mariosforsos

"Enjoying your vacation'...hmm...now that's a statement worth exploring. if enjoying your

holidays means actually enjoying the experience while there, then you only need to decide

which you feel more comfortable with. If the whole Nikon kit is lighter, go for that, if the

Leica is more portable and easy to use while on the road, then take that.

 

You will not face any crime here. And don't get me wrong when I talk about dust and sand

and pollen - they play havoc on a DSLR, but really, any mechanical machine (I've had a

range of mechanical SLRs, including relatively recent electronics-dependent ones, and no

matter how badly you treat those babies, a good, rough brush and a blower will get it up

and running 99% of the time.

 

However, a grain of sand may get into your Nikon as well as in your Leica. The question

then becomes: which one would it be easier to repair on site? Nikon here in Greece are

quite good (the official dealership), but aside from them, there exist a number of

independent photo outlets which can help you clean/basic service your camera. If the

Leica goes south, the dealership here will simply tell you that they need to ship it to

Germany for repair (they have used this argument with an acquaintance of mine who has

two Leicas). So, imagine yourself here, without a camera. What is worse in that case?

 

Plus, add the fact that almost all photo outlets in Athens and other major cities will carry

some basic Nikon accessories - Leica? Chances are some won't even know what you're

talking about (obviously not the larger ones ;-) Overall, like I said, while I agree the Leica is

a better photographic option, travelling with one is more of a risk (at least, assuming you're

coming to Greece to see the islands and not simply stay in Athens...)

 

My suggestion - if you can call it that - is one of convenience and safety rather than one of

superior photography... hope I helped a bit...

I cannot agree with Francis, for one reason and one alone: I was recently in 'Nam and,

even though I did have my 28-75 f2.8 on about 80% of the time, there were some shots,

especially people shots and some really good working life shots that would have been

impossible without my 80-200 f2.8. I did not miss my 12-24, even though I could have

used it a couple of times, but no more.

 

My only worry is that you're going smack-right in the middle of rainy season, meaning you'll

be faced with rain quite a lot of the time, huge humidity too. So, make sure you get some

kind of protection for your camera (and believe me when I say that no amount of "camera

sealing" can protect you from an Asian downpour!) and for yourself. Get your brightest

lenses with you as light will be scarce quite a lot of the time and bring a split filter to

account for the differences in lighting between the land and the sky.

 

good luck, it's an amazing journey (if you want to see some shots from my recent visit,

check out: http://forceos.freehostia.com/Marios_Photography/Travel_Photography/Pages/Vietnam.ht

ml), you'll have a great time and take some amazing shots...;-)))

Since I actually live in Greece, I'd seriously recommend taking the Nikon with you. I know the

Leica is a better machine, but, hear me out. If anything happens to the Leica, it will take

forever (if at all) to get it repaired here. The Nikon, there are a number of places which may

help you. And let me tell you, Greece in the summer means sand, pollen and all sorts of

camera-incompatible stuff creep into literally everything at a moment's notice. Plus, it's still the

beginning of June and temperatures at the moment range upwards of 32 C, with the sun

beating down on you constantly (and I do mean constantly). Lugging all that gear up ANY

place will truly sap you. So, for reasons not 100% related to photography, go for the Nikon.

I will agree with Mike on Thailand and Laos - it's pretty much like he said it. For Vietnam, I will give you an alternative: you can indeed hire a car (it will have to come with a driver as non-vietnamese are not allowed to drive in vietnam) and it will be very, very cheap! (I hired a car with driver for 10 days for around 40 euro a day - it included driver's meals, accommodation, all tolls and petrol) However, make sure you have some idea of where you want to go and you get the driver to agree that he will indeed take you to these places - most drivers there tend to drive so infuriatingly slow that it can utterly ruin your travels plans. If they agree however, they will speed up as necessary (for some reason, you need to make that fuss, otherwise they will assume that driving at 10 miles an hour is fine!!!).

I did the same thing in Laos and was quite fine - usually, contacting an average hotel (not a cheap or a very expensive one) will get you a very, very good deal (when researching my trip, the internet found me a company which quoted me around 1200 US dollars for the same trip in Vietnam as the deal I actually got through my hotel in Saigon!!!) - but I have heard other travellers which were not so lucky; their drivers were pretty crap or lazy or dirty or whatever...

