Vacation, Gear, or both?

[jcarapet]

Howdy all. Looking for a nudge in the right direction on a gameplan for this year.

After a few years of doing contracting, I secured a full time job with good pay and vacation time. Immediate thought was to treat myself to new gear, but I have a great gear collection already so nothing is "needed"

Narrowed it down I think to a few ideas.
1. Get the 16-35 f/4 IS and a second radio flash. I have a wedding to shoot in a month so the flash might be bought regardless.
2. Never been on a vacation by myself, and have always wanted to see the national parks. Want to take a week exploring Yellowstone and whatever is in between. Don't buy anything and carry less gear.
3. Rent the 16-35, buy a light carbon fiber tripod, and do the vacation anyway.
4. Say screw it to all forms of budgeting, buy the tripod and lens, go on vacation and get great landscapes.

If someone has an even better idea i am also open.

 

[Deleted member 91053]

I bought loads of very expensive toys (gear) so no more holidays!
You can guess my opinion!

 

[geonix]

Just recently I watched this funny guy's video and he is absolutly right

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHe04brf1XI

 

[sunnyVan]

I'd take option 2 if it was me. American west is so darn beautiful. I can easily spend two weeks there if I could. Cool places will refresh your mind and your creative sense. Personally I wasn't that impressed by Yellowstone. My favorite is Utah and Arizona.

Or you could buy expensive gear and shoot at local parks. Kind of sad as I think about it.

I don't believe in renting unless the equipment is outrageously expensive and there is no way i will keep. I'd rather buy second hand, play with it for a year and then sell. It's a longer term lease.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi jcarpet.
If you can really afford to screw the budget and do it all, good on you go for it.
If screwing the budget is really just a pipe dream (the same dream I and others must have).
Here is an alternate thought, not better just different, having just acquired an EF-s10-22, I can see the need for something as wide for FF, so grab a pre owned <16-?? bargain and go get the shots you want.
Or another idea, get a pano head and stitch portrait orientation from the 24-105 and be absolutely stunned by the quality of the details you can see, I tried this with some handheld (landscape orientation) shots and AutoStitch, blew my mind compared to looking at the single images or using canon photostitch. I just wish I'd thought or known to shoot portrait orientation for the extra height the images would have had.

Cheers, Graham.

 

[tcmatthews]

You could skimp and do it all half ass. Many people do. Buy a cheap knockoff chinese carbon fiber tripod. Unless you are making you living off of the radio flash buy a cheap knockoff radio flash.

(If the wedding is a payed job and you really need the flash rent one. Never put a job on in jeopardy because of shotty gear. But if this is the plan you should include your rental costs in planning the job.)


I would never suggest skimping on glass. So rent or buy the 16-35 f4 IS and go on vacation.

I actually used a cheap $19 Dynex for two years before I bought a good tripod. The plastic tripod head came off in my hands while attaching the camera the first time I used it. So I fixed it. The plastic bit that went into the center shaft was only 1/4'' long. So I epoxed a piece of an old fishing rod onto it. Taped it up like a rod handle and epoxed it to the central column. That extended the plastic bit 5'' into the column. I would not trust it to hold a full size DSLR but it works fine for a small mirrorless or rebel.

 

[RustyTheGeek]

After 6+ years being back into serious photography and going everywhere with our scout troop, I have amassed a lot of gear and have a lot of memories.

Now I'm trying to "downsize". (For about a year+.) The gear will multiply. And one thing is painfully true... it's a LOT easier, minus the endless analysis and research, to buy stuff. It's much harder to sell it later.

Not knowing your gear, I would say to get the wide lens if you love wide photography and/or do a lot of events. It's a very good and heavily used lens in my arsenal. Just rent the second flash if you need it. I doubt you will. I have three 600-RT flashes and I rarely use more than one. It's just not convenient for most situations. Sure, I take them with me but they rarely leave the cart.

By all means, take a trip and make some great images and memories. Don't take too much gear, keep it simple. Don't make the trip entirely about the gear! Trust me, I get it. I take a whole trunk load with me most of the time. The more you take, the more you'll have to think about it all and how/when to use it. The trips where I took less and carried less were the trips I enjoyed more and felt more liberated.

 

[steepjay]

Few people have died saying "I wish I'd bought more camera gear instead of doing all those great trips!". If you have the time at your disposal and the budget room to do it, travel. Rent or borrow the piece of equipment you think you're missing. The other thing about placing travel first, you might find that there is stuff in your bag that you never use (hello, ebay!) or that the thing that you rented is not the thing you actually want.

