As many people have said, there's no problem in using an SLR but remember Pompeii is very big and there is so much to see there. Therefore it's better to travel with the minimum gear necessary. With IS you won't need a tripod. A monopod could be a nuisance unless you need it for personal support.

I've now moved to mirrorless which means a smaller bag and less weight, ideal for a long day in the sun. One carefully chosen zoom should cover all the bases. Wear the most comfortable shoes you have and carry a snack and water.

Note, if you want to take something home, the souvenir shop closes earlier than the site.

Herculaneum is a little gem and will take you a shorter time to get around (although we spent nearly as much time there as in Pompeii.) Well worth a visit.

Naples is a great place to visit and again, there's so much to see and photograph. And try and get to di Matteo's, allegedly the birthplace of the modern pizza - the pizzeria and the surrounding area is very good for street photography.

The museum has some marvellous exhibits although the labelling is not brilliant.

If time allows, spend another day on trips along the coast, the small towns are really photogenic.
As are the islands in the bay of Naples. Each one is lovely: we particularly liked Procida, it's less touristed and it's good to have a day there to relax.

Whatever you do, have fun!

Hello Keith -

You've received a few good ideas already. Here's my 10 cents worth: not wishing to continue with Adobe, I've tried Skylum Luminar 3 with the latest asset management and I believe it's worth a look.

It comes with a host of online tutorials and is very straightforward. In addition there are simplified alternatives (shortcuts) to speed up your workflow if you so wish. There are further improvements in the pipeline which they say will be rolled out during the coming year.

Best wishes and happy clicking in 2019.

Ansel.Iwish

Hello W W -

I moved from many years of using DSLRs, firstly to the X-T1 and then the X-T2. It was the best move I ever made from all points of view.

Fuji lenses are just superb: not cheap but they are great to use and produce first class images.

By all means go for the X-T3 if you really want to but I haven't done so because I don't think that the improvement is enough to warrant an upgrade.
I will probably invest in the X-T4 if and when it becomes available. I'll wait and see.

Regarding post-processing, Capture One Express is hard to beat: try it and see.

Best wishes, Jeff

Don't forget mirror-less CSCs: their quality is now so good (and they're lighter too), that only pros need take SLRs on flights.
Happy days, Ansel Iwish

Venice is a unique city and visited by tourists throughout the year but it is not a particularly smelly place. It's best to avoid the tourist hot spots for eating and drinking: walk around the corner and you'll find much better value.

This year we visited Venice for the third time and my wife and I rented an apartment in Canareggio for 8 days. (It's easy to find a reasonable place using the internet.) We walked extensively, both day and night and took vaporetto trips to the islands in the lagoon. Venice is such a photogenic city that you never tire of it: there is so much to see and do.

I would suggest that you don't attempt to include a visit to Venice on this trip but take it easy and do what you can in the other places you intend to visit, otherwise everything will just be one big rush and you won't enjoy your trip as much!
It would probably be much better if you could save up and see Venice on another trip, you'll get much more out of it.

We're lucky and have the benefit of living in Europe so access is easier for us: previously we have spent separate weeks in Rome, Naples, Lucca (3 times), Cinque Terre plus touring Tuscany by hire car and two weeks touring in Sicily. In each case, there was still never enough time to do all that we wanted to do. That's why we keep going back!!!

Best wishes and have a good trip whatever you decide to do.

Hello Carl - I can't help you I'm afraid but for the info of any European Hoggers I can recommend pcspecialist.co.uk
I contacted them 6 years ago, discussed what I wanted the PC for and they sent me a specification with costings. I had further discussions with them and settled on the best available at that time.
The newly built tower, monitor, keyboard and mouse arrived by courier in 2 weeks.
It cost no more than a good quality PC off the shelf and has worked perfectly ever since. It has been hammered over the years, dealing with about 50,000 images plus hundreds of document files. The wireless keyboard stopped working 3 weeks ago and I purchased a new keyboard and mouse from them for £22 (about $35.)
Best wishes,
Geoff

UHH is an interesting and helpful site for all those who enjoy PHOTOGRAPHY and want to learn and improve.

I suggest that the site would be a whole lot better if we avoided religion and politics totally and discussed only topics related to the art of PHOTOGRAPHY.

For those people who want to sound off or air their grievances and pet hates, there are plenty of other forums available but please do NOT use UHH!