We traveled a lot today and one of the places we went to was a glacier near Vik, Iceland. It was pretty amazing. If you are traveling with a group and have constrained time schedule you could not do better, when choosing cameras and lenses, than to include a long range zoom. Something that goes from a good wide angle to a competent telephoto. I brought lots of different lenses with me but the Olympus 12-100mm f4.0 Pro lets me crop into a tight detail shot or portrait shot and then, seconds later, zoom out to include broad vistas. Not having to change lenses when the winds blowing and stuff is flying around could mean the difference between an operable camera and a dead brick.
One of my travel companions is shooting with a Sony full frame and has one of the wide to long zooms for that system and the only other lens I've seen him shoot in the last two days is the Sony 16-35mm. His images have been turning out incredibly well.
Tonight we're going out to chase the
Northern Lights. I'm taking one camera and one lens but this time it's the G9 and the Panasonic/Leica 8-18mm. I'm assured by my landscape friends that the wider the better when it comes to capturing the magic of the waves of light. We'll see if they are correct.
More to come after I have additional time for post processing. Hope everyone is well. I'm loving the feedback.
9 comments:
I have been traveling around the world for decades. I learned long ago that most of the time a wide-range zoom (wide angle to fairly long telephoto) is the way to go. I also always carry an UWA zoom and one fast prime. An extra body too. It works great. I rarely need to change lenses. For the stuff I often photograph and my extensive walkabouts in cities and places all over the world there is rarely an opportunity to change a lens before the moment is gone.
I look forward to your pictures of the Northern Lights. When I am in the right place to see them I seem to miss them do to bad weather.
The 15mm and 30mm lenses make a very interesting pair but it seems like your zooms are more practical most of the time except for low light shooting.
I second the wide range without a lens change. I bought a Sony Rx10ii for my second trip to Iceland and it was the perfect camera for the trip. And after I got home it was a worthy competitor to my Leica M8 for an everyday grab camera. And for the Northern Lights, hope you have something like http://auroraforecast.gi.alaska.edu/
Keep on working, great job!
Joke for your group visiting Vic (Norse for a trading post as in Aldwych in London).
little girl: "Mummy, all this talk about Vikings. Why are there no ViQueens?"
Mummy: "Because the Vikings were not the Kings from Vi, but the Ings from Vic."
Goff
You might find this aurora forecast from NOAA useful. https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/node/114
Lee
I couldn't agree more with your post, the wide-range zoom, especially when it is a fine a lens as the Oly 12-100, solves more problems than it creates by a huge ratio. And the addition of one or two super small primes at your desired focal length gives you the low-light capability should you need it. All fits in a tiny pack and leaves you agile and able to respond to those situations or conditions that lead to incredible photos. Love the sense of scale from the picture you chose to include. Thank you for taking the time to blog during your adventure!
Well I hope loosing your landscape photography virginity wasn't to painful and your guests were kind to you lol. Iceland is on my bucket list for sure. I would have liked to join your group but I generally don't play well with others when I am out trying to do serious landscape photography. Before and after is just fine, just not when I have a camera in hand and a creative idea to realize. Ah yes the tortured artist lol.
Eric
I'm heading there next April for 10 days with a 4x4 to get off the beaten path. I picked up the 12-100 to replace the 4/3 12-60 which had focus issues when on a m4/3 body via adapter. Fabulous. But I'm going to add the Leica 100-400 as well...24 to 800 equivalent with just 2 lenses is for me the perfect travel combo..
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