India trip

[Tonesnz]

I have just confirmed a trip to India next year. The 12 day trip follows the Onam festival of southern India. It will take in locations ranging from fishing villages and white sandy beaches, to indoor displays and private homes, to a national park and wildlife reserve. Parades and portrait shots galore .

It will be my first time in India and while I'm still learning, I do want to make the most of this fantanstic opportunity, and bring home the best images I can.

To this end, I'm seeking advice on a serious zoom, or prime/s (or conbo) to take.

I'm not be too keen on using flash a lot (too intrusive) and with plenty of indoor opportunities... is this asking too much from a single zoom?

I currently use a D70s with the 18-70 kit lens, a tamron 90 2.8, a Sigma 100-300 f4 with a 1.4TC and an SB800.

The 18-70 lens is the one I'm looking to replace, but I'm not sure what with.

I'm also thinking of adding a 50mm 1.8 or 1.4 as well (if the 1.4 is worth the extra cost).

While I dont particularly want to lug the Sigma around, it seems a waste to not have it for the national park wildlife.

Anyone with experience of India? Best lens you took?

Any help much appreciated..

Tony
--

http://www.tonysfotos.home.photoshare.co.nz

 

[Neves Pereira]

--
Cressida

While I cannot advce you on lens I would let you know that there is a touristic spot in India a small state by the sea called GOA. Lots of photography opportunities there.

 

[jeminijoseph]

Hi Tonenz

I guess the equipment you already have should cover everything. BTW I'm from Kerala, India (where Onam is a state festival). Now I live in US.

As you may know Indian is a very crowded country and everything you want to photograph will be very close. Even the wildlife won't be that far. You can see monkeys coming very close to people. There are places in Kerala where you can ger spoted deers and many other wildlife. i could never visit these places with my camera though

If you want to know about any places in particular (especially about Kerala) send me and email. Good luck and enjoy your trip

I have just confirmed a trip to India next year. The 12 day trip
follows the Onam festival of southern India. It will take in
locations ranging from fishing villages and white sandy beaches, to
indoor displays and private homes, to a national park and wildlife
reserve. Parades and portrait shots galore .

It will be my first time in India and while I'm still learning, I
do want to make the most of this fantanstic opportunity, and bring
home the best images I can.

To this end, I'm seeking advice on a serious zoom, or prime/s (or
conbo) to take.

I'm not be too keen on using flash a lot (too intrusive) and with
plenty of indoor opportunities... is this asking too much from a
single zoom?

I currently use a D70s with the 18-70 kit lens, a tamron 90 2.8, a
Sigma 100-300 f4 with a 1.4TC and an SB800.

The 18-70 lens is the one I'm looking to replace, but I'm not sure
what with.
I'm also thinking of adding a 50mm 1.8 or 1.4 as well (if the 1.4
is worth the extra cost).

While I dont particularly want to lug the Sigma around, it seems a
waste to not have it for the national park wildlife.

Anyone with experience of India? Best lens you took?

Any help much appreciated..

Tony
--

http://www.tonysfotos.home.photoshare.co.nz

--
Thanks
Jemini Joseph

 

[jfriedl]

Consider the 18-200VR as an excellent "mostly-in-one" lens. It won't fill your low-light needs, but it has pretty much everything else. It's small, good quality (but not pro), and the 11x zoom is extremely convenient. It often makes the difference between getting the shot and not.

There are many threads about it on dpreview.

For lower light, presumably indoors, consider the Sigma 30mm f/1.4, if you can get a good version (there are focus issues with some copies: http://regex.info/blog/2006-10-31/274 ). 30mm might be a bit long, even, so perhaps consider something even wider.

(Remember, you can always crop a bit to simulate something longer)

This guy is an excellent wildlife photographer in Banglore: http://kalyan.livejournal.com/

Perhaps his stuff can give you ideas on location, if you're into lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!)

Jeffrey

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeffrey Friedl -- Kyoto, Japan -- http://regex.info/blog/

 

[Murrey Walker]

Tony, I just returned from a trip to Greece and while I carried a Nikon 12-24, 95% of these images were shot with the Nikon 18-200.

http://www.pbase.com/murreywalker/greece

Look at the Original size version of The Acropolis At Night Pannorama to get an idea of 18-200's ability to get an image that was about a mile away.

The flexibility of the 18-200 was incredible.

