Which lenses for mountain trekking

[rockinpete]

Hi there,

I go to Nepal this Friday for 2 weeks with a 10 days trekking.

So I'd like to have a light and compact camera bag as I'll have to carry my bag for 10 days walking.

Most of shots will be landscapes and some portraits in the villages.

I own the Olympus OMD-EM5 II with:

- Oly 12-40mm 2.8

- Oly 40mm 1.8

- Pana 20mm 1.7

- Rokinon 7.5mm fisheye

I'll only take 2 or 3 lenses, sure the 12-40, what about the others? I have trouble to make my final decision ...

Thanks !

Pierre

 

[johngraham]

I would take a wide angle lens in the mountains.

You only have the 7.5 mm fisheye as wide angle. If you can easily defish the photos taken with this lens then take this one - it is probably small and light too.

Enjoy the trip and please share some photos when you are back.

 

[stewart hull]

I think the Oly you're taking should be sufficient - personally I'd be aiming to go as light as possible as you've only got 2 weeks and 10 days of that will be spent walking which doesn't leave much time for acclimatisation, so you may well find it hard work to start with when the altitude hits.

I'm no pro photographer but I've done my fair share of hiking/trekking and found that altitude is a great leveller! Three years ago I did the Santa Cruz trek (plus Laguna 69) in Peru with a guy I met in a hostel. We carried all our own food/gear (I'm not a fan of hiking with groups) and went out for 4 full days (it should've been done in 5 but we ended up rattling through it quicker than expected). He was a sprinter back home and pretty fit, but found it really hard work hitting the highest pass (only 3750m) which was a steady rise for quite some time. I'd spent quite some time lounging around on a beach giving my liver more work than my lungs and legs but managed it a lot easier.

At the end of the day, the experience of the trek is more important than the images you'll get (unless you're a pro and expect income from your shots) and I'd just be sure to take plenty of spare batteries and enjoy! Oh, and dont forget to post a few photo's on here!

 

[jwilliams]

Hi there,

I go to Nepal this Friday for 2 weeks with a 10 days trekking.

So I'd like to have a light and compact camera bag as I'll have to carry my bag for 10 days walking.

Most of shots will be landscapes and some portraits in the villages.

I own the Olympus OMD-EM5 II with:

- Oly 12-40mm 2.8

- Oly 40mm 1.8

- Pana 20mm 1.7

- Rokinon 7.5mm fisheye

I'll only take 2 or 3 lenses, sure the 12-40, what about the others? I have trouble to make my final decision ...

Thanks !

Pierre

From what you have I would take the 12-40 and 7.5. The 20 and 40 are pretty redundant. You might not get much use ofteh 7.5, but at least it gives a different FL than the zoom which the other lenses don't.

 

[Mark9473]

I would take the 12-40 and either the 20 or the 45 as a back-up, whichever of the two looks the most robust and able to withstand an accidental knock or drop.

 

[Jacques Cornell]

I've been doing a lot of day hikes in rugged mountains for the past two years. Started out carrying my 12-35/2.8 and 35-100/2.8, but having to swap lenses on the move and/or in rain & snow became an issue, so I got a 14-140 and haven't looked back. Here's an article I wrote about my hiking kit and techniques I use for getting 60+ megapixel RAW files with 20 stops of tonal range.

Hiking with a Micro Four Thirds Camera

The 14-140 is the keystone of my travel kit now. For longer trips I'll add a 7-14/4, 20/1.7 45/1.8, and a second body.

--
If you think digital is hard, try slide film.
http://jacquescornell.photography
http://happening.photos

 

[jeffharris]

Hi there,

I go to Nepal this Friday for 2 weeks with a 10 days trekking.

So I'd like to have a light and compact camera bag as I'll have to carry my bag for 10 days walking.

Most of shots will be landscapes and some portraits in the villages.

I own the Olympus OMD-EM5 II with:

I'll only take 2 or 3 lenses, sure the 12-40, what about the others? I have trouble to make my final decision ...

Sounds like a great trip.

- Oly 12-40mm 2.8

- Pana 20mm 1.7

- Rokinon 7.5mm fisheye

I'd want some sort of telephoto, like a 40 or 45-150mm… small, light and cheap. Swap the fisheye for that. You can always shoot panoramas @ 12mm.

 

[Luke Forrest]

Take them all. The real weight (still light) is the camera body + 12-40mm. The other lenses barely weigh anything. All 3 of them probably weigh less than 500g. Do a couple of extra push ups before you go and you're set.

--
https://www.flickr.com/photos/luke_forrest/

 

[rockinpete]

Thank you all!

I'll go for 12-40, 7.5, 45 and show you pictures when back from the trip ^^

 

[Gary from Seattle]

The 12-40 will be good for most photography, the FE as an ultra wide angle for astro (the Oly 1.8 is better), and perhaps a few broad, braided river valleys and open passes. The 45 is a waste of time. The idea of a light telephoto is a good one for fluted mountain peaks and subject isolation. The tripod is the question; helpful inside monasteries and for astro. For the latter, the camera could be supported on a rock/bench/log/wall - but with the FE this is difficult without getting the immediate foreground of the camera in the image.

I did a 22 day trek of Manaslu in 1999 and a trek in Sikkim in 1998. We had porters, but I carried all my camera gear plus some supplies and clothes. I had a Nikon 20, 55, 105, and 180 and used all of them. Before IBIS I carried a 5 lb. tripod. The tripod is much less necessary now (with IBIS), and in a monastery I would just push the ISO. But for astro there would be little option beyond a tripod (2 pounds with a light head and carbon fiber) for the FE.

