lens Choice

Discussion of lenses, brand or independent, uses and merits
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sury
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lens Choice

Unread post by sury »

I have an upcoming trip to Machu Pichu in late April. I have CZ24-70 and a Tamron 24-70, both f2.8 lenses.
The combination of A77M2 and Tamron is much lighter than with CZ lens
and I don't mind carrying CZ if it means I do not regret but the difference is marginal give what I will be doing,
travel photography, is the difference worth lugging the extra weight. I already went from A900 to A77M2 for weight
reason. I know this body switch means I am losing some WA and am thinking of compensating that with stitched Panos.
Is Tamron good enough for the trip? Any insight is appreciated.

With best regards,
Sury
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pakodominguez
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Re: lens Choice

Unread post by pakodominguez »

Hi Sury,
Do you still have the A900? if yes, take both. Because you will want that 24mm. Or get (rent?) a UWA -BTW, I saw there is now a special on the Tamron 11-16.
I have no idea about the Tamron 24-70 quality, I think it might be OK, specially on a APS camera. I love my Sony Zeiss 24-70 f2.8 and I know the quality it delivers is outstanding.
How long are you staying at Machu Picchu? I recommend you to arrive in the PM, sleep over and visit the ruins early AM. Stitch panoramas is fine -if there are no people moving in the landscape. In Machu Picchu, early AM, it will be fine. But by 11:00 AM you have the first group of people arriving by train from Cuzco, your stitched panoramas won't look that good...
If you need more tips, including travel agent in Cuzco, I can help you with that.

Best

Pako
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sury
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Re: lens Choice

Unread post by sury »

Pako,
Thank you for the input and the offer. My wife's nephew did the trip last summer and we are using his trip as guideline.
We are leaving on Friday afternoon from San Francisco to Dallas and a red eye to Lima. 3 hours layer in Lima and then to Cuzco.
Day 1 - acclimatization in Cuzco
Day 2 - Salt Mines tour
Day 3 - Sacred Valley to Aguas Caliente via Olayantombe (train)
Day 4 - Machu Pichu/Huayana Pichu
Day 5 - Easy morning and Cuzco tour in PM
Day 6 - Bus to Lake Titicaca
Day 7 - Tour Lake Titcaca and leave for Cuzco from Puno (air)
Day 8 - Nazca lines/Ballastos/Palermo Island
Day 9 - Lima and head out to Airport (flight is at 9PM0
Day 10 - Back in SF and to work

Any recommendations on the travel agent for booking the tours? We heard it is lot cheaper to book in Cuzco than in US.
One of the reasons I bought A77M2 is to replace the heavy A900 with lighter body. If I am taking A900, does it make sense
to take A77II too?
Sury
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Dusty
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Re: lens Choice

Unread post by Dusty »

sury wrote: One of the reasons I bought A77M2 is to replace the heavy A900 with lighter body. If I am taking A900, does it make sense
to take A77II too?
Sury
If you only have APS-C, then you lose the WA end over the full frame. Doesn't make sense to take 2 if saving weight, but I would add an UWA to recover what you lost in the short end. Maybe the Sigma 8-16.

Dusty
An a700, an a550 and couple of a580s, plus even more lenses (Zeiss included!).
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sury
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Re: lens Choice

Unread post by sury »

Dusty!hiccup! You are not supposed to inflame my LL. :lol: And a good suggestion, never the less.
Let me check it out....

Sury
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pakodominguez
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Re: lens Choice

Unread post by pakodominguez »

sury wrote:Pako,
Thank you for the input and the offer. My wife's nephew did the trip last summer and we are using his trip as guideline.
We are leaving on Friday afternoon from San Francisco to Dallas and a red eye to Lima. 3 hours layer in Lima and then to Cuzco.
Day 1 - acclimatization in Cuzco
this is the hardest part. Take diuretics pills for 2 days before your trip -this will help you to avoid altitude sickness. And take a nap if you have headaches.
sury wrote: Day 2 - Salt Mines tour Maras
Day 3 - Sacred Valley to Aguas Caliente via Olayantombe (train) Ollantaytambo
Day 4 - Machu Pichu/Huayana Pichu
Day 5 - Easy morning and Cuzco tour in PM
Day 6 - Bus to Lake Titicaca
Day 7 - Tour Lake Titcaca and leave for Cuzco from Puno (air)
Day 8 - Nazca lines/Ballastos/Palermo Island
Day 9 - Lima and head out to Airport (flight is at 9PM0
Day 10 - Back in SF and to work

Any recommendations on the travel agent for booking the tours? We heard it is lot cheaper to book in Cuzco than in US.
Contact my friend Gabriela Valdez [email protected] 0115184229456, she will build a package, following the program you already decided, for you r budget -I organized a photo safari to Peru few years ago, I asked her to take us to different places and asked her for 3 stars hotel/transfer/restaurants service. For dinner we usually ate light and I managed to find nice restaurants following the mood of the day. My brother used to take his students to Cusco and he used to ask 2 stars or just "Student class"...
sury wrote: One of the reasons I bought A77M2 is to replace the heavy A900 with lighter body. If I am taking A900, does it make sense
to take A77II too?
Sury
Well, as I told you, your 24mm on APS won't make it. Stitching is a solution, but not necessarily works all the times. So: a wider lens or a FF camera, you use the A77M2 if you need some "reach" and the A900 if you need more room...
Pako
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the_hefay
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Re: lens Choice

Unread post by the_hefay »

I agree with Pako. And I would add that if you go FF the 24-70 might not be long enough in some situations. However that issue is not as severe as not having enough width on the other end with the A77m2. My recommendation is to take one camera with two lenses.

