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01-28-2012, 06:57 AM   #16
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Traveling equipment

I purchased a Tamron 24-135 several years ago, and, mounted on my K-x, it seems to be the only lens I need on vacation. I also take several spare cards, and an extra set of "ultimate" lithiums so I don't have to worry about recharging batteries. I also take one of my old Canon Powershot s50 "compacts" (anyone who knows this camera knows it is not really "compact"), The Canon takes care of those situations when the 28mm just isn't wide enough, and when walking around with an slr is just not practical or convenient (zip lining or snorkeling, for example). A waterproof case, while bulky, allows safe underwater photos, or in really bad weather. If I have the k-x only, and 28mm is too long, one or two "panorama" shots, to be later stitched and cropped will sometime work.

01-28-2012, 11:53 AM   #17
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QuoteOriginally posted by pxpaulx Quote
I would guess that most hotels should have a safe...all 4 places we stayed in Italy had either a safe with a key or a keypad that you personally set the pin on. I really appreciated having them as I could comfortably leave my netbook, a couple of lenses and some other personal items there while out during the day.
+1 for the hotel safe.

I usually take two film bodies and one wide, two standard and one telephoto lens on my trips. I always leave one body/standard lens in the hotel safe as a backup, when I go out for the day.

Phil.
01-28-2012, 01:44 PM   #18
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QuoteOriginally posted by gcoello Quote
Planning a 30 day trip to Europe later this year. My gear includes my K20D, 18-55 kit lens, M28 2.8, M50 1.4, 28-80 macro and a 70-210. Should I just pack it all into my sling bag and leave the unused lenses back in my hotel or leave anything behind before I go overseas?

Also, any recommendations for storage? I'm leaning towards a couple of 16gb cards, and shooting in jpg only, and hitting the raw button for anything that I might want to play with when I get back.
K20D and kit 18-55 WR are a must.
M28 - not a great lens, you have that FL covered on the kit lens.
M50/1.4 - yep, absolutely for low light.
28-80 macro. - tough one this, I had this lens and it's not brilliant but that's a great range for a holiday.
70-210 - where are you going and what are you going to do/see ? You may or may not need this.

I'd think about hiring (if you are in the USA) an 18-135 WR, good holiday lens. Or a 16-50 and 50-135 for the perfect kit (with your 50/1.4).
01-28-2012, 02:16 PM   #19
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QuoteOriginally posted by DaveHolmes Quote
I'm gonna go for a different tact to every one...

Take the 50 & the 28 and leave everything else...

Enjoy those 2 lenses and the fact that your bag and camera will be nice and light...
That's not a bad strategy, either, but I'd be wishing I had something wider. I sure took a lot of photos at 18mm when traveling with my kit lens, and use my DA15 a ton now that I have that. Much as I love the M28/2.8 and find it a very nice general purpose walkaround lens, I'd feel better about it for documenting a vacation in a foreign land if it were wider.

01-28-2012, 03:28 PM   #20
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QuoteOriginally posted by gcoello Quote
Planning a 30 day trip to Europe later this year. My gear includes my K20D, 18-55 kit lens, M28 2.8, M50 1.4, 28-80 macro and a 70-210. Should I just pack it all into my sling bag and leave the unused lenses back in my hotel or leave anything behind before I go overseas?

Also, any recommendations for storage? I'm leaning towards a couple of 16gb cards, and shooting in jpg only, and hitting the raw button for anything that I might want to play with when I get back.

Now that we have bombarded you with suggestions....I feel sure I can speak for everyone when I say "we" are anxiously awaiting your decision.
01-28-2012, 04:01 PM   #21
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I used an 18-250 for a couple of years. I think the Pentax branded version has better glare resistance than the Tamron one. Recently, I got the 18-135 WR lens and found it plenty long enough for a walk around lens. That's over 200mm full frame equivalent. I totally agree that simplifying is best if you're traveling with others. If I were visiting a lot of old buildings, I'd might add the Sigma 9-16mm for interior shots.

There are pocketable long zooms out now, that DPReview calls travel zoom cameras. 10X - 20X and you can always have one with you. The advantage of a smaller camera is that you're less noticeable to others. The bigger the camera (and bag), the more attention you'll attract.
01-28-2012, 05:09 PM   #22
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QuoteOriginally posted by Marc Sabatella Quote
. Much as I love the M28/2.8 and find it a very nice general purpose walkaround lens, I'd feel better about it for documenting a vacation in a foreign land if it were wider
But if the OP is taking plenty of media storage and his laptop he can stitch easily...
A small bag with less gear is less to carry all day long... Zoom lenses are heavy when they've been round your neck for an hour or so...

01-28-2012, 08:06 PM   #23
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QuoteOriginally posted by Mallee Boy Quote

Now that we have bombarded you with suggestions....I feel sure I can speak for everyone when I say "we" are anxiously awaiting your decision.
London, Rome, Venice, The Dordogne region and Paris to finish. Definitely want to go wide, so if I can come up with the money before hand I'll try to pick up something with an even wider focal length than the kit lens. I'm leaning towards bringing the 50, the kit lens and/or a wider lens (16-45, 12-24, or some other if I can afford one). I think I'll just bring my old Lumix for any tele shots.

