Going to Italy (backpacking)

[njbraun]

I just recently booked a nice little trip to Italy for the last couple of weeks of May. I'm pumped!

Anyways, I'm faced a bit of a dilemma about what camera to bring with me.

I've owned a Nikon D50 for the past almost 3 or 4 years and I absolutely love it. I'm currently using the Kit lense, and I also have a fixed 50mm that I use occasionally. The camera has treated me well and I've pulled some amazing shots out of it. I think I bought it used on Ebay for something like 5 hundo way back when and its been worth every penny.

Now that I'm going to Italy I'm wondering if it's finally time to upgrade my baby to something a bit roomier. I've read just about every Nikon D90 review out there and I've pretty much decided that it will be my next. Only problem is that its just so damn expensive right now.

I can sell my old D50 on Ebay right now for something like $250-300 and the cheapest I've found a D90 for (w/ Kit lens) is like $950 (new or used).. That's a potential 650 to 700 dollar investment. That's a LOT of money, considering I'm dumping quite a bit into this Italy trip thing.

Question is,

*should I just say screw money, and buy myself the D90? Is it just completely worth the 700 dollar upgrade from my current D50?

*Should I just stick with my trusty D50 and wait for the D90's price to drop later this year? If so, when do you think that might happen?

*Should I sell my D50 now, maybe buy a very capable point and shoot (Canon's PowerShot G10 perhaps?) off Ebay for cheap. Reason being, a point and shoot would be easier to carry, since I'll be backpacking across Italy. And the G10, for example, has over twice the megapixels as my current D50. I'd prolly sell the point and shoot when I get back and then upgrade to the D90 when the price is right.

Any suggestions on this one guys?

Thanks!

[fabio]

save your money and shoot with what you have. That camera is more than capable of delivering the goods. Plus if something happens to it, then no big deal.

[njbraun]

save your money and shoot with what you have. That camera is more than capable of delivering the goods. Plus if something happens to it, then no big deal.

Yea, I was thinking this too. If I got that D90, I would probably be more concerned about taking care of the camera than enjoying the trip.

[Dizo]

Buy some insurance for the D50 on your trip to Italy (Remember to take photo's of it and the accessories) and then drop it or get it lost on the plane without the memory cards or anything you want in it. Contact your insurance company and let them know, reap the cash and you will have nearly enough to buy yourself a new D90!

You could also go for the completely legal method. This entitles the last day of your trip taking your camera and lens and taking pictures in a particularly bad part of town and then placing it on the hood of your car to go get a coffee. Your just such a trusting citizen that you had no idea it would get stolen ;) ! Again remember to take out the memory card and all your valuable picture memory's. This is actually legal if you leave it there and it gets stolen. Just make sure your not with a really really bad insurance company and remember to read fine print like doesn't cover camera's lost or insurance not valid in Italy.....

[SmartWombat]

So that's why my camera insurance premium is so high !

[Dizo]

Ive never done it with a camera but i know many people who leave there cars all unlocked with a six-pack inside and the keys in the dash tray in parking lots when they're too well used. Some home-insurance companies cover digital camera's as well(Like mine) so long as you have pictures of them and send them in every so often to be checked so as they don't find a 10 foot gold statue in your house being insured.

Of course i don't endorse the idea of "loosing it" or "getting it stolen" but its sure a good option to taking a few hundred of your D90.