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Archive 2015 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?

  
 
gugs
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?


I have not been too active in the last few months, but I still use Nikon gear.
I am soon leaving for New Zealand where I will visit most tourist locations on both Islands.
I want to travel "light" to enjoy the trip instead of focusing on pictures only. I have the choice between a lot of options and I was intending to take the following: My focus will probably be landscapes and cityscapes, and a few specific locations like the Hobbit town, the Waitomo caves to give a few examples.
I was thinking of one FX body, the Nikon One system as a light kit, possibly a DX backup body.
D800 (other option would be D4, better low light shooting, faster, lower resolution for landscapes)
28-300VR, my favorite all round lens
80-400VR-G, long light quality zoom for wildlife
18-35G light reasonable wide angle (14-24 is an option, but much heavier)
A few primes: 28, 50, 85 1.8, fisheye
Nikon One V2 with 18.5, 32 1.2, 10-100VR, 6.7-13,FT1 adapter
Optionally D7000+18-300VR as a backup (not sure)

What do you think, based on real world experience ? I used to take all the top gear (14-24, 24-70, 70-200, 200-400 with two FX bodies) but I don't want to carry all this anymore, I am getting older

Guy



Jan 21, 2015 at 03:39 PM
hijazist
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?


D800, 28-300, 50 1.8. That would be all if I were you. Maybe the 18-35 as well


Jan 21, 2015 at 03:56 PM
Pinarello65
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?


I have just been there and took my D800E with 24-120 f4 only. I was pleased with the 2200 shots I returned with. I cruised through the fiordlands by boat and 24mm was just wide enough there. The scenery there is awesome and the mountains are big and with a middle of the water shooting position, you need something wide to fit it in. I got by with 24mm but it would have been nice to have had my 16-35 with me that day. But everywhere else the 24-120 was fine. I didn't photograph any wildlife so >120 I didn't miss.

Thus I agree with previous post. Landscapes and cityscapes, take the 36mp D800 because NZ can use all those mega pixels. Use your favorite all rounder 28-300. Take the 18-35 if going places like fiordlands (I went through Dusky, Doubtful and Milford Sounds). A fast prime would be handy, I wish I had taken my 58 1.4 so pick one or take the trio. Your V2 with 10-100 is an option if you want a really light outing.

Enjoy the trip. It's a beautiful country with friendly people.




Jan 21, 2015 at 04:50 PM
Squinty
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?


Depends how you're getting around (I hired a camper van for five weeks... which I recommend highly). Either way, I'd probably stick to D800, 18-35G and a fast 85mm - that's it.


Jan 21, 2015 at 05:51 PM
Chris Court
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?


In your shoes, I'd take the D800, 14-24 and 28-300 - and a tripod! NZ has wonderful, spectacular landscapes (particularly in the South Island, but also significant parts of the North - not to mention Great Barrier/Stewart/Chatham Islands). The most interesting wildlife is the birds, and depending where you are, they can be quite friendly.

It's my home country, although I haven't lived there in almost 20 years. PM me if you have any questions, and I'll do my best to answer.

C

Edited on Jan 21, 2015 at 11:17 PM · View previous versions



Jan 21, 2015 at 07:43 PM
Etherton
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?


Going to New Zealand? Don't leave home without that 14-24 and a tripod! Way to may opportunities for that lens to stay at home!

NZ is on my bucket list. Hopefully sooner than later



Jan 21, 2015 at 08:03 PM
ReyGay
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?


My advice Guy, is to pack light. There is a lot of hiking involved if you want to take the best scenery. Cheers and have a safe trip!


My Flickr Gallery
My interesting photos on Flickriver
my Deviantart gallery



Jan 21, 2015 at 08:10 PM
justindong
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?


Was just in NZ for two months and almost exclusively used the 18-35G for landscapes. Many of the best landscapes can be found on the multi-day (2-5 days) hikes, so you'll definitely want to be light on your gear for those. I even left my tripod behind on the multi-day hikes.

The only other lens I had with me was the 24-85G but I left it behind on most of the hikes.

Feel free to message me if you have any questions about hikes, etc.

Have fun! It's an incredibly beautiful country

Edit: sorry, just want to add-on and affirm what Slug69 said below. It rains A LOT in NZ, especially in the south island. In certain parts, it rains on average about 15 days of the month. The trend I noticed (I was on South Island for almost 2 months) was that often times it would rain for 3-5 days straight, then maybe 2 days of decent weather. This was usually the case closer to the west coast, especially in Fiordland National Park. Elsewhere in South Island, the rain wasn't as bad (but was still frequent).

