R.G. Loc: Scotland

A standard zoom and a wide angle zoom. If quality is important, the 18-70, if not, the 18-300.

Trying to do indoor shots with anything other than a wide angle lens will be very restrictive. A bright, wide prime would be ideal but your wide angle zoom is perfectly acceptable and has added flexibility. I almost never regret not having lots of reach and the 18-70 would cover most of my needs.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

I have found that carrying several lenses is usually a burden and I also have found that the 18-70 f3.5-4.5 is an excellent choice for street and moderate tele photography. At 70mm setting it is very good for portraits.
I have never been to Italy and Spain has been a recent destination and I am going to guess that streets in a majority of cities and small towns in Spain must not be that different than in Italy. I did well in Spain with the 18-70.

A wide angle such as yours could be very useful too if you remember to come closer to your subjects with it. My use of a tele such as the 70-300 has been limited in my trips. Usually a lens like the 18-70 is what I have used most of the time but I can understand other photographers are different and could prefer something else. I have no experience with the 18-300. If VR is important I usually go to the 18-200 VR but I always take a light tripod when traveling.

Good luck with your trip.

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

I would go with maximum focal range, 10-20 and 18-300. I live in Italy and often find occasion to shoot very wide, especially church interiors, for instance. You have the 35mm included in your 18 to 300 and can bump the ISO if necessary. Limiting yourself to a single focal length only for a larger aperture doesn't make sense to me in your situation

kpsk_sony

I agree, the 18-300 and the 35

Nortfish Loc: Port St. Lucie, Fla

I just returned from a 2 week trip to Italy, Sisley, Slovenia, Croatia and a stop in Greece. I had a Lumix FZ-80 and an I Phone 13. The FZ-80 is a bridge camera with a 20-1200mm reach. I planned to use the i-phone for mainly geo tagging.

I posted approximately 300 photos to Lightroom. I know that's just a days work for some of you, but that was it for me. After carefully reviewing the metadata I found that at least 90% of my shots were between 20 and 45 mm. There were only a few that were over 200mm. The longest was 396mm. Even those could have been cropped in post if I chose to.

Bottom line. IMO go for light and wide. I hope you have as fantastic a trip as we did. Remember your best camera is between your ears.

jbk224 Loc: Long Island, NY

I'm in with the 18-300 which will be your main lens and the 10-20 for the interior shots (without a doubt) as 18 will not be wide enough; and you just may find many uses for the 10-20 outside as well. All you other focal lengths of your lenses are included in the 18-300.
Let us know your 'final choice' and hopefully get back to us upon your return with your thoughts.
Buon viaggio!

Red6

My wife and I visited Italy earlier this year, so here are my thoughts and experiences. I think you need to know and understand a few details about your travels. First, how and where you will be traveling and what sites will you visit. Second, what are your specific interests?

We had mostly one-day visits to the main cities - Florence, Rome, Naples, and Venice. While we were mostly on our own in the places we visited, we were limited in time somewhat and often walking.

I carried a 24-105 during these visits and rarely shot over the 50mm settings. Wide-angle shots will be more common and pleasing. Personally, I think many photographers over-emphasize the use of long telephoto lenses. As a result, they carry more gear and weight than necessary. The long telephoto lenses have their uses in wildlife and other special circumstances but inside of cities and street photography, I think they are mostly dead weight. On my trip to Italy, I cannot remember a single time I felt I needed longer lenses. I did, however, sometimes wish I had a wider angle lens than the 24-105mm.

So, if you are going to spend most of your time in cities and small towns, and you are set on taking two lenses, I would recommend the 10-20 and the 18-70.

However, if it were me, I would take only the 18-70mm. I like to travel on the lighter side and carry less gear. My wife and I started traveling more after our retirement and would travel with my gear bag and several lenses. This lasted about two trips and I drastically cut down the amount of gear I carry. I quickly realized that what I THINK I need on a trip is quite different from what I actually use. Traveling can be tiring and humping a bag of gear on and off airplanes, buses, and cruise ships can be a real chore.

As I stated above, I had the 24-105 and cannot remember a single time I thought I needed anything longer. However, I can think of several instances when I wished for a faster wide-angle lens. There will be times inside buildings, narrow streets, or alleys when faster lenses will get you some great shots. Here is a special note - my wife carries only her iPhone 13. Some of our best shots in Venice were from her iPhone. The wider angle lens really made for some great shots in the narrow, winding alleys and canals.

home brewer Loc: Fort Wayne, Indiana

I have a d500 and will take the 18-300 and 10-24 a SB800 because i don't have built in flash, a head lamp for those dark places, a small flashlight, bush and lens cleaning that fits in that camera bag. a carbon fiber tripod that fits in my carry on. This is what I have taken to europe since 2017 and it has worked well. Have fun

jcwall396 Loc: Roswell, GA

I agree with Longshadow. I had a D7500 a few years ago and almost never took the 18-300mm off of it. I'd take that one and the 35mm. That covers pretty much anything and everything you could point the camera at.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Depends on your style but I'd do the 18-70 and the 35, enjoy!

wapiti Loc: round rock, texas

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Start by trying to figure out why you bought all those lenses in the first place. 😉

zug55 Loc: Naivasha, Kenya, and Austin, Texas

I would take the 18-70mm and the 10-20mm lenses (full-frame equivalents 27-105mm and 15-30mm). Nothing in your trip indicates that you need a long telephoto lens. You will mostly use the 18-70mm lens. However, a 18mm (27mm equiv.) focal length is not really wide enough for many architecture and landscape shots, so I highly recommend taking the wider 10-20mm lens.

In my Nikon D7100 days, I used to travel with 18-140mm and 10-20mm lenses (including a trip to Italy). This worked great.

These days I travel with a Sony full-frame 24-105mm lens and a full-frame Zeiss 18mm prime lens. That is what I had for five weeks of travel in Spain, France, Switzerland, and Germany this summer--that is all I needed.

photoman43

If you like indoor pictures of museums and churches, just make sure you have one fast prime with you. The 35mm f1.8 seems to be the one I would include.

And one general purpose zoom, like the 18-300mm.

jbk224 Loc: Long Island, NY

I am modifying my suggestion after reading Zugg's post. As a DX body, I still suggest taking your 10-20 as the effective 15-30 will work out fine indoors and for many wide angle outdoor opportunities. I would take the 18-70 instead of the 18-300. The effective 27-105 should be more than adequate for most of your trip.