better in several ways than my phone camera. Is it better enough to be worth carrying around is my question.