Which setup?

If you were an all-around shooter going on a 2 year tour of the world, which set up would you choose? 1ds mkIII or 1d mkIII w/5d (or possibly 5d replacement)? Why?

lenses:
16-35 2.8L II
24-70 2.8L
50 1.4
135 2L
70-200 2.8L IS

1D Mark III and 5D (replacement if available) sounds good.
Lenses: take them all. And make sure they are good copies!

A lot depends on the type of travel your doing. Hotel to hotel with lots of baggage then sure, bring it all. If your backpacking, or traveling on your own I'd take a 5D or 5D replacement, the 24-70 and the 70-200. I like to travel light and not be encumbered by bags of photo gear. All the equipment you have listed is a large bag all unto itself.

Take a 1.4x and 2x teleconverter. Great way to add additional reach for special situations without weighing you down.

Baggage won't be much of an issue and I'm way too stubborn to leave any lenses behind. My primary concern is which body or bodies to go with.

hot blonde for a body, ohh i think the best body is the one ya use more option in a enviroment like ya taking it to, would hate to be fuzzing around missing the perfect shot. just my opinion.

1D III and 5D. You need a back-up.

I've done two long trips overseas with two bodies (350D and a 30D) and only a few lenses. I like to travel light and often preferred the 350D over the 30D because it could be stowed away easily and when I did pull it out it didnt scream "rob me I have $$$"!

I shot a lot with my 16-35mm, great for landscapes of course, but also a perfect 'walk-around' lens. You'll stand out WAY less with a small lens like this on a small body vs your 24-70 or especially the 70-200.

I also take my 18-200mm sigma, which recently got updated to 18-250mm I think. I know the quality isnt even close to the L series lenses you have....but the obvious beauty of this lens is you dont need to change lenses or even carry more than this with you. The IQ is passable for travel shots.

Only other lenses were a 90mm macro and a 50mm 1.8, which both got little use. I have an X-Drive 80GB PSD, best thing I ever bought. Misc other gear, chargers etc. It all fits into a Lowepro Slingshot bag.

Anyway, I'm not sure if your plans require you to travel light & blend into the crowd. Mine did as I was a bit off track and in poorer parts of the world where a big shiny camera might be too tempting to steal (plus if I did get it stolen I would only be down a few thousand vs many for the 1D or 5D bodies).

I'll be traveling to 5 prime areas during the trip. Southeast Asia, Northern Africa, Western Europe and Peru. I'll always have a safe location to store my photo backpack which will be stuffed to the gills. I'll be out and about with a slingshot 200. I'm willing to risk being robbed in order to get the shots. My main objective is to get the right picture with the right equipment. Would anyone take the combo of 1ds MKIII w/ 40d over the 1d MKIII w/ 5D?

What everyone said. =)

The slingshot 200 is great, I used that on my second trip. Had a trekker backpack on the first and having to take it off everytime I wanted access was annoying compared slingshot.

I was in Peru two years ago....if you arent already I'd definitely take a circ pol, great for making the sky go very dark at that altitude.

I'd go with the 1dmkIII w 40D....but might depend on what you want to do with the shots later? Are you looking at commercial use? If so the 5D would be better.

i'm currently on a yearlong backpacking photography trip through s and se asia and even if you try and travel light, with all the backups/duplicate chargers you'll end up bringing to do it "right," there's no way you're gonna travel light if you want to bring serious gear. as of now, i'm carrying a 1d3, 5d/grip, 16-35, 24-70, 70-200 all the time, and i leave my 85 1.2 and 100-400 at my friends house here in bangkok (going in and out throughout our time in SE asia) and pick them up for legs of the trip i'll be needing them more than others (wildlife of indo requires 100-400, people of laos begs for 85 1.2, etc).

