My Clunky Travel Telephoto

I’m getting ready for a trip to Italy coming up in a few days.  We are celebrating Susan’s birthday in grand style.  The itinerary includes a week in a Tuscan hilltop villa with all the family, and then a packed schedule including visits to Rome, Florence, Bologna, Venice and Lake Como.  We’re very excited, but as always, I have started obsessing about what gear I should lug along on the trip.  

Basics

Canon 24-105

The basics must include my Canon 5D Mark IV  and my back-up 5D Mark II body.  For my small “carry around” camera, I’m conflicted about whether to take my Canon G11 or the remarkably versatile, Canon SX50HS.  The HS has a ridiculously wide focal length range, 24-1200, but its tiny sensor can’t match the image quality of the G11.  I’m not sure that I will need the long focal length,  as I shoot in the narrow streets and confined churches of Italy, so I am leaning toward the G11.  If I could only get Susan to touch “her” 50HS, I could have both.

Keel Billed Toucan, Tortugero Costa Rica

Of course, I must include lots of memory cards, batteries and chargers.  For back-up I will bring a portable hard drive and therefore I must bring along a laptop.  Memory cards, hard drive and laptop will satisfy the rule that an Image doesn’t exist until it is in three places.  Then there are the filters, lens cloths, cable release, and my light tripod. I will walk with my Arca Swiss enabled monopod/walking stick, both to steady my camera and to gain sympathy as the TSA scans my artificial hip.  

 I will decide on a couple of camera bags, but which bags will depend on the my toughest decision, which lenses to bring. 

Cresky Krumlov, Czech Republic

The Lens Dilemma

Bare Throated Tiger Heron

Obviously I will be bringing my work-horse 24-105 lens. For all those cramped churches, my 15-35 wide angle must be included.  I can’t justify bringing my beloved 100mm macro nor my 85mm portrait lens.  The big question is, “to telephoto or not telephoto”.

Alaskan Breach, 400mm

I have faced this question before.  On trips to the Alaska, the Galápagos Islands and the rain forests of Costa Rica there was no question that, to get closer to the wildlife, I needed all the reach possible, but Italy may to be a different matter.  My Canon 100-400 f4 is an amazing lens, but it is a beast, weighing in at 3 pounds.  Back in 2011, I was struggling with the same issue as I prepared for trip through Central Europe which included wonderful Prague and then a cruise down the Danube to Budapest.  I didn’t want to lug the 100-400 and eventually pulled out my old Quantarary 70-300mm.  This is the lens that, years ago, I dropped into a brook below a waterfall in the Madame Sherri Forest.  It wasn’t worth paying to dry out this inexpensive off-brand lens, but After a few years I found that the elements had dried without any apparent corrosion or mildew.  It seemed to work fine including the auto-focus.  The front lens still has very slight water spotting, but it doesn’t seem to affect the image quality.  The lens lacks image stabilization and it doesn’t have the sharpness or rigid build of my beloved L Lens, but it is dwarfed by my 100-400, and is 1/3 the weight.  Ok, I’ve talked myself into it, the 70-300 is a go.

Schonbrunn Palcace Vienna Austria, Quantarary 70-300mm

How to Carry it All – On a Plane.

Messenger Bag

Air travel is getting increasingly dicey for photographers with prohibitions on the use of electronic devices and special restriction that might apply to photographic equipment.  I start by wanting to avoid being forced to check any of my gear.  I have a nice, medium sized, camera pack which should work well and I plan to bring my sturdy Peak Design Messenger bag as my “personal, under-seat item. 

That’s the plan, but who knows how the regulations may change within the next few days.  Wish me luck.

As we wander around Italy, I’m not sure whether I will have access to the web.   I’ll try to keep checking in, but I apologize in advance for any missed posts. 

   

Jeffrey Newcomer

partridgebrookreflections.com

Let Lightroom Pick the Lenses for Your Next Trip

Jetty Sunset, Menemsha, Martha's Vineyard



Female Anhinga Costa Rica

 

Before I headed out on our recent trip to Costa Rica, I was faced with the inevitable question, what photography gear to bring, and more specifically, what lenses to carry along. Over the years I have tended to simplify and lighten my kit, but it’s always difficult to decide what to bring and, more painfully, what to reluctantly leave behind. Fortunately, Lightroom provides some much needed guidance.

