It's that time of year. With everyone planning their summer vacations the questions coming into the my In Box change a bit, and the number one question tends to become "I'm going on vacation to XYZ, which lenses should I bring?"
I hate to sound too much like a grump (especially after last week's series of articles on Nikon's inventory problem), but if you have to ask this question, you're not ready for your vacation. In this auto-everything world, asking that question is just another auto-question, in this case I'll call the feature Auto Packing.
At its extreme, Auto Packing can be depressingly funny. Most photo instructors have stories about persistent workshop students who wanted to know exactly what the instructor was bringing to a workshop, finally gave in and sent such a list, only to find that the student shows up on the first day with brand new, never tested, copies of everything on the list, sometimes still in boxes. "Now just show me how to use it and what to point it at." At this point, everyone but the instructor will break into laughter.
Why do I write "you aren't ready for your vacation" if you have to ask this question? The main reason is that for most popular locations this means that you haven't done a lot of research. Do you know what you'll be taking pictures of? Where you'll likely be in relationship to those things? For the big, popular locales (Yosemite, Yellowstone, etc.) there's been plenty written about the photographic opportunities and what you'll need to take advantage of them. If you're planning on spending two weeks or more at any of the well-known locales, you should have already done at least that research. Thus, your question about lenses should be far more specific than "which lenses should I bring?"
But there's more to it than this. Most people have a classic conflict on vacation because they're doing it with their family in tow. This leads to the "only have a couple of minutes for photography at any locale before the family wants to move on" syndrome. My cynical answer if this applies to you is to only take your lightest, midrange all-in-one lens, something like the 16-85mm VR say, as you'll never have time to set up a tripod, never have time to wait for the distant animal to get the position and pose you want, never have time to get another lens out of your pack and change to it, and never have the time to wander far from the car in search of the perfect super wide angle perspective. So you have to be realistic as well as having done your research.
Finally, there's another element that seems to get forgotten. I happen to like very distorted perspective, so rarely use mid-range lenses. You might be the opposite. Yes, we're back to that "you" question. What do you want to photograph and how? Only you know the answer to that question. Maybe you like throwing backgrounds out of focus, so fast lenses should be in your bag. If you're not the tripod carrying type, maybe they should be VR (or vice versa). Maybe you like reaching out and photographing things you can't quickly get to from the roadside turnouts, which means you want a long telephoto. Thing is, I don't know the answer to the "you" question, so I can't correctly answer the Vacation Question for everyone without more back and forth than either of us have time for (the fact that you asked tells me that you don't have time; I know I don't have time ;~).
(Yes, for workshop students I often do this back and forth, and am quite willing to do so. But that's the nature of the teacher/student relationship. And as those students know, some of my questions get very quickly to the "you" question. In other words, my answer for Joe isn't always the same as it is for Jill.)
But at the risk of ruining your vacation, I pulled down the Auto Pack function from my Trip Preparation Pro software's menus, and this is what it came up with:
DX User
- Something wide. The weight conscious should try something like the 10.5mm, otherwise any of the 10-24mm or similar zooms is more than enough.
- A very useful midrange. The 16-85mm VR is the most versatile of the bunch, in my opinion, but the 18-105mm VR is another good choice. Even the 18-55mm VR kit lens is fine, though a bit restricting in focal length range.
- Portable reach. The 70-300mm VR (or 55-200mm VR) fits the "keep it small and flexible" tendencies of Auto Packing. Bonus points for an extension tube or CU lens for quick and dirty macro work. (Auto Packing Note: avoid the 18-200mm as an all-in-solution. The focus breathing of that lens means you have much less reach than you think.)
The problem should be apparent to anyone who's a serious photographer: there are a lot of potential photographic situations where that trio of lenses will let you down. It's pretty averse to low light, for instance, with f/5.6 being the maximum aperture you'd have for many situations. That's two to four stops slower than you could be with some other lens choices, so you'd better be working in bright light or be satisfied with ISO 1600 and 3200 on your camera. And for places like Yellowstone, 300mm isn't usually enough for catching some of the wildlife well (unless you're really lucky and they're licking your toes).
FX users fare less well unless they just go with primes. Nikon doesn't really provide modest size and weight zooms with high performance in their current lineup, so Auto Packing dipped into the older lenses, third party, and used market:
FX User
- Something wide. The weight conscious should try something like the 16mm AI, otherwise the lightest reasonably competent choice is the 18-35mm.
- A very useful midrange. The old 28-105mm matches a D700 very nicely and gives you a bit of macro, or you could opt for something like the Tamron 28-75mm.
- Portable reach. The 70-300mm VR again gets the nod at the top end.
Hey, don't blame me. I'm just reporting what the Auto Packing feature in my software told me. Use at your own risk.