World Motorbike Trip - Nikon D200 - What Lens / Lenses?!

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Pheebs

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Hey Guys!

More of a browser than a poster here but looking for some advice!

My partner and I are about to embark on Round the World Motorbike Trip for Charity (www.chasinghorizons.co.uk) and are trying to figure out our camera bag!

What we have:
Nikon D200 Base and standard 18-55mm Nikkor Lens

What we plan on taking piccies of:
Motorbike shots (many moving), landscape, portraits and some wildlife.
NB. we are camping around the world so potential for a fair few low light photos (we do have a compact tripod :))

What We Plan on Using Photos For:
We would like to make a decent photobook for our return. Although we're not professionals (me by far... Sam has much more past experience!) I'd certainly like to progress past amateur eventually and Sam would like to be producing some semi pro photos once he manages to recall his photography days! I have a rugged invincible Olympus TG1 for happy snaps too (tell you what.. mega camera. Super impressed so far)

Our Budget:
A total of £500 - £1000

Current Considerations:
Go for an All Rounder:
Nikkor 18-200mm
Keep Nikkor 18 - 55mm as back up

Pros:
One lens which does everything, reasonably priced, less to pack / carry about (not ideal to change lenses in the desert see! ;))

Cons:
It's a jack of all trades and master on none. Good to Okay quality.

Drop the Zoom
Focus on finding something with a lower range (ie 18-120mm). Suggestions would be fab!
Keep Nikkor 18 - 55mm as back up

Pros:
Better quality photos, within budget, less to pack / carry about

Cons:
Loose our ability to shoot wildlife without being eaten.

Get Two New Lenses:
Go for two lenses - one for longer ranges (say 70-300mm) and then get an additional 18-55mm which is better than our current bog standard one

Pros:
More specialised photo ranges (so perhaps better quality... but with our budget maybe we could only afford two lenses which would produce the same as a decent Jack of all trades?)

Cons:
Have to faff about with two lenses, more to pack.



Any suggestions or thoughts or ideas?! We have read sooooo many reviews, my mind is about to go *pop*... so many are ancient so we don't know if we're missing out on any tricks or what!

Thanks guys and girls :)

Clare and Sam
 
I'd say get a longer zoom & a quality standard one for general use. Most of your shots will fall into this I think, even landscapes despite the fact you won't get super wide.

Get a well padded bag for them incase you decide to hug the Tarmac, you can heal, your camera can't. Take a zip lock bag to change lenses in whilst you're in the desert, make sure you reseal it after.

Take a load of spare cards and batteries incase you find yourself with no where to charge up or back up. In this situation, I'd probably take my netbook solely for use as a backup drive in the middle of nowhere. The battery in it should easily last long enough for several days of shooting and backing up if I don't use it for much else.

Can I come with you? I'd love to do something like this one day :p
 
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There is another option and buy another body like a d5100 with a 55-300mm or 70-300mm. You have a camera each to shoot with, you don't then need to swap lenses you have 2 cameras if something goes wrong with one. The d5100 can shoot at hgher iso's giving you faster shutter speeds for the tele and use the 18-55 on the d200.
 
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Hi guys! I've probably got a bit of experience in this area as I've spent 20 years straight travelling round the world and done several trips round the world in an old Jeep.

For me, one of the main considerations was always size and weight. The best camera is the one you have with you and that is particularly true when travelling. You won't want to keep changing lenses on the fly and when you're out and about you'll want to be able to just pull out the camera and shoot.

I found my opportunities for telephoto shots at the long end were limited compared to wide and mid-range shots. There are times when you'll yearn for a long lens but most of the time you'll be in the wide to mid.

For a trip like yours it's worth taking decent pro-level lenses but they don't necessarily have to be the latest incarnations. If I was doing this over the first two lenses in the bag would probably be two I have in my bag now, namely the Nikon 12-24mm f4 and the 35-70mm f2.8. Most wide angle landscapes you'll tend to do will be during the day when there's light so F4 will be fine. As an "always attached" lens the 35-70mm f2.8 will give you light enough and it's a quick lens to frame and shoot with. It's now discontinued but it's tack sharp, used to be the preferred lens of photo journalists and can be had used for about £250-300 for a good example. Both of the above lenses are small compared to the larger AF-S lenses such as the 17-55, 28-70 and the likes. With the hoods on those lenses are great but bigger than you'll feel comfortable with when on the road. Photo-journalists pull it off but that's their sole reason for being there. This is going to be a secondary part of your trip so make sure the lenses are comfortable enough not to be a total PITA.

