> > Re-visiting a topic that has been discussed off and on before on the > list... > > In 3 weeks or so I will be going to Rome with my wife for a short > week. (5.5 days on the ground.) I am trying to decide what camera > gear to take with me. > [...] > Options I have thought of: > > 1. 16-50/2.8 + 50-135/2.8 > a. good coverage of pretty wide to fairly long with > good quality. > b. but neither fits well in the day pack for travel or > when checking > them at the museum entry. > c. and if I mount these two for an outing, I am pretty > much stuck > with them unless I return to the hotel room and swap them out for > primes. [...] > Your opinions? On the listed options or other variants? >
I'm not familiar with the specific lenses you have, but based on my experience of travelling with far too many lenses I would always recommend keeping the kit small and simple, especially for such a short trip. It seems to me that with the 2 zooms you have pretty much covered everything. If you also carry something beanbaggish you can make up for the relative sloth of the lenses when you need to. I think the backpack idea is distinctly subprime for working out of. It's ok for transporting the stuff as carry-on baggage, but I would recommend something like a Domke F2 for your day-to-day schleppage needs. For me the key thing is to keep the weight and the bulk down (this applies in many areas of life!). This involves some sort of compromise usually, but it tends to pay off. I would take one or 2 bodies, usually leaving one of the bodies in the hotel room. 1 or 2 zooms covering pretty much the range you've mentioned although I'm generally happy with 28-100 in 35mm terms, polarisers, flash and lightmeter, spare memory and batteries for the day. I put these in the smallest shoulder bag that will also hold bits like my wallet, guidebook, PDA, and other needs for the day, and set of for the day's adventures. If I wanted to take primes I could take more because the Leica ones are so small, but I would tend to stick at 3, covering 28-50-90 in 35mm terms. This would cover well over 95% of my needs for most journeys. Bob -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
