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10-16-2014, 11:57 AM   #1
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Lens kit for international trip?

My wife and I share the camera(s) and lens in my signature. If I can get away from work, I will likely accompany my wife on business trip to Singapore in January. I want to take good pictures because it isn't likely that I will travel to an exotic location anytime soon or at all in the future. I don't want to bring everything with me, likely only the camera body and 3 lens. I'm willing to make an upgrade (< $1000) to the camera or lens if it will significantly better the pictures I take. What would be the best choices from those below:

1. Sigma 10-20mm, DA 18-135mm, and DA* 55mm (issue: no telephoto)

2. Sigma 10-20mm, DA 18-135mm, DA 55-300? (issue: poor for nighttime photos)

3. (buy) DA 16-50mm, bring DA* 55mm and DA 55-300 (issue: no wide angle)

4. (buy) Sigma 18-35mm, bring DA* 55mm and DA 55-300 (issue: no wide angle)

5. (buy) DA 60-250mm (this will be budget stretch), bring DA 18-135mm, and DA* 55mm (totally waterproof kit)

6. Replace K30 with non-AA filter body (used K-5IIs or K-3), use option 1 or 2 above.

The globetrotters here might be able to draw upon their travel experience and share what lens (or camera body) will most be useful and which upgrades will have the greatest impact.

10-16-2014, 12:01 PM   #2
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QuoteOriginally posted by Newtophotos Quote

1. Sigma 10-20mm, DA 18-135mm, and DA* 55mm (issue: no telephoto)
135mm is plenty long for travel.
10-16-2014, 12:03 PM - 3 Likes   #3
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My advice take as small a camera kit as you can because it isn't likely that you will travel to an exotic location anytime soon or at all in the future and you should enjoy your vacation and not see it through a lens the whole time.
10-16-2014, 12:27 PM   #4
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I just returned from India on a mission trip. I wasn't sure what to bring with my K-5 II, so brought the 18-135mm WR, 15mm F4, 35mm macro and 70mm F2.8. I also had an external flash. This was a mission trip, not for photography and Involved outdoor shots as well as interior with low lighting. I ended up only using the 35mm once, and the rest of the time the 18-135 remained on the camera. In the places I was in it was not feasible to be changing lenses. There was a couple of times I would have liked to use my 70-200, but not enough to be carrying around the extra weight. Next time I go I will either bring the K-5 II & 18-135 and one wide angle fast prime, or just bring a small point & shoot which would have been very practicable. The 18-135 is my only WR lens and we were expecting lots of rain, but it remained dry (dry if you don't count the 70-80% humidity and 90 degree days).

10-16-2014, 12:29 PM   #5
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My current K-50 travel kit is Sigma 10-20 f4, DA18-135, HD-DA55-300, so I understand your desire to upgrade.
Since I bought my K-3 and DA*50-135, all those "regular" DA lenses got stuffed in a bag with the K-50 and called a "travel kit".
Buy K-3, buy DA*16-50, buy DA*60-250, bring DA*55 to cover that gap between 50 & 60.
If you are bringing a second camera body, you need to buy that Sigma 18-35 also. If not, get it anyway, just to be sure.
10-16-2014, 12:40 PM   #6
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Option 5, but sub a macro for the 60-250. My travel kit always consists of a fast prime, weather resistant zooms (they are small and light so I have no issue taking both), and a macro. When I drive I almost always take more than this, but 9.5 times out of ten never use the additional lenses.
10-16-2014, 12:42 PM - 1 Like   #7
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What do you like to shoot (in terms of subjects) and how do you balance the trade-off between having the perfect lens at the right time (which often means carrying a lot with you) versus having a couple of good lenses? And for those nighttime shots, will you be bringing a tripod and do you have one that you like?

This past spring, Mr frogoutofwater and I traveled to Malaysian Borneo (2.5 weeks) and Singapore (4 nights). We shoot Pentax (K-3 for me, K-30 for him). We preferred to travel fairly light with gear. In addition to our cameras, we brought:

Me (WR 18-135, WR 55-300 - these were my standard walk-around lenses)
Him (Tamron 18-250 - his walkaround)
We shared: Pentax f/1.8 50 mm, f/1.8 77m, Tamron 90mm macro, a midweight tripod, Pentax AF360FGZ II flash

We were mostly photographing wildlife and city scenes, in the day and at night. He also did some long exposure night-time photography. Overall, our kit worked out well in terms of the choices we made to balance weight versus image quality. While I wish I'd had a faster and longer lens for some wildlife shots, I really DID not want to lug that kind of lens around. It turned out that we never used the flash or the 77mm. (These days, however, that 77mm is one of my favourite lenses.) I was much happier with my 55-300/18-135 combo (in terms of reach and image quality) than he was with his super-zoom. I got some really lovely shots with the 55-300, provided that the light was decent.

So, going back to my first point, it really depends on what you like to shoot. How important is a really wide angle lens to the kind of photography you do (do you really need the 10-20mm)? Would 18mm (or 17mm, e.g. on the Sigma 17-70) be enough for you? Also, is your 55-300 the WR version? Could you deal with the issue of low light by bringing a tripod instead of faster glass?

Given the climate, I think WR lenses would be a plus in Singapore.

If your 55-300 is the WR version and you don't need the widest of wide angle lenses, one other combo to consider would be the Sigma f/2.8-4 17-70 (slightly wider than the 18-55, faster and not too bulky) and the 55-300.

