Hi Myoplex,
I was in Eygpt last year around Oct. Very beautiful place and tons of photo opportunities. One thing to note is that it is very common practise for pple to ask for money after you take a picture of them….. I wanted to take a picture of the camels with the pyramids in the background, but then I saw another tourist doing that, he was pestered by the owner of the camel for money…. He refused to pay and it just got nasty after that. After that, I either take pictures of pple when they are not looking or I will just pay them a small sum of money. I gave anything from S$0.50 to US$1 each time.
At the pyramids, it IS very very sandy. I was using my newly bought Canon 300D with the kit lens. I did not cover with plastic bag or anything. My lens had a filter on, which I feel was essential. I remember having to brush off all the sand almost every night coz a lot of the attractions are in the desert. So, only change lens when you are on the bus or in the hotel. In the city is fine too, although the city has other pollutants other than sand. My camera and lens are still working fine until now after the 10days trip…. (although I’m using the 17-40L now, should have bought it before the trip!!!). Do bring your polariser along, the sky is a beautiful blue most of the time and the sunrises and sunsets are amazing especially along the Nile
Are you doing a cruise along the Nile? I did a couple of days cruise as a lot of attractions are actually near the Nile
In Cairo, the museum is enormous… I feel its not possible to finish in one day. You can take pictures in the museum except in this room where they house real mummies(very eerie) … You have to leave your camera outside and also pay additional money to get in. There is another room where they display treasures found in a grave and you cannot use flash… That’s where I whipped out my 50mm 1.8 and put it to good use……
There is another place where I recommend you to go in Cairo is Khan Al-Khalili. It is a open air bazaar which many locals gather at night. It was extremely crowded when I went there at night as it was Ramadan… I was worried about theft so to avoid drawing attention to my camera, I initially hid my camera in my jacket in front of me and kept the zip up. A few of the locals saw that and started teasing me, shouting, ‘ Excuse me sir, are you pregnant?’ it in fact attracted more attention. After that, I just sling my camera over my shoulder… nobody even looked at it after that…. I asked my tour guide and he mentioned that the only thing to worry about is the occasional pick pocket… snatch theft are almost unheard off.
The locals there are quite loud and rowdy, but are actually quite friendly. Just show them respect and practice the same caution as you would when traveling to other touristy spots in the world.
BTW, if you are wondering what equipment I brought for the trip. I brought my Canon 300D (then only about 1 month old), 18-55mm lens, 50mm 1.8 lens, 70-300mm Tamron lens. I also brought along my X-drive portable storage. I only brought one 256 CF card and a 32 CF card. I ended up using about 5gig worth of storage space in the X-drive and about 2000 to 3000 plus pictures. If you like, I can post some of my pics…. Although I was still quite a amateur then.. (maybe even now!!!)
WAH!! I didn’t realise I wrote so much…. All in all, I must say it was quite a enjoyable and memorable trip.