What to Take on First Trip with My K-1

Special Ed · 02-10-2018, 10:30 AM - **1 Like**

GSiGuy - Thank you for your insight. I plan to have multiple types of itineraries on this trip. There will be days spent in cities and towns and days spent just taking in the natural sights. I am going to take everything except the 100 Macro to Scotland and then each day take whichever lens suits the day's activities. The 28-105 will be in the bag on every day.

As for my traveling companions (wife and closest cousin - not the same person) - this is my 50th birthday trip. They are going with me but they understand that I have specific requirements. One of those is to be able to take the time to stop and either smell the heather or photograph it (or both). My wife bought me the K-1 for my birthday with the express intent of me using it to capture wall-worthy photographs. My cousin is just the most gentle and laid back woman I know and she wouldn't get on my case if I want to take time to setup a nice shot. She'd just find a way to enjoy the moment herself :-)

zahnski - Thank you. You're right. The 28-105 will be good for a rainy Scotland. I have purposely bought WR lenses in the other focal lengths too (hence the reason I bought the Irix 15mm Blackstone instead of Firefly). My gear and I will be ready for the weather no matter what it throws at us :-)

**Kerrowdown** · 02-10-2018, 10:54 AM

Originally posted by Special Ed

take just my primes with me on my trip to Scotland in May

Originally posted by Aslyfox

there are a few members here at the forums from Scotland

I'd be one of those people... when I travel the World I usually manage it with just three lenses a wide, a normal and a long.

With my Pentax set up, I only use prime lenses by choice, as I find them to be excellent for my simple needs. Coming here to Scotland from my harem I would choose... my "Good Lady” (Pentax-A 20mm F2.8), my "Special Lady” (Pentax-A 50mm F1.2) and my “Gorgeous Lady” (Pentax-A* 200mm F2.8 ED).

But I note your planning a bit of "birding", so a 300 or 400mm may suit your needs better. Remember to put the camera down from time to time and just "see"... use the "brain camera" to record some of the stunning things you will see here.

And above all else, do enjoy your time here in my country, it's also time well spent, exploring our fine Malt Whisky too.

Special Ed · 02-10-2018, 11:15 AM

Cheers, Kerrowdown. That's all great advice but the best is to put my camera down from time to time.

The puffins necessitate the DA*300 so that's going. The 15mm is coming along so I can get perhaps a different take on the landscape than I would with just 28mm on the 28-105. I don't have a good normal lens but am eyeing the possibility of getting a DA*50 f1.4 here in the next month or so.

I've been in love with your country since my first trip in 2008. That's why I chose it for my 50th birthday trip (it beat out Wales which is my second favorite part of the UK). You can be sure that I will take time to smell the heather and just take it all in.

The whisky is a given...especially with the Tobermory distillery being a mere 9 miles from the B&B. I am also quite fond of cask ales...something we don't get here. A cellar temperature pint and a dram of Laphroaig is what I consider a fine ending to a day in the Islands

awscreo · 02-10-2018, 12:07 PM

I'm traveling with my zoom kit, and one faster prime. I'm covered from 15mm to 200mm. I don't keep my lenses on me all the time, so far I've mostly taken the 15-30 and 28-105. So far I haven't ran into a situation where I needed another lens, or was worried about weather conditions due to weather resistance on my main two lenses.

hadi · 02-12-2018, 08:35 PM

as someone who came back from scotland/northern ireland and took his K1, 24-70mm, a rokinon 14mm, and a pentax 50mm 1.4 with me, along with a tripod, my advice to you is this: TAKE WHATEVER IS WEATHER SEALED!

in the fairy pools, i got drenched. badly. my lowepro bag had the water shield on. that got drenched. THAT thing that protects my bag from rain got soaked. water did get into the bag. but not that bad. my k1 was drenched. the 24-70mm and the k1 survived beautifully. i had no issues with it. the other photographers were hiding under their cars, trees, or just crying as their cameras were destroyed. mine wasn't. but the rain can get hectic. so hectic that despite me wearing a waterproof jacket, the following were soaked on me:
jacket on the inside
my sweater
my shirt
my inner shirt
my underwear
my wallet
my money
my passport
shoes/socks/pants etc.

