What lens for holiday use ?

Jwar1976

Jwar1976

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Hi all,

I just had a call from my Dad saying that he has booked the both of us for a holiday in Izmir (Turkey) next year, which was an offer in one of his photographic magazines. I was wondering if the lens I already got would be ideal to take, for things like the Temple of Artemis, or should I get some better glass ?

I currently have :

Nifty Fifty F1.8
18-55
55-250 II
55-200

I know that the holiday isn't until end of March, but this is my first time abroad since I went to Australia in 2009, when I used a mobile to take pictures. So thought I would get prepared in plenty of time

Many thanks :)
 
18 - 55 should be fine, indoors and out. You may have to bump up the ISO for internal shots.
It gives you a good reason for practising around your home town - in and around churches for example.
 
That is great & thanks for the advice with the ISO. I have a couple of Cathedrals within walking distance, so have got plenty of opportunities :)
 
I would agree - you can do an amazing amount with a kit lens, taking the 50 f1.8 for low light/shallow dof situations.

Having just said that, I'm looking to buy an 18-250 lens for our trip to Canada in just over a week. Sometimes I find a longer lens really useful, and many of the superzooms will also offer a semi-macro mode around 3:1. Image quality shouldn't be any worse than a standard kit (i.e. budget) zoom and it means I can have just 2 lenses in my bag and reduced likelihood of getting dust on the sensor when swapping lenses.
 
Toni, I was originally considering the 18-270 Tamron before I got my 55-250, but had read some really bad reviews from it, so decided to get the 55-250 & keep the kit lens. It seems that there are issues with quality on the all in one lens, which is a shame if you are on a budget. I need to improve on my picture taking with all the lenses I have, before I start spending any more money. However I may look to get another zoom in the near future for a better shallow dof than what I would get with the 55-250.
 
When travelling there is no substitute for simplicity - if you like zooms then go for something like an 18-55 or 18-200 and if you like primes then 28 or 35 or 50 is the way to go but I would take a my favourite lens and just stick with that rather than lug about a bag full of lenses.
 
@boliston, I couldn't agree with you more, If I had a decent walkabout / zoom combination lens & one decent prime lens, then it would be ideal. Having said that, I notice that the Canon 18-200 IS can be bought for around the £200 mark used. That could be something worth looking into in the future.
 
boliston said:
When travelling there is no substitute for simplicity - if you like zooms then go for something like an 18-55 or 18-200 and if you like primes then 28 or 35 or 50 is the way to go but I would take a my favourite lens and just stick with that rather than lug about a bag full of lenses.
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I have to disagree especially if it is a once in a lifetime trip. I don't take all my gear but I do take a minimum of two lenses (currently 24-105mm and 35mm) to cover any lens failure and give me a light weight option. I also quite often take a short telephoto (70-210mm f4) as I find that when I don't take it I really want it.

For me there is packing light and there is packing too light, but everyone is different!
 
You make a great point there Alex, I have gotten into a habit of taking all my equipment with me whenever I go out to take pictures, as I like to have the feel of all of them no matter the subject, so that I am able to compare results.
 
My every-day lens, is the 24-105L, which is the only lens I take away on holiday, if it involves flights. On the full-frame camera, it gives me a true 24mm at the wide end, which is great for landscapes.

Dave
 
DaveS2 said:
My every-day lens, is the 24-105L, which is the only lens I take away on holiday, if it involves flights. On the full-frame camera, it gives me a true 24mm at the wide end, which is great for landscapes.

Dave
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I just couldn't do that as great though the 24-105mm is once light starts to drop I want something faster and in cities especially up tall buildings I love having something longer available. For me just taking one lens looses you one of the slr's biggest advantages.

For a trip I can repeat one lens is definitely a goer if it was London or the lakes for example I'd happily take a 35mm or 50mm as I know I'll be back!
 
Is the purpose of the holiday to chill or take photographs?

I take a Canon IS3S or a Fuji X20 if I'm 'chillin' not least to respect the fact that my other half doesn't want to hang around while I'm snapping away.

If it's to take photos, take all your kit and not your other half! ;)

Maybe depends on what your Dad wants to do?
 
