phatnev
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 p.2 #6 · D5000 to replace D200 | |
millsart wrote:
What if you want something wider though ? The "average" travel/tourist usually seems to prefer wide angle to capture beautiful beaches, Times Square, etc etc
What AF-D lenses are the must have travel glass that you need an AF motor for ? Tokina 11-16mm is about the only one I can think of where the lack of AF-S is an issue
I've got nothing against primes personally, and love my 85 f1.4, 105 f2.5 ai-s, 50mm etc, but I find them sort of a pain traveling. Who wants to be walking around with the family and trying to switch lens all the times ?
Your kids are doing something cute, or standing by some landmark, other people are waiting to take a photo, and you've got to switch lenses. Its sort of a pain when your out trying to enjoy yourself same with trying to mess with MF lens. When I'm in a crowd, I like to be able to just snap away and not try to critically focus.
Something like a 18-200 is so popular with so many users for the travel roll because it does let you take just one lens. No messing around changing lenses on a sandy beach, or not having the focal length you need. Just one lens that does it all so to speak.
Add in a 10-20 Sigma or something along those lines for wide angle depending on where your going and your set.
I just see a D700 and a bunch of primes as just apples and oranges compared to a D5000 and a couple of zooms. Totally different shooting styles for totally different photographers....Show more →
Different strokes for different folks. I can't stand shooting with 2.8 zooms, they're entirely too slow for a lot of my shooting, I shoot probably 95% of my stuff with a 28/50 1.8 and I'm indoors a lot, even when abroad. They're also REALLY expensive, and huge/heavy. As for wide, there are plenty of options, even more when you go FX. I'd probably opt for the C/V 20mm 3.5, smallest 20mm available for Nikon I think, if I didn't mind a bigger lens the Sigma 20mm 1.8 is great too.
As for switching lenses, I hardly ever do so, probably 4 or 5 lens switches a day, be it shooting weddings or a day in NYC/London/Wherever.
Something like an 18-200 is popular because people are lazy, it does it all, but it doesn't do anything well. I'll take my $500 worth of primes over a $600+ consumer zoom. I don't have kids though(thank god, I'm 21 haha), and I wouldn't take photos of them standing in front of any landmarks, so our aims may be completely different, in all honesty I feel like people that want those type of photos should just buy a Canon G10/11. I have a Lumix LX3 for situations where absolute quality isn't necessary and size/weight is a concern.
The 17-55 is a huge lens, so putting it on any body is going to be a big rig. I just did a quick little math problem after looking up weights on B&H, and the D5000 and 17-55 weigh in around at 1350 grams. And the D700 and 50mm 1.8 weighs in at about 1152 grams. That's not including other lenses(you'd probably have 2 or 3 in a backpack but its not like the backpack would be photo devoted, you'd probably have one anyways) but I'm just sayin. Food for thought.
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. I think we sometimes go WAY overboard on the image quality deal. I mean honestly, shots from even a D40 are at least as good as what we used to rave about just a few years ago with slide film. Are we really going to make 30x40 prints from many (if any) of our travel/vacation shots? I never have. One other thing I'll mention is that strangers seem less threatened by a small size camera and lens than they do a big D300/700 with pro lens. Many times I've been confronted with "Hey! That looks like a professional camera. What are you taking my picture for?" Less conspicuous cameras have an advantage. The original street camera was a Leica. The fold out screen allows you take photos without even raising the camera to your eye, like the old waist level cameras! A true advantage in some crowds.
I left all the pro stuff at home and just took my old D80, lenses 18-55mm VR + 55-200mm VR, and three SB flash. (I do a lot of night shots.) Really, it did 95% of what I wanted and was easy to carry in a small waist pack. (I only brought the flash with me on a few nights.) I've come to think that if you are able to plan shots well and previsualize, you're going to get some great images no matter what gear you use. If I did more travel I would get the D5000 because it has a terrific sensor in a small body. You do give up CLS flash, but I use CyberSync triggers anyway. Also no AF motor, but the lens choices for AFS and now also third party lenses are really coming on strong. I don't like the old manual lenses on digital anyway--CA. About the only time to NOT sell photo gear is from mid January to mid March. That's when prices go lower.