now the reason why i say to take your weather sealed stuff is because some of the best shots i took were in horrid conditions. yet i kept shooting. if i took primes or other lenses, you will be limited on what you can shoot. shooting portraits is not that easy there. thus landscapes would be the best things to shoot.

noelpolar · 02-12-2018, 10:28 PM - **2 Likes**

Ok.... heres a thought..... seperate lenses into two groups... common sense "must take those" and the other's the "silly pile". Leave the common sense ones home and take the silly pile. Remember.... we are pentax shooters and it's our resposibility to be quirky..... if not us then who else?

300mm on K3

Special Ed · 02-13-2018, 08:23 AM

Originally posted by awscreo

I'm traveling with my zoom kit, and one faster prime. I'm covered from 15mm to 200mm. I don't keep my lenses on me all the time, so far I've mostly taken the 15-30 and 28-105. So far I haven't ran into a situation where I needed another lens, or was worried about weather conditions due to weather resistance on my main two lenses.

Thank you. I plan to do as you're doing and not keep all lenses on me at all times. I'm taking the 300mm because I plan to have a day of wildlife watching. If that day doesn't materialize, the 300 will sit in the B&B. The other two (15mm and 28-105) will always be with me.

bibz · 02-13-2018, 08:33 AM

Everyone wants to take everything always to have at the ready. Packing too much unused stuff is something I'm guilty of. But don't forget to leave room for serendipity.

Special Ed · 02-13-2018, 08:52 AM

Originally posted by hadi

as someone who came back from scotland/northern ireland and took his K1, 24-70mm, a rokinon 14mm, and a pentax 50mm 1.4 with me, along with a tripod, my advice to you is this: TAKE WHATEVER IS WEATHER SEALED!

in the fairy pools, i got drenched. badly. my lowepro bag had the water shield on. that got drenched. THAT thing that protects my bag from rain got soaked. water did get into the bag. but not that bad. my k1 was drenched. the 24-70mm and the k1 survived beautifully. i had no issues with it. the other photographers were hiding under their cars, trees, or just crying as their cameras were destroyed. mine wasn't. but the rain can get hectic. so hectic that despite me wearing a waterproof jacket, the following were soaked on me:
jacket on the inside
my sweater
my shirt
my inner shirt
my underwear
my wallet
my money
my passport
shoes/socks/pants etc.

now the reason why i say to take your weather sealed stuff is because some of the best shots i took were in horrid conditions. yet i kept shooting. if i took primes or other lenses, you will be limited on what you can shoot. shooting portraits is not that easy there. thus landscapes would be the best things to shoot.

Sage advice for sure. In 10 years of annual trips to the UK, we've only had one in which rain was a regular feature - Scotland. However, as a Washingtonian, I am used to the rain and have learned how to waterproof myself. Considering Scotland is only mildly more rainy than here, I don't think it will be a shock to my system but will still take precautions.

If the rain is so hectic that it can penetrate my rain gear, I am not going to be hanging around taking photographs. There will always be another trip so I can forego wandering out in anything that's pure craziness. Still, all of my lenses are weather sealed and my tripod is WR too. I also have the rain cover for my backpack but I have a habit of putting it under my coat too.

I don't do portrait photography. I stick to landscapes, buildings and animals. My photography goals on this trip are 1) stunning Highland & Island landscapes 2) Puffins and other sea/air life 3) Dunnottar Castle. Aside from that, I am just going to enjoy being in a place I love dearly. My photography enhances my trips, it is not the reason for them.

---------- Post added 02-13-18 at 10:04 AM ----------

Originally posted by noelpolar

Ok.... heres a thought..... seperate lenses into two groups... common sense "must take those" and the other's the "silly pile". Leave the common sense ones home and take the silly pile. Remember.... we are pentax shooters and it's our resposibility to be quirky..... if not us then who else?

