[hadi]

You've been there, you've said it to yourself that 'next time i come here, i will take this shot with this piece of gear' only for that part of the worth to either no longer exist, or is something you can no longer access, or the moment is gone, and you'll never be able to capture what you initially intended.

what are those for you?

for me, many years ago, i traveled to Pakistan. Having read some horror stories online about things getting stole, or being targeted by locals, i didnt want to take my 'fancier' gear with me.
As such, I didn't want to take my Pentax K1, or my 'better' lenses and limited my camera gear to the K-x, 18-135, and the 50mm 1.8 plastic fantastic lens.

what i regret is that though those are strong and very capable gear, i could have captured a whole lot better photos if i wasn't being silly. the people there were so friendly and kind, that my fear of being targeted, or things getting stolen was no where to be true. I met great folks, and was able to take great images, but i know that with better gear, i could have printed them larger, and have better colors in general.


curious to know what your regrets are

[just_life_photograph]

not having the right lens on me. Last weekend I took my macro with me into the desert - got some great shots of cactus but....there was an eagle nest way over there and me without a long lens.....argh!!

[Fenwoodian]

.
I did most of my extensive travel to exodic locations back in the film days. I look back at the grainy, unsharp, low dynamic range 35mm and 120 negatives/slides and wonder - "how much better would these images have been had I used a a modern, high resolution, terrific dynamic range, digital camera with pixel shift, IBIS, and focus stacking? " Anyone have a time machine???

[stevebrot]

No regrets here. The maxim goes like this...

f/8 and be there

A few years ago, I made what might be a once-in-a-lifetime visit to Alaska and took a fairly spare kit...

• K-3
• Sigma 17-70/2.8-4.0 (C)
• Tamron 70-150/3.5 (20A)
• MC Zenitar 16/2.8 Fisheye
• My smaller tripod

I was overwhelmed by the place most of my visit, and rightly so, such that distraction by my hobby was the least of my desires. I came back with some amazing shots and did not feel the need for a longer lens, grads, CP, or advanced technique the entire time. When I saw it, I took the shot unless I was immersed in the experience of simply being there.


Steve

(...no long lens for those caribou? No problem...)

[dbs]

Going on a workshop starting today.
What I wished I had taken.
I let you know in a couple of days

[mattt]

Ahem.. SD Cards missing... (and I travel in the rural north where finding one at a gas station might not be in the cards)

I was in a rental.. my usual ride has a couple cards stashed in the centre console.

[gofour3]

.
I did most of my extensive travel to exodic locations back in the film days. I look back at the grainy, unsharp, low dynamic range 35mm and 120 negatives/slides and wonder - "how much better would these images have been had I used a a modern, high resolution, terrific dynamic range, digital camera with pixel shift, IBIS, and focus stacking? " Anyone have a time machine???

Opposite for me.

I also did a lot of traveling in the 1970's to 1990's using a Pentax KX, K28/3.5, K55/1.8, K135/3.5 shooting Kodachrome 64. The detail in these old slides are amazing and I have done enlargements up to 3x2 feet.

Also for me nothing in the digital world can capture the character of an old Kodachrome slide.

Zero regrets for me and I also still only shoot film today now using the new Ektachrome 100 slide film.

Phil.

[photoptimist]

My perennial travel regret is in not carefully studying all the sites I plan to visit to predict the best time of day to visit them. I'm always getting to some site and thinking -- this would look better at some other time of day. Of course, given limited time during a trip, I know I'll be unlikely to sacrifice the next site to revisit the first site.

That issue also leads to a bigger regret when I realize that I need to come back to a site on a different day of the year or come back during better weather (or after the scaffolding comes down). Yet I can't count on ever getting back to the site. Limited travel budgets and a preference to visit new things over revisiting old places means returning isn't likely.

Thus I know that I'm about to take a picture that could be better if only..... In the end, I'm often forced to take what I call "documentary" pictures -- images that document the fact I was there but which are of substandard quality due to the time-of-day, day-of-year, weather, etc.

I still love taking pictures but know that others who really can take the time to revisit a place multiple times to catch the best lighting, background, weather, etc. will have the better pictures.

[baro-nite]

Sometimes I have regretted taking too much gear. Not so much for the bulk and weight. I'm thinking of a particular trip where I brought both medium- and large-format gear. It made me indecisive once out in the field, at least for the first day or two. I did eventually settle down and got images I liked from both systems, but I'd have done as well or better with less fuss had I stuck to one or the other.

[TwoUptons]

I only call them regrets if I could have seen them coming

Get unexpected access to something cool where lens X would have been perfect? No regrets, though noted for next time...

Forgot to bring a flash when shooting somewhere dark? Dangit...

But I’m definitely renting a 150-450 for the next Yellowstone trip...

-Eric

[Buntzbooze]

Using (very bad) digital filters on half my pictures from a trip around Israel years ago. No RAW files either to rescue them. What was I thinking? The shame.

[3by2]

Not taking enough pictures is usually my only regret. Photography is a secondary, though sometimes integral part of travel. I say sometimes because if push comes to shove I won't take a camera. Interestingly I saw a headline the other day which said taking photographs impairs your memory of an event, I would say that this can be true at say a sporting event but less true when you're drinking in a landscape and watching the light change.

[carlb]

Based on our most recent trip it would be taking (and dropping) my DA 20 - 40 Limited and not taking my 18 - 135 zoom in my case as an emergency lens. If I'd done that I could have saved myself $900 on having to buy a 16 - 85 to fill the gap (although the 16 - 85 is very good).

[carlb]

Sometimes I have regretted taking too much gear. Not so much for the bulk and weight. I'm thinking of a particular trip where I brought both medium- and large-format gear. It made me indecisive once out in the field, at least for the first day or two. I did eventually settle down and got images I liked from both systems, but I'd have done as well or better with less fuss had I stuck to one or the other.

I think this can be a common problem with shooting in general. Too much gear can just turn out to make things harder.

[Bertrand3000]

My usual regret is not having my camera on me when I really see something worthy of a shot.