Our daughter has BMT graduation this Friday at Lackland. She's in the Montana Air Guard and will be training for avionics.
I'm traveling with our 3 yr old son and still working on the last minute configuration of everything. We took a long shopping day yesterday, and he's just that much more energetic than a couple of months ago that I'm only taking the bare basics with me. One carry on, his car seat, one lightweight sack for books & misc., and Kaden riding in a backpack. We also have a travel harness to put on him when he gets to walk.
I was going to take two 40d's, 80 f/1.8, 70-200 (non-is), Tamron 17-50 and one flash. That isn't leaving much room for clothes, although I'm used to traveling very lightweight. I could still take all of this in my camera bag. The car seat hooks onto the handle of my rolling carry-on. The camera bag can hang off the other side of that. Forgoing the camera bag, I have less to deal with. One 40d and one lens? A challenge, but I could should within that. Buy a 55-250? Buy a Canon S90 or Lumix optical 12x? I'm trying to keep this trip as affordable as possible and would rather work with the gear I have, but if buying something else I could always re-sell it to recoup some of the cost.
If BMT graduation is anything like my graduation from Infantry Basic Training, be prepared for the fact that you may be quite some distance from the formation, and you may need some tele to get any images with your daughter recognizable.
Lensrentals.com may offer some excellent options for you if you're not prepared to buy.
Congratulations, and I'm grateful for your daughter's service.
I figured we'd be quite far away, but am thinking of more documentary shots and photos of her while we have time on base. She already ordered the official photos. Lensrentals is my favorite but I didn't think of them. I haven't used anything other than low light lenses in years and having Kaden in tow is the wildcard. Looks like $60 will give me several options to choose from. I'll have to compromise on this one for all around ease of use.
I looked at that and was actually leaning towards the Tamron 18-250 for the wide range and light weight (keeping Kaden in hand has been the big question on my mind), but considering logistics (when it'd be coming in and possibilities of missing the shipment), I'm going with my current gear and hope for the best. A p&s was sounding good, but I'd hate finding out how bad the quality was after the fact, with no time to test it out.
Plus I get to save the extra cost to go towards hiring a photographer for a special date this summer... our oldest son is getting married. This trip to Texas wasn't originally in our plans, but I'm so glad we're going!
that would put in my neighborhood, so.. welcome. be sure and arive early so you can catch the airman's run. also for local rental there is the camera exchange (http://www.camerax.com/rentals.pdf) for price list
hope you like tacos...