I used to travel a TON with work and have lots of time off for recreational trips. I've collected and sold a bunch of camera gear over the years, and I never went on a trip and got home and thought "I wish I'd bought a lens instead of having that experience". Some of my most memorable trips were with film gear and simple, cheap lenses, and I would never trade those memories for a lens.

 

[dickgrafixstop]

I'd vote for travel. You've listed gear from 24-200mm so nearly everything you could want to photograph should be covered nicely. The vistas at Yellowstone are fantastic, so wide angles are nice. The animals - bears in particularly - are "people oriented" enough that 200 should be satisfactory. The only thing you didn't mention is
how to carry the stuff - and a backpack for those hiking trails is a far better answer than a shoulder bag. Enjoy.

 

[jcarapet]

Just recently I watched this funny guy's video and he is absolutly right

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHe04brf1XI

Ha, I think that sums up the dilemna perfectly. The trick for me is making sure I can capture the experience in the best possible light. I have good equipment so can probably decide.

 

[jcarapet]

I'd take option 2 if it was me. American west is so darn beautiful. I can easily spend two weeks there if I could. Cool places will refresh your mind and your creative sense. Personally I wasn't that impressed by Yellowstone. My favorite is Utah and Arizona.

Or you could buy expensive gear and shoot at local parks. Kind of sad as I think about it.

I don't believe in renting unless the equipment is outrageously expensive and there is no way i will keep. I'd rather buy second hand, play with it for a year and then sell. It's a longer term lease.

interesting take on the buying second hand. I will have to keep an eye on Craigslist for some decent second hand works.

 

[jcarapet]

Hi jcarpet.
If you can really afford to screw the budget and do it all, good on you go for it.
If screwing the budget is really just a pipe dream (the same dream I and others must have).
Here is an alternate thought, not better just different, having just acquired an EF-s10-22, I can see the need for something as wide for FF, so grab a pre owned <16-?? bargain and go get the shots you want.
Or another idea, get a pano head and stitch portrait orientation from the 24-105 and be absolutely stunned by the quality of the details you can see, I tried this with some handheld (landscape orientation) shots and AutoStitch, blew my mind compared to looking at the single images or using canon photostitch. I just wish I'd thought or known to shoot portrait orientation for the extra height the images would have had.

Cheers, Graham.

Interesting. It isn't a pipe dream, but there are things it would affect on more expensive purchases for in the future like ring for girlfriend, house, things like that. I don't know much about pan heads, so I will take a look at those. I have a decent heavy tripod with a video head, but it may be an improvement to get something more specific.

 

[jcarapet]

Now I'm trying to "downsize". (For about a year+.) The gear will multiply. And one thing is painfully true... it's a LOT easier, minus the endless analysis and research, to buy stuff. It's much harder to sell it later.

Not knowing your gear, I would say to get the wide lens if you love wide photography and/or do a lot of events. It's a very good and heavily used lens in my arsenal. Just rent the second flash if you need it. I doubt you will. I have three 600-RT flashes and I rarely use more than one. It's just not convenient for most situations. Sure, I take them with me but they rarely leave the cart.

Truth spoken on shedding gear. It's hard to part even when times are tough. As far as renting, my main concern is just having the system work together. I have a Phottix Mitros+ and it works great, but would want a flash that ties into the Odin radio trigger system. May be cheaper to rent and then buy an odin receiver for when I do need two flashes. This is also an extreme low budget wedding for friends, so they will likely be happy if I don't pick up a second flash.

 

[jcarapet]

I'd vote for travel. You've listed gear from 24-200mm so nearly everything you could want to photograph should be covered nicely. The vistas at Yellowstone are fantastic, so wide angles are nice. The animals - bears in particularly - are "people oriented" enough that 200 should be satisfactory. The only thing you didn't mention is
how to carry the stuff - and a backpack for those hiking trails is a far better answer than a shoulder bag. Enjoy.

Thanks for the well wishes and trying to talk me down on gear. I have a solid lowepro backback, so I can carry almost my entire arsenal for now. That changes with more gear being added of course.

 

[Don Haines]

Vacation.....

If you get the gear and don't take vacation, you will loose the gear in the divorce....

Seriously though, go for the vacation....make some memories, experience life and all that good stuff.... Whatever gear you get will eventually go obsolete but memories just get better with time.....