Here are a couple from Sikkim - I never scanned my Manaslu shots.









You really won't do much shooting of people after sunset as everyone is indoors. The only really good low light images were in a couple of monasteries. In Sikkim and in Nepal I got some really good images of peaks close up. So, a telephoto.

 

[biggles266]

Hi there,

I go to Nepal this Friday for 2 weeks with a 10 days trekking.

So I'd like to have a light and compact camera bag as I'll have to carry my bag for 10 days walking.

Most of shots will be landscapes and some portraits in the villages.

I own the Olympus OMD-EM5 II with:

- Oly 12-40mm 2.8

- Oly 40mm 1.8

- Pana 20mm 1.7

- Rokinon 7.5mm fisheye

I'll only take 2 or 3 lenses, sure the 12-40, what about the others? I have trouble to make my final decision ...

Thanks !

Pierre

Only you know how much weight you can carry while trekking. Only you know what kind of photos you like to take. You will be making the decision yourself for every other piece of item in your bag, deciding whether to include its 100g or 200g weight, etc. So I thought this was a strange question. Personally I would also buy and take a 40-150mm - very cheap and light, or maybe even a 75-300mm. I wouldn't go into the mountains with a 40mm maximum. But it's really up to you. If you are trekking in Nepal for 2 weeks, you must be a pretty experienced mountain trekker already. So wouldn't you have already worked out by now what lenses you need on treks? Not being critical, just very puzzled.

 

[Messier Object]

I'd leave the fisheye in favor of doing stitched panoramas using the 12mm. Practice framing with the right amount of overlap and using exposure lock before you go. A 2 or 3 shot pano stitch is easily done -quicker than changing lenses.

I'm curious about how you will handle spare batteries and/or charging ?

Peter

 

[rockinpete]

This is my first "long" mountain trekking, usually I only walk for 2-3 days.

I had trouble to decided for buy a ship tele zoom such as 40-150 or the FE.

I choosed the fish eye because usually I am most into street photography, buying a tele zoom only for one trekking a year or maybe less ...not sure it's worth it.

My chose except the 12-40 is FE for very wild, and a few shots with FE effects, and 45 for portraits in the villages.

Usually I only bring standard zoom and a fast prime.

Ready to take over now ^^

Thanks!

 

[rockinpete]

Thank you

I also bring a tripod because I love shooting sunrises and love long exposure.

IBIS is cool but not enough IMO

I'll do a few tries with the FE in Kathmandu and maybe I won't take it for the trekking.

 

[rockinpete]

I take 3 batteries with me...not enough for 10 days, but, someone told me that in some lodges it's possible to load batteries for a few $.

Just hope it's true!

 

[jeffharris]

Thank you

I also bring a tripod because I love shooting sunrises and love long exposure.

IBIS is cool but not enough IMO

I'll do a few tries with the FE in Kathmandu and maybe I won't take it for the trekking.

Get an UltraPod II. They're very light, compact and cheap. They're very handy if you need it.

A monopod or a walking stick that has a tripod mount in the handle, is another option.

 

[jeffharris]

I take 3 batteries with me...not enough for 10 days, but, someone told me that in some lodges it's possible to load batteries for a few $.

Just hope it's true!

Thats something you should check to be absolutely SURE it's true!

You can get inexpensive solar chargers and charge a battery pack. Then get an inexpensive USB battery charger (or 2!) to keep the batteries charged. Get another battery, too.

 

[Messier Object]

I take 3 batteries with me...not enough for 10 days, but, someone told me that in some lodges it's possible to load batteries for a few $.

Just hope it's true!

if photography is important to you on this trip then I suggest that a Plan B is needed.

AS Jeff suggested, a solar option might be good, or 1/2 dozen cheap 3rd party batteries.

Peter

 

[Frank Jones264654]

Hi rockinpete,

I've been to Nepal several times, most recently in March 2016 (Annapurna region).

It's true that in most lodges you can charge batteries, but in the Everest region power is limited (solar in many cases), they'll charge you up to 300 rupees per hour for the privilege, and you'll often have to take your turn with everyone else.

This is less of a problem in the Annapurna region, which has mains power (240 volt) and often your room will have a power point.

Either way, you're best being self-sufficient as much as possible. I stocked up on cheap batteries and took 6 batteries with me.

Now that you can get USB battery chargers you can also take a 5 volt power bank for emergencies, the type you'd use to charge a mobile phone.

As for the lenses, I took a 7-14, 14-45 and 45-200 with my Panasonic G5, and ended up with 1,524 photos. Running ExposurePlot over them yielded the following results:

7-14: 226 photos
14-45: 1213 photos
45-200: 85 photos

... so, as others have said, a wide angle lens came in very useful.

Feel free to check out some of my photos at www.flickr.com/photos/faj2323 .


ExposurePlot graph of focal lengths on my Nepal trek

I take 3 batteries with me...not enough for 10 days, but, someone told me that in some lodges it's possible to load batteries for a few $.

Just hope it's true!

 

[doccy]

I've been doing a lot of day hikes in rugged mountains for the past two years. Started out carrying my 12-35/2.8 and 35-100/2.8, but having to swap lenses on the move and/or in rain & snow became an issue, so I got a 14-140 and haven't looked back. Here's an article I wrote about my hiking kit and techniques I use for getting 60+ megapixel RAW files with 20 stops of tonal range.

Hiking with a Micro Four Thirds Camera

The 14-140 is the keystone of my travel kit now. For longer trips I'll add a 7-14/4, 20/1.7 45/1.8, and a second body.