 

Now, as far as tours are concerned, I'd definitely go with the smaller, daily tours in specific locations (i.e. the Angor Vat temples or the Mekong Delta, but not more organised or compact places, such as the northern Thailand temples or the Hue Imperial City in Vietnam) - they are usually pretty good and well worth the money. For others it varies...a good thorough internet search will give you tons of good info.

 

All in all, it's going to be an amazing trip! I've done it once (in stages) and would love to do it again sometime in the future...;-)

Boy, are you in luck or what? I just came back from three weeks in Vietnam where, not

only did I stay completely off the beaten track but I also went completely alone (meaning

without a tour guide or a group). With me I took my trust D200, with my three fast lenses

and my Manfrotto tripod. I think I went pretty much everywhere, I was put up in people's

houses for the night, slept in pretty much all types of hotels and went everywhere.

Seriously, camera issue was not a problem. To put it another way, there were simply so

many people walking around with various dSLRs (quite a few significantly more expensive

than mine) and I seriously did not see or hear anything going wrong!

 

It was the same when I went to Thailand and Malaysia a few years ago! I seriously don't

think you should worry. Of course, this should not mean "leave your camera unattended"

or anything, but I think you won't have any problems. However, mind you that I am about

1.85m and weigh around 190 pounds, quite a few of which is still muscle ;-))), so that might

have deterred anyone looking for a fight, but like I said, I did not hear a single story of

people having problems with their gear.

 

Weather is more likely to be a problem. November is not exactly the middle between

seasons. It may arithmetically appear to be, but the rainy season always tends to linger,

so chances are that November you'll be faced with quite a bit of rain. This means,

relatively normal temperatures (around 25+ celcius) but a humidity around the high 80s or

90s (percent that is). Prepare to sweat! On thing you should really pay close attention to:

if you do stay at any air-conditioned place, when you leave the room, take care of slowly

aclimatising your gear - even with precautions, I did come across two mornings when

humidity and heat were so high outside (even at 8am) leading to foggy lenses.

 

You're in for a treat - photographically speaking. It's an amazing trip - mind you however,

Vietnam (and Thailand, but to a lesser degree) are seriously large countries and it takes

ages to go from place to place! Allow yourself plenty of time...

 

You will be able to see some of my Vietnam photos on http://forceos.freehostia.com in

about a week's time (I only came back 3 days ago and am still processing!)

Well, my answer, for all that it matters will be a bit biased. I too have the same Tamron

lens you do and it's a brilliant workhorse, and I too had the same dilemma regarding a

wider lens. I opted for the 12-24 Tokina for the following reasons: I need the wide lens for

landscapes and maybe (a very big maybe) some close quarters photography, primarily

inside buildings. For the landscape photography the f4 is no problem, as I usually go to f8

or even higher, so this lens fitted my setup wonderfully. I have yet to come across a

situation where I had to use the lens indoors, so I cannot tell you how it would feel - I just

returned from a three week trip to Vietnam with over 2,000 shots and never used the wide

angle somewhere where the slow speed became a problem.

 

I hope this helps...;-)

Philip, I'm really happy you took my little comments in your stride - they were indeed well

meant. To be honest, one of the reasons I was a bit harsh was because I thought that

someone with your gear - which is not only very impressive but also extremely expensive

- was much more into photography than what you claim you are.

 

Personally, I don't think that approaching travel with photography as one of the main axes

necessarily means you need to spend more time or anything. Learning how to take travel

photos does not mean spending 4 hours waiting for that one perfect shot: it means

learning to capture the shot when it;s there. When you become a professional

photographer, then you can afford to spend 2 weeks waiting for those special two monks

to cross that amazing waterfall just when the sun is rising (!!!) But that is still NG-far

away for most people...

 

What I think you should do at this stage is do a bit of reverse thinking - at least if you

want your photography to pay for you: whenever you lift your camera to your face and

frame something, try to think in terms of "would someone want to buy this photo for their

catalogue/website" - then you're on your way to making some of all that money you spent

on gear, back.

 

Perfect your technique, learn your camera well - and trust me, it takes a bit to master the

D200 - and shoot, shoot, shoot...I was surprised to see locations with so few photos. I

usually shoot approximately 1,000-1,500 shots per 10 days in any of my travels; from

there I usually end up with 300 I like, out of which around 50-70 make it commercially (at

best)...so...

