Should I add a lens for Italy?

[LadyShutterBug]

when i am traveling light, i take the 50mm 1.4 and the 18-200. that is all i ever need.



oh, and a macro, because i have a serious addiction to photographing flowers and plants every single place i ever go.

[Pascal]

Originally Posted by d2creative

hmmmm... i have no idea what I'll be shooting since I've never been. Hopefully a lot of landscape. But I'm going with 10 other (wife included) and there will be a lot of walking around cities, shopping, sightseeing stuff going on. But I really want to get a lot of landscape type stuff at the villa in tuscany that we are staying at for a few days. So it's gonna be a mixed bag. MY reasons for going are photographic. In other words, getting to photograph Italy is what excites me about this trip. My wife is going for Prada. So I'll most likely be taking most of my stuff (no need for the macro lens). I'll even be taking my lensbaby, I always have fun with that. The 50mm I'll probably leave at home... haven't really used that since I got my 35mm. Might have to take the 70-200 but leave that at the villa when going out sightseeing. The 18-200 sounds really tempting, but I want images that look as good as what I get out of my 70-200, which is why the 28-70 (or the new 24-70) sounds yummy. But then there is no wide or long. Ugh. Can't i just have a 10-200vr?

The reason I said go wide in my post above is because I was in the same boat. I spent 3 weeks there last month and all I ever used was a 14mm f2.8 for indoors, the 17-35mm for outdoors, and the 24-85 for everything else. The 17-35mm got used the most. The flash never got used and the 70-200mm f2.8 or 50mm f1.2 never even left the bag. Seems like you are going on a similar trip as I did. I would go as wide as possible and with as good a high ISO body available for really good shots.

Don't bother with primes as they will not get much use unless you are shooting something specific. If you can get your hands on the Nikon 12-24 and the 18-200mm, you will be set for your trip.

Enjoy.

[d2creative]

Originally Posted by Pascal

Don't bother with primes as they will not get much use unless you are shooting something specific. If you can get your hands on the Nikon 12-24 and the 18-200mm, you will be set for your trip.

Enjoy.

I have the Sigma 10-20 which i love so no need for the 12-24. But i might have to give the 18-200 a try. I don't care if its plastic, as long as the image quality is very good.

I'll probably still bring the 35 because sometimes I just like to throw that on my d70 and use it more like a rangefinder or something. There's something nice about it being small, fast and light and being forced to look at things differently and use your feet to zoom.

Thanks for all the tips!!!

[thelegend1472]

If it were me, I'd buy a new body. Get either a D200 or D300 when it's released. I'd put the 10-20 on one and the 70-200 on the other and you'll be able to shoot anything you want at any time. Like Gordon said it depends on what you wanna shoot. I'd imagine he said the 200 because he likes to shoot a lot of street portraiture, where as I love shooting magnificant landscapes so I'd be using the wide angle mostly. If you go this route you'd have everything covered.

If you really wanna buy some new glass...I can't say enough about my 17-55 2.8

[d2creative]

Bryan, you are a $onofbisch! Ugh!
You just had to go and plant that seed in my head!!!

ugh.


So uh..... when is the D300 supposed to hit stores?

[adirty1]

I was there for 3 weeks and took two bodies 200-70, 85/1.2, 35-16 and 14mm.

I used the 85 all the time unless I was using the 35-16 and used the 14mm a few times. When I go back I am leaving the 200-70 at home. the 35-16 and 85 both paid for the trip after selling 5 images to the local city library.

[thelegend1472]

Originally Posted by d2creative

Bryan, you are a $onofbisch! Ugh!
You just had to go and plant that seed in my head!!!

ugh.


So uh..... when is the D300 supposed to hit stores?

That's honestly your best option I think. You can get D200 bodies pretty cheap right now. I think the D300 comes out in Nov?!? So that would work for you as well. And if you do that...of course you're going to want to send your D70 off to get converted to IR so you can do stuff like this: http://www.surrealcolor.com/

[sporkthedork]

I was in Italy for a week this past summer and was very pleased with the minimal equipment I took. I own a D200 as well as the MB-D200 grip but I opted not to take the grip simply because it added more volume and weight to my bag (you can always carry extra batteries in your front pockets). Lens wise, I took my 18-200mm VR as well as my 17-55mm f/2.8. The weight of the second lens got to be killer later on in the trip, but it is slightly sharper wide open versus the 18-200mm. It's also twice as expensive and as I look back on the trip, it wasn't really necessary to have. I also borrowed a friend's Gitzo monopod, which came in handy shooting sunsets in Tuscany.

In my opinion, a lighter camera bag is more easily traveled. Plus, I was able to take all of my equipment "carry on" (stowed it under the seat of the passenger in front of me). A fair amount of CF storage space (I took 16GB) is also handy, especially if you shoot RAW.

Casey

[d2creative]

Thanks Casey.

I removed my grip for my mexico trip and I always feel lost without the portrait shutter button. That's why I was thinking of taking it. I guess I can always remove it while on the trip if I want. And yeah, definitely taking the monopod. I don't have that much memory but I have my Epson P-2000 to download to every day. Not taking a laptop so at least the epson shows a bigger preview.

[steve817]

Originally Posted by d2creative

Going to Tuscany, Rome, etc over xmas this year and wondering if I should add a lens to my arsenal. My sig lists what I have currently. Think I should add something like the 18-200? This may very well be the only time I ever get to go to Italy in this lifetime so I am more concerned with image quality than how big/heavy my gear is. I'll be taking my D200 with battery grip.

I know that you are excited about your trip. I want to tell you a little about mine to eastern Europe.

I took my 30D with grip, 24-70 f2.8, 70-200 f2.8 IS, 580EX Flash.

Hauling all that crap around got so f___ing old that I really didn't even enjoy the trip.

So much so that I have only picked up my camera once since returning, I took the trip back in April.

Since then I have sold the 24-70 and got a 17-50 f2.8. It's much lighter and cost about 2/3 less. I threw all those concerns about IQ out the window. I'm willing to bet that most people couldn't tell if I shot with L glass or not.

Sorry I'm going off on a rabbit trail. My advice, figure out what your style is and take what you need. Do you like wide angle shots or tightly cropped?

I'm thinking the body, the 50mm and the large zoom.

If it may be the only time you go, focus on enjoying the trip. The photos should serve as memories and they will be great with whatever gear you take.

If I go back to Latvia it's only going to be the body and the 17-50 for me. Come to think of it it may ony be my PowerShot SD750