Leaving my DSLR behind

In the year 2012, I went to Khajuraho. However, before I could enter the marvelous western group of temples I found out that my Canon DSLR had gone out of order. Something in the eyepiece had broken / dislodged rendering it unusable. It looked like a minor fault but the functionality of the camera had been compromised. Fearing that any fiddling with the sick thing might aggravate the damage, I decided to let it rest in the camera bag. Fortunately, as a serious hobbyist I had a back up camera to fall back upon in the hour of need. And the need arose right on the very first day of my Khajuraho trip.

My back up toy happened to be a world class model (Sony RX100) that has all the features of a DSLR including a complete manual override. Obviously, I did the destination with my RX100 and it stood up to the occasion. Though the feel of a DSLR was missing while handling the compact model, the results my RX100 returned were excellent. Then onward, the RX100 became an equal partner of the Canon during my travels.

However, last year, while doing the world famous Angkor Wat and other heritage places in Cambodia and Vietnam, the back up slot in my camera bag had gone to another world class model - the Sony A6000 mirrorless. The mirrorless also returned excellent results. This experience with the mirrorless Alpha was confidence building as I found it not only equaling the DSLR in quality and ease but at times surpassed it.

The Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir is a dream destination which no travel and photography enthusiast would like to miss out on if an opportunity arose. This July I seized the opportunity to visit a part of Ladakh and decided to leave my DSLR behind. My camera bag contained The Alpha model with kit lens 16-50 and the Sigma 30mm, f/1.4 prime. With the RX100 as the back up, I had no other glass for the Alpha. I must admit that ideally a traveler ought to be equipped with a good walk around lens of moderate zoom capability along with at least one fast prime. However, my all rounder remained the 30 mm prime with the kit lens holding the ultrawide end at 16mm and zoom end at 50mm. I enjoyed this combination and didn’t miss my DSLR.

Shot with Sigma 30mm prime