Pilgrimage to Auschwitz

Hi, I have D800E and a few lenses, I will spend a day in Auschwitz and am looking for the best lens for the job, I have a 20mm 2.8, 24-70mm, 2.8, 70-200mm, 2.8, 85mm 1.4. Which lens would give me the best pic results. I cannot take them all due to their weight, I was thinking about the 20mm prime for landscape but the 24-70 is the most versatile. The 85 is F1.4 so would be better in low light, but think I would be gone from there before light was lost. Has anyone done a similar shoot and if so what lenses did you use? The trip is in June so light should not be a problem. all help appreciated, Thank you

What are you motifs going there?

Recently, Auschwitz has become kind of tourist attraction with hordes of people all around. So don't expect to get the typical history-book-photos of a totally empty and abandoned camp. Unfortunately, it now looks more like Disneyland on busy days.

So if you want to take well-composed and planned photos that bring across the mood and the grim subject of the place, you can pretty much forget it unless you have a private tour outside the main opening hours.

Go there, visit the historic place and take in the mood and atmosphere. Honestly, don't bother with getting meaningful photos there and having to carry around heavy gear all the time. It should be a place and visit for the experience, not about photos that will most likely look rather touristy.

Just my two cents

junger said:

Hi, I have D800E and a few lenses, I will spend a day in Auschwitz and am looking for the best lens for the job, I have a 20mm 2.8, 24-70mm, 2.8, 70-200mm, 2.8, 85mm 1.4. Which lens would give me the best pic results. I cannot take them all due to their weight, I was thinking about the 20mm prime for landscape but the 24-70 is the most versatile. The 85 is F1.4 so would be better in low light, but think I would be gone from there before light was lost. Has anyone done a similar shoot and if so what lenses did you use? The trip is in June so light should not be a problem. all help appreciated, Thank you

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We visited as part of a trip to Krakow last year and I didn't take a single photo, in all honesty it just didn't seem the right think to do, having said that plenty of people were doing so see how the mood takes you. It does get very busy with large groups going through at short intervals but even so it's a sobre and thought provoking experience.

I'd say the 20mm & 24-70 would cover most of what you'd need

Simon

Go there, pray, shed a tear, but leave your camera behind.

Peter Del

Thanks for the replies, I am having a holiday in Krakow, the reason I am going is to pay my respects and to see for myself the inhuman act perpetrated there, with all due respect I thought I was on a photographic site (not a moral compass discussion site) the photos will be to put on my blog/website, I will also visit the Schindler Works and the Ghetto & Salt Mine. I could use stock photos but there maybe a copyright issue.

cresulka said:

What are you motifs going there?

Recently, Auschwitz has become kind of tourist attraction with hordes of people all around. So don't expect to get the typical history-book-photos of a totally empty and abandoned camp. Unfortunately, it now looks more like Disneyland on busy days.

So if you want to take well-composed and planned photos that bring across the mood and the grim subject of the place, you can pretty much forget it unless you have a private tour outside the main opening hours.

Go there, visit the historic place and take in the mood and atmosphere. Honestly, don't bother with getting meaningful photos there and having to carry around heavy gear all the time. It should be a place and visit for the experience, not about photos that will most likely look rather touristy.

Just my two cents

Click to expand...

Thanks, I think you are right about the heavy gear, so I am taking my p900 bridge camera instead.

I recently visited Krakow, and all the locations you mention..

First off, there's effectively nothing to photograph in the Ghetto except plaques on walls, although the original Jewish area on the opposite side of the river is worth a visit.

Schindler factory is a museum with limited available space and again, low light. I didn't bother with photos there.

In the salt mines there are lots of things to photograph but the available light is very low so be prepared to use high ISO. I mostly used a 16-35mm f2.8 on a FF camera.

There are very strict rules on the size of bag you can take into Auschwitz - about the size of a thick laptop bag. And I mean they are strict. No exceptions. You are placed into groups of around 20 by language choice, then herded round quite quickly amongst large numbers of other groups. There is almost no space to take photographs and too many visitors to allow you the time to do so. I would recommend that you concentrate on the experience and forget about photographs. You say you have a day there so unless you mean a "day trip" then you may get more time on a personal tour, but there will be huge numbers of people getting in your way.

If you go on to Birkenau where the iconic rail station and gas chambers are, you will get a bit more space and time for photographs. Probably the 24-70 will be best there.

Don't forget Krakow itself with the old town, churches, basilicas and the Wawel Castle.

Thank-you, We are stopping in the old town, I take your point about the photos, I am taking the train for the Auschwitz visit, so will be taking some photos whilst on the train, and of course I intend to take photos of Krakow

I went to Auschwitz in October 2015 with just a 24-70 equiv, that was sufficient.

If interested then here are some pictures to see.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/visionds/albums/72157659385329819

Thanks

dscobie62 said:

I went to Auschwitz in October 2015 with just a 24-70 equiv, that was sufficient.

If interested then here are some pictures to see.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/visionds/albums/72157659385329819

Click to expand...

Hi, did you take all those photographs?

junger said:

dscobie62 said:

I went to Auschwitz in October 2015 with just a 24-70 equiv, that was sufficient.

If interested then here are some pictures to see.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/visionds/albums/72157659385329819

Click to expand...

Hi, did you take all those photographs?

Click to expand...

Yes, I did take all of these. We took a private tour which got us there very early, we were left on our own to walk through Auschwitz 1 (with an audio guide), giving us the freedom to come and go as we please. We were guided around Birkenhau, this worked very well for us. The place can be busy, though as you can see in October it wasn't too bad for us. Nothing can prepare you for what you will see, however somewhere that is a must see imo.

As has been mentioned here, Krakow is about a whole lot more than just Auschwitz, a wonderful city. Here are a couple of other links where there are more pictures from elsewhere in Krakow

Schindlers factory

Salt mines & city centre of Krakow

The Gas Chamber, or (The Murder Room) as I call it

Hi Mate, I took similar images as you (but not as good), it was a sad day, but I had to do it.

I was there May 25, 2008. There weren't that many people just before the summer crowd. I was able to capture a lot of the camp details with a Canon A550 7.1mp p/s camera because the things that you want to take photos are cordoned off so there won't be any interference. There is no need to publish any additional photos since they have been well documented in the internet.

I have been to Konzentrationslager Dachau a few years ago and felt all my photographic skills simply were inadequate to capture what needs to be expressed in view of the suffering people experienced there. For me, the buidlings and fences still remainung do not reflect the hell that was there.

While it is certainly worth going there, I doubt that specific equipment helps in such situations.