300mm on K3

LOL....how can you tell which is silly and which is common sense? I only have four lenses for the K-1 and they all seem like common sense to me

I could do all of my photography at either 15mm or 300mm...that would be silly. And for real...that Irix 15mm takes up a silly amount of space for a single lens!

Point taken on the quirkiness. All of my coworkers who are photography buffs think I'm strange for owning Pentax gear rather than Nikon or Canon. The sad part....I work for Ricoh (not in the division that owns Pentax) so my coworkers should be doubling down on Pentax gear rather than shunning it. Talk about silly.

---------- Post added 02-13-18 at 10:20 AM ----------

Originally posted by bibz

Everyone wants to take everything always to have at the ready. Packing too much unused stuff is something I'm guilty of. But don't forget to leave room for serendipity.

My fear is always, "Dang it. Why didn't I bring that? I just lost the shot of a lifetime because I wasn't prepared." I am taking 256GB of memory cards, four batteries (plus rechargeable AA insert for my BG6 grip), tripod, 15mm, 28-105 and 300mm. I can't honestly think of anything else I would need. Oh...also taking my MacBook Pro so I can offload my SD cards daily and spend the evening processing images whilst enjoying a pint or two...or three

The backpack is heavy but it only contains the essentials and I can't think of one thing I won't use so the weight is a necessary evil. I could use to lose a few pounds though so perhaps it's a blessing in disguise

hadi · 02-14-2018, 07:40 AM

Keep in mind that the scottish rain can be unpredictable.

When we climbed the old man of storr, weather said itll be clear skies and warm and not windy. That was true on the base. As we got higher, it changed drastically. Hail, wind, snow, rain, all kept changing. We were so high up that we couldnt find shelter or wait out the storm.

Same goes for the fairy pools. Day called for cloudy with very little chance of rain. We got about 30mm of rain within an hour. Then continued raining more for the next 2 hours.

Pics with fog created very dramatic landscapes

And take lots of ziplock bags to be careful

awscreo · 02-14-2018, 11:44 AM

Heaving back home now, I've used 15-30 for 90% of my shots, used the 70-200 once, and the fast prime twice. Lesson for me - just take two zooms next time dummy!

Special Ed · 02-14-2018, 12:06 PM

hadi - I will be sure to heed your advice. Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope you had a good time in spite of the rain. Skye is beautiful.

awscreo - If the 10% of the time you used lenses other than the 15-30 yielded photographic gold, I'd say it was worth the effort. I hope you have a safe trip home.

**gaweidert** · 02-14-2018, 01:32 PM

I always take a laptop with me plus a spare external hard drive. Each evening I download my stuff onto the laptop hard drive and then make another copy onto the external hard drive. So that by the end of the day I have 4 copies. The two SD cards, one on the laptop and one on the external hard drive. If need be, the SD cards can be formatted for reuse and I still have two copies of the files. Probably too much, but it only take a few minutes while winding down at the end of the day.

Special Ed · 02-14-2018, 03:30 PM

I hadn't considered taking my external HD with me but it's small enough that it wouldn't really take up much more space.

awscreo · 02-14-2018, 07:28 PM

Originally posted by Special Ed

hadi - I will be sure to heed your advice. Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope you had a good time in spite of the rain. Skye is beautiful.

awscreo - If the 10% of the time you used lenses other than the 15-30 yielded photographic gold, I'd say it was worth the effort. I hope you have a safe trip home.

Well the 9% was with 28-105

Thanks for the wishes friend!

02-12-2018, 10:28 PM - 2 Likes	#51
noelpolar Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Goolwa, SA Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,310	Ok.... heres a thought..... seperate lenses into two groups... common sense "must take those" and the other's the "silly pile". Leave the common sense ones home and take the silly pile. Remember.... we are pentax shooters and it's our resposibility to be quirky..... if not us then who else? 300mm on K3 Last edited by noelpolar; 02-12-2018 at 11:35 PM.