Philip, with the risk of you completely hating me, I'll say the following:

 

I did check your images and, having seen the images which appear in the guidebooks but

also the images that appear on other image distribution sites, I'm not really sure that

you'd be able to cover the 2,000 images per year that they require. At least at the level

those stock houses are used to...

 

I am terribly sorry if this sounds cruel, disheartening or anything like that - please believe

I have no such intention. Honestly. I simply judge the technique, the framing and the

subjects of each photo as I see it. You do have some really good shots, but if I was hard-

pressed to find images which typically represent some of the countries on your site (at

least, ones I have also been too - and they are a quite a few), then I'm afraid they might be

too. Obviously the travelling is there, and your eagerness too, but your technique leaves

quite a bit to be desired...:-(

 

Having said that, do try. I truly hope you make it. Regarding their terms, from what I was

able to read, they are pretty standard for international stock photo houses - at least the

big ones. Some of the smaller ones might be able to offer you better terms, but I wouldn't

count on it.

 

I hope you don't mind some heart-felt criticism, I wish you all the best...

Just out of sheet curiosity, just how many RAW images do people get out of a fully charged

battery on the D200? With minimal preview time...

Okay, I'm sorry if I will sound sarcastic, but it truly amazes me how everyone says things

like "how would I fit 100 DSLR bodies and about 20000 lenses in a bag small enough to fit

in my pocket" and then expect people to answer...take for example the kit described here:

two bodies, one of the biggest lenses around, 2-3 more (unidentified), flash, etc etc etc... I

carry my - apparently - pitiful D200 with my 3 small lenses and the bag is already too

large - I cannot even imagine how massive the thing Michael is trying to package is going

to be... being an amateur pilot myself, I would kinda freak if someone showed up with that

monster...! But more to the point, how are you going to lug this stuff around??? AND a

laptop to boot...

 

I don't know - maybe I'm weird here, but there is really no way to carry this comfortably.

Even on a vest, you'd be bloated like the Michelin man! How comfortable can that be? I

mean, really.... (i was actually half surprised there was no mention of a couple of tripods, a

monopod, 4-5 reflectors and so on and so forth...;-)

I agree with Jeff. Unless you actually either look like an arab or are dressed completely like

locals (I'm talking about the whole hog here, not just an item here and there),

unfortunately, they're going to spot you a mile away! Putting on an item or two will do

nothing - it might get you a couple of smiles but nothing more than that! Personally I

wouldn't go as far as to walk separately from my wife - true, they will hassle you for a bit,

but not enough to be seriously annoying and you can always do more wonders with a

smile and a polite wave rather than with anything else.

 

People in Cairo do not have problems with their picture taken - not the same everywhere

else in Egypt, but that does not mean you should snap away completely indiscriminately.

Choose your moments, be quick and you'll be fine.

I always subscribed to the idea that photographing while travelling - especially on small

one-week trips - was to be able to capture as much as possible without turning that trip

into a photo expedition. Sure, travelling to China for a month would require a lot more

gear than a week in Paris and the environs.

 

Anyway, to cut a long story short, for short trips, up to two weeks, to places that combine

both outdoors and city life, I bring my D200 with a 20-75 f2.8 always mounted on, a 70-

300 f4 for those awkward times when i wanna reach out and "capture" someone. And if

I'm not carrying tons of other stuff on my shoulder bag (like guides, water, rain poncho,

etc), I throw in my trust 18-135 just for those landscape shots when I cannot decide on

the framing.

 

A light Manfrotto tripod (originally made for camcorders) gets strapped to the bottom of

the bag and follows me around. Not the sturdiest of supports, but it works.

Okay...one important point about taking pictures of kids: make sure the parents are around

and you make yourself visible to them, smile at them and raise your camera before you start

snapping at their kids. Parents these days are - usually justifiably - very sensitive and

protective about their children and you wouldn't want them come running after you. Now, if

your "kids" are around their teens, then it's another ball-game altogether...;-)

I cannot disagree enough with Neil's suggestion! Especially if you're an amateur

photographer, shooting in JPEG effectively sets any minor mistake you make in stone! Any

changes you may affect later onto the JPEG files will never have the corrective power of

changed and adjustments affected onto RAW files. So, if your camera can do RAW, go for it,

even at the cost of storage space. Otherwise, go with JPEG Fine and try to always check your

viewer to make sure you took the best possible shot...

