Zaydewise Loc: Nashville TN

Happy New Year! My wife and I are going to Costa Rica soon for a little over a week. I shoot with a Sony a7RIV and I was thinking about just taking my Tamron 28-200mm. I wanted to get some advice from Hedgehoggers if I would be shortchanging myself with taking only the one lens. I currently own Tamron lenses 17-28mm,28-75mm, 70-300mm along with the 28-200. Our tour will have some time in the Arenal Region, Monteverde, and Guanacaste regions.

Toment Loc: FL, IL

With CIZ, you get 400mm equiv. If you shoot in crop mode, it's 700mm. BUT you only have 28 wide, so I take the 17-28. MHO

Zaydewise Loc: Nashville TN

I don't know what you mean by CIZ

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Sony's "Clear Image Zoom" .....1.1-2X focal increase through cropping but with AI pixel enlargement - so you maintain the same total number of pixels. This should be easily accomplished with the high MP of the a7RIV .......
If you are doing any birding, I think I would at least have a 70-300mm option also......

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Costa Rica is known world wide for birds. Mostly very colorful and pretty small. IMHO, you would be wasting your time there without a big telephoto or zoom 500mm at least. As fast as possible or with a camera that handles high ISO very well. A lot of the birds stay under the jungle canopy, so light will be low.
Of course, I might be way off, and you might not give a rat's patootie about birds.
In that case, Belay my last!!

User ID

Your idea to keep it light is most excellent. Show us the results !

zug55 Loc: Naivasha, Kenya, and Austin, Texas

Tamron lenses tend to break at 28mm, which is an awkward point for travel photography. This requires frequent lens changes as the range from 24mm to about 50mm is the most useful for travel photography. (For that reason, my preferred travel lens is the Sony 24-105mm.) So I would definitely take the Tamron 17-28mm lens in addition to the 28-200.

Will you need a longer lens? You mention that you will travel with a group. Does your tour description mention the opportunity to observe birds? Unless this is a tour for birders, you may not have the opportunity to see too many birds. I am not a birder. But from previous trips in Central America I know that even there it usually takes an effort to spot birds, something that you may not have a time for with your group.

I would probably leave your other lenses at home. On a group trip, you will have limited time to change lenses on the go, so I would keep the kit simple. If you need longer, you can crop--your Sony A7RIV gives you a lot of room for cropping, although cropping may show the optical limitations of the 28-200mm lens. Others have mentioned Clear Image Zoom, which I use frequently as well. In fact, I programmed one of the buttons for it.
https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00021551

Gatorcoach Loc: New Jersey

Bring rain gear...for both you and your equipment. On our visit to the hanging bridges it was raining the entire time. Beautiful but NG for pictures. Priority one - protect your gear!

BillA

I agree 100% with you chief! I was there for two weeks last year and the tour I was on concentrated on birds. I shot with a Nikon 200-500 on a Nikon D500. Could not have been happier.

FredCM Loc: Central Illinois

You will find you need two lenses, a good telephoto with a long reach and a good wide angle landscape lens. The scenery is terrific in spots, and then there's the wildlife. You will need the telephoto for the howler monkeys, other monkeys, and all the birds. Except at the hummingbird feeding station somewhere around Mt. Poa. And the bad news is you will want to carry both lenses all the time.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

I’ve been to CR three times; two were photography workshops. IMHO, the best combination of lenses are a 85-100 macro, a ultra wide for a few landscape shots, a mid range zoom and a long prime plus 1.4x or 2x TC. The alternative to the zoom and prime would be something like a 150-600 or similar. The long stuff will definitely be your work horses. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. Good luck and enjoy your trip!

Zaydewise Loc: Nashville TN

Thanks everyone for your great suggestions.

gwilliams6

Exactly my advice too, take the Tamron 17-28mm for wider shots. I love that lens. You will sometimes need longer than 200mm so be sure you know how to use Clear Image Zoom in both fullframe and APS-C mode. Your 61mp of the A7RIV will cover you with still great image quality when cropped in.

I have been doing this as a pro for almost 50 years shooting all subjects around the world, and whereas for Costa Rica I would also take my Sony 200-600mm along plus 1.4X and 2X TCs, if you want to save weight, then you pretty much can do it all with the 17-28mm and the 28-200mm using CIZ and APS-C mode. Remember CIZ only works in jpeg shooting, not in raw or raw+jpeg settings.

One question, I know you want to travel as light as possible, but do you have a backup body to take, or does someone going on the same trip have a spare Sony body to loan you in the case you have any issues with your camera. I know my A7RIV has been bulletproof all around the world, but I never travel without a backup camera, as anything can happen, like tripping or a fall, and with no backup camera it wont matter what lenses you bring.

FYI, I have owned Sony A6500, A7RII, A7RIII, A7III, A9, and currently own A7RIV, A1, A7SIII.

Maybe rent or borrow a Sony APS-C body to take as a backup, they are fairly compact and would save your trip in a pinch. They can work with all your fullframe lenses. This may be a once-in-a-lifetime bucket list trip, so dont risk it to a camera failure. Just my two cents here from my personal experience.

Have a great trip.

Cheers and best to you.

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Zaydewise Loc: Nashville TN

Thanks! I did some research, and it seems the Clear Image Zoom is for video and not stills. I know I can use the crop mode to get an additional 1.5 reach on my lens but I'm not sure if that is different than the Clear Image Zoom mode. I do have an a6000 that I can take as back up. It was my first Sony camera, but it still works OK.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV