For those who have been to Athens Greece - gear question

So in about a month I'm going to be going to Greece (Santorini and Athens) and am having a hard time trying to decide on if I need a long telephoto or not (and by long, I mean something longer than 120mm).

I have a few shots I'd like to get, with one being the Acropolis view from say the hills of Phillipappou for example (probably from a spot that is closest to the Acropolis).

I'm trying to decide if my Nikon 24-120 is long enough (to minimize cropping of course) or if I should consider a 200mm or even 300mm travel zoom lens. I have access to lenses up to 300mm (don't really want to bring anything longer than that though as I won't need it for most of the trip anyway but mainly for distant subjects).

I have a Z 24-200 but am not sure if even that is long enough. I am going to bring my Z8 which is a 45MP camera which I can put into crop mode if I have to but I only get 19MP images (Which isn't bad, but it would allow me to get an equivalent reach of 300mm with the 24-200, although this may lead to a softer image since the 24-200 is not exactly sharp at 200mm. My other option is to avoid crop mode and bring a Tamron 70-300 but this is a 2 lens solution (not a huge deal).

So I'm trying to figure out what FLs would be suitable for shots like this around Athens as that's the biggest "unknown" for me.

sirhawkeye64 said:

So in about a month I'm going to be going to Greece (Santorini and Athens) and am having a hard time trying to decide on if I need a long telephoto or not (and by long, I mean something longer than 120mm).

I have a few shots I'd like to get, with one being the Acropolis view from say the hills of Phillipappou for example (probably from a spot that is closest to the Acropolis).

Click to expand...

Can't help directly, never been there. But I sympathize. So no disdainful suggestions of "FOMO" from me. Nor, "Everywhere is the same, shoot what you shoot at home." OK, there's a river in Los Angeles, and a castle and Matterhorn in Anaheim. Hardly the same.

sirhawkeye64 said:

I'm trying to decide if my Nikon 24-120 is long enough (to minimize cropping of course) or if I should consider a 200mm or even 300mm travel zoom lens. I have access to lenses up to 300mm (don't really want to bring anything longer than that though as I won't need it for most of the trip anyway but mainly for distant subjects).

I have a Z 24-200 but am not sure if even that is long enough. I am going to bring my Z8 which is a 45MP camera which I can put into crop mode if I have to but I only get 19MP images (Which isn't bad, but it would allow me to get an equivalent reach of 300mm with the 24-200, although this may lead to a softer image since the 24-200 is not exactly sharp at 200mm. My other option is to avoid crop mode and bring a Tamron 70-300 but this is a 2 lens solution (not a huge deal).

So I'm trying to figure out what FLs would be suitable for shots like this around Athens as that's the biggest "unknown" for me.

Click to expand...

I had to do some digging in prepping for our trip to Switzerland and the Rhine River. So, Google searched, "photographing the xxx." There were all kinds of blogs, vlogs, etc., and tourism related ads for any place I looked up. Lots of images, too. Lots of pictures, many gave locations but few actually included technical details

I did find at least one article on Zermatt and the Matterhorn where the photographer/author not only discussed a variety of locations and shared samples, but actually included photo details like camera and lenses used, focal length, etc.

Less luck on getting "river" type shot info. But, I did some Google Maps looks and measured some distances in the castle/gorge area and compared to some of my own somewhat similar shots. And, my A7Riv has 61 mp is much more forgiving for distance than my 16mp NEX6 was, our first Europe trip.

Nothing I have is wide enough and almost never used a long zoom there.

I have been, several times. Bring an ultra wide zoom. Santorini's narrow paths were a bit challenging with my 16mm. A long zoom is useful if you watch the elaborate Sunday parade in front of the parliament.

My hotel (Hotel Plaka) has a rooftop restaurant and terrace with absolutely incredible views of Acropolis ( and so close). My room had the same views, too. If you have drink at the restaurant you can make photos from there.

Look up member Yannis1976 (?). He's an Athenian and Fujifilm/M43 user who has posted a bunch of Athens/Greek island photos.

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Threaded view must stay!!!!

Have never been without Fujifilm cameras since 2002!

A 24-200 is good enough.

Just for fun, here is a scan of a print of a photograph taken with a Kodak Instamatic in 1974. I have no idea what lens I had on the Kodak at the time but would suggest it was not a 200 :-D


Unedited! Perhaps a new sky, some de-haze, some OT sharpening, some contrast, some colour corrections; and I'll make a silk purse from a sows ear...

Response in two parts

Athens

Not been for a long time, but what I would do is search on Flickr. There are a number of distant shots with camera details

https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=athens+acropolis

Santorini

We spent nearly a week there in 2017

Album on Flickr with all shots fully titled and geo-tagged

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenbarley/albums/72157682406932650

Looking at my Lightroom caalogue, of the 638 retained shots

622 were on APS-C 18-135, with 590 in the 18-80mm range (FF 27-120)

10 were on 10-20 (FF 15-30)

rest were phone

Most of the time you will probably be in the Fira - Oia area, but some of the small villages are attractive. Use local buses.

Ken

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My Photo Stream
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenbarley/albums

We just returned in June from three weeks in Greece. We were mainly touring the Island of Evia, but spent several days in Athens even visiting the Island of Hydra. I only had the Tamron 18-300mm on my Sony A6700 (equivalent 27-450mm) and in Athens I used all the focal lengths that I had. If I needed anything wider or at night I used my IPhone 13 Pro Max. I find that the tele end of the lens permits me to focus on the details of the scenes as well as pulling in the “long shots” of the historical archeological settings. In Athens we stayed at the Heritage Hotel that had a roof top restaurant with the most spectacular views of the Acropolis and Parthenon ( thanks to my 450mm equivalent reach)

I am not experienced with tele but have coverage up to 120mm which i find it generally sufficient. However, pathenon is not a big thing to me, so I didnt have a lot of good shots and neither did I had the sunset over there.

That said, I do have some shots which I will share later. I think it depends on where you intend to shoot from and how much you want to fill in the frame.

From the rooftop restaurants at metropolis roof garden near syntagma.


Any focal length would be sufficient to fit the hill in with the backdrop. This being 28mm.




And this is 127mm. With this hotel being quite some distance from acropolis.



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I may not always agree with different opinions, but criticisms, advices or suggestions on my photos are always welcomed.

whereas from Monastiraki square, a 127mm get you something like this.


127mm acropolis from Monastiraki square rooftop

--
I may not always agree with different opinions, but criticisms, advices or suggestions on my photos are always welcomed.

And from areopagus. 127mm gets this. I suppose 120mm may be sufficient unless you want it even more tele. and just be very careful, the rocks here is very very slippery. make sure you harness your camera and even climb on all four.

pardon me for the noise. these are just handheld snapshots but it gives you a rough idea of how zoomed in it is. perhaps it is worthwhile to shoot these in better light before sunset but i was held up by friends.




127mm from areopagus.





--
I may not always agree with different opinions, but criticisms, advices or suggestions on my photos are always welcomed.

Drmarcus said:

We just returned in June from three weeks in Greece. We were mainly touring the Island of Evia, but spent several days in Athens even visiting the Island of Hydra. I only had the Tamron 18-300mm on my Sony A6700 (equivalent 27-450mm) and in Athens I used all the focal lengths that I had. If I needed anything wider or at night I used my IPhone 13 Pro Max. I find that the tele end of the lens permits me to focus on the details of the scenes as well as pulling in the “long shots” of the historical archeological settings. In Athens we stayed at the Heritage Hotel that had a roof top restaurant with the most spectacular views of the Acropolis and Parthenon ( thanks to my 450mm equivalent reach)

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Thanks this is helpful. I'll probably pick up a 70-300 then for this part of the trip at least. then if I need to crop in a little from 300mm I can.

saltydough said:

I am not experienced with tele but have coverage up to 120mm which i find it generally sufficient. However, pathenon is not a big thing to me, so I didnt have a lot of good shots and neither did I had the sunset over there.

That said, I do have some shots which I will share later. I think it depends on where you intend to shoot from and how much you want to fill in the frame.

Click to expand...

I'm going to probably be shooting from one of the hills I mentioned in my original post. As far as filling the frame, not sure, but I just know for at least some of the shots, I'd like to fill the frame (or at least half of it). The rest can be wider shots (which I probably have covered with the 24-120).

My hotel has a balcony but I'm not sure which way it faces, although it is just on the outskirts of Plaka a few blocks from Syntagma square. But looking at the other buildings in the area, I probably won't be able to see the Acropolis (they are roughly the same height) however I will need to see if anything in the area has a rooftop bar or restaurant I can shoot from.

Then again, a wider shot might actually be "better" as it can show the scale of the Acropolis in relation to the surrounding areas. But also I like to be prepared photographically when I travel (meaning have all of the major FLs from about 14mm to 200mm or more covered).

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* PLEASE NOTE: I generally unsubscribe from forums/comments after a period of time has passed, so if I do not respond, that is likely the reason. *

There is a formula for figuring out the focal length of a lens required to fill the frame with a subject if you know the width of the subject, your sensor size and the distance from the subject.



Parthenon is 101 feet wide on the side facing your camera

Google maps measuring device says you're 1600 feet from the subject from your camera position on Phillipappou.

So a 600mm lens will fill the horizontal frame of your viewfinder with the face of the Parthenon.



measuring the width of the hill top to be roughly 1000 feet wide, from the same location a 75mm lens gives you this framing.





This may not answer all your questions about whether you should bring longer lenses on the trip, but it at least gives you a starting point for this one location.

mfinley said:

There is a formula for figuring out the focal length of a lens required to fill the frame with a subject if you know the width of the subject, your sensor size and the distance from the subject.



Parthenon is 101 feet wide on the side facing your camera

Google maps measuring device says you're 1600 feet from the subject from your camera position on Phillipappou.

