Recommendation for Holiday in Japan

[Gerrard]

After my last holiday in Devon earlier this year, I was a little disappointed with the photos from my compact (Canon Ixus 70); especially from the zoo. So I bought a 450D after several recommendations. Now I was wondering what else people would recommend getting before I go on holiday to Japan in October. I was thinking/recommended some of the following: -

Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II Lens - a bargain for the price

Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 XR Di-II LD ASP IF Lens - Canon Fit - notice some people recommend this lense as well. Don't know if that's instead of the Canon 50mm or with it.

Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD Macro Lens - Canon Fit - again, seems like a good budget telescopic lens

Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Lens - Canon Fit - would be nice, but a bit big for "touristing"; not to mention price! Still, maybe one day...

Canon RC5 Remote Control - or some other remote control. They seem like cheap useful things.

Some sort of tripod. Again, being a tourist, I don't fancy lugging a full one around, so was think of something smaller like a table-top one and one of those Gorrilla pods. Mainly to be used in conjunction of the remote control to stop my shaky hands blurring shots!

I have no idea what I'll be photgraphing out there; it is Japan after all! No doubt a mixture of people and landscapes.

The links above are for info only. I'll be shopping around for the best price/service when I've decided on what to get.

[Blastuk]

What you haven't listed is the good ole 18-200mm perfect for travelling

Canon EF-S 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 IS £429.00
Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC £149.00
Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS £274.95
Sigma 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM £449.99
Tamron 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro £149.00
Tamron 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di ll LD Aspherical (IF) Macro £299.00 <-- link to review

Not sure what your budget is, just took those off http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/index.html for rough prices.
I'm sure there will be people who can tell you in detail about the optical quality of each of these lenses.
An 18-200mm means you can travel light and not lug around too many lenses, though the 50mm 1.8 might still be useful for night time shooting handheld

edit: also you don't *have* to get a remote as you can just set it on 2sec timer and you won't be touching it when it goes off

[Gerrard]

Great suggestion Blastuk! I'm still new to this camera stuff, and that sort of lens does look ideal for travelling with. The next question is which one? I'll have to research later, but generally speaking, is Canon's IS any better than Sigma's OS (or even HOS)? The price of the Canon does seem quite steep in comparison.

I completely forgot about the timer.

[Blastuk]

I actually forgot about the timer too, someone else on this forum mentioned it a while back I think.

I'm not too familiar with canon's IS.. I've used the kit lens IS which is *very* good and then I've used the IS of the canon 17-85mm and that was well.. horrid. That one made things worse.
No experience on sigma OS at all.

from that review site I linked I think the rough conclusion is that the tamron 18-250mm has the best IQ out of most of them (surprisingly) though it doesn't have any IS/OS thing

this site rates the canon 18-200mm pretty well though http://www.the-digital-picture.com/R...ns-Review.aspx they have some pictures to look at. I know for sure that this lens creeps though (tried it in a shop), if you hold the camera pointing the lens down it will actually zoom due to gravity.

If you don't need to go all the way to 200mm you could consider this one aswell Sigma 18-125mm f/3.8-5.6 DC OS HSM Better IQ as it doesn't zoom as much, OS and HSM aswell

[Gerrard]

Well, it looks like I'm going to go for the Sigma 18-250mm f3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM. Can get it for £400 and seems like a great lens for what I want. However, there doesn't seem to quite the range and in depth reviews as on the 18-200mm lenses. I might try and see if I can get hands on in Jessops or some other camera shop first though.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sigma-AF18-2...525069&sr=8-15 cheaper

[kalniel]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sigma-AF18-2...525069&sr=8-15 cheaper

And a completely different lens

[j.o.s.h.1408]

haha yea but similar. its over £100 cheaper then the one the OP will get. is the extra 50mm reach worth £100+?

[Blastuk]

haha yea but similar. its over £100 cheaper then the one the OP will get. is the extra 50mm reach worth £100+?

Picture quality will be different aswell.

[Gerrard]

Well, I got my Sigma 1.8-250mm and Canon 50mm f1.8 today. Certainly a big difference between the two! Decided to have a quick go with both; unfortunately there isn't much to photo in my room. These photos were taken in 'Full Auto' mode with the Sigma and 'Av' mode with the 50mm to see the effect of changing the stops. No post processing has been done other than resizing.

Canon @ f1.8



Canon @ f5.6



Canon @ f22.0. Yes, I need to dust that remote!




Sigma @ 18mm. Note the flash shadow at the bottom



Sigma @ 250mm from same position as above. Nowhere near the quality of Yorkie's! (Both photo and toothbrush )



Unfortunately, all 3 of my lenses now have different diameters, so would need to get separate filters for them. A polariser looks good for the Sigma for taking landscape photos. Not sure which filters would be best for the 50mm, if any. I'm guessing it'll be mainly portraits and maybe night shooting. I have next week off, so hopefully can get out and about and play around with stuff and see what I can learn. Need to get my skill up to match my gear now!