Travel Photography - Exploring a variety of lenses on New Zealand trip

I have a Nikon D40 SLR that I've been playing around with and trying to improve my photography skills. By no means am I any good - just having fun playing around with it. I have two lens - the orginal 18-55mm and the 55-200 with Vibration Reduction.

I'm coming up on one of those trip of a lifetime vacations to New Zealand. I've been thinking of renting another lens just to play around and explore and take with me to NZ. But I know almost nothing about the different lens types and what might be fun to play arond with and get some great shots.

Any ideas out there? I know I should probably just forget another lens and try to perfect using the ones I have!

I have a Nikon D40 SLR that I've been playing around with and trying to improve my photography skills. By no means am I any good - just having fun playing around with it. I have two lens - the orginal 18-55mm and the 55-200 with Vibration Reduction.

I'm coming up on one of those trip of a lifetime vacations to New Zealand. I've been thinking of renting another lens just to play around and explore and take with me to NZ. But I know almost nothing about the different lens types and what might be fun to play arond with and get some great shots.

Any ideas out there? I know I should probably just forget another lens and try to perfect using the ones I have!

It really depends on what you like to photograph. Your basic setup covers a lot of ground, but there are some options that you may want to consider:

1) A wide angle lens (for landscapes). One option is the 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor.

2) A macro lens (for closeups). A good option would be the AF Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR. In addition to being an excellent macro lens, this lens is also a very good fast medium telephoto lens (160 mm equivalent)

3) A fast prime lens (for low light photography). My recommendation here would be the AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G. A fast prime can be a revelation after using the kit lenses which don't have nearly the same performance.

4) A long telephoto lens (for wildlife photography). Your selection here is limited by the fact that you have the D40 which lacks a focusing motor. Some options are a Nikon 400 mm AF-S lens or a Sigma 500 mm HSM lens. The drawback is that they are heavy and frightfully expensive (even the rental rate will be extortionate, I am afraid).

Personally, I would think you might get the most out of the macro or the fast prime (I have them both). But if you do plan on photographing wildlife and have the budget, a long tele lens is also fantastic (I have the 80-400 zoom and love it).

Cheers,
T.

I'd caution against renting a special lens and using it for the first time on a "special" trip where you have expectations of it. You run a risk of spending too much time toying with the lens and missing out on the actual experience.

On top of that, you have a pretty good range of coverage with your existing lenses. I'd consider a prime in the 50-70mm range with a very wide aperture as an option but otherwise I think you'll do OK with what you have. I had a similar kit when I went a couple years ago and it was sufficient for my needs.

I have the D40 and those lenses you have and it should cover most situations. I would consider the following:

1. Nikkor 35mm f/1.8
This would cover any lowlight situations the two kit lenses could not cover. This is a very low cost lens and I picked up my copy at Amazon.com for $199+tax+S/H.

2. Nikkor 70-300mm VR
This would cover wildlife and other subject the 55-200mm can't get to. This would be a lower priority than the 35mm prime as the 55-200mm VR you have has pretty good reach already. Unfortunately this lens will be about $400+ even used. I don't have this lens and looking to get one.

3. Nikkor 18-200mm VR
Although you have this range in your lenses already. 18-200mm is still a good choice as you can avoid being caught with the wrong lens on the camera. This would be about $500 used. Again this will be lower priority than the 35mm prime.

As others have said here, you have good coverage with the lenses you already have. Depends what you want to do/interested in, you might like to consider other (Nikkor) lens (for example, 18-35mm (economical option) or 17-55mm (expensive option and heavy to carry, but it is the best)) to give you improved sharpness/contrast.

I would suggest, if you don't have them already, you might like to consider get polarising filter for your lenses, as New Zealand would be an ideal place to do some experimenting.

Enjoy your trip!

I'll chime in with a suggestion for an ultra-wide. The lenses you have cover a wide focal length and macros, fast glass, etc., may be for later up the learning curve.

I have almost everything mentioned (12-24, 100macro, fast sub-f/1.8 50/85, 400mm tele) and used my 12-24 much (much!) more often than any of the others on a recent Hawaii trip. Assuming you're loking at landscape and scenery, and not specialized insect/small plant/bird-in-flight/wildlife shooting, I think you'll see the same. 18mm on a 1.5x sensor camera is 27mm FF equivalent, which isn't really that wide.

Look for at least 12mm, of not 10.

If I were going to rent a really long lens I'd want to bring a tripod or bean bag, or some other way to stabilize the camera. The old rule of thumb is that if you convert the focal length into a fraction, that's the slowest shutter speed to use hand held. So, unless you're particularly steady, 1/400 sec is your slowest shutter speed.

Really short lenses can be fun, and they're easy to pack. That's my vote.

Thanks for all the good info... now I have some decisions to make...