I was only in North Island for a little over a week (in Tongariro NP) but it did rain for about half the time I was there. It even snowed heavily on one of my hikes in December.

If you have a nice backpacking pack with a waterproof cover, this kept all of my stuff dry even while hiking back-to-back days in heavy rain.

Edited on Jan 21, 2015 at 09:31 PM · View previous versions



Jan 21, 2015 at 09:12 PM
Slug69
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?


It can be gloomy sometimes so think about rain protection. (this might give you more dramatic shots).

I lived in the North Island for a year. It was spectacular as well maybe not as the much lauded South Island but still...



Jan 21, 2015 at 09:26 PM
Pinarello65
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?


I was lucky with the weather as I got sunny skies for fiordlands...This was dusky sound early morning.

http://carlcranstone.smugmug.com/photos/i-QpFKS49/0/X2/i-QpFKS49-X2.jpg

But for most of my time on the north island, it was like this view of Auckland from a ferry

http://carlcranstone.smugmug.com/photos/i-X6x2j78/0/X2/i-X6x2j78-X2.jpg

I quite like the thermal areas around Tapu... "Waiotapu thermal wonderland" for example. Dunedin was pretty, my recollection perhaps influenced by sunny weather when I was there. The tranz alpine express train was fun and offered good views of snow capped mountains and pale blue lakes. The rear carriage had no Windows so you could shoot without glass in the way. Albeit whilst dealing with wind, cold, motion etc.





Jan 21, 2015 at 10:48 PM
Chris Court
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?


Here are a couple of sites that might help spark some inspiration :-)

http://www.hedgehoghouse.com/hedgehog/photo-galleries/
http://andrisapse.photoshelter.com

C



Jan 21, 2015 at 11:24 PM
Frogfish
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?


I spent 6 weeks there visiting my sister a couple of years ago. Wonderful country and the steaks are excellent (but lamb is hard to find - it's mostly for export) !!

My advice would be to spend ⅔ of your time in the South Island, it's simply spectacular. Not to say North Island isn't but in the South it's pretty much all day and everywhere. And even though my wife and I are in our 50's we still really loved Queenstown, it's not just for the youngsters

Whatever you do make sure you take a helicopter ride (or three) up the glaciers. Fantastic experience. And if you are into birds (& whales, dolphins & sealions) then Kaikoura is amazing, even my non-birding wife loved the trip out, maybe 4-5 kms, to sea to have Albatross all around the boat at close quarters.

Anyway, I took the D800 and D600 as backup. I had the Sigma 120-300/2.8 (plus TCs) and a Zeiss 21mm as my main lenses and 90% of all shots were taken with those two. A fast 50 would complete the set or maybe a fast 35 (I took the Sigma 35/1.4 but it rarely saws the light of day).

A lot depends on how much hiking (tramping it's called over there) you plan on doing. We drove around in hire-cars and took iconic train rides in some places. If you plan to do the same then from your kit I'd say :
D800 and D7000 as backup. 14-24 is an absolute must-have. Your 80-400G VR and your 50/1.4. Anything else you'd bring will probably be for redundancy in case of a lens failure or mishap.

Oh we were also there from end of January thru to early March and had only one day of rain the whole trip ! Everyone was complaining about the drought

A fantastic trip awaits you - have fun, be safe.



Jan 22, 2015 at 05:17 AM
gugs
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?


Thanks to you all for the advice. I'll definitely take the D800 (interesting that nobody suggested the D4), the 28-300VR and a wide angle zoom, I might take a few other things, and leave them in the hotel if I don't need them. I'll post some pictures in a few weeks from now !

Guy



Jan 25, 2015 at 11:59 AM
Naranek
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Travel to NZ, gear advice ?


If a trip to Hobbit town indicates an interest in The Lord Of The Rings pick up a copy of The Lord of The Rings Location Guidebook by Ian Brodie. It has the location and GPS coordinates of all the major film locations.

If you get to Twizel you can book a tour of the Pelennor Fields battle site (the large battle where the king was killed and his daughter slayed the demon). The guides were extras in the film and can provide some interesting insight into the actors, etc.



Jan 25, 2015 at 03:33 PM





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