Lenses for Angkor Wat

Hi guys. I have a quick trip planned to Hong Kong, Bangkok and Siem Reap/Angkor in a few days. Unlike other trips, I am traveling alone, and will be troubled by carry-on limits on some small airlines. Usually I get to distribute gear amongst traveling companions. My problem is that my lens preferences for Hong Kong and Bangkok will be different than Cambodia.

At this juncture, I was planning to bring my Zeiss 15mm, 21, Canon 35 1.4, and 100mm makro planner for landscapes and architecture around Angkor. For street work in Hong Kong and Bangkok, I would feel lacking without a 25mm and a 50 (either one-- see my sig).

Usually I only carry my zooms for dusty and bad weather conditions. I have read that Cambodia is very dusty and humid and changing lenses offen is ill-advised.

My option for this might be my 16-35 f4, Zeiss 25 and Canon 35 for faster glass, 50 and 100. This really hurts, because I think the 15 mm and 21 would be really outstanding there, but the weight of those two lenses is very significant. I think I'll put my kit options in plastic bags and weigh each of them, but I'm fairly certain the 16-35 kit will be less -- i'll try to post that here later for grins.

I go to Hong Kong often, and for this trip the weather promises to be poor, so maybe that's my answer, but there is still street work to be had in Siem Reap.

So I'm looking for input from experienced travelers to the Angkor region and some kit-trimming advice from anyone that cares to post.

I again weighed my original kit thought:
(Think Tank Urban Disguise, Rugged 2TB hard drive, and cards in each scenario.)

15, 21, 35, 100 = 14.9 lbs
16-35 f4, 25, 35, 50 ƒ2, 100 = 15.5 lbs
FWIW: 16-35 f4, 35 1.4, 50 ƒ2, 100 = 14.7
16-35 f4, 25, 35, 50 1.4, 100 = 16.2 lbs
FWIW: 16-35 f4, 35 1.4, 50 1.4, 100 = 14.2

I'm pushing to bring the 35LII because its totally new to me. Decades ago, I lived with systems around 35 and 85, but until I got the 35 1.4II, I hadn't found a 35 I liked since Leica days (I tried 6 different EF-mount 35mm's and disliked them all. I also traded off my 85L for Zeiss 100 with no regrets.)

I think my desire to add a 50 is that I am normally a 28/50 guy. If I'm not digging' the 35, I'd like a 25/50 as fallback. (For this trip i think the 25—really a 26—is more architectural.)

Whichever I choose, I need to lose 3-4 lbs to my checked luggage, from carry-on bag) for the flight to Siem Reap. I have only a little trouble putting the 25 and 50 in my luggage from the beginning— I'd rather bring gear than clothes. I also don't like overlapping focal lengths with zooms and primes.

I get 15lbs on some flights, 11 on another.

AAHH!

Fuji X-T1 with the Fujinon 10-24

Lol, I had an x100s, failed without impact, and Fuji said it needed a whole new top half. No parts to anyone else. Never again. I sold it "as is" for what the repair would have been. I'd take an m5, but I'd need wider/smaller glass.

Not that anybody cares, but I've rethought my kit for this trip completely.

For cities, I like a 70-200 lens, and every time I don't bring it, I regret it. (I wish I had kept my f4 IS for this.) i'll also use a Zeiss 25 and Canon 35.

For Angkor, I'll use the 16-35, 50mm Zeiss 1.4, and Tamron 85. They are all weather-sealed for all the dust and humidity I will encounter.

The weights all work out perfectly. I have a 15 pound carry-on for most flights, and for a couple of the smaller flights, i'll move a body and 50mm to my "personal item" carry-on (which brings that carry-on down to exactly 11 pounds). I put a pelican 1400 case in my suitcase, which has a spare body and a couple of lenses.

The only reason I have this stupid problem is that my Zeiss 24-85 broke and there have been no parts. My repair guy just found a mfgr in Guangzhou that makes the focus assembly I need. Good news for me!

Well, I can now modify the intent of this thread for lens suggestions for Ankor temples to recommendations from my experience. Contrary to most posts I've read, you don't need to bring the widest lenses you have. Perhaps my "wide" is wider than others.

You don't really need anything wider than 24mm ever. I think a 24 to 105 would be a wonderful range for this (if the optics were better lol) and maybe the 70-200 F4L IS. (At the urging of my photo guide, one day I brought the 70-200 2.8 IILIS but it obviously isn't a travellers lens due to its weight. Another day, I let him use exclusively-- and he carried it!) The reach was really nice to have for Angkor Thom however. I really didn't need super fast apertures (that's all I have!), but I might always include a fast 50mm for interiors and details. However, a wide aperture was very nice to isolate one layer from another, but I don't think you need anything faster than 2.8.

I used the 16-35 one day but was usually at my favorite 28mm length. Shooting wider usually got those groups of tourists or scaffolding. I probably enjoyed the Tamron 85 and 50 1.4 the most

My kit would have been much different if my Zeiss 24-85 hadn't been in the shop for a year. With that lens working, I'd take it, a 70-200 f4 IS and a fast 50 or 85.

