flyingwithfish

Nathan

I head off to Hong Kong on February 5th for 1.5 days, then head back in a few weeks. The first trip is leading a workshop teaching photogs how to travel light and quick ( <a href="http://www.comeflywithfish.com/">www.comeflywithfish.com</a> ). There is a a lot you can do in the streets of Hong Kong with a 24-105f4, coupled with a 17-40f4 you'd have a great street combo. If your in Central Hong Kong a long lens is great, but not really required because the who area is so densely packed. I have shot around the IFC with a 70-200f2.8, a lens I use all the time, but found I preferred the wide to mid range lenses to deal with the tight streets and dense flow of people.

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My last trip to Hong Kong was shot almost entirely with a 14f2.8 and 85f1.2 (supplemented with a 24f1.4, 50f1.4 and a modified Holga lens).

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........as for London, I love shooting in London.........that is a city that begs to be shot with a wide zoom and a decent mid-tele lens. I have spent more time in shooting in London than anywhere else (having briefly lived there and shot more than two dozen assignments there over the past decade) and love to get into the architecture and the old less traveled places with subtle wide glass (also came in handy while shooting civil unrest in the streets).

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Of course you can shoot in any city with almost any lens, I'm just stating my experience and preference.

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Remember if you are returning to Oz departing from LGW a single carry on bag is still in effect. If you are departing from LHR you may now depart with a carry on bag, plus a personal item. You can read up on the new confusing rules for flying home from the UK on my blog here

<a href="http://flyingwithfish.blogspot.com/2008/01/britain-changes-carry-on-rules-for.html/">www.flyingwithfish.blogspot.com/2008/01/britain-changes-carry-on-rules-for.html</a>

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Have a great trip

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-Fish

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<a href="http://www.flyingwithfish.com/">www.flyingwithfish.com</a>

Nathan

The best bet for looking for a 35-350f3.5-5.6 might be eBay, the Photo.net classifieds or www.FredMiranda.com Oz (NSW in particular) has a plethora of outstanding wedding photogs and sports photogs, there must be more than one pro shop, no? Obviously look for a used 28-300f3.5-5.6 as well

I have often seen the 28-300f3.5-5.6/35-350f3.5-5.6 compared to the 100-4004.5-5.6 and having used both I see no comparison. OK, there is some comparison , they are both white, they both are long zooms, and both are very long when racked all the way out to the maximum focal length. Aside from that, there is no comparison for me.

The 100-400f4.5-5.6 is a medium telephoto to long telephoto while the 28-300f3.5-5.6 is a wide to long telephoto lens. One is just a long zoom , while the other is a general purpose utility lens.

Many lenses in my kit overlap in length. Why is this? They all have different jobs. Take the 24mm for example, I have the 16-35f2.8, I have the 24f2.8, the 24f1.4 and 24f3.5 Tilt-Shift. They are all 24mm but they all do different jobs. I have actually gone to work with three lenses covering 24mm in the past for a single job.

To cover 85mm I have the 85f1.8 as my walk around lens, the 85f1.2 for my portrait, wedding low light lens, the 70-200f2.8 for my news/corporate/sports coverage of the focal length and I will be adding a 90f2.8 tilt-shift in a few months (pretty close to 85mm. A lot of overlap, but they all do their own jobs in my gear line up to meet specific use needs.

So to look at the 24-105f4 vs the 28-300 you need to asses your potential uses and needs.

I really hope that makes as much sense typed out as it does in my head!

-Fish

http://www.flyingwithfish.com

Nathan:

For argument sake we should refer to the 28-300f3.5-5.6 & 35-350f3.5-5.6 as the same lens. You could look into a 35-350f3.5-5.6 & 17-40f4 for the same cost as athe 28-300f3.5-5.6 and have a cost effective and extremely versatile kit that you can pack easily in almost anything.

Throw a Newswear Press Pouch (http://newswear.com/largepdetail.htm) on your belt with the 35-350f3.5-5.6 and walk around with the compact 5D/17-40f4 combo on your shoulder. With the 28-300 or 35-350 you may want to look into the 5D's grip for balance and stability of the weight of the lens. The grip does not add much weight,but it does add battery life, with the option of using two batteries. I find that more power is most important in the field.

Much of my work has required me to pack quite a bit of gear. I rarely leave my house with less that two cameras, often heading out with a 16-35f2.8 and 70-200f2.8 on a 1D and 1Ds body.

Looking to simplify my life, save weigh, save weight and space when packing (as the size of the batteries and chargers are MUCH smaller than that of the 1D series) and make my life easier has lead me to switch from the 1D to th 5D bodies, and I will do so in the next two months. This of course still leaves me with the lens question.

I have picked up and flown to Tokyo for a quick shoot (leaving from NYC's JFK) with just a 16-35f2.8, 28-70f2.8 and 70-200f2.8 , I have also flown completely around the world 1.5x in the span of five days for a corporate assignment traveling entirely in a single legal carry on backpack which needed to be comfortable enough to wear while shooting (and holding all of my photo equipment, laptop, clothes, everything.......) and that job required two bodies and six lenses.

All of these experiences have caused me to look for options........................this comes back to the 16-35f2.8 and 35-350f3.5-5.6. Is it worth the weight of a single lens? I don't find the 35-350f3.5-5.6 all that heavy.............but I also spent years covering pro and NCAA sports hauling around a 400f2.8 at times with a 600f4 as well, so weight is relative. I have used the lens many times and plan to pick one up this summer before my project begins in the fall/winter. Being able to go back to a single "go to" lens has many advantages, some draw backs, like aperture speeds and minimum focusing distance, but overall the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. You need to weigh your needs against the limits of the lens.

Hopefully that answered the question at hand, with some explanation of how I arrived at my answer.

If you have any questions drop me an e-mail at fish@flyingwithfish.com

-Fish

www.flyingwithfish.com

Matt

Gear is a personal choice, so I'll leave that up to you. I may be of some assistance in packing and choosing the right bag for your needs. I maintain an extensive Blog dedicated to helping photographers fly with their equipment. I have managed to photograph a five-day assignment that required me to fly completely around the world 1.5x, and I did it in one single legal carry on backpack (cameras, lenses, clothes, laptop, etc etc)............so packing is not hard as you might think.

You can check out the blog at http://www.flyingwithfish.com

You may also want to check out my post on the Mounatainsmith Parallax at: http://flyingwithfish.blogspot.com/2007/08/3-august-2007-going-around-world-for.html

The Mountainsmith Parallax is great, and at $139 at the Kittery Trading Post, you can't beat it!

Happy Flying

-Fish

I travel excessively for work as a photographer and maintain an extensive blog dedicated to traveling as a photographer. You can read some of my posts on how to travel effectively and compactly at http://www.flyingwithfish.com

For what you are describing I recently did quite a bit of research on a "minimalist" kit for a potential project I may be shooting. This project will have me shooting in six cities, in five countries, on four continents over the span of 11 days. As I researched this out I devised a two lens set up for a full-frame body (currently the 1Ds, I'll be switching to the 5D shortly). This kit would simply be the Canon 16-35f2.8L and 35-350f3.5-5.6L.

I have looked at the 28-300f3.5-5.6L but for me (I'm cheap) if I can save money with nearly equal quality and less overlap I'll explore that route. Image Stabilization is not a factor for me, as I do not like to use the feature (I know people love it, however I have used it extensively and simply don't find it useful for me).

If you're interested in learning how to travel more effectively and efficiently you can check out my No Jet Lag Photo Quick Course at http://comeflywithfish.com/oneday.html

Happy Flying!

-Fish