So a 600mm lens will fill the horizontal frame of your viewfinder with the face of the Parthenon.



measuring the width of the hill top to be roughly 1000 feet wide, from the same location a 75mm lens gives you this framing.

Click to expand...

OK this is sort of helpful although I will need to see where exactly on the hill I can shoot from (or if that's the best spot). HOwever based on the second photo, it would seem that a 120mm would be more than plenty and would allow some room for filling the frame even more. I don't need to get "detailed" shots (specific buildings) from the viewpoint, but just want to capture the Acropolis as a whole.

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* PLEASE NOTE: I generally unsubscribe from forums/comments after a period of time has passed, so if I do not respond, that is likely the reason. *

On a slightly different tangent, we were there 2 years ago and the Acropolis was under ongoing restoration - which in our case meant scaffolding around some of the pillars of the Pantheon - which does show up in my photos. I understand the restoration has several years left to run so you might want to keep that in mind when planning the perfect photo. If it's an issue, you might be able to check on progress with the local tourist board.

sirhawkeye64 said:

mfinley said:

There is a formula for figuring out the focal length of a lens required to fill the frame with a subject if you know the width of the subject, your sensor size and the distance from the subject.



Parthenon is 101 feet wide on the side facing your camera

Google maps measuring device says you're 1600 feet from the subject from your camera position on Phillipappou.

So a 600mm lens will fill the horizontal frame of your viewfinder with the face of the Parthenon.



measuring the width of the hill top to be roughly 1000 feet wide, from the same location a 75mm lens gives you this framing.

Click to expand...

OK this is sort of helpful although I will need to see where exactly on the hill I can shoot from (or if that's the best spot). HOwever based on the second photo, it would seem that a 120mm would be more than plenty and would allow some room for filling the frame even more. I don't need to get "detailed" shots (specific buildings) from the viewpoint, but just want to capture the Acropolis as a whole.

Click to expand...

Mike's info should give you lots to go on. If you go to Google Earth to the top of Philopappou hill you can see a few links to photos taken by others. The distance from there to the Parthenon is about .6 of a km. The file info from one of the photos posted there (shown below) says it was taken with a Canon Eos 20D and used a 100mm lens. That camera is a crop sensor so guessing a 150mm on full frame would get you this framing. Your mileage may vary.



Otherwise, For Greece many villages have very narrow streets and I probably used wide angles much more than tele lenses. Also Athens especially has a fair bit of air pollution and any long shots are likely to have lots of haze or even smoke due to all the wildfires.

Have a great trip.

felix from the suburbs said:

On a slightly different tangent, we were there 2 years ago and the Acropolis was under ongoing restoration - which in our case meant scaffolding around some of the pillars of the Pantheon - which does show up in my photos. I understand the restoration has several years left to run so you might want to keep that in mind when planning the perfect photo. If it's an issue, you might be able to check on progress with the local tourist board.

Click to expand...

Thanks yes I will keep that in mind. If it does end up being that way that's something I cannot control, but I'd rather at least be prepared in terms of gear regardless. I will see if i can find out if it's under construction and if so, what parts.

sirhawkeye64 said:

OK this is sort of helpful although I will need to see where exactly on the hill I can shoot from (or if that's the best spot).

Click to expand...

Something to consider if you're not already is to look at google maps as an excellent resource for your trip planning.

When I went to the hill you were referring I quickly discovered there is a spot called "Viewpoint Philopappos Hill" and "Philopappos Monument", when you click on the "Browse street view images" option you get the little circles which are all photographs uploaded with geo data, when you click on them you see pictures people took from that spot. This kind of stuff is really invaluable for scouting photo locations in advance.

Clicking on those circles I can see the view from each location and swivel it around 360 like you're standing there. While there may be other or better actual spots on this hill you may discover once on the ground, the large concentration of uploaded images in these two spots and the views I see in the photographs indicates both of these are primary locations for shooting across to the Parthenon. Maybe you already use google maps like this, but if not you may find exploring its options will really help you out in photo scouting a location before arrival.



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Thanks,
Mike

mfinley said:

There is a formula for figuring out the focal length of a lens required to fill the frame with a subject if you know the width of the subject, your sensor size and the distance from the subject.



Parthenon is 101 feet wide on the side facing your camera

Google maps measuring device says you're 1600 feet from the subject from your camera position on Phillipappou.

So a 600mm lens will fill the horizontal frame of your viewfinder with the face of the Parthenon.



measuring the width of the hill top to be roughly 1000 feet wide, from the same location a 75mm lens gives you this framing.



This may not answer all your questions about whether you should bring longer lenses on the trip, but it at least gives you a starting point for this one location.

Click to expand...

That’s very useful information to newbie like me. Is there any mobile app that is recommended to facilitate the ease of such calculations?

--
I may not always agree with different opinions, but criticisms, advices or suggestions on my photos are always welcomed.

saltydough said:

That’s very useful information to newbie like me. Is there any mobile app that is recommended to facilitate the ease of such calculations?

Click to expand...

I just did the calculations manually but you could use the Chatgpt app to do it for you