Lens for travel - 17-50mm F2.8 (Nikon fit)?

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So, we're off to Vietnam on honeymoon in a few weeks, and I don't really want to cart about all of my lenses.

I have - 18-105mm kit lens, 35mm F1.8, 50mm F1.8 and Tamron 90mm Macro F2.8.

I was thinking about getting hold of the Tamron 17-50 F2.8 and just taking that and the 90mm. My thinking is that it's wider than the 18-105mm, and still pretty fast, but not quite as fast as the 1.8s. So I could probably get away with just leaving that on the camera for 90% of the trip and is it for landscapes and people.

Thoughts?

And I've read that the non-VC Tamron has better IQ than the VC one?

Budget of around £400 tops really if anyone can suggest another lens? (or if anyone has one of the above for sale, please say). Any advice much appreciated

ETA - It'll be going on a Nikon D7000.
 
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I have the VC version of the 17-50 and it's plenty sharp. I love mine and rarely take it off of my d7000

Or you could get a rx100 and stick it in your pocket and leave everything else at home :)
 
I think your spot on with considering a faster lens than the 18-105. Went to Vietnam in March and had poor light in the north particularly Hanoi. I'm sure the tamron 17-50 will do the job fine and cover 90% of your shots. Personally I'd take a fast prime as well, the 50mm is a lovely lens for evening street photography giving you a stop and half over the tamron. Enjoy your trip, it's a wonderful place.
 
The Sigma 17-50 2.8 OS would be my recommendation for that kind of lens, and you can get a new one for less than £300 - it's fantastically sharp and the OS is very effective.
 
For travel I often fall back on the 18-105 kit lens, simply for it's range, and for the fact that for landscapes/cityscapes etc... y'know... tourist shots, a wide aperture is not really necessary. I'll usually stick the 35 or 50 in for the odd shallow DOF shot though. Having said that, for my home walkaround lens I have the old non-IS Sigma 18-50 2.8, sourced from TP classifieds a couple of years ago for about 130 quid, and I'd buy another in a second, it's a cracking lens.
 
Hi. I've just sold my tamron 17-50 non VC and d90.

It's a stonker of a lens and very hard to beat for the price. Super sharp, light too.

I'd agree with a fast prime (I've had the 35 and 50 f1.8) as well.

I preferred the 50 to the 35 (although one of my fave shots ever was with the 35) purely because of the focal length. The 35 is very light with great iq.

I also have a sony rx100. I love it but only use it when I don't want to lug the d800 about. It really does fit in the pocket, great iq, shoots in raw and a decent size sensor with good ISO performance.

I have examples from all the lenses/cameras mentioned on my Flickr.

It should be an amazing trip!

Have fun!

S
 
005269 said:
I think your spot on with considering a faster lens than the 18-105. Went to Vietnam in March and had poor light in the north particularly Hanoi. I'm sure the tamron 17-50 will do the job fine and cover 90% of your shots. Personally I'd take a fast prime as well, the 50mm is a lovely lens for evening street photography giving you a stop and half over the tamron. Enjoy your trip, it's a wonderful place.
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Ah good to know :)

Any tips for over there would be appreciated, we've not got a lot booked other than a cruise in Halong Bay at the end of our trip, we're there for 3 weeks and have a 3yo daughter. So I'm limited to how much camera kit I can take as we're winging it really. So I'm not even taking a tripod.
 
I wasn't aware of the Sigma 17-50 when I wrote this, so think I'm about to put an order in for that from WEX after reading the reviews of them both.
 
I also looked at the Sigma, but the extra 40 odd quid put me off. With this being their previous incarnation and not having yet recieved Sigma's 'Art' or 'Contemporary' make over i also dismissed it as their quality control and consistency has been questioned. Alot.

Seemingly if you get a good one it's hard to beat but there are alot of Friday afternoon models. Pot luck i think.

Enjoy your holdiay, sounds great!
 
So, I got the Sigma from WEX. It was brilliant at 50mm but horrendous back-focus at 17mm

So I took it back and swapped it for the Nikon 17-55mm F2.8. No OS, but I can live with that..
 
haha yeah I know..

The Sigma was a little cheaper, hence why I went for that one in the end. But then with the back focus issue, when I took it back into WEX I noticed they had the 2nd hand Nikkor lens in. I tried the Tamron and the Nikkor in store, and ended up going for the latter. Lack of VC/OS might be a downside, but the focus was spot on straight away and a lot quicker than the Tamron.
 
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