What is your travel kit?


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le petit prince

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Jan 26, 2004
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A bit late to post this, since I'm off tomorrow night..

But just curious to know and maybe learn from you guys!

I got my K100D only in late January this year, and have brought it along with me to Penang and Australia.

At the time, I only had the 18-55 kit, 50 and 50-200 for Penang; and added the 21mm for Australia (dropping the 18-55). All in a sling-bag, no tripod. I'm the type who likes a small-ish DSLR + a prime lens in my hands.

But for upcoming backpacking travel, I look at my expanded lens collection, and wondering what to drop. Plus I just got a tripod carrying strap, so will be taking that - and the tripod! - along. What do I shoot? Everything, or a bit of everything - landscapes, portraits, street and even macros.

So for this trip, I'm thinking to bring along all my lenses except the 50-200. Will leave the 50 behind in room when I'm out in daytime. So that leaves the 10-20, 21, 35 and 70 as always with me - I hope it's not overkill!

How do you travel?
 

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Travelling ultra light, I will make do with an 18-250mm covering practically all the common ranges.
But if you want a "prime" holiday I would think DA21mm, DA40mm, DA70mm and FA50/1.4 (in order of priority).
 

Thanks, aircovent.

The problem is, by traveling "light" (which I like!).. I mean the camera + lens that is actually IN my hands. I know carrying a collection of 3,4 lenses in a bag is no longer as light.

I have an aversion to zooms; I avoid them as far as possible. Not that zooms are bad. It's just that a good, fast zoom - with the quality I want - is just too big for me. And even the excellent all-rounder 18-250 makes me feel too conspicuous.

I won't be sneaking around, and I'll in fact ask people first as far as possible before I take their photos, but a big zoom always makes me go 'eeeww'. Not sure why, maybe it's my own psychological issue :p
 

A bit late to post this, since I'm off tomorrow night..

But just curious to know and maybe learn from you guys!

I got my K100D only in late January this year, and have brought it along with me to Penang and Australia.

At the time, I only had the 18-55 kit, 50 and 50-200 for Penang; and added the 21mm for Australia (dropping the 18-55). All in a sling-bag, no tripod. I'm the type who likes a small-ish DSLR + a prime lens in my hands.

But for upcoming backpacking travel, I look at my expanded lens collection, and wondering what to drop. Plus I just got a tripod carrying strap, so will be taking that - and the tripod! - along. What do I shoot? Everything, or a bit of everything - landscapes, portraits, street and even macros.

So for this trip, I'm thinking to bring along all my lenses except the 50-200. Will leave the 50 behind in room when I'm out in daytime. So that leaves the 10-20, 21, 35 and 70 as always with me - I hope it's not overkill!

How do you travel?
10-17mm or 70-150/210 zoom, 21,43,70 1.7x tc........
 

personally, for travel, will dump all the primes. they are not very useful because you don't really always have time to run around to recompose. zooms are the way to go. for me, i go with the 10-20 and the 50mm most of the time. right now i'm thinking perhaps i should also bring along the 35-80.. i like the range.. :)

for you, maybe you can consider 18-55, 50-200 and a 50mm for the speed?
 

personally, for travel, will dump all the primes. they are not very useful because you don't really always have time to run around to recompose. zooms are the way to go. for me, i go with the 10-20 and the 50mm most of the time. right now i'm thinking perhaps i should also bring along the 35-80.. i like the range.. :)

for you, maybe you can consider 18-55, 50-200 and a 50mm for the speed?

Oh hey. Your travel kit is even more minimal than mine!

Sold my 18-55 liao, so no go.

Mmm. Seems most people are zoom-ers on trips. No surprise I guess.

Well, my trips tend to be slow paced, laid-back ones. This one, I'll be spending 3 days awandering by myself in Vientiane.. itself the definition of slow pace, haha! No hurry to recompose, I can take my sweet time to zoom using my feet. Then it's a tedious bus ride up mountains, and past villages.

But I hate the procedure of swapping lenses, yah. And for events, it sure helps to have zooms. from past experience, I find myself on the 21mm most of the time in Oz for walkabout, 50mm indoors, and the 50-200 for animals and macros.
 

For travel, try to go light. If possible, get a cover-all. For example the 18-200 is a good range. If you're going into indoor, for example going into concerts or shows, bring the 50mm for its speed. Bring tripod out only at night. If you leave the hotel in the morning and will not return to the hotel until late at night, then leave the tripod in the coach/bus until after 7pm when u want to take night shots.
 

For me, a 17-70 general purpose zoom with perhaps a couple of ur fav primes for those special shots. Seldom would you really need more than 70mm during travel unless you are into taking candid portraits. A middle-wide prime, i.e 20-30mm is very versatile for a walk-around if you really dun want tat zoom. More than 40mm, its just gets abit too tight for walk-around. As for tripod, my advice is dun bring it unless its really a photographic trip. Even for casual night scenes, a wide angle f2.8 proved quite useful to me.
 

Thanks, all!

What I'll bring then.. packing soon!
Sigma 10-20
DA21
DA35
FA50
DA70

Will leave the 21 and 50 behind in room, depending on what I want to shoot for the day.

