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Travelling to Nepal, lens suggestions?


rirakuma

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I'm thinking of travelling to Nepal at the end of the year and was wondering if you guys could help me decide on which lenses I should bring. At the moment my lineup is a 21, 28, 35, 50 and 90. I only want to bring three and my most comfortable focal length is the 35. I usually travel with a 21,35,50 but I recently added a 28 and 90 so I'm curious to try them out. If you have traveled around Nepal before would you recommend a 21 over a 28 and 50 over 90? I was planning to trek to EBC but I don't think I'll have enough time so I might just hop around cities for a cultural trip. If you also have any general tips on travelling around Nepal please let me know, thanks :)!

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You just have time to run some personal simulations with permutations of your available lenses. It would not be a true test of the destination environment, but treat it purely as a technical evaluation of focal length usage.

 

Personally my choice would be 28-50-90; the latter for unreachable shots and portraits; the 50 for most normal perspective shots and 28 for wider shots and interiors.

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Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm leaning towards 28-35-90 like wda mentioned I think the 90 will be useful for reach, 35 will be my go to and 28 will be for wider scenes. 50 use to be my main FL but I can't imagine traveling without a 35 these days.

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I just returned from 2 weeks on the China side of the Tibet border, taking only my 35LUX FLE on my M240.

 

It was a pleasure only having to deal with one lens, and taught me to be more adventurous/creative with the one focal length. However a ND filter would have been useful.

 

Whilst the mountains and lakes are big and beautiful and numerous, 35mm was sufficient....after a while every mountain starts to look the same.

 

We were mainly at 1500m to 3000m altitude, so carrying the lightest possible was foremost, which guided my decision to go with only one lens.

 

A semi-tele would have more useful in capturing some people scenes....but I know I would have made a daily choice of selecting only one lens for the day, and not changing until the next day.

 

I used a 2" wide Leica strap (from a large Ultravid binoculars) on my M240 to spread the all day/night weight burden across my neck/shoulders.

 

In hind sight, I would still do that journey again with one lens, maybe two, but no more than that.

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I had a Nepal trip last New Year, 2013. I bought 4 lenses, 21, 35, 50, 90. 35mm was the one that I use most but for taking my family with the scenery. My 50mm got the 2 nd. most use for people portrait and street photo. 21mm was the 3 rd. use for the architecture and landscape. 90mm was use for taking the Everest from small plane.

I used my lenses this way which may be different from you. I found 35mm was too wide to compose on the busy street of Nepal for street photo. 90mm was too long to avoid other people getting in the way when shooting people. 50mm was just right for me for shooting people or street photo there.

However; the 3 wall hanging photos that I print 20"x30" are from 21mm, 35mm and 90mm.

Nepal is the dusty place. Be prepare when you change the lenses. Have a nice time and nice photos.

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One focal length is very convenient but I think I'd really appreciate the variation so I'm going to carry 3. I'd go with two but I don't think 35 will be wide enough for some scenes. Thanks for the tips viboons, do you have a link on the photos from Nepal? Would love to see them if its available. I've PMd you about some non lens stuff :)

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I'm thinking of travelling to Nepal at the end of the year and was wondering if you guys could help me decide on which lenses I should bring. At the moment my lineup is a 21, 28, 35, 50 and 90. I only want to bring three and my most comfortable focal length is the 35. I usually travel with a 21,35,50 but I recently added a 28 and 90 so I'm curious to try them out. If you have traveled around Nepal before would you recommend a 21 over a 28 and 50 over 90? I was planning to trek to EBC but I don't think I'll have enough time so I might just hop around cities for a cultural trip. If you also have any general tips on travelling around Nepal please let me know, thanks :)!

 

I spent three months in Nepal (about 30 years ago), Pokhara, Annapurna, Kathmandu and a short trek east of Kathmandu (about a week, I think). I took a mid-range zoom, a 180/2.8 tele and an FM2. The photos were absolutely fantastic.

 

In the mountains, you will appreciate a tele, so I would take the 90mm. For detail (prayer flags, prayer wheels and portraits), I would take a fast 50, and for in town, I'd take something wide - 28 or 21. I'd only take a 35 if it was my only lens. Some of those alleyways and temples are dim.