While it won't replace my 17-55 and 70-200 (faster glass), it has become a mainstay for overseas travel.

Good luck!

 

[Naoki Takagaki]

Tony,

I've been visiting India every year. (Not sure about this year though) 17-55mm is by far the most used lens for me. I use 70-200mm (+TC), too, and VR certainly came in handy when I shot while on a boat in Benares. I didn't have the Sigma 10-20mm during my previous trips, but I'll be taking the lens in my next trip for sure. I usually take few other lenses, but they are not used much.

Hope to see your photos when you come back from the trip.

Naoki
--
http://my.reset.jp/~takagaki/galleries/india_2002/india_2004/index.html

 

[Pradipta Dutta]

If I were you, I would absolutely take a super wide lens. Most of the shooting opportunities in South India would require you to go wide. Can you cover it with 18mm? Probably. But would you be benefited from a wider lens? Absolutely.

--
Speed is significant and interesting but accuracy is downright fascinating
http://www.pbase.com/pradipta

 

[Nishi Sharma]

On my last trip I took 70-210mm f4 and 18-70mm kit lens which were adequate for most situations. For indoors you either need a faster lens or some kind of camera support. I use a Leitz table tripd for which I had paid a lot of money but it's excellent for holding the camera rock steady in low light situation. It's small too. You will find indoors often quite dark and there a faster wide angle lens is handy. My preferred kit would consist of a 12-24mm f2.8 (which I don't have) and 70-210 f4 on my overseas photo assignments. Leaving some lenses that you might need in a hotel as you go out for the day can be risky, so I never do that. Again it depends on where you are staying - places vary in terms of security.

My suggestion would be not to take too much equipment with you if you are going to be travelling on buses and trains; also carrying heavy gear can slow you down as you walk around from a to b. You want to enjoy visiting interesting places and the cultural experience as well.

HTH

 

[Tonesnz]

Thank you all for the advice. There are good suggestions here for me to follow up on.

AND I got to see some excellent galleries along the way!

Thanks again

Tony
--

http://www.tonysfotos.home.photoshare.co.nz

 

[muee]

What month are you going?

I wouldn't want to be lugging a whole bunch of lenses all over India. The 18-200 VR is a great travel lens. Most of your shots would be outdoors. Take your 50 1.8 if you think you'll be shooting indoors. Keep your eye on your stuff. If you leave it for 1 second it will be gone. I love India (well it's a love hate thing) and hope you enjoy yourself. Mu

--
'Last night the moon came dropping it's clothes in the street.
I took it as a sign to start singing.' Rumi

 

[thomas1973]

If you're looking to replace your 18-70, I guess you like that focal range, and you want something similar that can handle low light.

I haven't traveled in India, but for my travels, I've been very pleased - and impressed - with my 17-55mm f/2.8. The focal range covers everything from wide to slight tele, giving me a good range for street photography, land- and cityscapes, and portraits. For protraits, the working distance is pretty close, some find it too close - me, I like it. The max aperture of f/2.8 lets me shoot in pretty low light without flash, and bumping the ISO lets me shoot in very low light. The 17-55 is also actually pretty sharp at its max aperture, which makes it even more useful.

Having said that, I know the 17-55 comes with a high premium. I've also heard a lot of good about Sigma's 18-50mm f/2.8. It will do most of the things the 17-55 will do, although it is reportedly slightly softer at f/2.8 (but still usable).

I'd love to go to India. It seems like a fantastic country to travel in as well as photograph!

Thomas.

 

[Tonesnz]

I leave next August to catch the festival, which is the rainy season (so even less light?).

I'm definately not wanting to take any more gear than I have to, hence trying to fit all options into a zoom. After reading the replys here, I'm not sure if the 50mm will be wide enough now. After the cropping factor, it'll end up a 75.

Finding it difficult to find a fast, wide, zoom. Good fun searching though.

Tony

--

http://www.tonysfotos.home.photoshare.co.nz

 

[Tonesnz]

The 18-70 range isn't an issue, it's just the lens I got with the camera (a nice lens though, dont get me wrong).

I've been hearing good things about the 17-55mm f/2.8, a lens I've yet to have a good look at but will do very soon.

Bumping the ISO would be my preferred solution but I'm a bit limited with tthe D70s. Maybe Nikon will release a new model with great ISO performance before I go..? but that would be waaay to much to hope for.

Tony

--

http://www.tonysfotos.home.photoshare.co.nz