For part of my Europe holiday I was traveling with a Nikon fan who not only had all his pro lenses with him but bought a good quality medium sized tripod just for the trip as his main tripod was just too big to travel with.
One night in Rome, he kindly allowed me to use his tripod for some night shots as using the 14-140mm lens at f/5.6 for a telephoto shot, hand holding it was out of the question.
Ironically, he was not able to get the following types of shots with his Nikon D700 and 70-200mm f/2.8 lens as the tripod, as good as it was, was just not sturdy enough for that lens.
These were taken with the Panasonic GH-1 Micro Four Thirds camera with Lumix 14-140mm lens – the smaller the camera and lens, the smaller and lighter the tripod you can use – another big bonus for the travel photographer.
A Vatican guard (140mm focal length – 280mm in 35mm terms, ISO 100, f/5.8, 1.6 seconds):
Saint Peter’s from the distance (95mm focal length – 190mm in 35mm terms, ISO 100, f/7.1, 4 seconds):
