What are the good recommended lens for travel pictures?

[Adammax]

everyone call 18-200/18-135...'travel len', but..
think about it, u got a 18-200 and a few high quility prime lens, you are travling to somewhere that you may never been there again. will you bring the 18-200 only and leave the quility lens home?

Hmz... have to disagree on this. If we're going for photographic assignment, yes, we'll quality lens. For leisure, we cant be stationing at 1 point to wait for the perfect moment, perfect light and perfect glass. It totally kills the objective of a holiday.

Most of the time, its snap and go. A leisure activity. To enjoy the country's culture.Thats holiday, IMO.

 

[geraldtanak]

Well, i've never personally used the 18-55mm kit lens. But with VRII as well as ED elements in the 18-200mm, i'm inclined to think the IQ should be comparable if not better than the 18-55 over the same range? Anyone care to share their opinions?

Took a peek at the MTF charts on Nikon website...quite convincing as well.

Cheers

On the same topic.. i'm itching to change my travel setup to 17-50mm tammy, 50mm f/1.8 + 70-300mmVR. My interest are people (candid/portrait), angles/perspectives and some scenery. 300mm is for the occasional bird or plane spotting.

Anyone using similar setup for travelling can comment on this vs using just a 18-200mm + 50mm?

 

[geraldtanak]

Hmz... have to disagree on this. If we're going for photographic assignment, yes, we'll quality lens. For leisure, we cant be stationing at 1 point to wait for the perfect moment, perfect light and perfect glass. It totally kills the objective of a holiday.

Most of the time, its snap and go. A leisure activity. To enjoy the country's culture.Thats holiday, IMO.

Gd point. Guess it boils down to a person's interest as well as purpose of the holiday. When i went to Uluwatu in Bali, had to switch from portrait to scenery to telephoto to capture a seagull swooping by all in couple of minutes. No time for lens change... haha

 

[jtchoy]

Well, i've never personally used the 18-55mm kit lens. But with VRII as well as ED elements in the 18-200mm, i'm inclined to think the IQ should be comparable if not better than the 18-55 over the same range? Anyone care to share their opinions?

Took a peek at the MTF charts on Nikon website...quite convincing as well.

Cheers

Hmm... More complications for me... :bsmilie:

I'll guess I'll keep thinking about it till my cruise next week. Maybe I'll toss a coin on the day itself. :bsmilie:

 

[Blur Shadow]

My travel kit consists of the following lenses:
- Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM
- Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical [IF]
- Nikon AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED

A 18-200mm VR is a great lens, IMO. Decent IQ, and very versatile range.

 

[Ghostpipefish]

depends on what type of holiday and what you shoot and what you like and how strong your arms and shoulders are....

i usually carry the 12-24 for landscape and also because at the 20-24mm range, this lens rocks.

18-200 comes in when i want a "do-it-all" and don't have space for the 12-24.

the 80-400 comes in when i am "expecting" some birding time.

so usually, just the 12-24 and the 18-200

yes, and like another bro mentioned, chuck in the 50mm for fun, weighs close to nothing and great joy to use, esp on a D300, super duper fast AF-ing.

have fun deciding, that's part of the fun. you will find your magic formula sooner or later.... the other way is just to bring all your lens on your next vacation then see which one gets more "body time" vs "bag time"

 

[Samie]

Hi,

I am using nikon D300, still new to the camera. Love to take good travel pictures.

Any recommendation on what lens i should buy for travelling and can take wonderful pictures? Thanks!

Hi,

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=442988

I took the pictures in the above link with Nikon 18-200 VR. If you think you can "live" with such "IQ", go for it. I am sure you won't regret it.

I personally think that it is a great travel lens which offers a good range coverage. It is especially useful if you don't want to change the lenses out in the field.

Have fun shooting.

 

[woofmy]

18-200 is a very decent lens for travelling, however, due to the built, it can easily "suck" in dust as you zoom and un-zoom too fast.

I was using 18-70 as my travel lens... beautiful pics and you don't need to pay too much.