I cannot speak for all the sites, but here's a guideline I know to be true: most sites (Colisseum, Trevi, Vatican, etc) are lit from sundown to sunrise (and because these timetables are set centrally, you may find them to vary slightly from actual sundown and sunrise times). Others, because they are part of more residential areas, are simply lit with a couple of floodlights and nothing more. Very few have strict opening and closing times (i.e. the votanical gardens), and therefore are not lit at all.

 

If you wanna catch sights without lights (I personally cannot imagine why - they are lit very, very carefully and very well, much better than most places around the world), you can only hope to fall in the gap I mentioned earlier (i.e. the sun sets and the automatic lights are not up yet), but that provides you no way of knowing for sure.

With regards to Ricardo's answer: as far as the law is concerned, using portraits of people for any use other than commercial, does not need a personal model release form. This means that if you simply take a picture for your own pleasure, then you can display it as freely as possible. If however you're planning to use it to earn anything (from a competition prize to money from a single print), then you need a model release form.

 

Of course, people will argue that when you take a picture of an elderly woman in the slums of Thailand, how will she ever know? This may indeed be true, and chances are you'll probably get away with it. But that does not make it either ethical or legal.

 

Now, as to the OP's question, I'm one of the more-on-the-shy-side people when photographing people on the street. However, as I do more and more street photography, I discover tha most people have no problem - simply smile, show your camera and they get the point. If they shake their heads or scowl, smile again and walk away. Otherwise, take as many pictures as you can AS FAST as you can, and make sure you thank them in the end. Don't put them on the spot by snapping away for a long time, and don't dismiss them once you're done. Sometimes it even helps if you involve them in the process by showing them the pictures from your viewer - most of the time I've discovered that gets more than a smile and sometimes even invitations for more photos.

I think the D40x sold well enough among DSLR enthousiasts that Nikon thought it could probably earn a bit more money by packing realtively inexpensive additions to an already successful camera and pricing it disproportionally higher. Until the D60 floats down to the same price point as the D40x, it's not really worth upgrading.

Something else you should also consider (you probably already have, but I thought I'd add it just the same): I have no idea where you'll be staying, but considering the season you're going, one of the problems you might come across is humidity, but this time from a lens point of view. What do I mean? Well, as you move a lens from a highly humid environment to a air-conditioned hotel room you might encounter condensation forming inside the lens (and your camera). While in most cases this is not a serious problem, if you happen on a day with extreme humidity, the condensation in your equipment may become sever enough to require more than a day to dissipate properly (oh, and don't even consider using a hair dryer to alleviate the problem - you'll only end up damaging your equipment!).

 

To prevent this all you have to do is pack a number of small, zip-lock plastic bags with you and, just before you enter your hotel room, put your gear into them and then bring them into the room. Once inside, pry them open just a little bit (no more than enough to fit your pinky in) and leave them for a couple of hours (or more if your room is very dry and cold). That way the conditions will equalise more smoothly and protect your equipment.

 

Let me know, there's nothing worse than waking up in the morning, grabbing your camera so you can shoot that amazing fog that's hovering over the roofs, only to find that it has migrated into your camera during the night!

Early May is the beginning of the rainy season all over the region. This means that you may start a day with sun and, two hours later find yourself swimming to cross the street. And of course, once across, the sun comes up again, just in time to suffocate you in the 80% humidity. True rainy season does not start until late May, early June, when you may indeed find yourselves rained-in day after day.

 

Now, as far as gear is concerned, my worry would not necessarily be the rain (you can get a good rain cover for even the longest lens less than 20 bucks), but the light. Even in May, you will spend most of the time under clouds - light, but clouds nevertheless - which reduces available light by 2-3 stops minimum. Add this to your lens and we're talking serious ISO increases to stop that action (by the way, this is true for all countries during rainy season, especially if you're planning to head into a dark jungle or some such). The upside is that, during rainy season, most birds seriously stay put - they hate the water and the depressing weather almost as much as we do. So, chances are they'll remain pretty steady for you.

 

As to other, general rain gear, I'd go with light clothes, something like the stuff Columbia makes, which are made from a combination of cotton and acrylic, light to wear, breathe easily and when wet, dry in about five minutes. A very, very, very, very light rain-poncho will more than suffice. Footwear...well, that is something else. I'd go with either tall trekkers or waterproof leather boots. Loads of socks and a light hat. Also, tons of t-shirts - you'll be sweating a lot there, even when it's not raining, you may find youself having to change twice a day!

