Thor: 1)South America: There are several countries and hundreds of different cultures and social condition for the people. There are safe sites where you can use the camera that you like without any problems, there are dangerous sites where you need to be careful. My best opinion is that you obtain previous info about safety conditions for the site you'll visit; there are wide zones where you are safe, there are wide zones where even using a P&S camera you are insecure, they never mind the type of camera... 2)I have traveled along the years through Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia doing thousands and thousands of kilometers carrying my Rolleiflexes, and 35mm cameras and lenses (Diax,Schneider, Petri, Canon, Pentax, etc.)without problems, I never lost a camera, however I know about people that had suffered robberies... 3)Lately, if to take photographs is a secondary objective for the travel, I am very happy carrying the SLR Pentax P30t with the Pentax A SMC 28-80/3.5- 4.5 Macro zoom, excellent zoom with glass elements, not plastic elements, and the color negative Kodak Ultra 400 film to compensate the zoom speed, thiscombo works excellent for 13x18cm prints.- All the best Carlos --- Thor Legvold <tlegvold@xxxxxxx> escribió: > Another question from the peanut gallery :-) > > As long as I can manage to carry my Rollei gear > (yes, it *is* heavy), > I'll be using it for as much as possible. > > However, for occasions where I just want something > light in my bag on > the way to work (think Daniel), or when travelling > to countries where I > don't want to risk the attention with the Rollei > (i.e. South America), > I like to bring along a 35mm camera. Or when going > to the playground > with my son (although I do on occasion bring along > the Rollei...). > > I bought a Nikon FM2 a few years back while working > for a newspaper, I > wanted something robust and reliable, and the > optical quality was not > important (it was a newspaper, after all) so I > picked up a cheapo Sigma > 28-210mm zoom. The system was perfect for what I > needed, mechanical, > reliable, one lens to cover everything. > > However, the lens is falling apart, and I'd like > better image quality > when shooting 35 than what I'm getting. Also, being > light and/or > inconspicuous is a plus. It's lighter than the > Rollei, but I'm > wondering how much smaller/lighter a RF setup would > be. > > So my options boil down to getting a new lens or > three for the Nikon > (they made a *lot* of lenses through the years, but > I'm sure I could > find a nice set that would cover most everything if > I searched the net > for a while), or selling it and picking up a RF. > > I've never actually used a RF system, but having > done research recently > for some friends (I ended up recommending the Bessa > R2 to them) I'm > more and more curious. Maybe a Bessa would be nice > for me too, with a > lens or three. Small, light, compact, quiet. No > offense to the Leica > crowd, but I really don't see what all the fuss is > about, either they > cost a fortune (M6) or they're so old and quirky > that the handling > suffers (i.e. film loading, shutter leaking light, > etc). > > But then again, I don't know. Never used a Leica. I > can't afford one > anyway, and my main question was what are the main > strengths and > weaknesses of SLR vs RF? What will I gain/miss for > casual snaps, taking > pictures on walks or when travelling light? I shoot > Kodachrome 64 > pretty much exclusively when in 35mm. Maybe some B&W > now and then. > > Looking forward to opinionated opinions :-) > > Sorry this was OT. > > Cheers, > Thor > > --- > Rollei List > > - Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > > - Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > with 'subscribe' > in the subject field OR by logging into > www.freelists.org > > - Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > with > 'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging > into www.freelists.org > > - Online, searchable archives are available at > //www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list > > ___________________________________________________________ 1GB gratis, Antivirus y Antispam Correo Yahoo!, el mejor correo web del mundo http://correo.yahoo.com.ar --- Rollei List - Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx - Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Online, searchable archives are available at //www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list