 







Lightroom Course

Mormon Barn, Tetons Wyoming

I've been struggling to get ready for my Introduction to Lightroom Course which starts in one week (March 10th). It looks like I will have a fun group. I have been using Lightroom as an essential part of my routine work-flow and, I have become comfortable with the features of the program that are most important for my process, but as usual, preparing to teach a class has introduced me to a mass of new tools and tricks. The challenge will be to cover much of this without confusing the hell out of my poor victims.

Parliament Flame, Budapest, Hungary

Given my time restrictions, I suspect that my next few blogs will be short and, like last week, consumed with the wondrous features of Lightroom. Last week I discussed the program’s Panorama Tool, and this week it is about using the program’s metadata features to help decide what lenses to bring on a shoot or more challenging on a trip from home.

Away From Home
 

Sea Lion Yawn, Galapagos Islands

My goal on longer trips, especially those requiring being jammed into an airplane, is to limit the amount of equipment. Specifically, what lenses will I most likely use. On early trips I solved the problem by packing everything. On our trip to the Galapagos Islands in 2009, I carried my; 24-105mm, 100-400mm, and 16-35mm. Thank goodness I didn’t yet own my 100mm Macro. Still with an extra body, a tripod, a pocket camera and all the necessary accessories my kit was massive and barely made it on the flights. 

Bartolome Peak Galapagos Islands

At Anchor, Galapagos Islands

Over the years I have become aware of the fact that there is some gear that I seldom use and could easily, although painfully,  leave behind. This is where Lightroom proves very educational. Lightroom provides easy access to the pile of information with is held within each image file.  It is all in the Metadata,  including the identity of the lens used for the pictures. Here’s how to get at it.


Lens Metadata
 

Galapagos Lenses

From the Grid view in the Library Module, the Library Filter Bar can be opened by pressing “\”.  Under “Metadata” there are a number of columns of searchable information, usually including “Lens”. If this isn’t visible, it can be selected by left clicking on any of the existing column headers, or a new column can be added by clicking on the small box on the right of any header. Just don’t replace the “Camera” column since you may need that later to narrow your search to just one camera. The lens column shows the number of images taken with each lens within the selected directory. For a quick idea of which lenses you use most often you can start by selecting “All Photographs” in the Catalog, but I was interested in my lens statistics from some of my favorite trips.

For this exercise I selected the directories for the Galapagos, Rockies, Danube, Alaska and Costa Rica. I also looked at one trip to Martha’s Vineyard that was by car and therefore didn’t have the restrictions imposed by plane flight. I didn’t carry all my lenses on every trip, but the results were still interesting.

The Numbers Don't Lie 

The Results

Alaska Lenses

  The results, summarized on a Spread Sheet, were not surprising. They showed that, by far, my most used lenses were my 24-105mm and the 100-400mm. Together I depended on this wide range of coverage 98% of the time. Importantly I used my wide angle or macro lens for only about 2-3% of the shots. Of course I didn’t have these lenses on every trip, but taking the trips individually the 24-105 / 100-400 combination was used between 95-100% of the time. 

Grizzly Fishing, Pavlov Island, Alaska

Breach, Alaska

My minimal use of the other lenses could be attributed to my inherent laziness, but more likely it has to do with the broad range covered by my two favorites pieces of glass. I also try to limit sensor contamination by switching lenses only when it is absolutely necessary.

 



Going Light in Costa Rica


Costa Rican Lenses

I was not surprised by the results of this exercise, but it did make me feel more comfortable about my decision to pack only my 24-105, the 100-400 and my 2x tele-extender on our trip to Costa Rica. I never felt short changed on capabilities and I was pleased that I could carry my gear in my light and capable Rotation  Panorama 180 pack. 

East Chop Light Martha's Vineyard




Martha's Vineyard Lenses

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not listing my Macro and 16-35mm lenses on eBay. These are marvelous tools and I enjoy using them in many situations, but it is good to know that, when necessary, I can go light.

You can learn a lot about your photography from data available in Lightroom’ s metadata screens. In addition to your lens preference you can select from a long list of information including, ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed, Location, and Keywords.   So get out there and go to school on Lightroom.

Jeffrey Newcomer
partridgebrookreflections.com