I travel almost every week on business and have tried just about evey possible type of camera as my working companion. (Mamiya 7II, Mamiya RB67, Canon 20d, Kodak z812, Panasonic TZ4, Fuji s9100, Gaoersi 4x5, GigaPan, etc)
Lately I've been renting equipment when I take 2-week or longer vacations with the idea of "testing" equipment to see if it fits my style.
I've rented now twice from www.borrowlenses.com and have only good things to say about them.
The cool thing is to be able try out lenses and bodies you "think" you might want to buy in the future. When we went to Span last fall, I picked up three Canon L lenses and a Canon body. While everything was very very good, I was happy that I didn't buy what I rented as I found the "system" to not quite fit the bill.
Two weeks ago I rented a Nikon D90 + 18-200mm superzoom (27-300mm equivalent), thinking that it wouldn't compare to the Canon L lenses but I have to say I was VERY surprised at how good the quality was. So much so that I'm now saving up to eventually purchase such a lightweight camera + lens combination in the future. Here is a link to some of the pictures I took: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjsfoto1956/sets/72157613571863660/
The reason I bring up the D90 + 18-200mmm combination is that you are already a Nikon user and would feel right at home with such a compact setup. I guarantee you won't be disappointed with the quality either (especially compared to point-and-shoots such as th G9). I too have tried various point-and-shoots over the years and find them ALL to be wanting. Although truth be told, they *DO* produce decent 8x10s.
Michael
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Paul Brooks [mailto:a_p_brooks@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2009 12:07 PM
To: 'List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students'
Subject: traveling with expensive camera kit
