Travel Lenses

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Hi All,

Nice broad subject for you all. I did do a quick search and a couple of relevant topics did come up but it was from 2008.

What travel lenses do you take with you on a trip. I'm just curious because I'm thinking of travelling a fair bit in 2015 before I get tied up in a mortgage.

Do you travel light or all out to get the good shots, if so what lenses/focal lengths etc.

Let me know your thoughts.
 
I normally take a quality camera and standard wide aperture prime lens and my LX5.
 
My trusty 24-200 2.8.

Attached to the sony rx10! Covers all the bases for travel.
 
Depending on the trip and purpose, for travel for fun, I usually either take:

- city breaks: 2 out of three of 35, 50 and 85 primes. Usually 35 and 85. Lightweight, small, fast and just... nice. Really nice.
- adventure and mountains - 24-70, 70-200, a 50mm for low light and a baby tripod. Too fast and too many different scenarios to swap, often need weather resistance of the zooms, and thinking about weight too.
 
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Having spent years taking pretty much the full FF SLR kit and watching hand baggage allowances falling, I now take a much smaller kit - last trip was just the X-T1 with 18-135 (took the 10-24 but didn't use it), the Nikon 1 AW (waterproof) and a couple of compacts. Still not certain what I'll take next March since it's a new destination for us and I might need a little extra. Probably just taking the X system and a couple of lenses and maybe a compact or 2.
 
Having hauled an SLR, Sigma 10-20, 18-70 and 70-300 around Australia and New Zealand a few years back, I now rarely take anything more than my Fuji X10 and Iphone on holiday these days. This is primarily because I now have a daughter who I quite often have to carry when she gets tired, and the general focus of holidays is her rather than going to nice photogenic places! That said, I did take a Fuji X-Pro with 18mm and 35mm lenses away this year and the relative lightness of this set up compared to my SLR worked quite well.
 
I will be taking all my kit D610, 20mm,50mm,90mm primes and 28-300mm. I am wondering which lens to have on the camera as I am driving just for the odd 'grab' shot.
 
When I go away, I'm going to take pics, so I take both my lenses, a Nikon 16-85mm, and the Nikon 70-300mm. I find the 16-85mm the perfect lens. It is a bit wider than the usual 18 to something for crop sensors (and there are many :rolleyes:). 2mm makes a big difference imho. And the 85mm overlaps nicely with the 70-300mm so well that I hardly use that lens when I'm away on mostly city breaks.

There have been a few times when I wanted something wider than 16mm, but not very often while I'm away. I did borrow a Sigma 10-20mm for one holiday, and if I could have borrowed one for every trip I would, but for the amount of time I would use it, I wouldn't buy one.
 
24-70mm + 70-200mm and another one or two depending on my plans. Why buy expensive gear to leave it home and use in the local park to shoot pigeons? (Fair enough if you shoot weddings, sport or run a portrait studio :) )
 
I took a D600, Sigma 35mm f1.4 (which was used 90% of the time), Nikon 85mm f1.8D and Samyang 14mm f2.8 when I went to Italy for 10 days last year but it was a bit of a pain at times all that kit.

Currently got the D800 & Tamron 24-70 f2.8 which is a cracker but not sure I'd want to lug it about on holiday.

I'm already considering a smaller setup for a few trips over the next year (Munich, Prague, Berlin, Venice and Budapest!) and I'm actually looking at a smaller DSLR in the Pentax K3 with a few primes.
 
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Depends on what kind of trip.

If it's city, then 5D3 plus Sigma 12-24 and Canon 24-105.

If it's wildlife/landscape (Antarctica, Galapagos, safari) then 5D3, 70D, 12-24, 24-105 and Sigma 50-500. For the latter trips I use a double strap to take the weight and balance things out.
 
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chrism_scotland said:
Currently got the D800 & Tamron 24-70 f2.8 which is a cracker but not sure I'd want to lug it about on holiday.

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It's fine, it all goes in a rucksack and its ok, even carry a tripod in my hands. Given when I go on holiday I really go for photography I want to take the best gear I can. My smallest camera is a D610. The D800 with live view histogram preview just edges it, and its not that different weight wise.

I'd love a series of tack sharp primes but a zoom takes up less space, handy for handluggage allowances
 
I honestly I can't understand this crazy moaning about 1cm extra length and 20g extra weight FFS. The allowance on most airlines is plenty big and I am sure you also take a few pairs of shoes, clothes, laptop, and what not with you. So really what is the problem? The problem will be when you come back with half-baked raw files (pun intended), blurry images, excessive noise, bad focus and missed shots. If it is a beach holiday then it is a beach holiday and you don't moan about camera because you wont be using one.
 
As my kit has evolved, my travel kit changed from...

Nikon D5000 + 18-200 + 35

to

Olympus EM5 + 14-150 + 20

And now I have a Fuji XF1 compact and only use the Olympus for 'occasions'.

I plan to sell all my kit and get a LX100 once the price drops a little.
 
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