Thanks for the advice...you've all given me a lot to think about!
01-28-2012, 09:35 PM   #24
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Dont overlook the Tamron 10-24....not quite as good as the Pentax 12-24...but a lot easier on the bank account. And it is available in Pentax mount ....I know that for certain because one hangs off the front of my Pentax.
Enjoy the trip.
Cheers
Grant
01-28-2012, 10:00 PM   #25
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My suggestion for travel photography is something wide for the landscapes, a standard lens for low light and street photography and zoom with enough reach to capture details with in a landscape. It is nice to take wide angle vistas of the world as we travel and taking pictures of the views will be rewarding. However I feel it is better if you can record better details about why a certain place made you feel the way you did. Having the 50mm will allow you to walk through markets and crowds without a large lens, taking interesting close range detailed shots of people and places. The larger zoom can be used to show detail that would be lost in a wider angle landscape, like a close up of cobblestones or small waterfall etc.
Definitely and without doubt get lots of small SD cards and do not rely on a couple of large ones. Use a laptop, but also back up to an external portable hard drive, as I had my laptop fried by faulty hotel wiring, also if possible upload to the internet any pictures you can pending on what access you might have.
01-29-2012, 12:03 PM   #26
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I'll add my 2 cents:

For travel, lighter is better, especially if you are going to spend any amount of time on foot. I would take just one body and one (max two) lenses unless you have a particular photography project in mind. Consider a small point and shoot as an extra camera when you want to be inconspicuous or don't want to pull out the slr.

Lens wise, I've built up a travel kit around one body, a Tamron 17-50, and various filters for the Tamron. From your collection, I'd bring the 18-55 and the 50mm, although I would consider buying a 16-45 for the wider FOV and constant f4 and leaving the 18-55 at home. I've not found too much use for longer tele focal lengths in my travels, but that's me.

I personally prefer traveling with one large memory card and not ever changing it out. I have a 16gb card that I've yet to fill on several travels with a K7, shooting both raw and video, and I doubt that you would ever fill it shooting jpg, even after a month on the road. I think more cards just increases the chances you will lose one, and having to juggle several flash cards is just one more thing to get in the way of taking pictures.

I would be careful leaving a lot of expensive gear in the hotel room - maybe after they've cleaned it and leave the "do not disturb" sign out. Stash it in your luggage or in a drawer. I've never had anything stolen from my room, but I always have the possibility in the back of my mind.
01-29-2012, 01:09 PM   #27
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QuoteOriginally posted by anthers Quote
I personally prefer traveling with one large memory card and not ever changing it out. I have a 16gb card that I've yet to fill on several travels with a K7, shooting both raw and video, and I doubt that you would ever fill it shooting jpg, even after a month on the road. I think more cards just increases the chances you will lose one, and having to juggle several flash cards is just one more thing to get in the way of taking pictures.
This is a dangerous practice and just because you haven't had anything go wrong yet doesn't mean it won't. Card failure or losing your camera (theft, loss, damage - by water, sun and so on.) etc. can happen. And changing a card every night is hardly juggling ! I always take at least 4 x 8GB with me and back up to a laptop or portable HD and if possible upload your best shots to Dropbox or the like. Cards are cheap .. traveling is not.
01-29-2012, 01:15 PM   #28
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QuoteOriginally posted by Frogfish Quote
changing a card every night is hardly juggling ! I always take at least 4 x 8GB with me and back up to a laptop or portable HD and if possible upload your best shots to Dropbox or the like. Cards are cheap .. traveling is not.
Agreed... I download the card onto the laptop every night, but keep a spare in the room and a spare in my camera bag incase of failure when I'm out!
01-29-2012, 07:22 PM   #29
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QuoteOriginally posted by Frogfish Quote
This is a dangerous practice and just because you haven't had anything go wrong yet doesn't mean it won't. Card failure or losing your camera (theft, loss, damage - by water, sun and so on.) etc. can happen. And changing a card every night is hardly juggling ! I always take at least 4 x 8GB with me and back up to a laptop or portable HD and if possible upload your best shots to Dropbox or the like. Cards are cheap .. traveling is not.
If I was taking pictures for a living I would agree with you, but when I'm traveling for pleasure being neurotic about my gear just gets in the way of having a good time. (I don't travel just to take pictures.) I think it's reasonable to back up the photos to a laptop or online service, but once you do that there isn't much point in carrying multiple cards with you - the flash card is just temporary storage until you can get the photos to a more secure location. At that point, having more cards means more things to lose, more changing cards in the middle of the street, more opportunities for dust to get in the camera, etc.

If you don't back up the photos, I suppose carrying 4 cards around is marginally better than one, but again if you want to cover your bases you should just back up all the photos nightly. If you don't, then you're still out all the photos on whatever card you lost.
01-29-2012, 07:30 PM   #30
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QuoteOriginally posted by anthers Quote
If I was taking pictures for a living I would agree with you, but when I'm traveling for pleasure being neurotic about my gear just gets in the way of having a good time. (I don't travel just to take pictures.) I think it's reasonable to back up the photos to a laptop or online service, but once you do that there isn't much point in carrying multiple cards with you - the flash card is just temporary storage until you can get the photos to a more secure location. At that point, having more cards means more things to lose, more changing cards in the middle of the street, more opportunities for dust to get in the camera, etc.

If you don't back up the photos, I suppose carrying 4 cards around is marginally better than one, but again if you want to cover your bases you should just back up all the photos nightly. If you don't, then you're still out all the photos on whatever card you lost.
Totally agree with this. I only use 32GB cards now, my others are gathering dust or sitting in various P&S cameras. The risk of me loosing one of those tiny SD cards when it is outside the camera is far greater than having a card go corupt, and anyway, that's what nightly backups are for.
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