New Zealand Lens Choice

My wife and I are getting ready for a two week trip to New Zealand at the end of August/ early September. We're planning on flying into Queenstown and slowly working our way up to Wellington. I am very excited for all of the photographic opportunities, but also aware my wife will not enjoy the trip as much if I'm stopping to change lenses all of the time.

Given my current equipment below, I'm trying to decide if it's worth renting the 16-55 2.8 or something else.

Cameras: X-T1 and X-E1

Lenses: 16 1.4, 35 1.4, 18-55, and 50-230

When I'm walking around just doing photography, I generally like to use the 35 or the 16 and simply switch between the lenses. I like the look of these a little better than the 18-55. My initial plan was to put the 35 on the X-T1 and the 16 on the X-E1, but I'm afraid I'll miss some opportunities where I'll want to use the long zoom. This has gotten me thinking maybe I should rent the 16-55 to get the same quality I like from the primes. Appreciate advice on what has worked for other people!

COtoNY wrote:

My wife and I are getting ready for a two week trip to New Zealand at the end of August/ early September. We're planning on flying into Queenstown and slowly working our way up to Wellington. I am very excited for all of the photographic opportunities, but also aware my wife will not enjoy the trip as much if I'm stopping to change lenses all of the time.

Given my current equipment below, I'm trying to decide if it's worth renting the 16-55 2.8 or something else.

Cameras: X-T1 and X-E1

Lenses: 16 1.4, 35 1.4, 18-55, and 50-230

When I'm walking around just doing photography, I generally like to use the 35 or the 16 and simply switch between the lenses. I like the look of these a little better than the 18-55. My initial plan was to put the 35 on the X-T1 and the 16 on the X-E1, but I'm afraid I'll miss some opportunities where I'll want to use the long zoom. This has gotten me thinking maybe I should rent the 16-55 to get the same quality I like from the primes. Appreciate advice on what has worked for other people!

A really common question and a bit confusing as there is so much choice and many have conflicting opinions.

New Zealand is all about the scenery. So a wide lens would be your primary lens here. There will be endless amazing beautiful lakes, mountain scenes. I have driven down the Highway from Christchurch to Queenstown and it can be stunning in places. Up there with Switzerland and easily one of the most beautiful scenic locations in the world.

10-24 zoom would be very handy. 16-55 F2.8 is a fine lens and is my main lens for my XT2. If it were me (I don't have any Fuji primes though) I would use the 10-24 and the 16-55. 35mm in APSc is really 52.5mm in full frame and for landscapes its starting to get long but still of course useable depending on how you like to frame your landscapes.

The 16-55 would be great for portraits as you can frame perfectly and F2.8 is very useable.

I know the 16 1.4 is very popular but for me viewing many Fuji landscapes from Greg's National Parks travels I felt it seemed a tad narrow for many of the shots and I preferred the 10-24 images more. The 18-55 is fine for XE1 and XT1 but not XT2 in my opinion where its weaknesses start to be revealed.

The 16-55 is one of the finest zooms I have ever used and its not really that large and heavy compared to its competitors.

An early morning shot of Lake Tekapu would be amazing with the 16-55 at 16mm and a tripod.

I am not sure how often you would use the 55-200 though. I don't remember seeing a lot of wildlife, mostly sheep.

Greg.

When traveling, getting the shot is most important.

So, I would just take the four lenses you've got, and enjoy the experience.

Maybe keep the 16mm on one camera and the 35 on the other?

I am visiting NZ with my wife in October for the first time. I intend to just take my 16-55mm with a monopod. As other have pointed out it is mainly about scenery – avoiding lens changes reduces risk of dirt on sensor and boring even my photographically minded wife – it is primarily a holiday not photo shoot.

Up in northern Thailand, where we currently live, on motorbike trips I rarely want for anything other than the focal length range and quality of the 16-55mm for shooting the countryside and occasional portrait – the lens does not need improving – I do!

John

As others have said, the scenery is what you'll likely be photographing. No wildlife except for the kea and if you're lucky enough to see one on the way to Milford or across Arthur's pass you won't need a telephoto as they'll come and say hello. They like rubber on cars...

Make sure you cover the wider end and if you feel like dabbling in some astrophotography lake tekapo is a dark sky reserve and simply amazing.

