Requirements of gear for travel photography:

1. 1.Keep it light - a big camera may either tire you so you don’t feel inspired or you’ll leave it at home. The E410 is a carry anywhere DSLR. If you do take a big camera like the D3 for the quality, take ONE or two lenses out on a day’s shoot, not all of them!
   

2. 2.Consider an option for small  when you need it - a big ‘pro’ camera can distract subjects if you don’t want them to interact with you.
   

3. 3.Image quality - The glass is the key - most DSLR sensors perform similarly, the key to great image quality, as ever. lies in quality lenses. Spend most of your money on pro glass... (actually this is no longer true, the FX sensor is SO MUCH better than DX or 4:3 that it brings out the quality of the glass better) AND enables the wonderful Nikkor primes to function with the fields of view they were designed for......
   

4. 4.Use fill flash, but not too harsh
   

5. 5.Wait till the end of the day in hot countries - and keep shooting longer with the D3!
   

6. 6.PLAN what you’re going to shoot. Is it hiking/landscapes, night shots in the city, street portraits?
   

7. 7.If you’re going on a trip take what you need to cover the opportunities you plan for. Don’t just lug everything around waiting for inspiration to come to you. Select a small part of the gear and go and shoot something specific that you’ve planned.
   

8. 8.It helps to take a smaller day bag stowed in your checked luggage for ‘part kit’.
   

I was looking for something lighter for travel so used an Olympus E400 for a year, a ‘digital OM1’ but unfortunately I found the controls inadequate for quick operation and the files a bit noisy in low light . I tried an Olympus E3 for a couple of months, and gave up in disgust with the erratic AF and noisy banding shadows and returned to using the  Nikon. See Mark Pinder’s similar issues here.

NIKKOR LENSES

What I use and why......

I get a few queries about what lenses I use with my D3, and rather than have a front page dedicated to kit rather than images I list them here, as well as some comments on Nikon gear I’ve tried but don’t use any more.

PRIMES:

135mm f2 AFD DC - This is a brilliant travel telephoto. I find the 135mm length just right for a long distance street portrait or closing in on a detail of architecture, without giving a ‘shot through a telescope’ effect. Its very sharp and has a beautiful tonal rendition and bokeh. Its different to the 85mm f1.4, not quite so creamy, but quite different to the rendition of a modern ED zoom. The DC feature can enhance this further if needed.

85mm f1.4 AFD - One of the lenses I use Nikon for perfect as a short telephoto walk-around and for head and shoulder portraits on FX. Superb creamy bokeh plus crisp sharpness.

50mm f1.4 AFD - I use it as a standard lens when I don’t want to lug a zoom around. The bokeh is OK and the lens is pretty sharp from f2 onwards.

28mm f1.4 AFD - I am so lucky to have this lens. It was discontinued by Nikon in 2006 as the hand-ground aspheric front element made the lens expensive (£1400). It now sells on eBay for twice that used. I bought the last one in Gray’s of Westminster’s stock in 2006, and it is a fabulous night time street lens on the D3. It allows shooting at 1/60s ISO 6400 f1.4 in candlelight, the DOF being adequate with the 28mm fl. Bokeh, rendition and build is similar to the 85mm f1.4.

20mm f2.8 AFD - Back to being a brilliant lens. A poor performer on the D2X, this lens has its wide angle credentials back. Sharp and light, a pleasure to use. Some vignetting up to f8 is easily corrected.

16mm f2.8 AFD Fisheye - occasional use in landscapes. No chromatic aberration on the D3, a much better performer than the 10.5 DX fisheye on the D2X.

ZOOM:

24-70 AFS G f2.8. Nikon’s new mid range zoom is quite long and heavy for this range, but is very sharp wide open and has a pretty decent bokeh as well. I use this as a walkaround during the day when I don’t have a lot of time to fiddle changing primes (say I’m with some friends).

You may gather I’m not a fan of zooms..... However good they are, the slow apertures of the ‘consumer zooms’ limit creativity and use in low light and the size of the f2.8 zooms is prohibitive.

OTHER GEAR

2 SB 800 speedlights, a Giottos Carbon Fibre tripod, C Pol filter, ND  Grads and a remote release.

THINGS I’VE SOLD

1. -70-200 AFS G VR f2.8 - sharp fast zoom, sweet lens, but just too big and heavy for my use. Taking it away would mean leaving the 85 and 28 f1.4s at home! Its gone to a good home.
   

2. -17-35mm f2.8 - wide angle zoom. Sharp lens, great on FX, but I like good bokeh, even on a wide angle, and the harshness of this lens means I use the 28mm f1.4 and 20mm f2.8 instead.
   

3. -D2X - Nice body, but I’ve never liked Nikon’s DX sensors. too much noise and the crop factor ruins the use of the prime lenses. OK for macro, sports and nature shooters  who want the magnification.
   

4. -D70 - Dipping my toe in the water... I rapidly moved onto the D2X.
   

5. -17-55mm AFS DX f2.8 - went with the D2X. An odd lens with a strange plane of focus. OK for portraits, but don’t shoot anything flat!
   

6. -12-24mm AFS DX f4 - soft........ another good reason for leaving DX behind.
   

7. -10.5mm AF DX Fisheye - chromatic aberration in spades. Never a fan of this lens. The 16mm FX fisheye is much better.