What do I take to Peru?

LizardMan

LizardMan

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I'm hoping to spend a few weeks in Peru next year, but I'm not sure what equipment to take.

Lens wise, I've got the whole range covered from 8mm - 500mm and I'm mostly going there to take pictures of everything!

The thing is, that means macro for the bugs, wide angle for landscapes and telephoto for birds. Is it practical to take that much gear with me? Or am I best off just taking one 18-200mm and making do with that?

I'll be doing the Inca Trail and spending a few days in and on the Amazon, all the usual touristy things.

Any tips anyone?
 
I can't forgive myself for taking only 18-200 with me when I visited Egypt... I do not like to take tons of gear but in general I take several good primes or a zoom and a couple of fast primes. It depends a lot on your style and on what you would like to shoot.

I shoot Nikon but I believe similar gear is in Canon camp too. When I visited Latvia this past summer, I went with Nikkor 24/1.4, Nikkor 180/2.8 and Tamron 28-75/2.8. I was perfectly covered for my photographic needs.

Do not forget polarizers, enough cards, spare batteries, etc... Peru must offer amazing landscapes.
 
Power is an issue I believe... so it's either tons of batteries or mechanical film cameras...
 
I'd pick 8-16mm, 70-200mm and then think about getting something decent to fit in between. I'd happily sacrifice 18-200mm to raise some cash. Macro may also get handy, depending on your intentions. Then insurance...
 
I would take a wide angle (if you intend to use one), a walkabout lens (24-70 ish) then a zoom upto 300 or so. Maybe a macro if you think you will use it. All that in a lowepro rucksack is surprisingly comfortable
 
I would be thinking in terms of minimising the weight but maximising my coverage of possible needed focal lengths.

Plenty of freshly charged batteries and memory cards are a must as is a case/rucksack that will not only be comfortable to carry in humid weather but also have a good degree of waterproofing.

Lens wise I would be looking to replace the 18-55 kit lens with a 17-50 F2.8, get a smaller or lighter macro, either the tamron 60mm F2 or the tamron 90mm F2.8 as the siggy is a bit on the heavy side and a short, fast prime is always handy, I would just pair them with the 70-200 and leave it at that.
The 17-50 will cover the wide end and walk about ok, the 60mm low light and macro, the 70-200 wildlife
 
Thanks for the advice so far guys, keep it coming!

I've got 4 batteries - how long might I have to go without charging?

I've got specific itemised camera insurance with global coverage.

Current lenses: Sigma 8-16mm, Sigma 18-200mm OS, Sigma 150-500mm OS, Sigma 105mm (Macro). I doubt I'll be buying any more kit, as I need to raise funds for the trip itself!

I suppose my biggest lens choice issue is my trusty Sigma 150-500, which is a bit of a beast, but it is great for birds - am I going to kick myself if I leave it behind?

And rucksacks - I have a Lowepro Vertex 200 which is waterproof and very comfortable. It is quite big and heavy though. I'm used to carrying it for 5-10 miles, weighing about 12-14Kg and it's not a problem. Doing the Inca Trail at high altitudes though, might be a different matter! It would also leave a fairly big dent in my luggage allowance. I've got the Slingshot 200 as well, it's not as big or as comfy.
 
I did this in July. Anyone advocating more than a handful of lenses is insane. I did the jungle trail to Machu Picchu and that almost killed me due to the altitude acclimatisation and 7kg of camera gear (+food, water etc.!). All you need is a 18-200 and ultra wide angle (in my case 10-20). Weight is the key here. Bring a smaller camera body if you can. D300s was probably almost too much. You're not going for mega depth of field shots are you ...? (Well I wasn't) Peru was pretty much landscapes. But if you really do want some DoF then bring the lightest 50mm 1.8 you can. You don't need anymore.
 
Thanks for the solar powered gizmo link - I might be able to persuade SheWhoMustBeObeyed that *we* need one of those for *our* cameras...

The thing is for the actual trail bit, I'd probably be happy with just an 18-200mm lens and that's it. But for the jungle side of things, I'd cry if I didn't have my macro and my telephoto with me.

I don't suppose they're likely to provide secure storage for stuff that you don't need on the trail?
 
You could always keep it in the hotel. I hostelled it and I could have kept the kit in their 'secure' storage but I understand many people would not be happy to put thousands worth of kit there.

For the jungle - do you know who else is going? Is it just you, or are other randoms coming as part of the group tour? We did a day trip in ecuador and it was raining so heavily I didn't make any lens changes! And to be honest, the idea of changing my lenses all the time, in the jungle, where you're in a group who are constantly trying to push ahead is a nightmare. UNLESS you're going with a group of photographers, then I'd advise against bringing surplus lenses. You're going so fast you won't have a chance to use them. And I was in a very small group with my brother and my friend (who both aren't photographers but did have cameras with them) and they didn't really like hanging around all the time.

Hate to say this (and its taken me a while to properly realise this) but if you're going as a holiday and taking photographs - its a HOLIDAY and people don't enjoy hanging around just for you so put the photography on the backburner. If you're going purely as a photography trip though, then that is fine and enjoy!

Try and do both and you end up carrying around an insane amount of gear and using hardly any of it - for me this was a 1.2kg tripod (worse idea I've ever had, even though it was carbon fibre for weight), 10-20mm, 18-200mm, 50 1.4 and about 80gb of CF cards. The best lens for holidays is the 18-200 by far. 10-20 a close second. Anything else is a luxury that you won't be able to use at best, unless like I say it's a trip planned purely for photographs with similarly minded people.
 
P.s I might add my back was killing most of the time, even though the idea was to travel light.

Apart from the photography gear (D300s - 950g, 18-200 - 550g, 10-20- 500g?, 50mm 1.4 300g, Lowepro Primus 1kg, etc.) - you then need sunglasses, suncream, litre of water, DEET spray, remote...I could go on... Now you add your macro and 70-200 and thats another 2-3kg... esp. in that heat, climbing up and down hills, it's a killer! I ended up wanting to LEAVE the camera- it was such a burden.

My plan is to buy a micro 4/3rds for my next travelling trip!
 
I was just going to say the missus has bought a G2 recently and it is about the weight of a box of feathers. It takes stunning photo's for Facebook though :coat: You really can't leave the 105 behind imo some close up insect shots would be great to see on your return.
 
Hmm, photography or holiday? Well our holiday destinations are chosen by the photographic opportunities they provide! We're not really the relaxing on a beach type.

We'll be staying in the jungle for three days, one side of the lodge is completely open to the jungle, so I'm sure there will be opportunities in the morning and evening, as well as when we're out and about.
 
Cheng said:
P.s I might add my back was killing most of the time, even though the idea was to travel light.

Apart from the photography gear (D300s - 950g, 18-200 - 550g, 10-20- 500g?, 50mm 1.4 300g, Lowepro Primus 1kg, etc.) - you then need sunglasses, suncream, litre of water, DEET spray, remote...I could go on... Now you add your macro and 70-200 and thats another 2-3kg... esp. in that heat, climbing up and down hills, it's a killer! I ended up wanting to LEAVE the camera- it was such a burden.

My plan is to buy a micro 4/3rds for my next travelling trip!
Click to expand...

I did exactly this. Taking my GF1, 20mm and 9-18 to Nepal/Everest Base camp! Fly out tomorrow. Heres hoping I made the right choice :shrug:
 
LizardMan said:
I'm hoping to spend a few weeks in Peru next year, but I'm not sure what equipment to take.
Click to expand...
Cheng makes good points. I've not been to Peru for 25 years, last time I was there I had an Olympus XA. It was ideal.

I'd get pretty fed up hauling a 5D and a bagful of lenses around. I'd look to take whatever the current equivalent of the Canon A650 is. It runs on (readily available) AA batteries, is not overly large, takes nice pictures. Job-jobbed.
 
LizardMan said:
I'm hoping to spend a few weeks in Peru next year, but I'm not sure what equipment to take.

Lens wise, I've got the whole range covered from 8mm - 500mm and I'm mostly going there to take pictures of everything!

The thing is, that means macro for the bugs, wide angle for landscapes and telephoto for birds. Is it practical to take that much gear with me? Or am I best off just taking one 18-200mm and making do with that?

I'll be doing the Inca Trail and spending a few days in and on the Amazon, all the usual touristy things.

Any tips anyone?
Click to expand...

Keep it simple.

If you could only take two of your lenses which would it be? Sometimes restricting your choice of lens isn't about restricting your choice of shot it's about setting yourself the discipline of making desicions about the composition and not the choice of equipment. Faced with too many options you're more likely to fall into the inaction of indecision. I know that I personally would be looking to pick from my kitbag the 30mm f/1.4 (as a fast everyday lens - I know you don't have this lens) and the 105mm macro (as a multi-purpose macro/portrait/short-tele).

On the trail how easy is it going to be to keep everything clean, dry and dust-free whilst changing lenses? If you're out of breath half-way up the mountain do you really want to:
  • Stop and change lens?
  • Be carrying extra weight?
  • Have the weight of a heavy lens around your shoulders?
 
I think I'll probably just take my 18-200mm on the trail bit, along with extra batteries and cards etc. It's tempting to go for my much smaller and lighter 400D, but it's not like I'm going to get too many opportunities to snap Machu Picchu, so I think I'd sooner suffer the extra bulk of my 50D, I doubt I'll even notice it with a belt grip.

I'll take everything else with me, but leave it in storage in Cusco while on the trail.
 
I've not shot macro before, but a few thoughts. What are the likelihood of you being able to approach something before it runs away. I'd stick with a zoom - in that environment a prime is far too restrictive. The 18-200 does pretty reasonable at macro anyway (well the Nikon does!). Honestly it was such a downer on holiday to always have to 'guard' the equipment in a big bag when doing trivial tasks such as eating etc.- which most of the time it was me as everyone else couldn't be bothered to and it wasn't exactly fair for them to anyway!

But on the flipside - if you have the guide to yourself - i.e. everyone that is getting guided is a photographer - then go for it. Otherwise you will probably serve to nark everyone off. Altho the lighter your bag is the far happier you'll be!


I too thought exactly as you did....bring EVERYTHING. But here's an example of where it was such a bad idea. When I went on the jungle trail, it involved half a day of mountain biking down a hill. A DSLR isn't the answer for everything. You're whizzing down at insane speeds - with lots of bikers following you, from not just your group, but loads of others - don't forget theres a million groups out there taking tourists for trips. If you stop to take photos - they might run into you. Plus, you WILL lose the rest of the group as they are bombarding down the hill. Plus you will no doubt be struggling to ride with a camera bumping on your back on a rented bike that is simply awful, end up trying to protect your camera, end up dropping the filter into a stream whilst rolling (as you tried to clean it as it was picking up spray from the back of the bike/puddles) etc. etc. I could go on!
 
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I won't be mountain biking, but for situations like that I do tend to use my compact.

A 17-50 is fine for landscapes, but not so good for birds and insects, which for me is a higher priority. Even 200mm is pushing it for a lot of situations.
 
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