the right gear

[christiand]

Hi everyone,

I'm asking for a little advice.
I'm going overseas next week for a while and weight and space does matter.
I'm trying to make the right choice about what lenses to carry with me with my D200.
I'm considering the 12-24mm and 50mm f1.8 or 28-70 f2.8 plus 70-200mm VR plus TC17E.
My thought is to leave the bulky and heavy 28-70mm at home and take the 50mm with me instead.
I probably can compensate for the 28-70mm capabilities by cropping or moving when using the 50mm.
Is this a good approach or am I missing something ?

Thanks a lot for your help,
CD

[losfp]

That is pretty much the same kit I am bringing next month to Alaska

Tokina 12-24, 50/1.8 and 70-200 w/ 1.7 TC.

I would love to bring the Tamron 28-75, but I doubt I will be doing many people/portrait shots while I am away.

[Oz_Beachside]

sounds reasonable, the 28-70 is bulky and heavy. If you are not planning on doing a lot of portraiture, then perhaps leave it behind.

if you are doing some "touristy" things, a zoom can be nice for a little flexibility in focal length.

[christiand]

thanks very much people,

I'm getting confirmation from you lot on my thoughts.

Cheers,
CD

[stubbsy]

Christian

I had a similar decision to make when I went to NZ for 3 weeks in Feb. I took 10.5 fisheye, 12-24, 28-70 and camera plus batteries and adapters etc all packed in my slingshot 200 as cabin luggage. I took the 70-200 separate as cabin luggage. I didn't find this limited my shots in the slightest. The 28-70 got the greatest workout then the 12-24 and well behind the 70-200 and the 10.5. While the 10.5 is tiny the 70-200 is not, but I'm off to NZ again in October and I'm still taking it since there are times when it gives me the reach I need and I'd have missed some great shots. Here is a graph I have shown here previously showing for my North Island shots what I used technically. You'll see the 28-70 was critical for me despite it's bulk. And for anyone familiar with my work I don't do people shots so this is in stark contrast to comments above about the lens being of benefit principally for people.

[ATJ]

Wow, Peter, and I thought I was nerdy.

Do you have some way to automagically extract that from the EXIF or other information that Nikon store with the images?

[stubbsy]

Wow, Peter, and I thought I was nerdy.

Thank you

Do you have some way to automagically extract that from the EXIF or other information that Nikon store with the images?

I used a program called Exposure Plot. It's biggest downside is that it needs jpegs. To get the graphs above I used iMatch to batch convert the shots I took in the north Island to jpeg then fed them to this prog. When I'm done with the south island I will be repeating this exercise with my entire north & south island shots but for the keepers only.

[ATJ]

Thanks Peter. That looks very interesting.

Have you thought of setting the camera to save RAW and JPEG? That way you'd have all the images already (and if you don't want the JPEGs you could discard them later). Of course, it would take up a bit more storage, but probably only 10-15% more.

[christiand]

Hi Peter,

thanks a lot for your information - very illustrating.
Now I have to think through this all over again

Regards,
Christian

[Suri]

When you have to lug it - weight has got to be a major consideration.
Whilst I admire the magnificent works presented by Stubbsy from his NZ trip - I would very much have missed my 70-200 when I was there.

I consider the telephoto to be as much a part of my landscape kit as the 17-35 - but each to there own.

Your on the right track with 1xwide and 1xlong and the 50mm to make up the difference, especially if you have to carry.

Personally I don't feel comfortable sticking the Heavy Artillery (70-200) in peoples faces - it is so NOT DISCRETE, unless your well hidden.

Interested to know what the summary of your data collection and analysis is Stubbsy ?
Does it influence your equipment and setting decisions ?

[christiand]

Hi Suri,

I'm going to stick with my initial choice: 12-24mm , 50mm and 70-200mm.
This is travelling a bit lighter and I can also seperate the gear and whilst cycling around lake Constanze I don't have to carry all the weight.

Thanks everyone for your input, thanks a lot to stubbsy for your link.

Regards,
Christian