 

[dhr90]

Better to have the vacation, have seen it, have the memories and whatever photos you can get with your current kit, than to have the kit but not have the vacation and the photos you really want to take.

 

[pj1974]

Born and raised in Australia, I have also lived in Europe for about a decade. Additionally, I have travelled extensively in several other countries to those I have lived in full time. I love vacations, and have been on many interstate and a number of international holidays over the years. So I am sharing some of my thoughts and experiences.

At times I have taken too much gear – and felt ‘weighed down’ (both physically and ‘by choice’) by too many lenses with me. On much rarer occasions have I felt I missed a lens or two. On some occasions / vacations, I have taken 2 bodies (my 350D as a backup) – but most of the time I just take my (trusty) 7D. My Canon 7D has only failed me once (when the internal flash got ‘stuck down’ – a known issue that I had rectified within warranty). The camera still worked fine, just the flash wouldn’t pop up – but I could still use my external flash.

Jcarapet, congratulations with you securing a full time job with good pay and vacation time. That’s definitely a positive to be thankful for. (And I expect your friends and family are happy for you too).

For your situation, with a FF and 24-105mm f/4, 50mm f/1.4 and 70-200 f/2.8 lenses, my advice would be go buy the 16-35mm f/4, which would give you unique ultra-wide perspectives, particularly for some lovely landscape scenes of national parks. I find renting an item even a few times, means I feel I would rather purchase it outright, so I don’t rent. I can imagine you would enjoy the 16-35mm f/4 (a great lens) for many photos in the future.

I have 2 APS-C bodies and 5 lenses (at one stage I had 7 lenses at once, but I have since – thankfully, sold 2 of these). If you bought the 16-35mm f/4, your lenses cover a similar equivalent focal length to mine (I also have a 100mm macro lens). For most ‘day trips’ – I have concluded deciding on taking 2 lenses and 1 body is often the best / most flexible arrangement if I am by myself. If I am with others, it varies on the focus for the day (e.g. a catchup and 2 day trips with a highschool friend last week, I only took my Canon 7D with EF-S 15-85mm lens, which was more than adequate).

For ‘longer vacations’ which may have a photography focus, e.g. a long weekend to some weeks away – I often decide on 2 to 4 lenses, depending on where I am going - but usually only ‘go out’ with 2 each day, unless I am doing a long all day walk or drive where and where I am sure I will need more than 2 lenses. I have even on a few occasions taken just my UWA (Sigma 8-16mm) and telezoom (Canon 70-300mm L) – which provides the flexibility for both extremes of focal length.

On times when I go for outings with my wife and/or step children, I often take 2 lenses (they are gracious and allow me time to ‘lag behind’ at times when I change lenses, and/or when I want/need to get that critical shot! Invariably, my friends and relatives appreciate the photos I take… and I find it is more fun making great / worthy photos (‘keepers’) with the gear I do take along, then lugging a heavy backpack with all my lenses, and spending 30% of my photography time putting the backpack down, opening / closing compartments and changing lenses, etc.

Hope my thoughts and experiences are helpful information / reflection for you. All the best, and I hope we might see some of your vacation photos too!

Paul 8)

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi jcarpet.
Sorry, when I said pipe dream I was meaning being able to screw the budget with little or no impact on the future, as you point out, for you, screwing the budget could set back relationships (small ring! :'() and property purchases.
For some, screwing the budget just means leaving a slightly smaller inheritance cheque for the kids! ;D

Cheers, Graham.

Hi jcarpet.
If you can really afford to screw the budget and do it all, good on you go for it.
If screwing the budget is really just a pipe dream (the same dream I and others must have).
Here is an alternate thought, not better just different, having just acquired an EF-s10-22, I can see the need for something as wide for FF, so grab a pre owned <16-?? bargain and go get the shots you want.
Or another idea, get a pano head and stitch portrait orientation from the 24-105 and be absolutely stunned by the quality of the details you can see, I tried this with some handheld (landscape orientation) shots and AutoStitch, blew my mind compared to looking at the single images or using canon photostitch. I just wish I'd thought or known to shoot portrait orientation for the extra height the images would have had.

Cheers, Graham.

Interesting. It isn't a pipe dream, but there are things it would affect on more expensive purchases for in the future like ring for girlfriend, house, things like that. I don't know much about pan heads, so I will take a look at those. I have a decent heavy tripod with a video head, but it may be an improvement to get something more specific.