wannabe63 Loc: Bellevue, Washington

Ok hoggers this is a follow up to an earlier question I posted about a week ago about our trip to Europe. So this is for you hoggers out there that have been to the Cinque Terra area and know what kind of terrain they have there. We will be going to Europe for 2 months, spending 10 days in Cinque Terra. I will be taking my new D750 (yes I decided to get it, actually the wife said go for it) and thought I would purchase a good all around lens, the Nikon 28-300. I was wondering if you think this lens will be enough to meet my photo objectives which are mostly to capture city, coastline and landscapes along with sunrises and sunsets. I think the telephoto end is covered. As you know most all of this area is perched on a hillside, so its not like I will be able to do much foot zooming. I'm wondering if the wide angle is enough. In your opinion do you think I should have a wider angle lens? If so, what do you suggest? By the way I would need to purchase one. I also don't want to carry extra weight (or purchase one at this time) if I don't have to. Since I will be shooting night shots I will also be carrying a tripod. Your expert thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

Newsbob Loc: SF Bay Area

If you don't buy a wide angle lens, you'll regret it every time you set up for a panoramic shot. Put the lens in a lightweight backpack and you won't even know it's there, until you need it. Then smile, as you remember this advice and pat yourself on the back(pack). And thank your wife for being so understanding.

wannabe63 Loc: Bellevue, Washington

Bob, thanks for your thoughts. How do you like your Tamron 28-300?

Newsbob Loc: SF Bay Area

it's fabulous. Tack sharp, fast autofocus. We cruise a lot, and I used to carry my Canon 5D3 and three lenses. Now, I carry the Tamron plus a Canon wide angle, and haven't missed a shot since. We're going on a safari late next year, and I'm looking at the Tamron 150-600mm, based on my satisfaction with my current lens. And the price is right, considering how expensive the Canon lenses are. Read the reviews on Amazon and B&H, and the consensus is that Tamron lenses are just a tad softer at maximum zoom, but certainly acceptable. Check out this shot I snapped in a friend's front yard, handheld. Yes, it is a little soft in one part, but that's because I shot it wide open to get the background out of focus. If I had stopped down a bit, it would have been even better.
http://newsbob.smugmug.com/Winners/i-rP3kGRH/A

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

I have the Nikon 28-300 and that would be on my camera most of the time. I also have the Nikon 16-35 and it would come along for the trip as well. Most of my wide angle shots seem to be in the 20- 24 so this lense works well for me and I defininatly recommend it. ;)

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I have the 28-300 and it's my travel lens and general purpose lens. I don't often run across shots for which I need a real wide angle, but when I do, they're landscapes and such that are really static scenes. I use the 28 end of the lens and stitch the resulting photos together. I use Photoshop because I have it, but there are lots of different stitching programs out there.

In general, the 28-300 is not quite as sharp as my 24-70-200 lenses but it's sharp enough for general use. I don't plan to sell any of my images, they're just for my own use, and I don't make large prints so I don't need the absolute diffraction limited image in my shots. The 28-300 is good enough for me and it makes it fairly easy to carry the camera on a trip. Even at home the 28-300 is my most-used lens.

Try it out before you go to get a feel for it. You have to leave at least 25% overlap and I'd advise pushing the edges of the picture about 50% of a frame beyond what you actually want in the resulting image. Some stitching programs will distort the scene so the edges of the stitched image are not straight lines. You will frequently have to crop off some of the edges, so if you have extra there you won't be losing some of the image you want.

You can get a pan head for panoramas if you really need to do it absolutely right, but it is possible to do it hand held. The pan head rotates the camera and lens around the nodal point of the lens. That preserves the same perspective for all the directions you point the camera. However, I don't have a pan head and I do a lot of panoramas. I try not to stand in one spot and just turn my body for the different directions. Instead I try to rotate the camera so the lens stays in one spot. It's purely my estimate of what point to rotate about, but it works 99.9% of the time.

I can generally get Photoshop to give me a panorama if I just rotate my body, but the joints between the different images sometimes don't match that well and I get ghosts, even in static scenes.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

Enjoy your time in Cinque Terre - when you get back, I'm looking forward to seeing a few of your pictures.
Not familiar with your brand, so I can't comment on your lenses.
Not familiar with Cinque Terre either, I've never been to Italy, but if by chance you make it to The Netherlands, I could give you some hints for that...

