Getting married in the bahamas bringing a new d30

[diversq]

Hello,

First off Pekka I think your images are great and hope to see more.

I'm new to this group and have read most of everyone's post's. Lots of info to be had and I must say almost to much to digest.

Well as the title says I am going to the Bahamas and getting married on Aug 11. Before I go Im planning on purchasing a setup similar to what Pekka found under his pillow. See his post here for reference
(http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=273)

Anyhow what I need to know is, what out of this equipment should be priority (besides the d30) and what can take a back seat. I have never been to an island and don't know what to expect. Pekka what have you learned since you bought the camera. Should I invest in a Digital wallet and single 128mb card. We are going out there for 14 days so I am going to be taking lots of shots. Is the ( 28-135 IS ) lens what you expected it to be. I plan on doing alot of portraits and landscape and wonder how the d30 will hold up with those.

Oh and if that wasn't enough I purchased an enclosure for the camera that will allow me to (gasp) bring it under water.

http://www.aquatix.com/aquacamera.htm

My better half is learning to dive and I want to capture it all.

So thanks for the upcoming info and I cant wait to get that camera.


Jay

[JCDoss]

I'll let Pekka or someone else comment on what you should use with priority, since your kits are so similar. But one thing you absolutely positively need that you didn't mention is INSURANCE!!! Especially if you're planning on submerging your stuff! Please, PLEASE insure your stuff... I'd hate to see a post here in a month telling how your underwater housing failed, ruining $5K worth of equipment!

JCDoss

PS: PLEASE get insurance! :)

[diversq]

Thank you very much for what may seem like a common sense thing. I have old equipment now and thought of getting renters insurance before but never did. Now that I am gong to be dropping 5k or so on my new gear this is a great idea. I never realized that you could insure personal items like this for such a cheep price.

From what I see its probably going to cost around 250 bucks to insure our apartment all our stuff in it and anything we bring with us. That is definitely worth the price. I was actually worried about my stuff getting stolen or broken. But I didn't know they would cover personal stuff on a vacation and what not.

Thanks soooo much (yea that would spoil a wonderful event if the enclosure broke and I had no insurance) This will be a high priority item.

Thanks again.

Jay

[Pekka]

diversq wrote:
Anyhow what I need to know is, what out of this equipment should be priority (besides the d30) and what can take a back seat. I have never been to an island and don't know what to expect. Pekka what have you learned since you bought the camera. Should I invest in a Digital wallet and single 128mb card. We are going out there for 14 days so I am going to be taking lots of shots. Is the ( 28-135 IS ) lens what you expected it to be. I plan on doing alot of portraits and landscape and wonder how the d30 will hold up with those.


First of all congratulations for the "getting married" part!

About storage:

I have no experience on anything else than Microdrives and CF cards. I have two 1 GB Microdrives and they have worked without problems in D30.

About lenses:

To me the 28-135 IS produces technically good photos and IS is sometimes helpful. I have not shot much with it, only when I need wide angle. In my view it's too "ordinary" lens: there's the personal touch missing from its photos. What I mean is that as:

I like 50/1.4 for it's smooth bokeh, excellent sharpness, bright correct colors, light weight and unobtrusiveness. It's somehow a lens which makes photos look very artistic and 3-D. Excellent for portraits.

I like 70-200/2.8L for it's superfast silent focus, feel of it, for it produces almost the same feel to the photo as 50/1.4, has exellent technical quality in all aspects, let's you get nearer to any event by just looking so pro (and actually gets you more assignments because they see that gear)! Photos from it are always impressive. Problem with this lens is that you need 1/250 when handholding at 200mm and it's quite heavy. I got a Manfrotto Carbon monopod for it.

I've also had Canon 17-35/2.8L for a week and although I did like it I think I'll need still more wide end. Some say this lens is the most usable one and yes it can be very good choice if you have only one lens with you.

Character of the lens and image the lens produces is why my next lenses will likely to be 85/1.8 (to complement 50/1.4 in concert halls) and Sigma 14mm (for landscapes, interiors and perspective effect shots).

The most important factor for me in a lens is its sensitivity to light. Even if you don't always use f1.4 in your 50mm you get a brighter viewfinder, focussing is faster and you have a possibility to not use the flash and get shots which you would not otherwise get at all.
There's a world of difference how viewfinder look through 70-200/2.8 or 28-135IS and the minimum f5.6 when you zoom 28-135IS full is not very usable in many situations.

So the bottom line to your question is: a lens is sort of a personal choice (the essence of SLR system) so to choose one you'd have to have a view of how you'd like to see the world and what, when and where (and from what distance) you'd like to shoot. Sounds pompous but that's the only logical answer. Of course everyone will do bad choices from time to time because you can never be sure until you use those tubes for a while.

Technical stuff and some reviews are here: http://www.techphoto.org/urllinks.epl?webobjectoid=21191

Here's one 50/1.4 shot from two days ago:
http://studio-on-the.net/photography/D30/small/music/CRW_8060_00002.jpg

Here's a panorama (3 horizontal shots) with 70-200/2.8L:
http://studio-on-the.net/photography/D30/small/music/panoCRW_7958.jpg

[Malvin]

Pekka, do you have any tips on how to make panos of a group of people? I understand that you have to make the pictures overlap with the previous ones and then stitch them together. But especially with people in the shots, I would imagine that it's kind of hard due to the movement of the people...hence there will be 'ghost' images which would not blend in nicely when you try to stitch the pics together. How do you account for this?

Thank's in advance! Btw, when are you going to post your D30 gallery? :-)

[Teffy]

I, too, would like to hear about stitching a pano containing some motion. I tried it with Lake Michigan on a calm day, and even the changes due to "little" waves were enough to defeat the whole thing. :p

Teffy