Comments on: How to Plan a Photography Trip

By: pavankumar

pavankumar — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:05:02 +0000

wearing a photographer jacket solves my problem.I carry a 50mmlens,a 17-35TOKINA,&28-300with my 5D.

By: peter k

peter k — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:58:21 +0000

Fine article and comments that helped me think about the needed gear again. In two weeks from now I fly for a week and a half to Rotterdam, Haarlem and Hoorn (in Holland), that means both city and nature. I think I should consider a good fast lens, like a 70-200 f2.8 (and I don’t have it!) and a classic telephoto, like the 100-400mm from Minolta (and I don’t have it either !!), so I’ll have to do all the work with a good fast 50mm f1.7 and a walk around 16-105mm. I’ll sure have to move more to find the right distance, but maybe this will help me improve my photos in other aspects also, such as angles, quality of light and composition. Anyway, a whole shooting vacation… it’s almost like a dream that comes true!

By: India Temple Tour

India Temple Tour — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 07:09:18 +0000

Nice post about photographic travel, adventures.

By: Tyler Ingram

Tyler Ingram — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:44:40 +0000

I’ll be heading to Costa Rica in December (birthday + new years) and will be bringing at least 2 lenses. My kit lens (18-55mm IS) and my 70-200mm f2.8L IS. I plan on sleeping with my L lens, but since we’ll be doing a bunch of jungle tours and such I didnt NOT want to bring it.

A vacation without photos and without my camera (to me) is not a vacation ;) haha

By: af

af — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:06:18 +0000

Thank you for pointing out that hotels come at different price points. I would never have known that had I not read this wonderfully informative article. Keep up the good work.

By: Nikhil Rasiwasia

Nikhil Rasiwasia — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:20:26 +0000

Can you elaborate more on the NGO paying for expenses? Any examples on how to pursue this forward?

By: MeiTeng

MeiTeng — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:41:20 +0000

I can’t agree more with Lisa. It’s true you can have a vacation anywhere and not necessarily half way across the globe. I have been visiting a number of places in my own country (Malaysia) and it’s to my own shame that I have never discovered the fact that there’s so much to see and experience until recently when I picked up photography. This new found passion has brought me to places I would have otherwise dismissed in favour or places elsewhere. I am not against vacationing outside of one’s home country though.

By: michael

michael — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:32:37 +0000

I’ll take different lenses but only use one a day. It’s amazing how different a street can look when you only have a 50mm or 100mm lens on your camera. Unless I’m doing nature photography and schlepping the whole kit with me at unholy early hours, the other lenses stay in the hotel.

If you prefer taking staged shots with a tripod then primes are good. Birds, buildings, landscapes, and macro photography lend themselves to primes. However, f you like candid photos, try a wide range, walk-around lens. Tamron and Sigma both have 18-250mm lenses. Haven’t used the Sigma but find my Pentax licensed Tamron covers an amazing range of situations. If I were traveling light, I’d be happy to go with just this lens. I’d lose the macro of the 100mm and the speed of the f1.4 50mm prime. I’d have no extreme wide angle or long telephoto, but still cover 90% + of situations. Surprisingly, the optics are sharper than any kit lens I’ve seen on any brand. I have a friend who swears by his Nikon 18-200mm lens for the same reason. The new Sigma has optical stabilization if you don’t have it built into your camera body.

No, these zooms are not as sharp as primes, but mine is still more than good enough. With a little post processing I can get nice crisp prints that fit any space I can find on my walls. And for candid and street photography the versatility makes up for it, and shooting is fast. Don’t forget fast. From having my camera slung over my shoulder, I can turn it on, slip the barrel lock off, zoom, focus and shoot in three to four seconds. No worrying if I have the right focal length. No wishing I could stand in the middle of a street to get the right distance. No trying to get close to skittish subjects. No missing the moment because I don’t have the right lens for the situation attached to the body. No digging through my bag when I’m in a hurry to catch a special moment.

I carry an extra battery and a card or three in a pocket and maybe a flash if I’m wearing cargo pants or a vest. I’ll use a polarizer if I’m doing nature or water photos. Add a small plastic gray card on a string around my neck and I’m off and running. Simplicity can free you from concentrating on gear and focus more on taking pictures.

By: LisaNewton

LisaNewton — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:12:53 +0000

I totally disagree with Ilan. I live in the city, photograph the city, and write about the city. Currently I only own two lens, my 18-50 and a 70-300, and I use both of them liberally.

Although I’m never against a vacation, I truly believe “vacations” can be found in your own backyard, or city in my case………………..:)

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 01:05:52 +0000

I’d like to see a followup post looking at what camera gear you should take on such a trip.

With regards to lenses, it really depends what sort of photography you’ll be doing. I recently spent a few weeks in the Canadian Rockies, and took three lenses – wide angle, long zoom, and mid-range zoom.
I used the wide angle most, primarily for landscapes. The long zoom got a fair bit of use for wildlife shots, and the mid-range zoom got a small amount of use too.