AMD wrote:
I plan to take pictures at the balloon Festival in October in Albuquerque,N.M. I have Nikon D800 with 28-300,80-200 and 24-70 lenses , Sony RX10,Sony WX 350 and Canon Rebel with 24-105, 10-20.
What are your suggestions to bring with me for this event. Thank you.
Great event! Lucky for you! I have never been, but have long wanted to go to that balloon festival. It's the largest and best of all. Some years they have 500 or 600 balloons, if memory serves.
I've been to lots of other balloon festival, even "ground crewed" for some friends a number of times (but never got a "free ride"... although my ex-wife did!).
You will be presented with hundreds of photo ops! You will want to take everything you can. You'll need wide angle for mass ascensions and inside shots during balloon inflation, telephoto for tight details and to catch the "dawn patrol" or "hare" that precedes the "hounds" at some types of events... and every focal length everything in between for myriad other potential shots!
Get there very, very early (way before dawn). Walk around talking with folks. Start out at a distance, then get up close for portraits and details... But also be prepared for more distant shots after they take off. Also be prepared that things don't always work out. If there's too much wind, the event may be called off or delayed. If you can get on a chase truck, that can be fun and get even more photo ops during the chase and when they land. Everything from portraits to macro to extra wide shots of the sky full of colorful balloons.
It's usually all over by 8:30 or 9 am... then everyone goes somewhere for breakfast!
I'd probably take the D800 for it's full frame detail, sheer resolution, and low light capabilities. Regarding lenses, I do not personally like "do everything" zooms like the 28-300. They've improved a lot in recent years, but for best possible image quality I still don't trust anything much more than a 3X or 4X zoom (and a 28-300 is over 10X). So I'd take the 24-70 and 80-200 (must be an older lens... aren't they all 70-200mm now?). But I'd also definitely want something wider, such as a 16-35mm or a 20mm. And I'd want longer, such as a 300mm with or without a 1.4X teleconverter. Rent if you can't afford to buy. Or sell off some of the other stuff and buy, if your budget is tight.
P.S. Personally, I would HATE shooting with your kit. Three different systems that are largely non-interchangeable with each other would make me even nuttier than I already am! You really should commit to one system or the other and start to build within that, getting rid of the rest. Nikon, Sony or Canon doesn't matter. All three can be very good, though each of us form our own preferences for a variety of reasons.