 

I hope this helps.

I agree with the shoulder bag approach. I have been to almost every single European country (I live in Greece anyway), and let me tell you, regardless of how well you have the dress code down pat, a backpack screams TOURIST and regardless of how well you hide your Canon straps etc, you'll be like wearing a massive neon flashing sign saying: exploit me! And let me tell you, they will. A nice, inconspicuous shoulder bag is probably your best bet IMHO.

 

Have you seen the Crumpler photo bags? They come in both shoulder and backpack versions, they look nothing like photobags, have a gazillion of various useful compartments, are fully padded and configurable for photo equipment, and they even come in varying sizes too. Plus, they have really cool names (i.e. Pretty Boy, Organised Chaos, etc)

 

The added advantage of a shoulder bag is that you can still keep it on you when you sit down for a coffee (a religion in most of europe), as opposed to the backpack, which you will have to take off.

 

Think about it.

Size for one. By just roughly doing the math, a f/2.0 70-200 would be approximately twice

as big as the f/2.8....and this immediately drives the cost to somewhere around 20,000 USD

per lense (I am including the price of a small car which is going to be what you would need to

mount it on so you can move it around). And while I'm certain there are photographers out

there who would shell out the money for something like this, I am pretty sure there are not

enough of them to justify the cost of research and development...

Sooooo....you're lugging all that with you for a 3-day safari? Man, I don't even want to

think of what you'd take on a 4-week trek across China...a truck full of gear maybe?

 

Seriously, I think that, however complete your kit is, the average animal will hear you

panting as you approach from a mile away carrying 20 pounds of stuff in the african heat.

Without wanting to sound anything but encouraging, maybe you'd like to lighten the load a

bit...in 3 days you'll hardly have the time to shoot all the things you will come across, let

alone juggle 5 lenses across two bodies (without counting the filter switching). I'll be the

first to tell you you have EVERYTHING anyone could EVER hope to have one a 3- day trip,

I'll agree with the "more CF memory" point made above and insist you try hard to decide

what to leave behind.

 

But then again, that's just me. Every time I travel (which is usually for more than 3 days) I

struggle with the same problem - what to take and what to leave behind...

Sinh, thank you very much...! Some pretty good tips (i.e. I didn't know Vietnam uses US-style

plugs! - is this true by the way?????), but there is one thing that really kinda bugged me in

what he wrote: this was written in 2003 and he was using a Nikon D60 (only launched a

couple of weeks ago!) with a grip AND CF cards? Am I missing something?

 

He did however got me a bit worried with all this "carry your receipts with you" thing. Did

anyone here had to do that? I seriously would not like to carry all that crap with me...

Sinh, thanks for the correction, I knew it was Nha Trang, just misspelled it...(hope the town was not overly offended...;-)

 

As per my original post, I have indeed arranged for a car with a driver, so at least that thing is covered. Also, early on, I made the decision to stick to Southern Vietnam and travel between Saigon and Hue (with all stops in between, including a trip to the Mekong).

 

Thanks for the climate information, I have calculated for a rain cover for my camera and am not planning to leave my camera bag from my side. I have also packed one of those rain/windbreakers which can be folded to the size of a postage stamp and burried it deep in my bag.

 

I budgeted time based on a approximately 80-100kph speed for the travel (which is approximately 60mph I think) and have allowed tons of time during each leg of the journey for multiple stops. Hopefully, I wont end up in Hoi An at midnight with no place to sleep..;-)

 

As for the kit, I a more counting on the 24-75 f/2.8 to cover all my needs during any cloudy day, with the 18-135 doing the same for sunny days. The 50mm is basically there for indoor portraits in very low-light situations (to save me from having to ante the ISO). Am still debating on the 70-300 though. Oh, and yes, I'd love a 80-400 f/2.8, but don't have one and cannot afford it anyway right now...(am planning on buying a 55-200 f/2.8 sometime soon though)

 

Keep the excellent advice coming guys...when I come back I promise to include you all in the "Thank you" section of my album (check the Jordan one here: http://www.blurb.com/images/uploads/catalog/81/119881/79051-017f1f17223370f78f39000b07e481f1.pdf

Having been to NY (although not recently), I'd take the 10-20 and the 28-80. Between them

they pretty much cover the 50mm and I don't think you'll get that many chances to use the

70-300 in just two days...