As for quintessential NZ photos. If you get a chance see if you can get to the following places

1. Roy's peak in Wanaka

2. The lone Wanaka tree on the lake

3. The church at lake tekapo (go up to the observatory too

4. Punakeiki (pancake rocks) - have you ever seen black sand beaches?

5. Lake matheson in fox glacier (view of the alps and mt cook). This is where most photos on the front pages of NZ calendars are taken from.

6.plenty of photo ops around QT, go up the gondola. Take the drive to glenorchy

7. Milford sound . It's a long day trip but if you are not heading back to NZ anytime soon I can't over state how much you have to do everything possible to get there. The glow worms in Te Anau are also pretty cool if you stay the night. State highway 94 is considered one of the best roads in the world and it doesn't disappoint. The photos of mitre peak are taken from the car park before you get on a boat.

(4 &5 require the west coast so you may not get over tht side - note it's just as awesome as QT to ChC).

Sorry if you already had this info, I'm just a kiwi in love with the South Island.

Hi,

I am also going to nz in October with the family and visiting the South Island. I will be going south while you go north but will do that trip later.

I also faced this quandary of lens choice. I decided that with the large amount of mountains I would take the 90mm to match with my soon to be delivered 16-55mm. I thought the 90mm would be more useful than my 14mm after going to Tasmania and using the 90mm to get greater compression of mountain images. The wide angle lenses can sometimes make the mountains look tiny. If you want a more expansive shot I just shoot it as a panorama. Anyway I have the 16mm end of the zoom for wider perspectives.

both these lenses are wr but that didn't really factor into my decision. I just wanted range from wide to telephoto in two quality lenses. I will use the 16-55 the most so it was really only the choice of the second lens.

cheers

sam

I visited NZ several times and for longer periods. The first 3 times I had a Nikon D90 with 24/2.8, 50/1.8 and the 18/200 F3.5/5.6. Nearly all pictures were shot with the zoom.

The last time I had the X-100 and the Fuji X-E1 with 35/1.4, 16-50 and 50-230 zooms. The 35/1.4 was hardly used and the X100 about 10 percent. Mostly used the 16/50. I missed many opportunities (for changing lenses) and the Nikon for its speed...

Cheers

John Roy wrote:

Welcome to NZ

Much of the area you will be travelling through is big sky country, so wide is good. The equivalent of 20-24mm ideal. Our light can be very harsh even in winter, so a UV filter is advised.

Make sure you do the drive north from Queenstown through Cromwell to Lake Tekapo; lovely sweeping roads through the southern lakes, sadly patrolled by revenue hungry cops. It's Ferrari country where you could cruise fast were it not for the radar; at the end of a long straight there is a sign advising you to slow down - to the speed limit.

The Church of the Good Shepherd at Tekapo is a NZ cliché but none the less lovely for that. Compulsory.

Yes. I have seen many gorgeous Milky Way shots with that Church set in the foreground. It makes for a great composition as does Lake Tekapo which incidently is in a dark site region. So good on NZ for creating a dark sky area.

Greg.

OsteoRach wrote:

As others have said, the scenery is what you'll likely be photographing. No wildlife except for the kea and if you're lucky enough to see one on the way to Milford or across Arthur's pass you won't need a telephoto as they'll come and say hello. They like rubber on cars...

Make sure you cover the wider end and if you feel like dabbling in some astrophotography lake tekapo is a dark sky reserve and simply amazing.

As for quintessential NZ photos. If you get a chance see if you can get to the following places

1. Roy's peak in Wanaka

2. The lone Wanaka tree on the lake

3. The church at lake tekapo (go up to the observatory too

4. Punakeiki (pancake rocks) - have you ever seen black sand beaches?

5. Lake matheson in fox glacier (view of the alps and mt cook). This is where most photos on the front pages of NZ calendars are taken from.

6.plenty of photo ops around QT, go up the gondola. Take the drive to glenorchy

7. Milford sound . It's a long day trip but if you are not heading back to NZ anytime soon I can't over state how much you have to do everything possible to get there. The glow worms in Te Anau are also pretty cool if you stay the night. State highway 94 is considered one of the best roads in the world and it doesn't disappoint. The photos of mitre peak are taken from the car park before you get on a boat.

(4 &5 require the west coast so you may not get over tht side - note it's just as awesome as QT to ChC).

Sorry if you already had this info, I'm just a kiwi in love with the South Island.