Tripod.. erm, first trip with one. I'll see how it goes - either a waste of space and energy, or it makes the difference.

Inspired by this chap actually:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1036&thread=29418830&page=1

If my photos can be a tenth as good, I'm happy liao..

See you all in 2 weeks' time. Hope I get shots good enough to post!
 

I have a sigma 18-50 f/2.8 macro which used to be my favourite "kit" lens.
Since I was infected with the Prime virus, have not been using it for quite a while now.
Its a monster but produce pleasant results.

I find the DA21mm very flexible and wide enough to be a walk about lens. Usually in such situations I do not need the extra zoom. Don't be mistaken, the 18-50 is an excellent lens and produce great images but the DA21 is so light and compact its a joy to use.

For holiday, to save the hassle of changing lens all the time, I do prefer to use the 18-250 although its images are not anywhere near the prime. I get more shots of the kids with the flexibility. Kids just have no patience with lens changing!:)
 

Thanks, all!

What I'll bring then.. packing soon!
Sigma 10-20
DA21
DA35
FA50
DA70

Will leave the 21 and 50 behind in room, depending on what I want to shoot for the day.

Tripod.. erm, first trip with one. I'll see how it goes - either a waste of space and energy, or it makes the difference.

Inspired by this chap actually:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1036&thread=29418830&page=1

If my photos can be a tenth as good, I'm happy liao..

See you all in 2 weeks' time. Hope I get shots good enough to post!


i will skip the 21 and the 35 or 50... u will use the 10-20 and 70 most of the time and 35/50 occasionally... u need better inspiration man... this chap is not half as good as night86mare ;p
 

I think the usefulness of the tripod will depend on whether your destination will provide you with enough low light scenery to shoot. You should bring it if it's a city you're going to, or if sunrise/sunset will be a star attraction. Otherwise it might be worth losing those few low light photo opportunities so you don't have to lug that extra piece of metal around.
 

If I were you, I'd travel light, just bring Sigma 1020, DA21 and DA50200. This would be enough to cover most range. DA21 is far more useful than all your other prime lenses for travel. That's my experience.

Good luck and enjoy the trip :)
 

10-20, 35 and 70 seems to cover everything except the tele end...

10-20 for Landscape/space limited wide angle/special effect
35 for "normal" lens and general speed (the standard "walk around" lens)
70 for portraits and some limited telefoto
 

I was in Vientiane last year with the DS, 18-55, FA50 and 50-200. I had the 50mm on my camera most of the time for walk around shooting street stalls, people and their wet markets which have low lights. In fact, the 50mm is on the camera almost 90% of the time. Used 18-55 for Pha That Luang, the Victory Gate.. and 50-200 for those distant landscape. At some places there, you won't want to change lens too often the road/streets can get very dusty when vechile passed by.

For me, most trips I just carry 2 zooms covering the range 16-200mm.:)
 

Just got my K10D + Pentax M 50mm f1.7 last weekend and wondering about my travel kit.

I'm considering the following combo:
1) Sigma 17-70mm Macro + Sigma 10-20mm/ Pentax 10-17mm Fisheye + Pentax M 50mm f1.7
2) Sigma 10-20mm/ Pentax 10-17mm Fisheye + Pentax M 50mm f1.7

I haven't sampled either UWA, so I'm having trouble deciding. Both have their own applications and learning curves, and I have 5 months till my next holiday. (I'm leaning towards the 10-17, but it doesn't meter on my K10D, I think? Same goes for my MF 50) :sweat:

I brought along my N*kon D70 + 18-70mm for my last holiday and it seemed sufficient at that point of time. Most of the "good" pics were at 25mm and 50mm range.

I'm willing to leave the gaps since I'll be carrying my C*non G9 as backup for snapshots.
 

Just got my K10D + Pentax M 50mm f1.7 last weekend and wondering about my travel kit.

I'm considering the following combo:
1) Sigma 17-70mm Macro + Sigma 10-20mm/ Pentax 10-17mm Fisheye + Pentax M 50mm f1.7
2) Sigma 10-20mm/ Pentax 10-17mm Fisheye + Pentax M 50mm f1.7

I haven't sampled either UWA, so I'm having trouble deciding. Both have their own applications and learning curves, and I have 5 months till my next holiday. (I'm leaning towards the 10-17, but it doesn't meter on my K10D, I think? Same goes for my MF 50) :sweat:

I brought along my N*kon D70 + 18-70mm for my last holiday and it seemed sufficient at that point of time. Most of the "good" pics were at 25mm and 50mm range.

I'm willing to leave the gaps since I'll be carrying my C*non G9 as backup for snapshots.

The 10-17mm is AF so no prob with k10d. The 50 u use the green button the set the meter. since u like 25 and 50, wouldnt it be better to get the 21mm or a 24/28mm to go with the 50?
 

I survived with just the 16-50 and 50-135 in some parts of Europe.
 

I survived with just the 16-50 and 50-135 in some parts of Europe.
"just" is an understatement. These two DA*s are the best walk-around zooms you can have for travel.
 

"just" is an understatement. These two DA*s are the best walk-around zooms you can have for travel.

I'm comparing my gear with the others posting in the thread. Some of them caring 3-4 lenses, so mine is "just 2 lenses".:embrass:
 

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