First trip to Europe. Do I have things covered? (Page 6): On my first trip to Europe back in the film days I found I was using wide-angle 75% of the time. I had a 35mm which was not...

graybeard

romanmel7 wrote:

We will be traveling to Venice, Salzburg and Munic... (show quote)

On my first trip to Europe back in the film days I found I was using wide-angle 75% of the time. I had a 35mm which was not wide enough for me. Wished I had a 24 or 28 then. Telephoto was rarely used, but I would suggest taking one anyway. I shoot Canon now, and the 10-18mm is great. In general, you want to cover wide-angle, tele and low light. It looks like 2 of your lenses will cover that. Venice is like no place on Earth. Have fun.

graybeard

Bobnewnan wrote:

Well, I've been traveling the world since my d90 and I'm up to a d500. My opinion, Tamron 16-300, 10-20, a tele 1.4 and a tripod that will fit in your largest suitcase. A remote cable release and a flash. Lots of places in Europe don't allow flash but some do and it does get dark there at night. Don't drink the water and remember the ice in the glass is local water.

Tripods and flash (and post processing) are for sissies. Get the picture right. Time is at a premium there, setting up a tripod kills that. A fast lens and high enough ISO will cover low light. Just my opinion.

jcboy3

graybeard wrote:

Tripods and flash (and post processing) are for sissies. Get the picture right. Time is at a premium there, setting up a tripod kills that. A fast lens and high enough ISO will cover low light. Just my opinion.

Spoken like a true snapshooter.

jeffhacker Loc: Dallas, Texas

I just got back from Zurich, Luzern, Bern (Switzerland), and Munich. Took my Nikon D500 and 18-300mm f/4.5-5.6 telephoto and my f/1.4 50 mm prime. And never used the prime; took 200 plus pics, some better than others. Obviously, mine is DX and yours FX format, but I have one piece of advice: Travel light!

jackpinoh Loc: Kettering, OH 45419

graybeard wrote:

Tripods and flash (and post processing) are for sissies. Get the picture right. Time is at a premium there, setting up a tripod kills that. A fast lens and high enough ISO will cover low light. Just my opinion.

Don't forget your running shoes. Time is at a premium!

romanmel7 Loc: New Hartford, NY

Anyone have any opinion on pros and cons or “D” lenses? I know they have an f-stop ring, and I assume they are older, but are they a good value?

romanmel7 Loc: New Hartford, NY

BTW, thanks for all the GREAT advice supplied thus far. I knew the wisdom of Hoggers would be invaluable!

je13quincy

Don’t forget back-up batteries, cards and electrical adaptor for the different types of electrical outlets you’ll encounter to recharge those batteries.

Nancysc

In Europe you should take lenses for wide angle street scenes, and portraits. You don't need a big telephoto for Europe; save that one for your wildlife safari in Africa. Take less glass. If you can choose one lens you will be happier. I agree with the person who said all that changing lenses is time-consuming and lets dust in. Don't take a tripod, take the fastest lens you won. Don't forget to check your charger for its ability to use voltages in Europe. If it does then all you will need are plugs compatible with your destinations. If it does not, you will also need a step-down voltage converter.

Drinking water is fine all over western and central Europe. Ice too. Note that ice cubes are rare and must be requested for water or cola. You will be given one cube!

romanmel7 Loc: New Hartford, NY

Nancysc wrote:

In Europe you should take lenses for wide angle st... (show quote)

Interesting point. Is my Nikon charger able to use European voltages or do I need a converter? I know my Apple product can handle it and only need an adapter. I just assumed that the Nikon camera chargers would also.

stu352 Loc: MA/RI Border

While climbing over the rock slide on the Jordan Pond trail at Acadia National Park, I reached my limit. My shoulder was burdened with my Lowepro bag, full of my whole Canon DSLR kit, a body and 3 lenses. Climbing over things, it almost fell off several times. Even just touring around it was always getting bumped in crowded shops, underfoot in restaurants, and so on. Thinking about it, on the whole vacation, I don't think I changed lenses more than once. And there were several places I didn't take the camera for just these reasons, missing some excellent opportunities.

So for the next trip I bought a Canon G9x. Pocket sized, 20 megapixels, and a lens worthy of that. Got some great pictures, and it never interfered with anything I was doing. Never missed the whole kit, and easily carried it into more situations than I would have with the kit, and got excellent photos.

Stu

Selene03

romanmel7 wrote:

Interesting point. Is my Nikon charger able to use European voltages or do I need a converter? I know my Apple product can handle it and only need an adapter. I just assumed that the Nikon camera chargers would also.

Pretty much all chargers are able to use European voltages, so you won't need a converter. They do work just like your Apple products. You will however need a plug converter for Northern Europe (even if you will be in Southern France). It will take an American plug on one side and has two round metal prongs that go into the Western European outlets. I bought a bag of them at Target once, though I haven't seen bags of single plugs since. Usually, you have to buy a whole global set of plug converters, but you probably have that from your last years' trip. The bag of western european plug converters worked well, as I was traveling with two other people and we all had lots of electronic things that needed to be charged.

Shel B

I'm missing something here. I lived in Europe for 11 1/2 years. I never noticed that taking photos there was any different from taking photos anywhere else. Travel light and travel right. You might find one or two photos you wish you had a different lens for but I doubt you will need a tele for anything. If you weight yourself down with a lot of stuff, you will find yourself tied to your gear....and missing photos. Take a spare card or two and a spare battery. You might have a hard time charging up over there. It's 220 volts.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Selene03 wrote:

Pretty much all chargers are able to use European voltages, so you won't need a converter. <snip>

I use a universal adapter for the outlet types. There are a lot of them on Amazon. Many come with USB ports thrown in. That is all you need. Check the labels on your charging equipment, but I have not seen anything that could not handle 220 in over 10 years.