This newsletter is a little late, because I was on vacation/road trip/kayaking trip for the last month and didn’t have the time to think about a newsletter/process images/stop to catch my breath. My road trip ended up being one of the hardest that I’ve ever packed for, because part of it was a vacation on Sanibel Island, part of the trip was a kayak camping trip with the Wilderness Classroom in the Florida Keys and part of the trip was a road trip to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. I always tend to discover a few things on road trips and will list a few below.

Photo Tip: What Camera Gear to Bring on a Road Trip

On this trip, I faced a big challenge: on a good chunk of the trip, I was going to be in a kayak and I couldn’t bring all my photography gear with me. So, I had the challenge of deciding what I could fit in the kayak and what would have to stay in the car. Unfortunately, in the Florida Keys, we couldn’t secure a safe place to park before we arrived, so I didn’t want to leave several thousand dollars of lenses in the car. I ended up compromising on photography gear (this bit me in the Smokies) in the name of safety from theft.

I like to have lenses that range from 16mm to 400mm when I’m out in the field, but the majority of my shooting is usually from 20 to 35mm and 100mm to 200mm. So, I know I need that coverage at minimum. When planning for a road trip, here’s how I break down my lens choices.

Light(ish) and Compact in Full Frame

You’re fooling yourself if you think full frame is light, but here’s my take on it. If I really need to go light, I’m taking my Sony Nex-6. All are Nikon lenses.

• 24mm f/2.8D – Sharp and wide enough on full frame.
• 50mm f/1.8D – Light and tack sharp.
• 70-300mm f/4 to f/5.6D — Nikon’s VR version of this lens is slightly sharper than the old “D” version, but I own the “D” version, so that’s what I use.
• Nikon 5T close-up lens. This threads onto the 70-300 and makes an acceptable macro lens.

Versatile and Compact in Full Frame

This setup gives me a lot of flexibility, but compromises on the long side. Some people will use a super zoom for this, but I’ve never been satisfied with the image quality from a super zoom.

• 16-35 f/4 VR: Tack sharp, VR, super wide, but it’s not light. I could leave this at home and get by with the 24 on the 24-120.
• 24-120 f/4 VR: Not as good as Nikon’s 24-70 f/2.8, but it’s a solid performer and sharp enough. I prefer this over the 24-70, because of the extra reach and the vibration reduction.
• 70-300 f/4 to f/5.6: See above.
• Nikon 5T close-up lens: See above.

Photo Trip in Full Frame

This is my standard traveling setup when I’m going someplace specifically to photograph. Except for the 105 f/2.8 macro lens, all these lenses use 77mm filters which simplifies the filter needs.

• 16-35 f/4 VR
• 24-120 f/4 VR
• 70-200 f/2.8 VR
• 300 f/4 D: A sharp 300 that’s lighter than the 300 f/2.8. It’s missing VR, which would make this a much better lens, but I can still handhold this and get sharp shots.
• 1.4x teleconverter: Gets me to 400 f/5.6 with the 300 f/4 and it remains sharp.
• 105 f/2.8 macro

Filters and Other Gear

I only brought two ND Grads (a 3-stop reverse and a 2-stop soft), this wasn’t versatile enough for Florida and the Smokies. Here’s what I’m going to bring in the future on all road trips.

• ND Grads: 2-stop reverse, 3-stop reverse, 2-stop soft, 3-stop soft
• Hitech Format 4×4 filter holder
• 10-stop ND filter
• B+W Polarizer
• Remote release cord
• Bubble level
• Lenspen

Additional Filters for a Photo Trip

• Vari-ND filter

On this trip, I went with the Versatile and Compact in Full Frame setup. I also hauled along my Sony Nex-6 with the kit lens for photographing from my kayak. I wasn’t exactly light on this trip. I wish I would have had the 300 f/4 and the 1.4x in the Smoky Mountains. There were many shots that I wanted, but couldn’t get, because I didn’t have the reach.

What to Bring on a Photography Workshop

If you’re coming to one of my photography workshops, I highly recommend bringing it all. Something like the Photo Trip in Full Frame or the Versatile and Compact in Full Frame setup.

Select March Images

Here are a few select images that I took in March. More of the kayaking trip pictures will appear in next month’s newsletter. Click the thumbnail to see the full image.