 

[tanjonhan]

On the same topic.. i'm itching to change my travel setup to 17-50mm tammy, 50mm f/1.8 + 70-300mmVR. My interest are people (candid/portrait), angles/perspectives and some scenery. 300mm is for the occasional bird or plane spotting.

yeah, but to maintain good IQ over such a long range....its quite impossible...

anyway, personally i feel u should get a wide angle instead, the last time i went for holiday, i brought a 12-24 and 18-200, with the 18-200 just a backup for the rare occasion whereby i needed a tele..

98% of the time i found myself using the 12-24...why? holidays, lets say landscape..yeah...some ppl say in certain cases u need the tele...but that's a minority i feel..u would survive better on a wide...

for street photography, most of the time u will be close up with what you wanna see...buildings/monuments etc....18mm will not be wide enough for you, that's when the 12-24 comes in =)

Of course it depends on the person using the rig too, and if u want the lens that can give the best image quality, well those lenses are probably too heavy for you to wanna carry around ...at least that's what i feel...maybe if u are going purely on a photo trip, yeah sure...you could live with the weight..but if u are going along with the family, and its more of a leisure trip, where photography is just to capture being at that place, its really a "snap and go" like what others have already mentioned...your family/travel mates will not want to wait there for you for 10mins...while u get the pic u wan....yep...

So personally, i would say....12-24..or if u wan 10-20....fisheye would be interesting...and if u are afraid u may need that tele, 18-200...

 

[geraldtanak]

yeah, but to maintain good IQ over such a long range....its quite impossible...

anyway, personally i feel u should get a wide angle instead, the last time i went for holiday, i brought a 12-24 and 18-200, with the 18-200 just a backup for the rare occasion whereby i needed a tele..

98% of the time i found myself using the 12-24...why? holidays, lets say landscape..yeah...some ppl say in certain cases u need the tele...but that's a minority i feel..u would survive better on a wide...

for street photography, most of the time u will be close up with what you wanna see...buildings/monuments etc....18mm will not be wide enough for you, that's when the 12-24 comes in =)

Of course it depends on the person using the rig too, and if u want the lens that can give the best image quality, well those lenses are probably too heavy for you to wanna carry around ...at least that's what i feel...maybe if u are going purely on a photo trip, yeah sure...you could live with the weight..but if u are going along with the family, and its more of a leisure trip, where photography is just to capture being at that place, its really a "snap and go" like what others have already mentioned...your family/travel mates will not want to wait there for you for 10mins...while u get the pic u wan....yep...

So personally, i would say....12-24..or if u wan 10-20....fisheye would be interesting...and if u are afraid u may need that tele, 18-200...

Any thoughts on the 11-16mm vs the 12-24mm? Many seem to favour the 11-16mm for its IQ and fstop.

 

[jlmambo]

Thanks for the overwhelming suggestions!!! I forgot to add that my only lens right now is the nikon 18-200mm lens which alot of pple had also advised me to buy. Looks like I made the right choice for this.

But besides my 18-200mm lens which I will definitely bring along, what are lens is worth bringing along for travelling? I probably can bring another 1 or 2 more lens for travelling.

 

[John Mama]

Jlmambo,

based on the fact that you already have the allrounder lens in the 18-200, I'd take two other lenses with me. One would be an ultrawide, the other would be a prime for low light shots.

For ultrawide, you have the Tokina 12-24 or the 11-16, the Sigma 10-20, or the Nikon 12-24. Bear ni mind that they are all DX lenses, and you won't be able to use them (except in DX mode) if you go to a fullframe.

As for primes, my choice would be probably a 35mm or a 50mm. It depends on what your preference is, and what kind of low light shooting situations you are likely to find yourself in. Several choices here too: Nikon 35 f2 or 50 1.4, Sigma 30 1.4 or 50 1.4, even a Tokina 35 2.8. Even more choices if you want to use some of the excellent older manual lenses heh.

Both the above choices combined shouldn't add to your travel weight much. I'd hesitate to drop either one because their uses are different, and for my travel needs, they'd be essential.

Hope this helps.