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Dave & Alex, I can see both your points :). To be honest with you John, it is a bit of both, my Dad is a retired film professional and has a Canon 50D which he has never used & wants to start using, but at the same time he hasn't been abroad since the 90's & neither of us have gone to Turkey before. He has wanted to take photos abroad for a long time now & as soon as he saw a unbeatable offer inside one of his photography magazines (Normally £850 per person, reduced to £142 for readers / subscribers of that magazine) he very kindly booked us both on the trip. :)
 
boliston said:
When travelling there is no substitute for simplicity - if you like zooms then go for something like an 18-55 or 18-200 and if you like primes then 28 or 35 or 50 is the way to go but I would take a my favourite lens and just stick with that rather than lug about a bag full of lenses.
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Agree with the above, even on a lifetime trip I'd look to minimise the size of the gear bag. Lifetime trips are all about experiencing life at the time, not endlessy switching lenses. If there'sone thing that can get in the way of a trip being a lifetime event, it's spending too long viewing the event through a viewfinder.

On an APS-C camera I'd take a fast 30mm and one other lens. Looking at your available selection, probably the 55-200 as the second lens as that covers a useful selection of the longer focal lengths. Look at the Sigma 30/1.4 as a suitable every-day fast prime, it's a very natural focal length and very suitable for stitching if you want to go wider.


(did only having a mobile get in the way of appreciating the Australia trip?)
 
It always a difficult choice where weight is an issue, with some short-haul carriers, restricting hand-baggage to as little as 5kg.

The 5D3 + 24-105L weighs 1.6kg, and if I took the 70-300L as well, that would add another Kg and a bit. That doesn't leave a lot of spare capacity for anything else to go in the hand-baggage. I put my travel tripod in the suitcase, but certainly not camera gear.

Low light doesn't worry me too much, as the 5D3 has superb high ISO/low noise performance. Its only disadvantage is that it doesn't have a built-in flash, so I usually take a 430EX ll with me. More weight (lol).

'Sods-law' says, that whatever you don't take with you, you'll probably find that you wish you had. (lol).

Dave
 
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As with everything, you need to decide where your compromise points are. Years ago I took medium format AND 35mm outfits on a family holiday to Austria (carried both most of the time) and that holiday has become a legend for how much everyone got fed up with stopping for pictures. :p

We are off at the end of the week to Canada, flying to Vancouver & driving across the rockies to friends in Alberta. I plan to take a sigma 18-250 because image quality will be acceptable, but missing shots because I have the wrong lens fitted and particularly taking a lot of time over setting up a shot and generally faffing about is not. I'll also take a 50 f1.7, but suspect it will never come out of the bag. If this were a photographic expedition (as it sounds like yours may be) then that is very different - I would want to take the best lenses I could, and to a large degree not worry about weight and inconvenience.
 
There comes a point where camera gear can compromise the enjoyment of a holiday.
The best camera is always the one that you have with you all the time, but does not get in the way of that enjoyment.
In most places it is never safe to leave kit in your hotel room. If you can't carry it with you don't take it.
But make sure what you do take will be able to produce the results you will be happy with.

If you do have to leave kit in a "safe" place, Remove all memory cards and take them with you.
Kit can be replaced, photographs can not.
 
@Alastair, I will take a look at the Sigma that you suggested, and no the mobile didn't get in the way of me appreciating Australia, in fact I appreciated it that much in 2006, that I returned again in 2007 & then again in 2009. My only regret is that I didn't have good enough equipment to take better photographs of some of the views & places that I visited whilst out there.

@DaveS2, to be honest with you I had never really thought about the weight with the hand baggage, but agreed with leaving stuff behind and then giving yourself an almighty face palm, when you realise that you needed that piece of equipment at a certain time.

@ancient_mariner, sometimes it can be a b****r when you get snap happy but sometimes it has to be done, especially if you have a love for photography & traveling, hope that you have a great time in Canada. I will have a read up on that Sigma you have got as well.

@Terrywoodenpic, excellent point on the memory card thankfully technology has developed (no pun intended), dramatically so that we are able to remove camera media before it is full up.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
....

If you do have to leave kit in a "safe" place, Remove all memory cards and take them with you.
Kit can be replaced, photographs can not.
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I tend to take a number of small sd cards (eg 16gb ones which are only about £10 each for a class 10) and use one per day but I tend to keep them in the hotel safe rather than have them all in my pocket as I'm more likely to be pickpocketed in a typical foreign city than have cards stolen from the safe - same goes with my passport - some people like to carry their passport but I'd think it's more at risk in a pocket or rucksack.
 
I too don't like leaving camera gear in a hotel room, and if I do, it always goes in the safe with the passport.

There are also places abroad, where I wouldn't feel comfortable walking about, with over £3k worth of camera gear hanging around my neck. For theses situtations, I have a Canon S120 compact, that produces impressive images, and fits in my pocket. The DSLR gear gets left in the safe.

Dave
 
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