What to bring - New Zealand

[audiorook]

I went NZ with only my 17-40mm and cir polariser.

Remember to bring your tripod and additional storage (laptop would suffice)

I took about a 100 pics a day. I was there for 15 days, so about 1500 pics.

Enjoy the land of the long white cloud! Lets hope you get clear blue skies though.

Kia Ora!!!

 

[Yvisg]

I am actually bringing my notebook to keep in touch with my office/work.

By the way, what HDD size did you bring? Any recommended brand to buy? how many pix did you take in NZ?

i bought a 20G Hard disk...its more than enough to store all pix. i went for 14 days and i took more than 1000+ pix

 

[azone]

Just bring the widest lens you have.

 

[LeeDan]

How about a photo hardrive thingie? You can rent from Adiemus.
If you get that then you can shoot in raw, download into the hardrive and shoot again. Still you may wanna bring two memory cards so you can still shoot while one card is in the photo hardrive. Don't forget extra battery and charger. Up to you. Maybe I'm just kia soo haha ;p

Agree and benedium, you're not kia soo, my personal experience: i was shooting raw on 2nos 1Gig CFs and at the end of each day, download to free up the cards for the next day shoot... Also since my camera is also a D100, my extra backup battery fully charged was a graet help at the most crucial moment as I only need to recharge the main batteries about after 3 days of shooting..

As for lens, well it all depends on what you are planning to shoot, if not too troublesome bring the long lens, personally for my last trip I wished I had another lens with me, I survived the entire trip with just my kit lens, well that's because that's the only lens i had then.. I'm sure you'll manage.

Happy shooting..

 

[LeeDan]

How abt lenses then? WOuld the 24-120 be sufficent? or should I have to get a 80-200 f2.8 just for this trip?

Hi! Audiorook,

Since you are using D100, which is digital, you may want to consider a 12-24 (18-36mm-35 eqv) or wide angle lens for your landscape/building shots as your 24-120 covers from (36-180mm - 35mm eqv), of course greatly depends what you'll shooting most later on too, i.e. if you more into wild life/sports then 80-200 would be a way to go, else you'll probably find the wide a nice lens to be always on your camera...

 

[user111]

do bring the 80-200. newzealand landscape is worth the effort in bringing this lens along

 

[audiorook]

do bring the 80-200. newzealand landscape is worth the effort in bringing this lens along

I should think so too. Am trying to justify to myself buying an 80-200 just for this trip. Thats a further cost to the current air tickets....

 

[audiorook]

Hi! Audiorook,

Since you are using D100, which is digital, you may want to consider a 12-24 (18-36mm-35 eqv) or wide angle lens for your landscape/building shots as your 24-120 covers from (36-180mm - 35mm eqv), of course greatly depends what you'll shooting most later on too, i.e. if you more into wild life/sports then 80-200 would be a way to go, else you'll probably find the wide a nice lens to be always on your camera...

Yeap. Will likely bring my 18-35 as well. Only dilema now is the 80-200, which I am trying to justify buying just for the trip.... another BIG hole in the pocket.

 

[LCL]

Going to New Zealand in 2 weeks. Any advice on what photo equipment I should bring? Am using a D100 + 24-120 + 50mm + 18-35mm at the moment. Is there any need to have a 80-200 or 70-200 for the trip?

Should I shoot in RAW or just JPEG?

ERIC69's advice is good. Waterproofing - when you shoot in the fiords (lots of water falls) and jet boot trips, etc. Bring along a video cam. The scenery is fantastic.

 

[Pegasus]

Yeap. Will likely bring my 18-35 as well. Only dilema now is the 80-200, which I am trying to justify buying just for the trip.... another BIG hole in the pocket.

Personally felt that the occurance of using telephotos lens is slim, since NZ is vast, and fame for its lanscapes. Wide angle lens is more useful, the wider the better. Chances of using telephoto lens eg 200mm, is only reserves for wildlife, eg, shooting whales, keas etc.

 

[audiorook]

I went NZ with only my 17-40mm and cir polariser.

Remember to bring your tripod and additional storage (laptop would suffice)

I took about a 100 pics a day. I was there for 15 days, so about 1500 pics.

Enjoy the land of the long white cloud! Lets hope you get clear blue skies though.

Thank you.....

 

[audiorook]

Personally felt that the occurance of using telephotos lens is slim, since NZ is vast, and fame for its lanscapes. Wide angle lens is more useful, the wider the better. Chances of using telephoto lens eg 200mm, is only reserves for wildlife, eg, shooting whales, keas etc.

Noted. Looks like I may have the chance not to spend the $$ on a new 80-200mm lens then.

 

[Photomic]

It so happens that I have made a trip to NZ with an AF 80-200/2.8D ED before. I used it to get close-ups of the helis at the Twizel/Mt. Cook area where there are heli tours. I also remember using it for peacocks, deer, sheep etc. at wildlife sanctuaries, dolphins and whales around Kaikoura, the yellow-eyed penguins at Dunedin, seals around various part of the South Island, waterfalls at Milford Sound, getting a tigher photo of mountains, flowers, monuments ... generally anything where I wanted more details but couldn't cross over. NZ has plenty of big open spaces and the details sometime get lost in a wide angle. I'd bring the lens again.