A77m2 with 24-70 and WA
A900 with 24-70 and telephoto or telephoto converter.

If you only want to take one camera and one lens, take the a900 and 24-70. The A77m2 24-70 combo will leave you frustrated at not being wide enough and you won't always have the time and/or space to set up for shooting multiple frames with the idea of stitching.

I really like my Tokina 11-16 as an excellent UWA lens for aps-c.
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sury
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Re: lens Choice

Unread post by sury »

pakodominguez wrote: this is the hardest part. Take diuretics pills for 2 days before your trip -this will help you to avoid altitude sickness. And take a nap if you have headaches.

Contact my friend Gabriela Valdez [email protected] 0115184229456, she will build a package, following the program you already decided, for you r budget -I organized a photo safari to Peru few years ago, I asked her to take us to different places and asked her for 3 stars hotel/transfer/restaurants service. For dinner we usually ate light and I managed to find nice restaurants following the mood of the day. My brother used to take his students to Cusco and he used to ask 2 stars or just "Student class"...
sury wrote: One of the reasons I bought A77M2 is to replace the heavy A900 with lighter body. If I am taking A900, does it make sense
to take A77II too?
Sury
Well, as I told you, your 24mm on APS won't make it. Stitching is a solution, but not necessarily works all the times. So: a wider lens or a FF camera, you use the A77M2 if you need some "reach" and the A900 if you need more room...
Pako,
Thank you for the suggestion on diuretics and referral to Ms. Valdez. Since boss lady is doing all the planning, I will forward Ms. Valdez info to my wife.

Sury
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sury
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Re: lens Choice

Unread post by sury »

Looks like the consensus is to take A900 and two lenses or get a wide angle lens with A77II.
Looks like A77II stays home. I am not telling my wife about it, since one of the "rationale"
I gave was reduction of weight. :wink:
Alternately I can have a rationale to acquire a UWA lens and feed to my LL. I don't see a downside
to my situation.. :lol:
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the_hefay
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Re: lens Choice

Unread post by the_hefay »

Sury the other option is to bring down the a77m2 and both 24-70 lenses. Then you can give me one of the lenses to use on my a77m2 and we can have old fashioned shoot-out.
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mikeriach
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Re: lens Choice

Unread post by mikeriach »

Some excellent advice here.
Even though much of my subjects need telezooms I have a little pocket in my bag for my trusty old Minolta 35-70 f4.
Considering the vintage it is a superb complimentary lens to my 70-something zooms. Very small and light to even pop in a trouser pocket. Not wide enough for your trip though. I also have a Minolta 28-105 which is quite good too as a walk about lens.
I doubt I'll ever visit but cheers guys for the insight, I need my lottery ticket to win!

Mike
All my Sony SLT gear gone. Still got my RX100 though.
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sury
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Re: lens Choice

Unread post by sury »

Mike,
As it were, I have both 35-70f4, 28-105 and 28-135 (I think) and two copies of 70-200f4. What I am lacking is in WA area.

Sury
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sury
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Re: lens Choice

Unread post by sury »

the_hefay wrote:Sury the other option is to bring down the a77m2 and both 24-70 lenses. Then you can give me one of the lenses to use on my a77m2 and we can have old fashioned shoot-out.
Anytime my friend. If only, the weight can be tackled. :lol: This time my son will not around to come to his dad's rescue.

Sury
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Birma
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Re: lens Choice

Unread post by Birma »

Hi Sury, my 2 cents. Take the A77, sell the Tamron as you have the Cz in the same range, and get the Cz 16-80. Great general purpose lens and nothing better quality wise on aps-c. If you want an uwa I'd suggest trying the sigma 8-16 for aps-c.

Then again, if size / weight is an issue time to go e mount :). A6000 is incredible bargain right now, and nice e mount cz 16-70 to top it off.
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Re: lens Choice

Unread post by ValeryD »

Birma wrote:Hi Sury, my 2 cents. Take the A77, sell the Tamron as you have the Cz in the same range, and get the Cz 16-80. Great general purpose lens and nothing better quality wise on aps-c. If you want an uwa I'd suggest trying the sigma 8-16 for aps-c.

Then again, if size / weight is an issue time to go e mount :). A6000 is incredible bargain right now, and nice e mount cz 16-70 to top it off.
Let me ad some opinion about 16-80Z with a77M2 (I use SAL1680 every day, but with a57, not a77m2). It works good, but not good as SAL1650 or SAL2470CZ . For traveling probably better have SAL18135 or Sury has or had 16-300(18-250), not sure. Sigma lenses very good too, but have a problem with compatibility with SLT cameras. :(
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