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02-10-2018, 10:30 AM - 1 Like	#46
Special Ed Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Kingston, WA Posts: 35 Original Poster	GSiGuy - Thank you for your insight. I plan to have multiple types of itineraries on this trip. There will be days spent in cities and towns and days spent just taking in the natural sights. I am going to take everything except the 100 Macro to Scotland and then each day take whichever lens suits the day's activities. The 28-105 will be in the bag on every day. As for my traveling companions (wife and closest cousin - not the same person) - this is my 50th birthday trip. They are going with me but they understand that I have specific requirements. One of those is to be able to take the time to stop and either smell the heather or photograph it (or both). My wife bought me the K-1 for my birthday with the express intent of me using it to capture wall-worthy photographs. My cousin is just the most gentle and laid back woman I know and she wouldn't get on my case if I want to take time to setup a nice shot. She'd just find a way to enjoy the moment herself :-) zahnski - Thank you. You're right. The 28-105 will be good for a rainy Scotland. I have purposely bought WR lenses in the other focal lengths too (hence the reason I bought the Irix 15mm Blackstone instead of Firefly). My gear and I will be ready for the weather no matter what it throws at us :-)

02-10-2018, 10:54 AM	#47
Kerrowdown PEG Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Highlands of Scotland... "Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand" - William Blake Photos: Gallery Posts: 57,818	Originally posted by Special Ed take just my primes with me on my trip to Scotland in May Originally posted by Aslyfox there are a few members here at the forums from Scotland I'd be one of those people... when I travel the World I usually manage it with just three lenses a wide, a normal and a long. With my Pentax set up, I only use prime lenses by choice, as I find them to be excellent for my simple needs. Coming here to Scotland from my harem I would choose... my "Good Lady” (Pentax-A 20mm F2.8), my "Special Lady” (Pentax-A 50mm F1.2) and my “Gorgeous Lady” (Pentax-A* 200mm F2.8 ED). But I note your planning a bit of "birding", so a 300 or 400mm may suit your needs better. Remember to put the camera down from time to time and just "see"... use the "brain camera" to record some of the stunning things you will see here. And above all else, do enjoy your time here in my country, it's also time well spent, exploring our fine Malt Whisky too.

02-10-2018, 11:15 AM	#48
Special Ed Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Kingston, WA Posts: 35 Original Poster	Cheers, Kerrowdown. That's all great advice but the best is to put my camera down from time to time. The puffins necessitate the DA300 so that's going. The 15mm is coming along so I can get perhaps a different take on the landscape than I would with just 28mm on the 28-105. I don't have a good normal lens but am eyeing the possibility of getting a DA50 f1.4 here in the next month or so. I've been in love with your country since my first trip in 2008. That's why I chose it for my 50th birthday trip (it beat out Wales which is my second favorite part of the UK). You can be sure that I will take time to smell the heather and just take it all in. The whisky is a given...especially with the Tobermory distillery being a mere 9 miles from the B&B. I am also quite fond of cask ales...something we don't get here. A cellar temperature pint and a dram of Laphroaig is what I consider a fine ending to a day in the Islands

02-10-2018, 12:07 PM	#49
awscreo Veteran Member Join Date: May 2016 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,722	I'm traveling with my zoom kit, and one faster prime. I'm covered from 15mm to 200mm. I don't keep my lenses on me all the time, so far I've mostly taken the 15-30 and 28-105. So far I haven't ran into a situation where I needed another lens, or was worried about weather conditions due to weather resistance on my main two lenses.

