That huge size & weight problem (A true story..)

[Hermann]

if weight is an issue on a particular day, i take the d810 with a single f/1.8 prime. i find it hard to imagine that any reasonably healthy adult can't carry 1.3kg for a day or a week. when i'm less concerned about weight, i'll bring two bodies, tripods and lots of lenses including f/1.4 primes, f/2.8 zooms, tilt-shift lenses, big telephotos, etc.

It really depends. Quite a lot of my photography involves taking "record shots" of rare birds or unusual birds, like birds in an unusual plumage or hybrids. When I'm out birdwatching, I almost always carry (apart from my binoculars) a scope and a tripod. That's with a lightweight tripod (Gitzo 2541) and videohead and the Nikon EDIIIA about 3.5 kg. Add to that some raingear on longer trips, water, some food, and, in difficult terrain like the Alps, some safety gear, it all adds up to quite a bit of weight, so I have to try to keep the weight down as much as I can.

For birds, even for record shots, I need long lenses. If I were to take a fast DX body (D300, D500) I'd need at least something like the 300/f4 PF with a 1.4x converter. The consumer bodies with their low speeds and small buffers just don't cut it for that kind of photography. Adding to that a 35mm prime for landscapes and so on I'd end up with a minimum of 2kg weight. Quite a few friends use the Canon 7DII with the Canon 100-400mm for that purpose, and that's too much weight as far as I'm concerned, at least for many of my trips. A fullframe body would be even heavier.

So my present setup is the Nikon 1 V1 with FT1 + the 70-300. That's a tad under 1.5kg, including a spare battery and the (excellent) 18.5mm/1.8, and covers my basic needs. Sure, the image quality isn't as good that of a decent DX body, the user interface of the V1 and the EVF are pretty awful, but that setup works OK.

Actually, the image quality isn't that bad as long as I keep the zoom down to ~240mm on the V1 giving me the equivalent of ~650mm. Not ideal, but in many cases sufficient.

Hermann

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Use the gear that ticks the most boxes on your requirement list for a given assignment.

That pretty much sums it up for me. Planning the trip in advance helps alleviate most problems. When I'm in the field, I use what I have available and don't lament what isn't there.

[Bent Hjarbo]

So my present setup is the Nikon 1 V1 with FT1 + the 70-300. That's a tad under 1.5kg, including a spare battery and the (excellent) 18.5mm/1.8, and covers my basic needs. Sure, the image quality isn't as good that of a decent DX body, the user interface of the V1 and the EVF are pretty awful, but that setup works OK.

Actually, the image quality isn't that bad as long as I keep the zoom down to ~240mm on the V1 giving me the equivalent of ~650mm. Not ideal, but in many cases sufficient.

Hermann

My DSLRs 300s and 700 is mostly used when travel by car is included, and there is a photographic propose, is the travel is more a turns type of journey I will use my Nikon 1s (V1 and V2), but I do also use the small Nikons bor birding as the CX70-300 gives a great reach in a light weight package, a D300s and the 200-500 zoom is heavy but for sport and BIF, the OVF is much better that the EVF of the Nikon1's.
I often use the CX70-300 @300mm, and for my purposes the picture quality is OK.
The photo is taken in the harbour of Gudhjem on Bornholm with my V2 and the CX70-300 @300mm.

[Hermann]

Yeah, the picture quality is OK. The image attached was taken in the evening, and even though it's not quite as sharp as I would have liked, it's also OK. Shows you can take BIF (as long as the birds are slow and large ...) even with an EVF and the (also slow) FX 70-300 VR on the FT1.

[Bent Hjarbo]

I have not yet the same skills i BIF with the V1/2, but have also usted the FT1 and the 200-500 with god results. The benefit is the reach, but it is not as travel friendly