Thinking about Travel Lenses
After such a long delay what could possibly be so important that it prompts a post? Family disaster? Work insanity?
Nope - travel & lenses. Critical to the operation of the universe, no?
For those of you who aren't photo or tech geeks, feel free to check out now or wander over to our travel blog and read all about our recent trip.
Here's hoping someone is still with me :)
The background: next October, R and I are off to explore the wilds of Panama & Costa Rica! The central part of the trip will be a cruise, but either side will be several days (3 days in Panama, 4-5 in Costa Rica is the current thinking) doing more traditional travel things. To say I'm super excited would be an understatement, and I've already started gathering ideas (cocoa plantation! white water rafting! volcanoes!) and looking into learning Spanish*.
The other thing I'm thinking quite critically about is my photography gear. Having a DSLR means not only having more control, but also more options.
My current set up is:
1. a Pentax k5 body
2. 18-55mm kit lens
3. 24mm Tokina old school prime (which cost me all of £25, but behaves strangely in bright sunlight)
4. 70-300mm Sigma(thanks Dario!)
5. 150-500mm Sigma (double thanks, Dario!)
The one thing that I'm learning though now that I'm about 5,000 photos into my Pentax, is that I don't really change lenses much when out and about. I prefer to choose my lens and head out for the day. This is doubly true when I'm out in the country. Finding a stable, relatively clean, convenient place to do the lens switcheroo is a pain (don't drop the lens down off the cliff!), irritates R (hold this, cap that) and takes time away from enjoying what we're doing.
So yeah it doesn't really happen. And honestly, the vast majority if the time either my 24mm fixed or the kit lens works just fine. If you look at my photos on flickr you can see that most of the time I'm shooting landscapes, cityscapes or architecture. Not infrequently I'm up quite close for macro style portraits of objects, and only rarely would I need a long zoom.
Still, those times** that I *have* needed a long zoom and not had it or had to switch lenses for it (and so missed the shot anyway) have been super annoying. And considering that wildlife will be a major feature of next year's big trip, I'm nervous about missing quite literally once in a lifetime moments.
A long way to say - I think it's time for a new lens. After a good bit of research I’ve narrowed it down to three:
Thoughts from the peanut gallery? Anything else I should be considering that I’m not? What lenses do you use for hiking/travel?
*Latin American Spanish, of course which is not as easy as you might think in London.
**example from our most recent trip...
Nope - travel & lenses. Critical to the operation of the universe, no?
For those of you who aren't photo or tech geeks, feel free to check out now or wander over to our travel blog and read all about our recent trip.
Here's hoping someone is still with me :)
The background: next October, R and I are off to explore the wilds of Panama & Costa Rica! The central part of the trip will be a cruise, but either side will be several days (3 days in Panama, 4-5 in Costa Rica is the current thinking) doing more traditional travel things. To say I'm super excited would be an understatement, and I've already started gathering ideas (cocoa plantation! white water rafting! volcanoes!) and looking into learning Spanish*.
The other thing I'm thinking quite critically about is my photography gear. Having a DSLR means not only having more control, but also more options.
My current set up is:
1. a Pentax k5 body
2. 18-55mm kit lens
3. 24mm Tokina old school prime (which cost me all of £25, but behaves strangely in bright sunlight)
4. 70-300mm Sigma(thanks Dario!)
5. 150-500mm Sigma (double thanks, Dario!)
The one thing that I'm learning though now that I'm about 5,000 photos into my Pentax, is that I don't really change lenses much when out and about. I prefer to choose my lens and head out for the day. This is doubly true when I'm out in the country. Finding a stable, relatively clean, convenient place to do the lens switcheroo is a pain (don't drop the lens down off the cliff!), irritates R (hold this, cap that) and takes time away from enjoying what we're doing.
So yeah it doesn't really happen. And honestly, the vast majority if the time either my 24mm fixed or the kit lens works just fine. If you look at my photos on flickr you can see that most of the time I'm shooting landscapes, cityscapes or architecture. Not infrequently I'm up quite close for macro style portraits of objects, and only rarely would I need a long zoom.
Still, those times** that I *have* needed a long zoom and not had it or had to switch lenses for it (and so missed the shot anyway) have been super annoying. And considering that wildlife will be a major feature of next year's big trip, I'm nervous about missing quite literally once in a lifetime moments.
A long way to say - I think it's time for a new lens. After a good bit of research I’ve narrowed it down to three:
- Pentax 18-135mm (the one I really want is discontinued, 18-250mm)
- Tamron 18-200mm
- Sigma 18-250mm
Thoughts from the peanut gallery? Anything else I should be considering that I’m not? What lenses do you use for hiking/travel?
*Latin American Spanish, of course which is not as easy as you might think in London.
**example from our most recent trip...
- Stephen's mom: oh look! A seal!
- Stephen to me: did you get his picture?!
- Me: *bangs head against rock as I have the fixed lens on*