Hip Coyote wrote:
I had the great opportunity to visit there a few years ago on a security and counter terrorism thing. An amazing experience. People who say to cancel apparently have not walked the streets of Los Angeles, NYC, Chicago or St. Louis recently. Serious crime up something like 30%. Follow home robberies, stores taken over, streets taken over by gangs. I think 6 shot in a bar yesterday in LA. I doubt you will need rubber boots to walk in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem to avoid poo on the sidewalks as you do in major cities here. ( I was in the law enf world and have some clue about crime.)
So, that being said, go have fun. Be vigilant, of course. The food is magnificent.
I did a data plot on my shots from Israel and the vast majority of my shots were 28-32mm ff equivalent. The next most used was standard 50 mm range. Only 1 percent of my shots were long telephoto...300 mm plus. I cannot speak about the lenses you are considering as I am a m43 users (a great choice for travel) but I can say there will be times that you are in darkened locations, churches mostly, where you need a fast lens. Jerusalem is crowded and the streets in the Old City are narrow. You need wide. And you may find fast is also helpful. I do not think flashes will be allowed in most places. I would pick a few lenses and leave it at that. You will be walking a lot, probably in a group and they cannot wait for you to change lenses as they walk in the narrows of Jerusalem. Lose your group and you will have a problem. I also suggest you just get used to the idea you may have to up the iso farther than you normally would want to.
I can also say that your itinerary is going to be rushed....a camel ride and then to the Dead Sea...and Masada all in one day is a lot. You need to shower after getting into the Dead Sea because it is salty (I did it once). We had to change in a crowded, hot, locker room after the Dead Sea...not fun. After Masada you will be hot and sweaty...it will be a full day for sure.
I see mention of Bethlehem in there with Jerusalem..I am not sure if that was intentional...or maybe something in Jerusalem is named Bethlehem...but if you are going into Bethlehem, I dont think you can go there and back and accomplish all you want to accomplish...it is in Palestinian territories, you need to switch guides (I think), border control, and all that...We never went but want to go back. I am not an expert, but the issue popped out at me and thought Id mention it to you.
I had the great opportunity to visit there a few y... (
show quote)