 

Places to see in Kathmandu - in and around Durbar Marg with its old wooden buildings and markets, Thamel for its narrow streets and great eateries, Swayambu (monkey temple) for its famous Buddha Eyes dome and Pashupatinath Hindu temple for its ghats on the banks of what becomes the Ganges - very holy place, so be careful taking pictures of burial pyres. Lots of "holy men" you can photograph, but give them a little money. As for paying beggars (there were lots when I was there), only pay the ones you see the locals pay. From memory, I only paid the ones at Swayambhu and Pashupatinath.

 

When I was there, Pokhara was a backpackers haven. Now, I understand there's lots of paragliding and other adventure activities. Accommodation and food is cheap and plentiful (be careful about drinking water and eating uncooked food, and only eat fruit you can peel). If you have time for a short walk, there are lots of treks from Pokhara into the Annapurna region - you can go up to Annapurna Base Camp, or just through the "foothills" to places like Tatopani.

 

A storm has just gone through there (early - October/Nov is peak season with the best mountain views), and lots of people have died - they were caught high up, a long way into the mountains from Pokhara. Check the forecast, and consider either a short trip (couple of days) in and back, or look for a guided walk - it's worth it.

 

But if 3 lenses is your choice, I would take 28-50-90, M camera and a spare (T with adapter, effectively increasing my available focal length by 50%). Oh, and I would take ND filters.

 

Have fun!

 

Cheers

John

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21 + 35 + 90 mm. That would be a very nice compact and versatile travel set for landscape, street scenes and enviromental portraits.

I think you will want to go wider than 28 and its too close to 35. 21 will be very good for landscape.

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Thanks for the useful info John. I may take the 21mm instead of 28mm but I'll see how I feel in the coming months about the two focal lengths. 28mm is still new to me but I think it may be just right for my style to complement the 35. I'll be planning my trip in the coming month or so and I'll be happy to share the pics when I get back. Thank you everyone for the tips :)!

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One focal length is very convenient but I think I'd really appreciate the variation so I'm going to carry 3. I'd go with two but I don't think 35 will be wide enough for some scenes. Thanks for the tips viboons, do you have a link on the photos from Nepal? Would love to see them if its available. I've PMd you about some non lens stuff :)

I do not have a photo link. I will post three photos from 21mm 35mm and 90mm for you.

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I would most certainly take 21-35-90 of those you mention. (Personally if I were going I would take a 135 in preference to the 90). Only if I had to go with 2 lenses would I consider the 28. In reality the resolution of Leica M digital bodies (if that's what you're using, you didn't say) is such that cropping 50% still leaves plenty of resolution to print 16x20 inches, but short of stitching panoramics there's no way to go wider. I would not bother with the combinations of 28 and 35, or 35 and 50, as they are well below that 50% crop factor. I know in that destination I would be shooting many images with my 90 or 135 with the expectation of cropping to effectively double the focal length.

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you'll definitely need the 90 for details, mountains an Portraits, something wideangled like the 21 or 28 for overall views, maybe indoors and mostly portraiing people and their environment as well as architecture . and you will need something bright like a 50/2 or better for the early an late hours of the day and maybe dark alleys.

 

if you can bring a 35/1.4 you won't be needing a 50 or 28 focal length and may bring the 21 instead. a 35/2 might do as well.

 

my lineup with 3 lenses would be

 

21

35/1,7 vc ultron

90/2,8

 

but probably i'd only bring my 50/2 and be happy.

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However; the 3 wall hanging photos that I print 20"x30" are from 21mm, 35mm and 90mm.

 

This is a good way of evaluating lens choices. Although you may take a lot of photos with the 35, are they on your wall? Or would they have worked with a 50 sufficiently well to remember the trip?

 

What lenses did you use for the real keepers last trip?

 

Michael

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This is a good way of evaluating lens choices. Although you may take a lot of photos with the 35, are they on your wall? Or would they have worked with a 50 sufficiently well to remember the trip?

 

What lenses did you use for the real keepers last trip?

 

Michael

 

Actually, 35mm made most of my photos in my photo book but only one photo on the wall, Nepal 2. Nepal 1 was from 21mm and Napal 3 was from 90mm.

 

My real keepers were not selected only from the composition, lighting, etc. but also from my own feeling of the moment I took the photos. Nepal 1 is about sacred, Nepal 2 is about the juxtaposition of fresh morning air and smoke from the cigarette, Nepal 3 is about grandeur of the Everest viewing from small plane.

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