Lens selection for a trip to Hawaii

[swapnesh]

Hello All,

I am planning a trip to Hawaii around thanksgiving. I wanted to get some advise on what lenses I should consider taking on my trip. I enjoy taking almost every kind of pictures but landscape, wildlife and candids are my favourites, I have recently started to dabble into macro photography with ring attachments (nothing fancy).

I have a Rebel XSI with 18-55, 70-300 and 50 prime lense. Looking for the forum members recommendations on any other lenses that I should take and lense rental places.

Thanks in advance for all your input

Swapnesh

[kirbinster]

Based on what you say you want to shoot I would go with your two zooms and skip the 50mm - how much do you want to carry?

I just did a trip to Las Vegas with stops at Death Valley, Hoover Dam, and a few other parks not to mention the Stip. I took my D700 and 28-300VR lens - just did not want to carry lots of other stuff. Don't forget that even without a real wide lens you can shoot lots of sequenced shots and stitch them into very nice panos when you get home.

[dlambert]

That sounds about right. I'd toy with renting a wide-angle lens (10-22 or thereabouts), but kirbinster's right about the pano, especially if you can find an effective way to support the camera between shots.

I'm not sure I'd plan on a lot of macros -- they always seem to suck up all sorts of time to set up, etc., and you're probably going to want to keep moving while you're there, right?

In any event, have fun and post some shots when you get back!

[DanielLane]

Which island you coming out to? I live on Kauai (the best island of course!).

Drop the 50mm unless you plan to do some portraits or something while here. The other two lenses are great, but something even wider would be nice for some landscapes. I use my Tokina 11-16mm quite a bit. But the 18mm is plenty wide for a lot of landscapes if you don't have a wider one.

If you want to shoot surfers though, the 300mm will get you pretty close, but most land based surf photography is done with 500mm's and quite often with a teleconverter to boot.

Now as to filters! The darkest neutral density filter you can lay your hands on would be fantastic for shooting the waterfalls. You totally need it for the long exposure thing on the waterfalls. The light can be pretty bright, so you need to dampen the heck out of it for the soft silky water effects. And don't forget the tripod!

A nice split neutral density is a must! You need it to darken out the sun when shooting the sunrise or sunset. Every time you try to shoot the sunrise or set with out one, the sun will get crazy blown out and the foreground will be fine, or the sun will be fine but you won't see the foreground at all. Especially important when you shoot the sunset seascapes and all that.

If you are coming to Kauai, you could look up Kauai Photo Tours. I work there as a tour guide sometimes. We take people out to cool locations for photography. Places most people won't find on their own.

Remember, November is the beginning of the rainy season, so some kind of rain protection for your camera is always a great idea.

And lucky you! You will be here for the whales! The first whale of the season was just spotted off of the Big Island a few days ago! If you can get out on a boat tour somewhere, you will really want that 300mm to shoot the whales!

[swapnesh]

Thanks for all your suggestions! I was on the fence for taking a macro lense and your comments about the setup time has convinced me to ditch that idea. I will look into renting a wider angle lense if I can get for a reasonable price.

Daniel -- We looked at going to Kauai first but then finally settled on the Big Island because of the Volcano National Park. We are spending half of our time by Volcano National Park and other half by Kohala Coast. Any recommendation on similar photo tours on the Big Island and / or places to stay by the Volcano National Park.

Again, thanks for all your suggestion! I will be posting some pics after the trip.

Cheers
Swapnesh

[oldwolf]

Are you staying in Volcano Village? There's a cool B&B there called My Island Bed and Breakfast Inn. The owners can give you tips and directions on where the active lava flows are. They were very knowledgeable and friendly. They had info on just about anything on the Big Island and even gave us estimated times that it would take to go to different locations.

We'll definitely stay there the next time we go to the Big Island.

I'd leave the 50 but probably take a macro with me. If you like pictures of tropical fauna and flora then you'll want a macro. It doesn't take that long to set up the shots. We took tons of macros and still had time to do the typical landscapes and surf shots and things like that. It just depends on what you're interested in.

The lava tube was pretty cool. Bring flashlights and/or a headlamp if you want to go into the unlit area. We had headlamps and it was pretty cool. You can get a neat shot from the unlit areas into the bright area beyond the gate as well.

We hiked down into the lava lake one morning to catch the sun streaming into the lava lake. It's a bit of a hike but well worth it so you don't get that glaring sun pounding on you.

You'll have a great time. Stay safe and stay dry.

[swapnesh]

Originally Posted by oldwolf

Are you staying in Volcano Village? There's a cool B&B there called My Island Bed and Breakfast Inn. The owners can give you tips and directions on where the active lava flows are. They were very knowledgeable and friendly. They had info on just about anything on the Big Island and even gave us estimated times that it would take to go to different locations.

We'll definitely stay there the next time we go to the Big Island.

I'd leave the 50 but probably take a macro with me. If you like pictures of tropical fauna and flora then you'll want a macro. It doesn't take that long to set up the shots. We took tons of macros and still had time to do the typical landscapes and surf shots and things like that. It just depends on what you're interested in.

The lava tube was pretty cool. Bring flashlights and/or a headlamp if you want to go into the unlit area. We had headlamps and it was pretty cool. You can get a neat shot from the unlit areas into the bright area beyond the gate as well.

We hiked down into the lava lake one morning to catch the sun streaming into the lava lake. It's a bit of a hike but well worth it so you don't get that glaring sun pounding on you.

You'll have a great time. Stay safe and stay dry.

Thanks for the info and tips oldwolf!