ecs275w025@ucdavis.UUCP (Bill Franklin) (02/06/86)
I will be travelling in Southern Spain, and Mallorca for 2 weeks(end of March and early April) and am looking for reccomendations of what to take. I will probably be returning to this area again so seeing everything on this pass is not a neccesity. I haven't been to Europe since I was a child and lived over there, and have never been to Spain. I currently have a Nikon FM, a 28mm lense and the standard 50mm plus one of Vivitar's better flash units. At one time I had done a fair amount of photography and got rid of most of my equipment, so I am not to incompetent. I would like to know if anyone out there has any suggestions on what to take equipment wise. I was thinking about purchasing the Nikon E-series 80-200mm class zoom lens, and a good hand held light meter. I am interested in some of the art and architecture left by the Romans, and some of the Fresco art work, so I may be working indoors without flash. Probably use some of the 1000ASA films. I was figuring on shooting about 15 rolls of slides. Does 1000ASA come in slides?? Any suggestions on what to take, or leave home?? Also a good bag, preferably one that doesn't look like a touristy-american bag that yells "Steal Me." Finally is it better to buy all of the film here, and take it over, or can I get some over there?? Also any suggestions on the leaded bags they make to protect film from x-rays at airports?? Thanks, Bill Franklin ...!ucbvax!ucdavis!franklin
rfg@hound.UUCP (R.GRANTGES) (02/10/86)
[] My advice, based on one trip to England last summer, would be to get a 28-80 zoom and leave all the other lenses home. I carried one in that range,(a Kiron which I do not reccommend), also a Vivitar Series 1 70-200 (or thereabouts) plus "backup" 28 and 35 lenses. Also had a second body (Nikkormat) and an Olympus XA. The XA was handy at times. Two cameras of Nikon size were too much to manage at once. The 28-80 is a <much> more useful range for general touristy purposes than the longer zoom. You will be seeing a lot of scenery in Spain, both man-made and otherwise. The wide angle to short tele will be by far the most useful range. I am thinking of buying the Vivitar Series 1 in this range as I believe my Kiron may have had it. I took a giant bag and everything but the kitchen sink. Don't reccommend it except for its body building effects. I took my own film and was not sorry although film eas widely available in England - don't know if the same would be true in Spain. Good Luck, -- "It's the thought, if any, that counts!" Dick Grantges hound!rfg
blake@sx7000.UUCP (Chris Blake) (02/10/86)
> > I will be travelling in Southern Spain, and Mallorca for 2 weeks(end of > March and early April) and am looking for reccomendations of what to take. Some depends on your mode of travel. Don't bring a lot of stuff if youre traveling a lot and on trains. It'll be burdonsome. When I went I brought 8 rolls of asa100 and 400 film, my basic camera body, a 50mm lens and a zoom. It suited me well and I got to travel comfortably for a month. Also, don't take anything you value too much. Spain is full of pickpockets and thieves ( not everyone, but more than elsewhere in Europe ) and I met 3 fellow travelers who lost their camera bags to clever thieves. ( One was really bad. The thief tapped my friend on the left shoulder and when my friend turned to see who was there, the guy took his bag from his right hand. ) Happy travels!!! C. Blake @ Sperry Corp. Roseville, MN.
smh@mhuxl.UUCP (henning) (02/11/86)
> My advice, based on one trip to England last summer, would be to get > a 28-80 zoom and leave all the other lenses home. **** **** From the keys of Steve Henning, AT&T Bell Labs, Reading, PA mhuxl!smh I have found that I can travel with only a 35mm and a 100mm macro. The 100mm macro is an ideal lens for me since I do a lot of flash close-up work, and it doubles as my telephoto lens. However the 35mm gets used most. I usually carry a 24mm, 50mm, and 200mm also. After a bad experience, I will never use a zoom or any other lens that does not have optimum image contrast. I discovered the hard way how cloudy-bright skies can cause hideous flare in a less than optimum lens. I had too lenses, one a Zeiss and the other was less than optimum. The pictures from the Zeiss were perfect, the the other lens took pictures that looked like they were taken on a foggy day. Never again will I try to cut corners. I use 2 bodies, one with 64 speed film for maximum resolution and color accuracy. The other is 400 speed for use with telephoto shots and low light shots. I have a light weight flash that I usually take along. On a recent trips to Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Scotland, Iceland, and Hawaii I used this combination with great results. The trick is good camera bags. I use 2: one for the 100mm, 200mm and one body, and another or the 24mm, 35mm, and 50mm. Thats it. I try to leave the flash with my luggage unless I know I will need it. I carry all my own film. I carry it in lead shielded bags in a thermal (six-pack) bag. I never buy film unless I know it is fresh and has had cool storage. Most tourist spots are in hot locations with lousy film storage. Also, I number each roll as I take it out of my cameras so it is easy to edit the slides.
kanner@tymix.UUCP (Herb Kanner) (02/11/86)
In article <1647@hound.UUCP> rfg@hound.UUCP (R.GRANTGES) writes: >[] >My advice, based on one trip to England last summer, would be to get >a 28-80 zoom and leave all the other lenses home. I enthusiastically agree. The Vivitar Series 1 28-90 is a good one, but be warned, it is not a true zoom, but a "varifocal" lens. If you are interested in both B & W and color, a good toy to put in your pocket is a Minox 35GT. They can be picked up for $109 plus shipping from the New York mail order houses. I wandered all over England a few years ago with XP1 film in that and Kodachrome in a Rollei 35. In general, the Minox has proved to be quite a workhorse simply because it is in my pocket 100% of the time. Normally, it has 400 asa XP1 in it, but on vacations or other special circumstances I have been known to put Ektachrome 200 in it. My philosophy these days is to carry fast film in pocket cameras and save the slow stuff, e.g. Kodachrome, for the SLRs. -- Herb Kanner McDonnell Douglas (TYMNET) ...!hplabs!oliveb!tymix!kanner