What lenses to take on a Canadian road trip?

J13ERO

J13ERO

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James
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Hi folks,

Im off on a road trip in Canada in late summer around BC and Alberta. I am a little unsure on what lenses to take?

I currently own a Tamron 15-30 f3.5, Nikon 24-70 and a Nikon 50mm.

These will be used on a D800 and my thinking was to take the 15-30 because I mainly focus on landscapes however I was wondering about something with more reach for bears, whales and birds etc but not sure what to go for?
Nikon 70-300
Sigma 150-600??

Or any other suggestions??

Thanks
James
 
I was there in September and had the same quandary - wide for the stunning landscapes, long for the wildlife...

In practise, a lot of the wildlife was actually pretty close, I only had a 200mm on a full-frame and was fine for Elk, and pretty good for bears... Would've liked longer for some of the birds (Great Grey Owls everywhere), and I don't think you ever (intentionally) get near to wolves so something 400+ would be required for them.

I had to trade this off with also carrying a toddler, so didn't want a mega-long lens to lug around, and have 42mp to play with in terms of crop, 200mm was fine.
I also wasn't on a dedicated wildlife trip, so again anything longer/bigger would've been a pain.
 
That's interesting to know, the 150-600 I looked at was a very big lens but would be great for the wildlife I think however my main focus is on the landscapes! My girlfriend will kill me if I don't get some snaps of the wildlife though!!
 
Last time I was in Vancouver and Whistler I almost exclusively used my 21mm Zeiss for landscapes and 24mm TS-E for architecture, so your 15-30 should be ideal.

I also had my 70-200, which I used when whale watching. It would have been nice to have something longer for this, but for me landscapes were the priority. It seriously struggled for eagles seen on the same trip, and required heavy cropping, but these were just bonus record shots more than anything.
 
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And if you're booking a whale watching trip, I'd recommend going on a RIB rather than the larger boats. Theyre faster and more manueverable, and seeing the busy larger boats out at the same time I definitely think I got better photo opportunities from the RIB. Also much easier to shoot to either side
 
My 3 lens kit for FF (D750) is Sigma 12-24, Nikkor 24-120 f/4 and 70-300 VR. Covers most bases while being just about light enough to carry around.
 
J.D. said:
And if you're booking a whale watching trip, I'd recommend going on a RIB rather than the larger boats. Theyre faster and more manueverable, and seeing the busy larger boats out at the same time I definitely think I got better photo opportunities from the RIB. Also much easier to shoot to either side
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This is great advice thank you very much!! [emoji106]
 
Nod said:
My 3 lens kit for FF (D750) is Sigma 12-24, Nikkor 24-120 f/4 and 70-300 VR. Covers most bases while being just about light enough to carry around.
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How do you find the 70-300? It was one of my considerations. For £400-£500 it's not a bad price!
 
I went a couple of years back & took a superzoom plus kit lens & 50mm (on crop). I ended up using the kit lens for landscapes all the time because the image quality was better. There were just a couple of occasions when I wanted a longer lens, and the equivalent of 70-300 would have been fine. A 24-120 would be perfect for almost everything, and Nod's kit would pretty much cover all extreme bases. The one time I used the 50mm prime was in the Reynolds car museum in Wetaskiwin with our Canadian friends.
 
J13ERO said:
How do you find the 70-300? It was one of my considerations. For £400-£500 it's not a bad price!
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Hard to beat at the price level. IMO it feels better than the 3rd party options, although the results are all but indistinguishable. Like almost all the cheaper less expensive options, it doesn't do the D800 full justice but resist the temptation to pixel peep and it does the job just fine! £300 should find you a good 2nd hand one on a dealer's shelf (seen one this afternoon...)
 
Nod said:
Hard to beat at the price level. IMO it feels better than the 3rd party options, although the results are all but indistinguishable. Like almost all the cheaper less expensive options, it doesn't do the D800 full justice but resist the temptation to pixel peep and it does the job just fine! £300 should find you a good 2nd hand one on a dealer's shelf (seen one this afternoon...)
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I'll definitely look into the 70-300 range of lenses, I do like to try and stick to nikons where I can!

Does anyone have any suggestions for anything over the 300mm mark??
 
The 80-400 is a cracker.
Im in the same boat as Im flying out to Vancouver at the end of August. Wondering whether to take D500 and lenses or to go for something much lighter.
Not fancying carting around a bunch of lenses.
 
J13ERO said:
I'll definitely look into the 70-300 range of lenses, I do like to try and stick to nikons where I can!

Does anyone have any suggestions for anything over the 300mm mark??
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If I was going to keep using the Nikon system as my main travel system (now mainly Fuji for portability), I'd have the Nikkor 200-500 f/5.6. Had the Sigma 150-500 OS but it's not a light lump (but nothing of that length is!) and I wasn't convinced by the results. The 70-300 is long enough for my needs/wants from the Nikons and I have the Fuji 100-400 and a couple of teleconverters for long shots (and a couple of bridges for even longer!)
 
try the nikon 28-300 it will cover 95% of your needs and if you take a crop body as well as the d800 it will give you the extra reach without having to take more lens's
 
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