Once again, which camera gear to take on a trip: In May we are off to Italy, Greece and the Holy Land. Then in August, Alaska. I have been stressing over what camera and lenses to...

pj81156 Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

In May we are off to Italy, Greece and the Holy Land. Then in August, Alaska. I have been stressing over what camera and lenses to take. Then I remembered. About 30 years ago we went to France, Germany, Switzerland, and England and all I had with me was my Olympus XA2 and came back with hundreds of wonderful photos and slides. And then I remembered a very recent trip to Yosemite loaded with cameras and lenses and spending a lot of time changing lenses, lugging around stuff and seeing more of Yosemite through my finder than with my eyes. I missed a lot. Although I will probably take more than an XA2, I will simplify, simplify, simplify. When did it become so complicated? Serious gear for birding, at the shore, in the woods. Simple gear for vacations.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Yup!
Vacations/outings for me consist of the body and an 18-200.
That's it, life is simple.
Works for me.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

pj81156 wrote:

In May we are off to Italy, Greece and the Holy La... (show quote)

It became complicated when manufacturers were able to convince most users that enough lenses to cover every focal length known to science were necessary to take good photos. And that speciality lenses (ultra-wide, wide, short-normal, normal, long-normal, short-telephoto, telephoto, super—telephoto) were all necessary to be able to take good photos.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

All you need is Sony RX10/100 latest versions.......Until some one ( Zeiss) makes a serious 18-400 f3.5 - 5.6 lens or a fixed lens APSC camera with such a lens ......Naturally, there will be a lot of backlash/suppression from most lens/camera manufacturers 8-(

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

You didn't say what camera you have. For maximum versatility I would use a mega-zoom camera like my Canon SX50 HS or smaller Lumix DCZS80. If you insist on a bigger sensor and if you have an APS-C camera, then the Tamron 18-400 or Sigma 18-300 zoom. If a full frame, the Tamron 18-200.

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pj81156 wrote:

In May we are off to Italy, Greece and the Holy La... (show quote)

A rare refreshing moment as one hogster finally actually sees the light.

Thanks for sharing that. Maaaaaaaaybe someone else here will learn from it.

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PHRubin wrote:

You didn't say what camera you have. For maximum versatility I would use a mega-zoom camera like my Canon SX50 HS or smaller Lumix DCZS80. If you insist on a bigger sensor and if you have an APS-C camera, then the Tamron 18-400 or Sigma 18-300 zoom. If a full frame, the Tamron 18-200.

Youve huuuuugely missed the central point. It does NOT matter whatsoever what camera he has. He has outgrown your intended "advice".

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imagemeister wrote:

All you need is Sony RX10/100 latest versions.......Until some one ( Zeiss) makes a serious 18-400 f3.5 - 5.6 lens or a fixed lens APSC camera with such a lens ......Naturally, there will be a lot of backlash/suppression from most lens/camera manufacturers 8-(

Waaaaaaay too much pointless FL range.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Mac wrote:

It became complicated when manufacturers were able to convince most users that enough lenses to cover every focal length known to science were necessary to take good photos. And that speciality lenses (ultra-wide, wide, short-normal, normal, long-normal, short-telephoto, telephoto, super—telephoto) were all necessary to be able to take good photos.

They sell more lenses that way......

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

PHRubin wrote:

You didn't say what camera you have. For maximum versatility I would use a mega-zoom camera like my Canon SX50 HS or smaller Lumix DCZS80. If you insist on a bigger sensor and if you have an APS-C camera, then the Tamron 18-400 or Sigma 18-300 zoom. If a full frame, the Tamron 18-200.

Way too much concern for details and specs.
I have a camera, it has a sensor, and a lens attached, it takes pictures...
I like them.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

User ID wrote:

A rare refreshing moment as one hogster finally actually sees the light.

Thanks for sharing that. Maaaaaaaaybe someone else here will learn from it.

User ID

Mac wrote:

It became complicated when manufacturers were able to convince most users that enough lenses to cover every focal length known to science were necessary to take good photos. And that speciality lenses (ultra-wide, wide, short-normal, normal, long-normal, short-telephoto, telephoto, super—telephoto) were all necessary to be able to take good photos.

AMEN ! Check out the classic "meat and potatoes" systems, mostly rollfilm RF and SLR types. Lenses ranged from about 4x tele to 0.5x wide. That got the jobs done.

gwilliams6

Check out the Sony R10IV, it has features in stills and video that have no direct competition in one package, with a 24mm to 600mm zoom lens.

https://www.sony.com/za/electronics/cyber-shot-compact-cameras/dsc-rx10m4

Cheers and best to you.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

pj81156 wrote:

In May we are off to Italy, Greece and the Holy La... (show quote)

My hat is off to you. I did a major trip by car last June. As an experiment, I took two cameras, one DX, one full frame. Each had a 24-120mm lens. Either of them would have been all I needed except for one situation where 24mm wasn't quite wide enough on the DX camera. I just made a 3 shot panorama.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

larryepage wrote:

My hat is off to you. I did a major trip by car last June. As an experiment, I took two cameras, one DX, one full frame. Each had a 24-120mm lens. Either of them would have been all I needed except for one situation where 24mm wasn't quite wide enough on the DX camera. I just made a 3 shot panorama.

Yea, I'm not gonna run right out and get a lens for the occasional possible situation, like that gnat at 100 yards.
If I need more than 200mm, and cropping in edit doesn't work, oh well.
I don't need to carry a camera store with me.