02-12-2018, 08:35 PM	#50
hadi Veteran Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Mississauga, Ontario Posts: 563	as someone who came back from scotland/northern ireland and took his K1, 24-70mm, a rokinon 14mm, and a pentax 50mm 1.4 with me, along with a tripod, my advice to you is this: TAKE WHATEVER IS WEATHER SEALED! in the fairy pools, i got drenched. badly. my lowepro bag had the water shield on. that got drenched. THAT thing that protects my bag from rain got soaked. water did get into the bag. but not that bad. my k1 was drenched. the 24-70mm and the k1 survived beautifully. i had no issues with it. the other photographers were hiding under their cars, trees, or just crying as their cameras were destroyed. mine wasn't. but the rain can get hectic. so hectic that despite me wearing a waterproof jacket, the following were soaked on me: jacket on the inside my sweater my shirt my inner shirt my underwear my wallet my money my passport shoes/socks/pants etc. now the reason why i say to take your weather sealed stuff is because some of the best shots i took were in horrid conditions. yet i kept shooting. if i took primes or other lenses, you will be limited on what you can shoot. shooting portraits is not that easy there. thus landscapes would be the best things to shoot.

02-13-2018, 08:23 AM	#52
Special Ed Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Kingston, WA Posts: 35 Original Poster	Originally posted by awscreo I'm traveling with my zoom kit, and one faster prime. I'm covered from 15mm to 200mm. I don't keep my lenses on me all the time, so far I've mostly taken the 15-30 and 28-105. So far I haven't ran into a situation where I needed another lens, or was worried about weather conditions due to weather resistance on my main two lenses. Thank you. I plan to do as you're doing and not keep all lenses on me at all times. I'm taking the 300mm because I plan to have a day of wildlife watching. If that day doesn't materialize, the 300 will sit in the B&B. The other two (15mm and 28-105) will always be with me.

02-13-2018, 08:33 AM	#53
bibz Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Newcastle, AU! Posts: 276	Everyone wants to take everything always to have at the ready. Packing too much unused stuff is something I'm guilty of. But don't forget to leave room for serendipity.

02-13-2018, 08:52 AM	#54
Special Ed Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Kingston, WA Posts: 35 Original Poster	Originally posted by hadi as someone who came back from scotland/northern ireland and took his K1, 24-70mm, a rokinon 14mm, and a pentax 50mm 1.4 with me, along with a tripod, my advice to you is this: TAKE WHATEVER IS WEATHER SEALED! in the fairy pools, i got drenched. badly. my lowepro bag had the water shield on. that got drenched. THAT thing that protects my bag from rain got soaked. water did get into the bag. but not that bad. my k1 was drenched. the 24-70mm and the k1 survived beautifully. i had no issues with it. the other photographers were hiding under their cars, trees, or just crying as their cameras were destroyed. mine wasn't. but the rain can get hectic. so hectic that despite me wearing a waterproof jacket, the following were soaked on me: jacket on the inside my sweater my shirt my inner shirt my underwear my wallet my money my passport shoes/socks/pants etc. now the reason why i say to take your weather sealed stuff is because some of the best shots i took were in horrid conditions. yet i kept shooting. if i took primes or other lenses, you will be limited on what you can shoot. shooting portraits is not that easy there. thus landscapes would be the best things to shoot. Sage advice for sure. In 10 years of annual trips to the UK, we've only had one in which rain was a regular feature - Scotland. However, as a Washingtonian, I am used to the rain and have learned how to waterproof myself. Considering Scotland is only mildly more rainy than here, I don't think it will be a shock to my system but will still take precautions. If the rain is so hectic that it can penetrate my rain gear, I am not going to be hanging around taking photographs. There will always be another trip so I can forego wandering out in anything that's pure craziness. Still, all of my lenses are weather sealed and my tripod is WR too. I also have the rain cover for my backpack but I have a habit of putting it under my coat too. I don't do portrait photography. I stick to landscapes, buildings and animals. My photography goals on this trip are 1) stunning Highland & Island landscapes 2) Puffins and other sea/air life 3) Dunnottar Castle. Aside from that, I am just going to enjoy being in a place I love dearly. My photography enhances my trips, it is not the reason for them. ---------- Post added 02-13-18 at 10:04 AM ---------- Originally posted by noelpolar Ok.... heres a thought..... seperate lenses into two groups... common sense "must take those" and the other's the "silly pile". Leave the common sense ones home and take the silly pile. Remember.... we are pentax shooters and it's our resposibility to be quirky..... if not us then who else? 300mm on K3 LOL....how can you tell which is silly and which is common sense? I only have four lenses for the K-1 and they all seem like common sense to me I could do all of my photography at either 15mm or 300mm...that would be silly. And for real...that Irix 15mm takes up a silly amount of space for a single lens! Point taken on the quirkiness. All of my coworkers who are photography buffs think I'm strange for owning Pentax gear rather than Nikon or Canon. The sad part....I work for Ricoh (not in the division that owns Pentax) so my coworkers should be doubling down on Pentax gear rather than shunning it. Talk about silly. ---------- Post added 02-13-18 at 10:20 AM ---------- Originally posted by bibz Everyone wants to take everything always to have at the ready. Packing too much unused stuff is something I'm guilty of. But don't forget to leave room for serendipity. My fear is always, "Dang it. Why didn't I bring that? I just lost the shot of a lifetime because I wasn't prepared." I am taking 256GB of memory cards, four batteries (plus rechargeable AA insert for my BG6 grip), tripod, 15mm, 28-105 and 300mm. I can't honestly think of anything else I would need. Oh...also taking my MacBook Pro so I can offload my SD cards daily and spend the evening processing images whilst enjoying a pint or two...or three The backpack is heavy but it only contains the essentials and I can't think of one thing I won't use so the weight is a necessary evil. I could use to lose a few pounds though so perhaps it's a blessing in disguise

