Tr avel cameras

For the journey: Matthew Richards packs the latest travel-friendly cameras, two by two...

It’s nice to travel light sometimes, so we test run eight lightweight superzoom compacts, fixed lens compacts and interchangeablelens cameras to compare the options

How do you choose the perfect camera for travel? Whether you’re embarking on an epic road trip, or cruising the seas,

it’s good to travel light. But there is more than one type of ‘travel’ camera, and some tricky choices if you want to balance convenience and quality.

First up are superzoom compact cameras, with built-in lenses that can take you from wide-angle to extreme telephoto focal lengths. For greater versatility, a lightweight interchangeable-lens camera (ILC) enables you to swap lenses to suit different shooting scenarios, while maintaining a traditional layout, and this can include both SLRs and mirrorless CSC (compact system cameras).

For greater space-saving potential and a dash of style you can swap from the DSLR-type design to a rectangular ‘rangefinder’ style camera, which removes the viewfinder protrusion up on top. Finally, there’s the option of going for a high-end compact camera with a fixed lens, which combines a ‘pure’ approach to photography with premium image quality.