Hi Jan (and others),
> I am traveling to a 1-week conference in Paris in
> July probably with "minimalist" camera gear (OM 4,
> 3.5/28, 1.8/50, Tamron 2.8/90, T-20, Novoflex
> minipod). I am debating whether to take the 4.5/300
> OR the Tamron 2.8/80-200 (instead of 90mm).
What luck; I've just been there a few days ago, armed with my recently
acquired (2nd handed) 4Ti and some lenses I pretty much covered the main
sites.
The combo I used most of the time was:
OM-4Ti + 35-70/4
OM-40 + 65-200/4
By doing this, one can even go on a boattrip on the Seine and quickly cover
most of the important buildings you'll go by on your trip. I found this
combo to work excellent for that, so if you have two (or more) bodies I
would arm the OM-4 with the 80-200/2.8 (if it allows for hand-held
shooting), and the second one with the 50mm or the 28mm. Typically a 35mm
wide angle should be sufficient to catch the sites along that trip, so the
28mm will most likely be an overkill, so the 50mm might be a better choice
for the boat trip. However, don't ditch the 28mm altogether, as it'll come
in handy when taking pictures (when walking around) of many of the fabulous
buildings (esp. places like the Louvre museum, the Arc de Triomf, and the
Eifer tower).
I also brought the 24/2.8 and the 35/2.8 shift. I only used the 24mm for
nightshots at the Louvre (a marvellous place for doing that!) and for a few
other tall buildings. The shift lens was quite heavily used; I'm very much
into taking architectural pictures, so the shift is a marvel for me, this
now has the "unfortunate" consequence that I also want the 24mm shift, but
currently it's waaaay out of budget-range.
In Paris (as anywhere else) it of course depends on what your favourite
subjects are; if you're like me and you like to take pictures of buildings,
combined with some occasional other subjects, I'd go for versatility. So,
assuming that is the case, I woud go for:
OM 4 (no explanation needed),
3.5/28 (nice wide angle for big buildings),
1.8/50 (good to complement the 80-200 zoom if you have a second body),
Novoflex minipod (will come in VERY handy for nightshots),
Tamron 2.8/80-200 (if it's not too heavy and allows for hand-held shooting,
you'll love having this focal range at your disposition).
If you like taking pictures of people, the T-20 and the 90mm lens will make
sense.
I would completely forget about the 300mm, as it's big heavy and bulky and I
can't really think of any shots I missed by not bringing it (unless you feel
like spying on people from your hotel room).
> Any must-see photographic sites in Paris?
:)
Well, do fish like water? Nuff said; yes Paris has some of Europe's finest
sites (and sights) to visit. If you like building be sure to catch (at
least) the following ones:
-Eifel Tower
-Louvre museum
-Arc de Triomf
-Sacre Couer
-Alexandre III bridge (beautiful, over there you'll *love* having that
80-200 zoom)
-Place de la Concorde (gives a nice view on the Champs Elysees)
-Notre Dame (ah, here you might actually like the 300mm - and if you have it
a 2x TC, as the gargoyles are really cool, and 200mm is not enough to make
them frame-filling)
-...
Also, visit all of these places at night time, the Parisians seem to be
experts at nightly illumination of their buildings, so I found especially
the Eifel tower and the Louvre to be good places for that. When taking
nightshots, if you have a star filter it's a nice-to-have for the Eifel
tower -> bring it along.
Of course there are many more of these beautiful sights (parks, other
buildings, etc.). Also, depending on how much spare time you have, it's nice
to go up the Eifel tower (awesome view) or the big office building (don't
remember the name, but for an entrance fee you get to go to the helicopter
platform at the 59th floor - quicker to realise than going up the Eifel
tower and it gives a similar height regarding the view), and a boattrip is
not half bad either...
> Or used camera places/flea markets for that
> matter...
I haven't had the time to check any of those out, but I'm positive they must
be there too.
Now especially for Tomoko (as he has asked me about this off-list): the 35
shift behaved really well; it proved to be just the lens I've wanted for a
long time, and it will now definitely be part of my standard gear whenever I
go visit a city. :) Hans made me "see the light" of using a 2 series FS, so
I acquired one at a good price (partially because of Hans' active
participation, but that's a different story ;) ) last week, especially for
using it with the shift and long telephoto lenses. It works really well for
that, and it's a BIG improvement over the 1 series screens in terms of
brightness.
Final hint for taking properly exposed pics of nightly lit subjects (this
has become a little bit of a specialty of mine, as I've done this quite
often with the OM-40 still): stop down the lens to something like f8 - f16,
mount the combo you use on a tripod and use a cable release. You have an
OM-4, so use that to your advantage; put the camera in "auto" mode, and take
a single spot metering on the lit subject (e.g. the Eifel tower itself, or
the big glass pyramid at the Louvre museum), be careful for stray light
coming from lanterns etc. Star filters give cool effects, but be sure also
to get some pics without them. At the Louvre take some pics woth the above
mentioned single spot metering, and also some with an additional metering on
the lit building which can be seen on the side of the square. My personal
preference for these type of shots are wide angle lenses (forget about the
majority of the telephotos you mentioned above), I used the 24mm and also
the 35mm shift. Finally, make sure to take some pics at dusk, the twilight
gives some neat effects (often much neater than waiting until it's fully
dark)...
I hope all of this helps, and if you want to know some more, feel free to
ask.
Cheers!
Olaf
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|