I hope many of you can travel to Cambodia. It's certainly an experience that was fairly different than all of the time I've spent in China. It reminds me a lot of Thailand, for obvious geographic reasons, which in turn reminds me a lot of Guangdong province. People in Cambodia are very friendly (nicer?), probably just happy not to be at war.

going to Cambodia in October and still undecided on set up to take. was at first thinking 7DII and 70-200F4 and my fuji X100 but I love my 5DIII, if I could handle the weight of the 24-70 Id take it but wondering if it would be too much if I included another lens. Thinking of getting a 40mm pancake and taking that and the 70-200 F4 or the 135L.

I could always go with the 17-40L and 70-200f4L and hope I dont need a fast lens.

You don't need fast AND long. The 70-200f4IS is a great lens. That, a fast 50 and 25/24 is all you need. A 16-35 and fast 50 has been my standard for a long time, nfortunately I love Zeiss lenses and life got more complicated.

I went around one day with the 70-200 2.8 and it was obviously a mixed blessing, but other days the longest I had was an 85 1.8 and it was fine. I shot a lot of 50mm. I shot 25mm rarely and shot the 16-35 less. Obviously what you shoot will dictate—I wasn't going for postcards of the complexes—I tried to get layers of foreground detail with more temples in the back. Most trees are thin and I had cloud-free skies. Add Chinese tourists everywhere else and you'll be shooting tight.

The only time you need fast glass is inside some temple areas, and they're small.

Bring 2 bodies or you'll spend a lot of time flipping lenses.

135... it's an odd length on any sensor. You'll want less than 100 and 200+ on full frame. I saw 1 go by my meta data at 135.

Lol, I just bought into an X system as my travel kit. Sold 3 L lenses and paid for it all.

After all my pondering I ended up taking just a fuji X100 and a small underwater pocket camera, the X100 was pretty much used 99% of the time, no regrets. Here are a couple of links showing the sort of images I got

https://juliehollandph​otography.wordpress.co​m …d-school-kampot-cambodia/


https://juliehollandph​otography.wordpress.co​m …ta-prohm-temple-cambodia/

aladyforty wrote in post #18298027
going to Cambodia in October and still undecided on set up to take. was at first thinking 7DII and 70-200F4 and my fuji X100 but I love my 5DIII, if I could handle the weight of the 24-70 Id take it but wondering if it would be too much if I included another lens. Thinking of getting a 40mm pancake and taking that and the 70-200 F4 or the 135L.

I could always go with the 17-40L and 70-200f4L and hope I dont need a fast lens.

I travel with my 5D3 and 24-70 Brick, 16-35 and 70-200 f4.......heavy but I just consider it a workout

aladyforty wrote in post #18506505
After all my pondering I ended up taking just a fuji X100 and a small underwater pocket camera, the X100 was pretty much used 99% of the time, no regrets. Here are a couple of links showing the sort of images I got

https://juliehollandph​otography.wordpress.co​m …d-school-kampot-cambodia/


https://juliehollandph​otography.wordpress.co​m …ta-prohm-temple-cambodia/

I had that camera for a while, as it reminded me of my Leica days and thought it would mandate a 1 lens day. I just haven't been able to use a 35mm focal length for the past 15 years. I'm just done with it. (28 and 50 please.) So I sold it and bought a Ricoh GRII and loved it. I realized that removing AA blur, an APS-C format is kind of okay. I suppose it's like when film got so good, Clients stopped asking for 8x10 sheets and went 4x5. (4x5 clients accepted 120mm, and ALL annual reports were done with 135 Kodachrome.) Technology has changed the tools we can use.

philmar wrote in post #18513539
I travel with my 5D3 and 24-70 Brick, 16-35 and 70-200 f4.......heavy but I just consider it a workout

Ah, when I was young, gear weighed nothing like today (35mm systems).

Thats almost my favorite kit. I travelled full-time for years from 2009 with whatever version 5D body was (and its predecessor as a 2nd body), a 16-35 2.8II, a custom 24-85 Zeiss, and a 70-200ƒ4LIS. I added a faster 50mm. (Prior to 2009, I travelled with film Leicas and Canon 1Ds bodies.)

My personal anguish started when I traded out for the 2.8LII. I'm a big guy, but perhaps with pro photoguy shoulder syndrome. My right shoulder is lower than the left, and it's a messed up shoulder. I blame tennis and camera bags. Just carry careful, bro.

As resolutions got higher, bodies and lenses got bigger and heavier. Just a 5DiV and Milvus 50 1.4 is significant. And I work hard at a gym every day.

I'm doing my first outting to Colombia next week with the Fuji. I have all my fav lengths and a kit I can carry easily. I've been shooting around so I'm up to go live. I'll post if the results are what I expect. I didn't sell much Canon.