DrWilk Loc: .

I'm not answering about your lenses so much as telling you about about the area.
First off, how will you be travelling up the coast? You only have two choices: by boat or by train. No roads between the towns. Once there, you can walk along a cliffside trail between the towns.

There's a small fee because it's actually part of a National park. If I remember correctly I believe the cost is 2 Euros per person. But it is well worth doing. Because you'll be there for 10 days, try to do the walk both directions for different views.

The boat trip out is very enjoyable but if you're a little unsteady on your feet it can be a little challenging disembarking at the first village (sorry, can't remember the name at the moment). You literally walk the plank from the bow of the boat onto the clifface. They do lend a hand though. When my wife and I did it we were having to deal with 3 foot swells, which made it "fun."

The boat trip is really the best way to do it and for it you would probably want a telephoto for bringing the towns in close. But once you're in the towns a medium wide-angle is necessary, they are really tight in there.

Enjoy your trip. It's a beautiful area and you've given yourself plenty of time to explore it thoroughly.

If you get a chance, try to get up to the quarries at Carrara. The entire mountain chain there is made of pure marble and some of the quarries have been used for centuries. It's where Michelangelo got his marble for his sculptures.

"WARNING." Take a bus up. DO NOT drive it yourself. I almost lost my RV, my wife and my lunch driving up there.

Jbat Loc: Charleston, SC

The Nikon 28-300 is a great travel and all around lens. I use it regularly. For wide angles, I have the Nikon 16-35 f/4 which is also a great lens. I personally would not carry the wide angle on trips such as you describe but it is just a matter of personal opinion. I carry the wide angle on trips where I expect to shoot a lot of landscapes and also would have a tripod which I would never carry to Europe.

mnBruce

Visited that area on 2005 and be sure to find the trail from top of the mountain above Monarola to Corniglis that runs in the vineyards, one of the best hikes you can do, take food and water and a good map but well worth the effort. Villages are narrow streets and very hilly so you may want a wide lens to capture some of those areas. Take lots of cards with you it will be a great trip, enjoy.

HughB Loc: Minneapolis MN

We were at Cinque Terre last year beginning of July for 2 1/2 days at the end of an Italian vacation in Tuscany. We stayed at a lovely hotel in La Spezia, the small city just south of the 5 villages but linked to them by the train which runs on at least the hour if I remember. The first afternoon at 1pm we took the train up to Monterosso and then back to Vernzza and Corniglia where had dinner on a terrace restaurant looking sout to Manarola with the sun setting. I have a 20 x 30 photo canvas of Manarola on my wall and as a screen saver!. From Vernazza we took the train back to La Spezia and our hotel, Hotel Nella, really delightful. The second day we bought another day's train ticket and went back up to Monterroso but this time walked south through the village to the boat tour. You must do this as it stops at each village but also gives you a real view and perspective of Cinque Terra.
Obviously I had my Canon with my Canon EF 24-105 f4 lens which was very sufficient. I notice now that the photos taken from the boat were all ISO 100 and very sharp. It is an IS lens. Yes, I could have used my Tamron 70-300 but I didn't as I wanted the flexibility of the 24-105 which can in very handy in the streets.
BTW, the sea was quite calm!
Good travels!

HughB Loc: Minneapolis MN

I forgot to mention that we wanted to hike between a couple of the Villages but the lower trails were closed because of rock slides from all the spring rain last year, 2013. Even in Italy these trails should be open now!

RichardE Loc: California

Been there and walked four of the five villages before my legs gave out! The kids made all five of course. I would take my 17-50 and the 100, day backpack and a walking stick for balance / support at times. Also, make sure you have the camera strap or hand strap securely installed on your body as you will want to lean out at times. This is for the walking route as I did not do a boat tour. Plenty of time to walk the villages. Watch out you do not eat too much gelato! The only problem I had with any pictures, was the colors vs the printer's ability to print them all. Have fun!

Cape Codder Loc: Cape Cod

Spent a week in the Cinque Terre a few years ago. (Beginning of April) Loved every minute! We walked the trails, took the boat and used the train. Stayed in B&B in Vernazza--up 64 steps from the street. I had a Tamron 28-300. It did me well, but then I rarely take wide angle type shots. Much more likely to be shooting at the other end.

Enjoy!