Jeff Nolten
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 p.1 #1 · Greek Vacation, 5D2 + G1X | |
A few months back I posted a "what lens to take" thread for a Greek island cruise vacation that we've now returned from. We had a really great time and I experienced a lot of places that had been on my life list for a long time. Now, of course, I'd like to go back and visit some of the areas in more detail and spend a little more time on my own. The trip gave me the opportunity to shoot in a lot of different, and often new, photographic venues - museums, archeological sites, architecture shots, street shots in little towns and people's homes. The trip emphasis was very different from my usual wildlife/landscape oriented trips although the landscapes were magnificent. In addition to my trusty 5D2 kit, I took a new Canon G1X, and have been using Adobe Lightroom 4 to work up the images. As a primarily travel photographer who avidly reads "what to take" posts, I thought it might be valuable to post my gear related experiences and opinions while they are still fresh.
The trip was the Overseas Adventure Travel trip described here. I posted a few images from the trip in the 24-105 thread here and here. For the photographer these types of trips offer a great set of compromises. You get to see a large number of really photogenic places in a short period of time with comfortable accommodations and in a fairly small group, 25 in this case. The downside is they don't cater to serious photography, there is no time to fuss with tripods or even a lot of lens changes. The Topkapi Palace Museum confiscated my tripod to be returned on exit; I stopped carrying it. Your gear has to fit in a small pack that you can manage on and off the bus or boat, in crowds, shops and museums. You are often away from your accommodations, i.e. main gear, all day. Of the 50 passengers on our small vessel (two groups), one had a Canon Rebel and two had Nikon equivalents, all with just the kit lens. Everyone else had point & shoots. But the pace is casual and you have time on your own, for shopping  , so there is plenty of opportunity for photography.
5D2 kit
The gear I took was a 5D2 + 24-105, 70-200 f4 IS, and 17-40 in very distorted order of usage. Looking back at my "what lens to take" thread the most common suggestion was the two lens 17-40 + 70-200 set. This would have been a big mistake. I used the 17-40 only twice and it wasn't really necessary. For architectural shots the natural distortions of wide FOV lenses is hard to predict and accommodate. For landscapes, I prefer a stitched panorama or a panning video clip to an overly wide, narrow strip of scenery. I know there are those who enjoy really wide so go for it. But for me the 24 end of the 24-105 was plenty. Image stabilization on the other hand is mandatory. I used my tripod around our hotels a few times, but with IS and the 5D2's high ISO capability it wasn't really necessary. I was surprised to find that photography is allowed in most museums - but no flash, no tripods, and "no posing in front of statues"  . Here the 5D2 and 24-105 was quite adequate as you can see from the images referenced above. A faster lens might have worked better for museums but f4 already seemed marginally shallow in some of the shots. An Expodisc to help with the indoor white balance would have been very useful. In passing, I took a 270EX flash but didn't use it. When I used flash, I used the G1X.
The 70-200 f4 IS is a wonderful travel lens. With a 67 to 58 reducer ring and a 500D closeup filter it takes wonderful closeups. On this trip, I didn't often need more than 100 mm and my general experience has been that if I need more than 100, I need more than 200. So, most trips where there is the possibility of wildlife I take my 100-400. I wouldn't have wanted to carry the 100-400 on any of these outings so the 70-200 would win the argument and go again if I repeated this trip. I'll add that the other lens I enjoy traveling with, if I can justify its weight, is the 100L macro.
G1X
The G1X proved to be a delightful surprise on this trip. I've had the G3, G6, and most recently the G10. When I read that the G1X had a 7D equivalent sensor, I had to get one before this trip; I wanted a 2nd body. The Gs have been great P&S cameras to take backpacking, hiking, or when photography was secondary, like Disneyland. If you've used a recent G series camera, you know how the G1X handles. To me the G1X feels and handles just like the G10. I've read all sorts of reviews that say its expensive, chunky, heavy, slow, or the lens is this that or the other. Well, its a G with a big plus, the IQ. DxO tests the sensor to be equivalent at the pixel level to the Canon 18 MP APSC sensors and the lens optically equal to the 15-85. The G1X costs about the same as a 15-85 lens.