If you aren't going to have a place to securely leave stuff, i'd think about maybe leaving the 135 at home. it's a great lens, but you will be able to cover it 98% of the time with your other 3 zooms (diff between f2 and f2.8 is nice, but not huge). Also, one of the main advantages of a fast prime is to be able to shoot indoors, but a 135 can be pretty long indoors depending on what your shooting. maybe bring the 50 and leave the 135 at home.

having 2 bodies is an absolute must. cameras break...it's a fact. aside from backup reasons, it's also REALLY nice to be able to carry two cameras with different lenses mounted on each, for much of my time in india i had my 70-200 on my 1d and either the 16-35 or 24-70 on the 5d. that way i was ready for anything

other very important equipment note....get a domke bag! they are by far the most discreet camera bags out there, which is damn crucial for travelling, no matter where you go. Also, they do make just great shooting bags. I carry all my gear from city to city in a dryzone 200 (rainy season in se asia/lots of boat rides/poo happens protection) and then transfer what i'll be shooting with for the day into my domke. works great and the hotel staff just think you've got some silly duffel bag full of nothing that you drag with you everywhere.

lastly, while i'd love to own a 1ds3, i already have trouble doing proper file management, backup, always having enough cards with my 5d and 1d3. i'm carrying a 12" laptop w/ 120gb, 2x 160gb external drives, an 80gb epson p-5000 storage device, and 40+ gb of memory cards. I can't imagine how much more work/dvd burning/backup fun the 1ds3's filesize would create. I think you'll do just wonderfully with a 5d and 1d3.

and as for worrying about the price of your gear in case of theft....insure it. you'd be a fool not to. then you can worry less about leaving it in your room, and bring all the fun stuff you want to shoot with.

hope that helps!

dannyjeffers wrote in post #3838575
I'll be traveling to 5 prime areas during the trip. Southeast Asia, Northern Africa, Western Europe and Peru. I'll always have a safe location to store my photo backpack which will be stuffed to the gills. I'll be out and about with a slingshot 200. I'm willing to risk being robbed in order to get the shots. My main objective is to get the right picture with the right equipment. Would anyone take the combo of 1ds MKIII w/ 40d over the 1d MKIII w/ 5D?

i gotta ask...how do you know you'll always have a safe location? a hotel in a lot of those areas is by no means a safe location for your stuff. every hotel in every part of the world has duplicate keys for every lock of every room....you don't think those get misused sometimes? Some of the areas you mentioned your camera gear is worth 5 years (or more) work for them....so breaking into hotel rooms certainly does happen. Pacsafe's are helpful, but they draw attention and could still definitely be cut pretty quickly. if you've got another solution/idea....i'm all ears! I'd love to find out a way to not have to worry about leaving my gear in my room!

dannyjeffers wrote in post #3837337
If you were an all-around shooter going on a 2 year tour of the world, which set up would you choose? 1ds mkIII or 1d mkIII w/5d (or possibly 5d replacement)? Why?

lenses:
16-35 2.8L II
24-70 2.8L
50 1.4
135 2L
70-200 2.8L IS

Do you have a body all ready??? what one is it? if you have a good body all ready as a back up, get 1ds mk III assuming you have time to test it and happy with it before you go
if you don't have a back up body, you do need to take 2 just in case, if you can afford it, get a 1D MK III and new 5D if out, though if you are not going to ever use the MKIII for what it was designed for just get 2 new 5D's,,,,,, IF you are very Rich, get MK IIIds and new 5D

Cathpah wrote in post #3838979
i gotta ask...how do you know you'll always have a safe location? a hotel in a lot of those areas is by no means a safe location for your stuff. every hotel in every part of the world has duplicate keys for every lock of every room....you don't think those get misused sometimes? Some of the areas you mentioned your camera gear is worth 5 years (or more) work for them....so breaking into hotel rooms certainly does happen. Pacsafe's are helpful, but they draw attention and could still definitely be cut pretty quickly. if you've got another solution/idea....i'm all ears! I'd love to find out a way to not have to worry about leaving my gear in my room!

Most reasonable Hotels now days have a small safe in the room, use it, should be able to get a body and quite a few lenses in there, assuming you are taking 10K of equipment, you can afford a reasonable hotel