Great post. Thanks for this, I took a copy of this and saved it as I was planning a road trip around the North and South Islands.

Greg.

Astrophotographer 10 wrote:

OsteoRach wrote:

As others have said, the scenery is what you'll likely be photographing. No wildlife except for the kea and if you're lucky enough to see one on the way to Milford or across Arthur's pass you won't need a telephoto as they'll come and say hello. They like rubber on cars...

Make sure you cover the wider end and if you feel like dabbling in some astrophotography lake tekapo is a dark sky reserve and simply amazing.

As for quintessential NZ photos. If you get a chance see if you can get to the following places

1. Roy's peak in Wanaka

2. The lone Wanaka tree on the lake

3. The church at lake tekapo (go up to the observatory too

4. Punakeiki (pancake rocks) - have you ever seen black sand beaches?

5. Lake matheson in fox glacier (view of the alps and mt cook). This is where most photos on the front pages of NZ calendars are taken from.

6.plenty of photo ops around QT, go up the gondola. Take the drive to glenorchy

7. Milford sound . It's a long day trip but if you are not heading back to NZ anytime soon I can't over state how much you have to do everything possible to get there. The glow worms in Te Anau are also pretty cool if you stay the night. State highway 94 is considered one of the best roads in the world and it doesn't disappoint. The photos of mitre peak are taken from the car park before you get on a boat.

(4 &5 require the west coast so you may not get over tht side - note it's just as awesome as QT to ChC).

Sorry if you already had this info, I'm just a kiwi in love with the South Island.

Great post. Thanks for this, I took a copy of this and saved it as I was planning a road trip around the North and South Islands.

Greg.

Greg I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time! Make sure you leave yourself enough time if you want to see both islands (note they are very different) as NZ is bigger than a lot of people realise.

The gear that you have will be just fine for your trip. I don't think you will gain much by renting the 16-55. I would definitely take your 55-230 as it will be more useful than you think.

The main difficulty with travelling on the roads is keeping your eyes on the road rather than looking at the scenery. The places that have been mentioned are nice but there are so many other stunning spots that aren't on the photo icon tour. MoKe Lake just north of Queenstown is beautiful sunrise time. Arrowtown. St Bathans. Nelson. Wharariki Beach. Karamea.  Mt Cook. My advice is explore and allow yourself lots of time as are going to want to stop -LOTS.

Astrophotographer 10 wrote:

COtoNY wrote:

My wife and I are getting ready for a two week trip to New Zealand at the end of August/ early September. We're planning on flying into Queenstown and slowly working our way up to Wellington. I am very excited for all of the photographic opportunities, but also aware my wife will not enjoy the trip as much if I'm stopping to change lenses all of the time.

Given my current equipment below, I'm trying to decide if it's worth renting the 16-55 2.8 or something else.

Cameras: X-T1 and X-E1

Lenses: 16 1.4, 35 1.4, 18-55, and 50-230

When I'm walking around just doing photography, I generally like to use the 35 or the 16 and simply switch between the lenses. I like the look of these a little better than the 18-55. My initial plan was to put the 35 on the X-T1 and the 16 on the X-E1, but I'm afraid I'll miss some opportunities where I'll want to use the long zoom. This has gotten me thinking maybe I should rent the 16-55 to get the same quality I like from the primes. Appreciate advice on what has worked for other people!

A really common question and a bit confusing as there is so much choice and many have conflicting opinions.

New Zealand is all about the scenery. So a wide lens would be your primary lens here. There will be endless amazing beautiful lakes, mountain scenes. I have driven down the Highway from Christchurch to Queenstown and it can be stunning in places. Up there with Switzerland and easily one of the most beautiful scenic locations in the world.

10-24 zoom would be very handy. 16-55 F2.8 is a fine lens and is my main lens for my XT2. If it were me (I don't have any Fuji primes though) I would use the 10-24 and the 16-55. 35mm in APSc is really 52.5mm in full frame and for landscapes its starting to get long but still of course useable depending on how you like to frame your landscapes.

The 16-55 would be great for portraits as you can frame perfectly and F2.8 is very useable.

I know the 16 1.4 is very popular but for me viewing many Fuji landscapes from Greg's National Parks travels I felt it seemed a tad narrow for many of the shots and I preferred the 10-24 images more. The 18-55 is fine for XE1 and XT1 but not XT2 in my opinion where its weaknesses start to be revealed.

