Gear for upcoming trip to Italy and Greece

[KitsVancouver]

Checking camera bag on/off the ship is no big deal, they just X-ray it. Getting on shore depends on the port. some does nothing, some x-ray the whole bag. So far I have never been asked to open the bag under any condition. One poster mentioned taking pictures before and after sun set on the Greek Islands. You have a slim to none chance. Usually ships docks after the sun rise and sails before 6 pm.

It's mostly no big deal, but it can be. Especially if you're with kids and people behind you are impatient. At the very least, it adds a bit of stress because you are going through security checks. Then again, I'm fairly bothered by that sort of stuff, but others may not be.

Ship will also check the following: lady's handbag (no matter how small they are, point and shoot cameras case, back packs, shopping bag etc. If you are being brother by that, may be you should not go on a cruise.

LOL. Maybe you're right. Maybe I am a shady looking character, but they seemed to go through my bag the most. My wife didn't bring a purse once she realized she could put all her stuff into my camera bag.

Depending on the port, having a big camera bag is definitely more hassle. I don't know how anyone could argue it's not. Now whether it's a lot, is purely a subjective thing.

 

[RGF]

I'm going on a cruise this summer that starts and ends in Venice and stops at a couple ports in Greece. We will also be taking a train to Rome for a couple days before coming home. I'm trying to pack light but also get great images. Here is my current lens/camera gear:
Canon 6D
16-35mm F4 IS, 35mm 1.4, 85mm 1.8, 135mm F2, 70-200mm F4 IS

The 16-35mm will definitely be coming and possibly the 70-200 (haven't decided yet). I'm wondering what low-light lenses to bring. I'm also considering switching out the 35mm 1.4 for the newer 35mm F2 IS. I love having lenses with IS. Anyone made that switch? Should I consider bringing the 85 or 135 or will that be too much gear? Thanks for your feedback in advance! If anyone can recommend a good bag to carry everything that would be helpful as well.

What do you want to photograph?

If architecture, considering dropping the 35 F1.4 and going with 24 TS-E. I seldom use primes so I can not comment on 85 and 135. Though for the weight you might be better off with 70-200F2.8 IS II.

If you want to waste your weight, don't we all, consider the 70-300L. Great lens and more reach than the 70-200.

Also you lacking a mid range zoom. The new 24-70 F2.8II another great lens but is not light weight (except on your wallet).

I can not comment on photographing people, mostly do architectures in the cities. For this I find the 14 helpful and I am looking forward the new 11-24. I hope it worth its price.

 

[grahamsz]

I don't know about your past experiences, but in present day Greece, descent size hotels should have good internet and you can always find an internet cafe with good bandwidth.

My greek experiences were long enough ago that nobody expected wifi to be fast.

The hotel I stayed at in Milan in November charged a fair bit for internet and even then it barely hit a 512k. When I was out in Brescia it was free and usably fast (maybe 3-4mbit). Still I have 105Mbit internet at home in the US and live in a town where most cafe's have at least 20, so i'm a bit shocked when i'm back in Europe and those speeds just don't seem to exist.

 

[Viggo]

I don't know about your past experiences, but in present day Greece, descent size hotels should have good internet and you can always find an internet cafe with good bandwidth.

My greek experiences were long enough ago that nobody expected wifi to be fast.

The hotel I stayed at in Milan in November charged a fair bit for internet and even then it barely hit a 512k. When I was out in Brescia it was free and usably fast (maybe 3-4mbit). Still I have 105Mbit internet at home in the US and live in a town where most cafe's have at least 20, so i'm a bit shocked when i'm back in Europe and those speeds just don't seem to exist.

Most hotels I've been in has free connection with an ethernet cable, and more than fast enough. Might be an alternative.

 

[grahamsz]

Most hotels I've been in has free connection with an ethernet cable, and more than fast enough. Might be an alternative.

Depends what you mean as "fast enough". I can shoot 10 gigs of material in a day easily. Even if my laptop is sitting at the hotel uploading to dropbox constantly it'll still only just cover that with a megabit connection running 24 hours a day.

Even in the US I find it rare to get a hotel internet that's faster than my cellphone hotspot (though data limits make dropboxing raw files tough)

 

[Etienne]

I don't know about your past experiences, but in present day Greece, descent size hotels should have good internet and you can always find an internet cafe with good bandwidth.

My greek experiences were long enough ago that nobody expected wifi to be fast.

The hotel I stayed at in Milan in November charged a fair bit for internet and even then it barely hit a 512k. When I was out in Brescia it was free and usably fast (maybe 3-4mbit). Still I have 105Mbit internet at home in the US and live in a town where most cafe's have at least 20, so i'm a bit shocked when i'm back in Europe and those speeds just don't seem to exist.

Most hotels I've been in has free connection with an ethernet cable, and more than fast enough. Might be an alternative.

I've been in Italy for 6 weeks now, and I've found free, fast wifi everywhere. I bought a month to month SIM card from TIM (Italy's biggest wireless provider). The first month is 45 Euro, and subsequent months are 30 Euro. That gives 4G/LTE and a 20GB monthly limit. The coverage is wide, but in dense cities, like Florence, the buildings are tall, solid stone, so the signal is often weak indoors, and sometimes weak in particularly narrow streets with big stone buildings all around (which does a number on GPS too) .
Any way... you should not have a problems finding free wifi in Italy, but for a SIM card service you need an unlocked phone and your passport.