Finally, I'd probably look for a 300mm f/4 ED lens and maybe take a teleconverter. You'll not want to lug anything bigger around and that combo will give you a reasonable reach in a size that's about as compact and robust as you'll get. You should be able to get those 3 lenses used at around your budget and chuck in the extra for the teleconverter.

Another thing to think of is how you carry your kit. Try not to put it into a bag that screams "photo gear" if you don't want to attract problems. I tend to use a Domke bag or a canvass sports bag with photo inserts. Try not to look like a tourist as it will never do you any favours. Think about some dust proof solutions for both lenses and camera body as that is a killer in the dry countries and will mess with your kit badly. Might want to invest in a couple of large but portable HDs on which to store your images as the cards will quickly fill up, especially shooting in RAW which is undoubtedly what you'll do.

Have a fantastic trip!!!
 
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Not the sharpest of lenses, but i have the Tamron 18-270mm DII VC. Lightweight and would cover most of your things by the sound of it.
There is a good review somewhere pitting it next to the Nikon 18-200VR

Another option.
 
We have some super awesome hardcore tank bags for the camera so even in the event of a crash it'll take some doing to get to the camera :) We also have some pretty bog standard rucksacks for carrying about so not to draw attention :)

The idea of a D1500 is interesting! Hadn't considered another base! But then, that's another tank bag used up and three cameras... might be complicating things!

WingTsun - amazing to have been travelling! Sounds awesome! Do you have any pictures? Would be great to see what kind of shots you came out with on your lens set up!

Which one would you say was best suited for portraits? I haven't used the likes of teleconvertors before... really worth their use?

Thanks people so far, much appreciated :)
 
when i travel on my bike i just take my LX5 its in my tank bag and i use it as quick to access.
when i took my D700 and 50mm it was just to much trouble getting to it so didnt bother and used the LX instead.

it saves a lot of space and weight as well,believe me you will appreciate it in the end.
 
Pheebs said:
WingTsun - amazing to have been travelling! Sounds awesome! Do you have any pictures? Would be great to see what kind of shots you came out with on your lens set up!

Which one would you say was best suited for portraits? I haven't used the likes of teleconvertors before... really worth their use?

Thanks people so far, much appreciated :)
Click to expand...

Pheebs, I didn't have that set-up when doing the main round the world trips and actually shot most of my stuff on a small Minox 35 ML like this one:

Minox_35ML.jpg

Image Credit: http://www.thecamerasite.net/04_Submini_Cameras/Pages/minox ec.htm

and then a Nikon FM2N with the 35-70mm 2.8. I don't have any of those images accessible at the moment, I'm afraid.

You'll find the 35-70mm perfect for portraits. That's roughly 50-105mm on your camera so spot on portrait range and plenty sharp, too. That's probably the lens that will hang off your camera 75% of the time IME. The 12-24 will fill in when you need wider.

I think for those times when you get a chance to shoot wildlife you'll want to get as close as you can and many of the animals you'll see do not give you the option to move too close. A 400, 500 or 600mm lens is just too big for your kind of travelling so you're really down to the 300mm and a teleconverter.
 
straycat said:
when i travel on my bike i just take my LX5 its in my tank bag and i use it as quick to access.
when i took my D700 and 50mm it was just to much trouble getting to it so didnt bother and used the LX instead.

it saves a lot of space and weight as well,believe me you will appreciate it in the end.
Click to expand...

There's a lot to be said for that, actually. Unless my images were going to be used commercially, if it's just to record the trip I might well opt to take something like the Canon G15 or Nikon P7700. I think I'd definitely have one those two with me anyways so I've always got a camera handy and ready.
 
For my money, I would accept the lens changes in less than ideal conditions over the IQ compromises and slow maximum apertures that a superzoom would give and go for a pair of 2nd hand Sigma f/2.8s - a 24-70 and a 70-200. There might even be enough change left over for a 10-20 as well. Yes, we've all heard stories about Sigmas being soft or misaligned but if you get a good one (buy from bricks'n'mortar and check the copy you'll be buying), I believe they stay good.

Having said that, for travel, I've recently bought myself a Fujifilm HS30EXR. Have a look at Fuji's site for specs etc but in a nutshell, it has a (35mm equivalent) zoom range of 24-720, although in less than perfect light, the AF struggles at the long end - OK up to 450-500mm16MP, full HD video capability and many other features, most of which I'll never use! Way lighter than an SLR kit - the whole HS30 kit in the bag weighs less than the D700 with a Sigma 24-70 mounted on it. Image quality is more than acceptable too - I have done several A3+ prints straight out of the camera from large, fine JPEGs and you'd be hard pushed to tell them apart from ones taken with an SLR. The whole Fuji kit (camera, bag, card, spare battery etc) cost under £400 - another plus!
 
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