02-14-2018, 07:40 AM	#55
hadi Veteran Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Mississauga, Ontario Posts: 563	Keep in mind that the scottish rain can be unpredictable. When we climbed the old man of storr, weather said itll be clear skies and warm and not windy. That was true on the base. As we got higher, it changed drastically. Hail, wind, snow, rain, all kept changing. We were so high up that we couldnt find shelter or wait out the storm. Same goes for the fairy pools. Day called for cloudy with very little chance of rain. We got about 30mm of rain within an hour. Then continued raining more for the next 2 hours. Pics with fog created very dramatic landscapes And take lots of ziplock bags to be careful

02-14-2018, 11:44 AM	#56
awscreo Veteran Member Join Date: May 2016 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,722	Heaving back home now, I've used 15-30 for 90% of my shots, used the 70-200 once, and the fast prime twice. Lesson for me - just take two zooms next time dummy!

02-14-2018, 12:06 PM	#57
Special Ed Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Kingston, WA Posts: 35 Original Poster	hadi - I will be sure to heed your advice. Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope you had a good time in spite of the rain. Skye is beautiful. awscreo - If the 10% of the time you used lenses other than the 15-30 yielded photographic gold, I'd say it was worth the effort. I hope you have a safe trip home.

02-14-2018, 01:32 PM	#58
gaweidert Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Rochester, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,325	I always take a laptop with me plus a spare external hard drive. Each evening I download my stuff onto the laptop hard drive and then make another copy onto the external hard drive. So that by the end of the day I have 4 copies. The two SD cards, one on the laptop and one on the external hard drive. If need be, the SD cards can be formatted for reuse and I still have two copies of the files. Probably too much, but it only take a few minutes while winding down at the end of the day.

02-14-2018, 03:30 PM	#59
Special Ed Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Kingston, WA Posts: 35 Original Poster	I hadn't considered taking my external HD with me but it's small enough that it wouldn't really take up much more space.

02-14-2018, 07:28 PM	#60
awscreo Veteran Member Join Date: May 2016 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,722	Originally posted by Special Ed hadi - I will be sure to heed your advice. Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope you had a good time in spite of the rain. Skye is beautiful. awscreo - If the 10% of the time you used lenses other than the 15-30 yielded photographic gold, I'd say it was worth the effort. I hope you have a safe trip home. Well the 9% was with 28-105 Thanks for the wishes friend!