When I first brought the G1X home I set up a tripod and took some test shots using the G10, G1X, and 5Dc + 24-105. I optimized the settings for landscape useing 360 ISO for the G1X and 5D and 80 ISO for the G10, taking shots of the canyon side a mile across from my back yard. I first used the candidate DNG converter but have since revisited those files with Lightroom 4. The G1X IQ is a vast improvement over the G10 at its base ISO and one has to view the G1X files at 100% so see any differences with the 5Dc (all 3 cameras have nearly equal horizontal pixel dimensions). The biggest difference I noticed was that the 5D nailed the exposure more consistently. In practical use on this trip the IQ between the G1X and the 5D2 was nearly identical, i.e. you can tell the difference at 100% but not when viewing the images full width on a 27" iMac display. And this was across all ISOs; some of the ISO 1600 keeper museum shots were from the G1X. My wife used the G1X a lot while I was on the 5D so we have many near duplicates for comparison. Two G1X shots were referenced above and I'll post a couple more direct comparisons below. While I'll always prefer to use a DSLR when I can, the G1X was much less intrusive for street, social, and tourist shop use. The swivel display was great for holding over your head to get everyone at the table, and it takes quick and easy HD videos with effective IS. I'll add that if you are used to the closeup capabilities of small sensor P&Ss, you'll need a 250D or 500D closeup filter and a filter adaptor. In fact, buy two adaptors from Lensmate and keep your CPL on one. They are quick and easy to change bayonet adaptors.
Lightroom 4
Finally, I'd like to say a few things about Lightroom 4. Up to now I've been using Photoshop Elements to work up my images. I now always shoot in raw. With the 5Ds and even the 40D, post processing has been pretty simple, straighten the horizon, clone out a power line, add a little levels adjustment and some sharpening. In the raw converter, ACR, I mostly just chose between camera landscape, portrait, or standard color tones and that was it. Noise didn't seem much of an issue to deal with. All that changed when I got my 7D. With Elements 9 which supported the 7D, not only was I spending a lot more time in ACR but Adobe ruined Bridge so now I had go back to the old iView app to select images. I'd read the praises of LR from many forum posters but couldn't get much in the way of specific reasons. The sales literature sang the praises of LR's library function, which sounded too much like iPhoto's possessive library, and its photobook and print modules. I was hesitant but G1X raw support was available in LR and I could try it free for a month. I've been pleasantly surprised with LR and Adobe will get my money.
My wife and I came home with over 1700 images from this trip - new high. LR takes some learning (I recommend the free tutorial videos from Adobe and the for fee Kelby learning site) but it is a very efficient tool for wading through, comparing, selecting, and "developing" a lot of photographs. Its mostly an all-in-one application so its very fast to work up one image and move to the next. In fact you never really need to leave the develop module. The Develop module is a scaled up ACR that provides all the basic tools for working up digital photographs without the graphic paint shop features you usually don't need. They seem to have picked all the right photographic tools. The lens correction pane gives access to Adobe's database of lens corrections which easily deals with the 24-105's distortion and vignetting at 24. There is also a set of manual sliders for dealing with a full range of perspective distortions. These were extremely useful for mitigating the warped views I captured of arches, pillars, and minarets. The noise reduction pane seems to work better than in Elements' ACR. Finally, its very simple to send a corrected tiff over to Elements to clone out a power line and then have the saved image in LR when you get back. I then export the images flagged pick to a trip folder in my Pictures directory.
I'm not a professional photographer, but I want to do the best I can when capturing an image. My kit also has to have the flexibility to capture anything I see and want to see again, and still be manageable while traveling. I've been doing digital since the G3 and 10D in 2003 and this G1X 5D2 kit is the best yet and fit my needs perfectly for this kind of trip.
Here are a couple of comparison shots between the G1X and 5D2:
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