MrPhotog

The lovely older museums in Italy don’t have a lot of light. Don’t leave the 50 at home.

Rome is a big modern city with some ancient areas that are mostly left for tourists to gawk at.

Florence, and the small towns nearby are charming. It is a short trip to Pisa. The train between those two is faster than driving.

A friend once told me “Venice is an old town that needs a coat of paint”. But the light there has a special quality all its own. In Burano you can find the bright colors of fresh paint. If you are in Venice, take the boats to Burano and Murano. Women have been sitting in the Burano parks, making lace almost forever. The colors of the glass in Murano are breathtaking.

jkatpc Loc: Virginia Beach

I've travelled extensively and used to pack up a bunch of stuff that I never ended up using. Now I pack one body (Z9 or D850), a 24-70 2.8 and a speed light. I used to think I'd need a wider angle but I never really did, especially since it's so easy to stitch panoramic shots together in Lightroom. In your case, I would recommend a 17-50 as the field of view 'equivalent' for a crop sensor camera. Sigma makes an outstanding one.

swimweb1 Loc: Webster, NY

To me the question is what type of trip are you taking. We recently took a bus trip to the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. Anything we wanted had to fit in the small space overhead in the bus. I took a Thinktanks carry case that had my Fujifilm X-T3 with my Tamron 18-300. I also had a backup camera my Fujifilm XT-20 with a 10-24 on it. I took a few shots with the 10-24, but 95% was with the 18-300. The other issue was we were on a bus tour. The tour director said you had x minutes at a stop. There is not time to be changing lens, another reason why most of the time I used the X-T3 with the 18-300. For me space and and being appropriate for others on the trip were key. Also I was the only one on the bus trip that was "serious" about getting photos. Others would ask me to take what they wanted and then share it with them, whcih I did. I even took their photos. At the same time, I find many people just don't want photos anymore, not like when I was younger. Being able to share immediately a photo back to the family of what they saw today was the key, not the quality of the photo.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

You have exactly the 'right' equipment. My only consideration would be the 50 is not 'wide' enough after the crop factor. Although, you might find the 80mm ish telephoto result is better to your needs? For me, I'd look at something 'wide and fast' for indoor churches, and narrow old world streets, something in the 17mm to 24mm range, say an f/1.8 prime or an f/2.8 zoom. Replacing the 50mm with that wider lens. But, that's me. Have fun.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Rent or buy a Sony RX10m4 so you can enjoy the trip.

jcboy3

You don't need anything over 200mm FF equivalent; that's what I think.

mtcoothaman Loc: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Hi

I am off to Iceland next year. Do you think it is worth my taking a 10-20mm uwa for my APSc as well as 17-70 and 55-300mm? It is hard to gauge from published pics as to how difficult some of the scenary and waterfall shots are?

thanks

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

It really depends on your circumstances. Where are you going? What are you doing? Whom are you with? Are there any mobility or weight considerations? Of those lenses, which ones do you use most often for general photography, similar to what you expect to do on your trip?

I have a 24-70 equivalent and a 70-200 equivalent, plus a short macro (60mm equivalent) and a short portrait lens (85mm equivalent). I take them all. But the 12-35mm f/2.8 (the 24-70 equivalent) gets used about 2/3 to 3/4 of the time, followed by the longer zoom and the macro.

I don't do much wildlife or sports action work, so I don't own a super zoom (100-400 would be my pick on Micro 4/3). But it would fit in my pack with careful rearrangement of other items.

Hip Coyote

Hey, Burk. You made me think of something. I just got back from a Italy but was with another couple so I really couldn’t go peel off too much to go photographing’. But one thing that is way cool in Europe are all the kids playing soccer. Might be fun to shoot. We saw field after field of kids playing.

Also in Italy, at a certain time of year, they have village vs village horse races which are supposed to be insane. For that I’d take a super zoom and all the gear I could carry.

Not to get too deep into the gear thing but IMO for travel nothing beats the size v capability v adaptability of M43 gear.

Just a thought

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I fully agree. A G9 Mark II is in my future... Being able to fit my entire system under an airline seat has been wonderful. Just took it to Tucson, AZ, last week on a trip to see my daughter.

KenProspero

I've been to Iceland twice previously, and am going in January. Personally, I found the landscapes to be stunning and was happy for as wide a lens as possible -- different shooting styles mean different needs, of course.

For my next trip, I'll be taking a full-frame camera (and my cell phone) -- Lenses -- 24-200 Definitely (always when I travel); 15mm f/2.8 Definitely (for the Aurora -- which means a tripod also). 17-35 f/2.8 (maybe, depends weight and packing) and I'm going to leave my longer lenses at home (though in the winter, I'm not as much concerned with trying for a long-distance Puffin shot).

So, if it were me -- with an APS-C -- I'd choose the 10-20 over the 55-300 if I were only going to be carrying two lenses.

Your choice, of course!!

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I took my Pentax camera to San Diego in 2015 with a ’standard’ {for me} kit. After taking photos inside missions, I decided IBIS was “for me”. If you have sufficient time, I would get either a D500 {for high ISO} or one of their ‘Z’ cameras {for IBIS} - don’t depend on the “old rules”. ‘Narrow DoF’ still calls for wide aperture, but modern cameras can ‘find light’ you hadn’t known was there.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

How many times do we have to discuss this? If picking a lens (or camera) for holiday travel, the decision is really quite simple. Look at your equipment and imagine passing someone on your travels holding the exact same equipment in France or Italy or São Paulo or Waikiki Beach or Michigan Avenue or Alcatraz. Would you be impressed? For every option with a 'yes' answer, take. For every 'no', leave behind. Case closed, decision made.