Lens selection for Puerto Rico

[ashishgarg]

<p>Traveling for a week, first time. Have both a FF Canon as well as APS-C MIL Sony. Do I go wide or long? Have lenses ranging from 15 mm - 200 mm on Canon and 15 mm to 210 mm on Sony.<br>

Looking to capture Old San Juan, Beaches, Rainforest and family portraits.<br>

Any advice will be appreciated.</p>

[SCL]

<p>I'd take both wide and long...I remember using wide at San Juan and longer lenses for people.</p>

[scottelly]

<p>Wide is most necessary for shooting in the forest, if you want to capture the overall feel of the forest. You will use your normal lens too a lot, but to capture trees close-up, you will need to go wide. I used a Sony A55 for a while with a 10-24mm Tamron lens and a 24-105mm Minolta lens. Those two lenses would do a pretty good job for you. 15mm on a 1.5x sensor is wide, but not really wide enough. If I were you, I would take the full-frame Canon with the 15mm lens too.</p>

<p>If I were buying a new camera and lenses, I would get a Nikon D5200 with a Tokina 10-17mm fisheye and a Nikon 18-105mm VR for such a trip. Then, eventually I would get the Nikon 10-24mm and the Nikon 24-120mm f4 VR (an excellent, full-frame lens with VR). The 18-105 covers a little less range, but is much lighter than the two other lenses, and makes a great back-up, so I would keep it. At some point I would add the Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 OS HSM S to the collection and have a really kick-ass four lens kit with a fifth lens for back-up (the 18-105mm). Then at some point I might get a second Nikon camera, such as a D800 or a D7100.</p>

<p>If you plan to shoot some close-up stuff, like insects and flowers in the rainforest, you might consider taking a lens capable of macro shots. I recently bought an old Sigma 28-80mm with macro capability, and I LOVE it. I've used the macro capability many times already. You may see monkeys and beautiful birds in the canopy of the rainforest above you. If you have ANY interest in such things, you will kick yourself for not taking your 210mm for your Sony or your 200mm for your Canons. (I'm guessing you have a 70-200mm, so if the Canon lens is superior, like a 70-200mm f2.8 L IS, you might want to take just your Canon cameras and lenses. Water may play a factor, and Canon L lenses are weather sealed, unlike most lenses for Sony cameras.)</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>I've spend a lot of time on the island, in Old San Juan, the Rain Forest, and every place else that caught my attention. The most useful lenses will be medium telephoto to wide angle. A long lens could be used to compress perspective, exaggerating the narrow brick streets in Old San Juan. My favorite lenses at the time were a 35-70/2.8 and a 17-35/2.8. with a D1x (cropping). I don't recall carrying my 80-200, much less using it, and probably left it home to save weight (these were working trips as an engineer).</p>

<p>There are places to avoid. The Condado is pretty safe day and night. That's where the big hotels and restaurants are located, and it is well patrolled. Old San Juan is fine during the day, or in groups at night. Don't venture into La Perla (just north of OSJ). Even the police don't go there without an armored personnel carrier.</p>

<p>The rain forest is aptly named. It gets 800 inches of rain a year, and few dry days. There is no tree line, so there are no sweeping vistas, even atop the stone observation towers. There's an incredible variety of plants, including tree ferns and huge mahogany trees. I don't recall seeing many insects, but a lot of well-fed anoles and tree frogs (coquis, for their distinctive sound). There are 12 inch centipedes and colorful 8" millipedes, if you look hard enough in the forest litter. At night, most areas in the north are infested with cane toads - toxic to the touch and large enough to eat puppies. Other than boas, there aren't many snakes, and none poisonous. Maybe the centipedes eat them ;) You can hear Puerto Rican parrots in the rain forest, but I've never actually seen one. Color them "endangered."</p>

<p>On the whole, it is a beautiful and hospitable place to visit. Enjoy it.</p>