If you want to save a little money and weight, there's always the AF 180/2.8D IF-ED at around $1,200 and 760g. It's a lovely little lens. I picked up one many years ago and find it lovely for portraits as well.

If you just want nice photos without carrying a lot of lenses, I highly recommend getting the many beautiful postcards at each town. Saves you a lot of effort and waiting... and your 24-120 would be fine unless you are very particular (in which case, you would have prime lenses already ha ha)

Shooting on a Jet Boat, I'd suggest a small (single) handheld digicam in a clear plastic bag with a hole for the lens. The boat moves fast, is bumpy, water spray is cold and you're going to have to hang on during the 360 turns. Aside from hanging on and the big grin on your face, you'll probably find any other activity to be quite challenging. Besides, I think they take a photo of the Jet Boat around the jetty that you can buy later on. Saves a bit of hassle.

 

[Tigger]

I posted this question in other thread but it wasn't answered: how to protect your camera under wet weather or snow?

Say, when you shoot when it snow, or when it is very misty, for sure it is not so good for the camera. In fact, my previous lens develop fungus after I came back from Beijing when it snowed unexpectedly in November.

 

[Hewland]

Hi audiorook,

If you asked me the 24-120 should suffice. Bring your 80-200 if you have one rather than beat yourself when you needed the lens and didn't have it. I wouldn't rush out to buy an ultrawide lens just for the sake of this trip alone.

Don't worry abt the max aperture of the lenses you are using, unless you are going to be shooting in very low light. Bring a tripod if you're not already overladen with baggage.

As others have mentioned bear in mind your shooting conditions an protect your equipment accordingly.

When I visited AKL in 2001, I brought my film camera, 28-70 and 70-210 lenses and lots of film. In your case, lots of CF cards. Remember the spare batteries too

Enjoy and have a safe trip!

 

[audiorook]

ERIC69's advice is good. Waterproofing - when you shoot in the fiords (lots of water falls) and jet boot trips, etc. Bring along a video cam. The scenery is fantastic.

Noted. Actually, will be bringing a Sony Video Cam actually.

 

[audiorook]

Hi audiorook,

If you asked me the 24-120 should suffice. Bring your 80-200 if you have one rather than beat yourself when you needed the lens and didn't have it. I wouldn't rush out to buy an ultrawide lens just for the sake of this trip alone.

Don't worry abt the max aperture of the lenses you are using, unless you are going to be shooting in very low light. Bring a tripod if you're not already overladen with baggage.

As others have mentioned bear in mind your shooting conditions an protect your equipment accordingly.

When I visited AKL in 2001, I brought my film camera, 28-70 and 70-210 lenses and lots of film. In your case, lots of CF cards. Remember the spare batteries too

Enjoy and have a safe trip!

hey. Thanks for the advice. Did you use much of your 70-210 in AKL in the end? or more of the 28-70?

 

[audiorook]

It so happens that I have made a trip to NZ with an AF 80-200/2.8D ED before. I used it to get close-ups of the helis at the Twizel/Mt. Cook area where there are heli tours. I also remember using it for peacocks, deer, sheep etc. at wildlife sanctuaries, dolphins and whales around Kaikoura, the yellow-eyed penguins at Dunedin, seals around various part of the South Island, waterfalls at Milford Sound, getting a tigher photo of mountains, flowers, monuments ... generally anything where I wanted more details but couldn't cross over. NZ has plenty of big open spaces and the details sometime get lost in a wide angle. I'd bring the lens again.

If you want to save a little money and weight, there's always the AF 180/2.8D IF-ED at around $1,200 and 760g. It's a lovely little lens. I picked up one many years ago and find it lovely for portraits as well.

If you just want nice photos without carrying a lot of lenses, I highly recommend getting the many beautiful postcards at each town. Saves you a lot of effort and waiting... and your 24-120 would be fine unless you are very particular (in which case, you would have prime lenses already ha ha)

Shooting on a Jet Boat, I'd suggest a small (single) handheld digicam in a clear plastic bag with a hole for the lens. The boat moves fast, is bumpy, water spray is cold and you're going to have to hang on during the 360 turns. Aside from hanging on and the big grin on your face, you'll probably find any other activity to be quite challenging. Besides, I think they take a photo of the Jet Boat around the jetty that you can buy later on. Saves a bit of hassle.

Good thinking on the 180mm lens... noted!!

Thanks.

 

[Photomic]

This link should answer Tigger's question about shooting in wet weather or snow. Suggest you get snow shoes for your tripod. Manfrotto has them as options for some of their tripods.

 

[Photomic]

Oh, and forgot to state the obvious - if you bring your digicam/camera on to a jet boat (or any boat, actually), make sure it's securely strapped to your body on a short leash.