The 16-55 is one of the finest zooms I have ever used and its not really that large and heavy compared to its competitors.

An early morning shot of Lake Tekapu would be amazing with the 16-55 at 16mm and a tripod.

I am not sure how often you would use the 55-200 though. I don't remember seeing a lot of wildlife, mostly sheep.

Greg.

Thanks, Greg!

Appreciate the thoughts and your experience in NZ using the 10-24 and 16-55. How do you think about the weight of the 16-55? Would it be necessary to have the battery grip as well?

venice wrote:

Astrophotographer 10 wrote:

COtoNY wrote:

My wife and I are getting ready for a two week trip to New Zealand at the end of August/ early September. We're planning on flying into Queenstown and slowly working our way up to Wellington. I am very excited for all of the photographic opportunities, but also aware my wife will not enjoy the trip as much if I'm stopping to change lenses all of the time.

Given my current equipment below, I'm trying to decide if it's worth renting the 16-55 2.8 or something else.

Cameras: X-T1 and X-E1

Lenses: 16 1.4, 35 1.4, 18-55, and 50-230

When I'm walking around just doing photography, I generally like to use the 35 or the 16 and simply switch between the lenses. I like the look of these a little better than the 18-55. My initial plan was to put the 35 on the X-T1 and the 16 on the X-E1, but I'm afraid I'll miss some opportunities where I'll want to use the long zoom. This has gotten me thinking maybe I should rent the 16-55 to get the same quality I like from the primes. Appreciate advice on what has worked for other people!

A really common question and a bit confusing as there is so much choice and many have conflicting opinions.

New Zealand is all about the scenery. So a wide lens would be your primary lens here. There will be endless amazing beautiful lakes, mountain scenes. I have driven down the Highway from Christchurch to Queenstown and it can be stunning in places. Up there with Switzerland and easily one of the most beautiful scenic locations in the world.

10-24 zoom would be very handy. 16-55 F2.8 is a fine lens and is my main lens for my XT2. If it were me (I don't have any Fuji primes though) I would use the 10-24 and the 16-55. 35mm in APSc is really 52.5mm in full frame and for landscapes its starting to get long but still of course useable depending on how you like to frame your landscapes.

The 16-55 would be great for portraits as you can frame perfectly and F2.8 is very useable.

I know the 16 1.4 is very popular but for me viewing many Fuji landscapes from Greg's National Parks travels I felt it seemed a tad narrow for many of the shots and I preferred the 10-24 images more. The 18-55 is fine for XE1 and XT1 but not XT2 in my opinion where its weaknesses start to be revealed.

The 16-55 is one of the finest zooms I have ever used and its not really that large and heavy compared to its competitors.

An early morning shot of Lake Tekapu would be amazing with the 16-55 at 16mm and a tripod.

I am not sure how often you would use the 55-200 though. I don't remember seeing a lot of wildlife, mostly sheep.

Greg.

Agree the 16-55/2.8 is outstanding.

As an aside, I use tele lenses quite often for landscapes and don't relegate them only to animal studies.

I also agree that shooting wider than the 16/1.4 is very nice for many images. I would love to see something weather sealed and with OIS that is great optically from Fuji.

-Bill

Thanks, Bill. Your earlier comment on the rendering is what made me think about the 16-55. I just seem to like the images I get with the primes more. This could also be because they force me to be more deliberate and frame my shots more though.

In terms of tele lenses, I'm definitely bringing the 50-230 for that - the light weight makes it hard not too!

John Roy wrote:

Welcome to NZ

Much of the area you will be travelling through is big sky country, so wide is good. The equivalent of 20-24mm ideal. Our light can be very harsh even in winter, so a UV filter is advised.

Make sure you do the drive north from Queenstown through Cromwell to Lake Tekapo; lovely sweeping roads through the southern lakes, sadly patrolled by revenue hungry cops. It's Ferrari country where you could cruise fast were it not for the radar; at the end of a long straight there is a sign advising you to slow down - to the speed limit.

The Church of the Good Shepherd at Tekapo is a NZ cliché but none the less lovely for that. Compulsory.

Thank you for the kind advice on the roads/ route John. I am from Colorado and definitely know the tendency of police in smaller towns to have fun ticketing tourists. Not a fun part of any trip!