 

[robotech]

On the same topic.. i'm itching to change my travel setup to 17-50mm tammy, 50mm f/1.8 + 70-300mmVR. My interest are people (candid/portrait), angles/perspectives and some scenery. 300mm is for the occasional bird or plane spotting.

Anyone using similar setup for travelling can comment on this vs using just a 18-200mm + 50mm?

I'm using about the same setup 17-55 f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8 + 1.4TC, 10-20 f/4-5.6 and 10.5 Fisheye, Maybe you add in a 10.5 fisheye. It's a very good lens and great for taking self portraits if there is no one around to help you. I've used the 18-200 many times but, the IQ just can't compare to the 70-200 wide open.

 

[Lord Soth]

Hi,

As a regular traveller, just wanted to share my experience.

My FF gear is as per my signature. I believe that DX users can still get the same effective focal length with other lenses out there.

Part 1 :- Focal Length
My travel lens is primarily my Nikon 14-24. For travels, you normally go to that foreign place for the scenery (can be landscapes or architectural buildings). In confined touristy places, an ultrawide is really useful as you often do not have the space to back up to take that "perfect" shot if you were using a standard zoom lens.

When I attend concerts, my standard Tamron zoom (28-75) comes in useful.

When I really want to go light, at night, and also don't want to draw too much attention in a foreign country with a BIG EXPENSIVE lens, my Nikon 50mm 1.4 prime makes my setup really travel friendly.

A super zoom lens (the bazooka types) would be most useful if you went on a African safari and wanted to take pictures of wildlife from far away. So don't worry too much about getting (or not getting) a 300mm or 400mm.

Part 2 :- Aperture Size
Another thing most people tend to overlook for a travel lens is the aperture size. You are bound to go to dimly lit museums whereby the exhibits are encased in glass. Using a flash is not recommended due to the reflection. So, in my humble opinion, a 2.8 or better is recommended for a travel lens.

Finally, if you really can't decide on what lens to get, I believe that Thom Hogan mentioned that he uses a Tamron 28-300 (35mm) as a travel lens.

Hope this helps.

 

[nakedtoes]

I would bring my 18-200vr for day shots.. and 30mm f1.4 for night shot or places that do not allows flash. 17-50mm f2.8 is a good choice too..

 

[vince123123]

Agreed, in a holiday, the idea is to snap and go and have fun. Not to sit there, twiddle this, tweak that etc to get the best possible shot.

The 18-200 yields a good enough quality that can satisfy the large majority of holiday goers.

Hmz... have to disagree on this. If we're going for photographic assignment, yes, we'll quality lens. For leisure, we cant be stationing at 1 point to wait for the perfect moment, perfect light and perfect glass. It totally kills the objective of a holiday.

Most of the time, its snap and go. A leisure activity. To enjoy the country's culture.Thats holiday, IMO.

 

[AbangR]

This is what I did: my DSLR body (D40 at the time) with a wide angle lens (10-20mm), plus a decent PnS (Canon S5IS) to handle everything else. So, I didn't have to switch lens, but just switch between cameras for different uses. Both should be on standby as you are shooting. The weight (and price) of a PnS are about the same as one lens.

If I am going now and have the fund to buy camera and lenses, I will probably do: D90 with a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 or 55-200 VR and a Panasonic Lumix LX3.

It's also a good idea to bring a PnS camera, especially if you want other people to take pictures of you. Most people don't know how to operate a DSLR properly.

 

[faineant]

Tamron 18-270 over the 18-200. just slightly slower focusing tt's abt it.

 

[vince123123]

Not sure abt image quality of 18-270 and the additional reach of 70mm...

 

[Dfive]

Hi,

I am using nikon D300, still new to the camera. Love to take good travel pictures.

Any recommendation on what lens i should buy for travelling and can take wonderful pictures? Thanks!

The Nikkor DX 17-55mm f2.8 and FX 20mm f2.8 Combo has taken me every where!!

Climbing to 7000m In the Nepal Himalaya, roaming wild streets of Bangkok, trekking in Indonesia and every and anywhere else!!! Travelling for 2 or 3 Months every year for the last 4-5 Years (? since I got the D200 - Now have D300)

If you want the shots this small outfit can't be beaten. Period...........