European Travel Quandry

[grilla]

Thanks!

[aduke]

I did a similar cruise last year, visiting all those cities, except Venice, plus several more. I took my Canon 40D, 70-200 f4L and 10-22 f4 lenses and some extension tubes. The long lens was rare used and not often carried, as it seemed to not be required. I did use it once or twice for close-ups with the extension tubes, but I also used the wide lens, which will focus down to a couple of inches.

As a side note, a couple of years before, I found myself hanging over the edge of the ship, with the camera in my hands, and realized that that was a very dangerous position for the camera. I then added a wrist strap rather than the next strap. It seems to be much easier to carry the camera on the wrist. The strap allows me to just barely hold onto the camera without possibility of losing it, either by dropping or by pickpocket, although I never felt there was any danger of the latter.

Alan

[lfeagan]

I went to Europe in a rougher way than a cruise a few years ago for a month of backpacking around with a Canon 10-22 and 24-105. The 24-105 was a great lens and rarely did the 105mm limit my photography. I visited Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, and Switzerland.

Brief Aside: Isn't the 18-200 a DX lens and you are using an FX body?

Anyways, I didn't really find carrying a camera around to be much of a problem. Then again, I also often had a heavy pack on, so the camera was hardly worrying me with its weight around my neck.

I doubt you will get mugged for carrying around a D700; I certainly didn't have any issues. There are many tourists that have DSLRs. You can put some electrical tape over the "Nikon", "D700", and "FX" lettering if you want to avoid advertising what you have. I rode trains around at night with strangers in sleeper cars to get from place to place. Of course, I also didn't do stupid things like whipping out all my camera gear and ThinkPad in front of them before dozing off. The "don't be a dumb ass" principle works quite well in general.

[Rob C]

Depends a lot on your age and health. For me, carting a D700 around is not an easy option at all, and is why the cellphone gets so much use. However from similar experience of long car trips, taking everything with me, I found that a 35mm Nikon film camera with a single lens was the most-used option; that lens was the 24mm. I had a 35mm PC too, but it always felt too tight on those trips. I did wish that I had a shifting 24mm (didn't exist in the day) or even the 28mm PC.

I'd avoid carting around a lot of stuff; apart from weight, risk and stress, using a single lens concentrates the mind wonderfully.

Rob C

[francois]

…
The "don't be a dumb ass" principle works quite well in general.

Exactly, avoid putting yourself in dangerous positions or places. More generally, you'll want to be cautious about pickpockets (often kids or teenagers), they are always on the lookout for naive tourists.

[Chairman Bill]

You could always rent a Fuji X-Pro1 with a couple of lenses, rather than the X-100 with just the fixed lens. Or just stick a shorter, lighter zoom on the D700 - I use a 24-85mm as my standard walkaround lens, & it covers most eventualities