10-16-2014, 12:53 PM   #8
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My experience with Singapore (been there several times) is the only wildlife you'll see is in parks, relatively close up (unless you plan to get out of the city, maybe to Malaysia). Another poster said 135 is enough and I completely agree. If anything you'll want wider than 18, not longer than 135. It's very urban.
10-16-2014, 12:57 PM   #9
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Quality counts if you get there once in a lifetime. I'd spend that $1,000 on a DA*50-135, f2,8. You will get reach and speed for inconspicuous street shots. It is not a fast focuser because the throw is rather long, but it is internal zoom and focus, which is great. (The 60-250 extends with zoom, which on crowded streets makes me nervous about getting bumped.) Leave the big hood at home and get a 67mm CPL for it. Take also your Sigma 10-20 and the DA 35.
10-16-2014, 12:59 PM   #10
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This old Holster bag has been on so many trips that the top is almost worn through !

It holds a Pentax dslr or slr , 2 fixed focal lenses , hood and filter combo that fits both lenses.
I rarely needed a lens longer that 50mm on the dslr and mostly used the 28mm.
A 28mm f/2 or 28mm f/2.8 is more useful than a f/3.5 for evening photos

I almost never used a flash either, not even the inbuilt.
my advice would be to keep the equipment simple and don't become a slave to the photos.
Happy Travels.
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10-16-2014, 01:12 PM   #11
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I've shot lots and lots of beautiful pictures (I mean - not only snapshots ) in a foreign country with just a camera and the DA 40mm XS.
It really, and I mean really isn't about the lens...

That being said, I think you should bring
1. 18-135mm
2. (wide angle or 18-55 kit lens)
3. 55-300mm (for versatility) or a prime (for quality)

The beautiful thing of going there with your wife is that, if you find the time to go sightseeing together, the above setup can be used in a variety of ways, e.g.
camera A 18-135, camera B 18-55, 55-300 in bag (shared)
camera A 18-135, camera B 55mm prime, kit lens as a backup for camera B
camera A 18-135, camera B wide, 100mm prime for selected shots.
That makes a lot of sense IMHO, because you can cover almost all conceivable situations with only three lenses and you can also swap them: one day you keep the 18-135, another you go artsy with the prime and the wide...
10-16-2014, 01:12 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by Newtophotos Quote
My wife and I share the camera(s) and lens in my signature. If I can get away from work, I will likely accompany my wife on business trip to Singapore in January. I want to take good pictures because it isn't likely that I will travel to an exotic location anytime soon or at all in the future. I don't want to bring everything with me, likely only the camera body and 3 lens. I'm willing to make an upgrade (< $1000) to the camera or lens if it will significantly better the pictures I take. What would be the best choices from those below:

1. Sigma 10-20mm, DA 18-135mm, and DA* 55mm (issue: no telephoto)

2. Sigma 10-20mm, DA 18-135mm, DA 55-300? (issue: poor for nighttime photos)

3. (buy) DA 16-50mm, bring DA* 55mm and DA 55-300 (issue: no wide angle)

4. (buy) Sigma 18-35mm, bring DA* 55mm and DA 55-300 (issue: no wide angle)

5. (buy) DA 60-250mm (this will be budget stretch), bring DA 18-135mm, and DA* 55mm (totally waterproof kit)

6. Replace K30 with non-AA filter body (used K-5IIs or K-3), use option 1 or 2 above.

The globetrotters here might be able to draw upon their travel experience and share what lens (or camera body) will most be useful and which upgrades will have the greatest impact.
Last year I travelled for 3 months in Asia. I brought a DA 15, DA 35 2.4, and 18-250 with my K30.

The 18-250 was on my camera about 80% of the time. The rest of the time was the DA 15. I used the DA 35 2.4 only a few times near the beginning, but I never found my groove with it.

For your kit I would just bring the 18-135 and the Sigma 10-20 and call it a day. If you want night time photos, use a tripod.

Lastly I used my Pentax Q with the 03 fisheye a lot.
10-16-2014, 01:59 PM   #13
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Don't hassle over the night photos. I got great results with my K10 and a sigma 17-70. I never went over 200 ISO. Imagine what a K30 will do even with a smaller aperture lens with better ISO performance and an extra one and a half stops of shake reduction. Don't worry about taking wide angle shots at a quarter of a second hand held.

I suggest the 18-135 for you is a must have lens. I would also come up with a good story about why you need the K3. eg Tell her I said you must have it. Actually a better reason is you can preset three different shooting situations that includes changes to autofocus as well as all the other new features. The camera is awesome. (so is the K5 if the K3 didn't exist)
10-16-2014, 02:15 PM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by jrpower10 Quote
My experience with Singapore (been there several times) is the only wildlife you'll see is in parks, relatively close up (unless you plan to get out of the city, maybe to Malaysia). Another poster said 135 is enough and I completely agree. If anything you'll want wider than 18, not longer than 135. It's very urban.
I like using the longer reach of the 55-300 (compared with the 18-135) to do portraits of animals that can be fairly close (8-40 ft). I definitely found the longer reach of the 55-300 to be handy at the Singapore Zoo. I wasn't necessarily shooting at 300, but I certainly was shooting in the 150-225 range.
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10-16-2014, 03:07 PM   #15
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I would recommend an 18-250 (or 18-270: I own the 18-250) Pentax as walkaround. For me, on travels it does the job moest often. Then, add a wide angle (I'd choose my small, light 15mm LTD, but you could opt for the the Sigma 10-20), and a very small (pocketable) tripod.
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