Fredo
12-10-2012, 12:11pm
Hi All,
have just landed back home(yesterday) after 6 weeks travelling around Europe and thought I should share with you my thoughts on what gear I would take if I were to do the same trip again now . .
I asked for suggestions from those of you who have done a bit of travelling and did take notice some of the advice, but didn't listen to some too . .and now wished I had.
Briefly, the trip was a 28 days Bus Tour around France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Holland.
Followed by a week in London to visit the Relies' and do some sightseeing and a few days in Singapore on the way home.
Camera
So, camera choice was either the D300 or the D5100.
Most of you suggested I take the D5100 for weight saving . . . I took the D300.
I don't regret my decision at all as I know this camera really well, can change most setting quickly without looking away from the eyepiece, and well . . I just love it and trust it.
Next time though I will take the lighter D5100 option as suggested.
I'm not a video type person but there were a couple of times I took video and had to use the Wifes' little Panasonic DMC-ZS10 compact. (Which incidentally, produced bloody amazing quaity pictures!)
Lenses
Most of you suggested the 18-105 which I took and it seldom left my camera . . brilliant choice, thank you.
Did take the 70-300 . . waste of time, never used it.
Also took the 50mm F1.4 prime . . did use it but probably not enough to bother with next time.
The MUST HAVE that you said I will miss not having is an Ultrawide Zoom and you were exactly right! The first Cathedral visit convinced me of that.
If I were going again tomorrow I would be looking specifically for a Sigma 8-16, no question. The only reason I didn't buy one OS was the announcement of the D600 . .
Accessories
Gorilla Grip and Joby ballhead were fantastic. Clamps to rails, sign posts, chair backs, anything! I did miss not having a tripod for the night shots of the cities but the Gorilla Grip was a terrific alternative.
Next time I'll take either my Laptop or a Netbook PC rather than a tablet. The tablet is a handy thing but too underpowered for the churning process of copying large files to a portable HDD, and I could have done a fair bit of editing on the bus if I had Lightroom available.
Bags. I carried all my gear in a backpack as 'carry-on' but took a smaller shoulder bag too. And while this combo worked well, next time I will probably take a sling type bag like the Lowepro Slingshot.
CPL Filter was used a bit and I have been trying a DIY variable ND filter with mixed results. (reveresd the glass in another CPL filter and screwed both together, more testing required)
Used the SB-700 Flash enough times to warrant taking it again.
And that is probably it.
Fred :th3:
have just landed back home(yesterday) after 6 weeks travelling around Europe and thought I should share with you my thoughts on what gear I would take if I were to do the same trip again now . .
I asked for suggestions from those of you who have done a bit of travelling and did take notice some of the advice, but didn't listen to some too . .and now wished I had.
Briefly, the trip was a 28 days Bus Tour around France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Holland.
Followed by a week in London to visit the Relies' and do some sightseeing and a few days in Singapore on the way home.
Camera
So, camera choice was either the D300 or the D5100.
Most of you suggested I take the D5100 for weight saving . . . I took the D300.
I don't regret my decision at all as I know this camera really well, can change most setting quickly without looking away from the eyepiece, and well . . I just love it and trust it.
Next time though I will take the lighter D5100 option as suggested.
I'm not a video type person but there were a couple of times I took video and had to use the Wifes' little Panasonic DMC-ZS10 compact. (Which incidentally, produced bloody amazing quaity pictures!)
Lenses
Most of you suggested the 18-105 which I took and it seldom left my camera . . brilliant choice, thank you.
Did take the 70-300 . . waste of time, never used it.
Also took the 50mm F1.4 prime . . did use it but probably not enough to bother with next time.
The MUST HAVE that you said I will miss not having is an Ultrawide Zoom and you were exactly right! The first Cathedral visit convinced me of that.
If I were going again tomorrow I would be looking specifically for a Sigma 8-16, no question. The only reason I didn't buy one OS was the announcement of the D600 . .
Accessories
Gorilla Grip and Joby ballhead were fantastic. Clamps to rails, sign posts, chair backs, anything! I did miss not having a tripod for the night shots of the cities but the Gorilla Grip was a terrific alternative.
Next time I'll take either my Laptop or a Netbook PC rather than a tablet. The tablet is a handy thing but too underpowered for the churning process of copying large files to a portable HDD, and I could have done a fair bit of editing on the bus if I had Lightroom available.
Bags. I carried all my gear in a backpack as 'carry-on' but took a smaller shoulder bag too. And while this combo worked well, next time I will probably take a sling type bag like the Lowepro Slingshot.
CPL Filter was used a bit and I have been trying a DIY variable ND filter with mixed results. (reveresd the glass in another CPL filter and screwed both together, more testing required)
Used the SB-700 Flash enough times to warrant taking it again.
And that is probably it.
Fred :th3: