Subject: [Tweeters] Rec's for good lens/camera combinations for travel
Date: Aug 23 13:27:24 2011
From: Tucker, Trileigh - TRI at seattleu.edu


Hello Tweets,

It looks like I'll have the good fortune to be spending two weeks in mid-December in southern Spain (Andalus?a, possibly Dona?a Nat'l Park). I'll be traveling with non-birders, so my birding will probably be limited to whatever birds happen to appear in towns and cities, plus possibly a couple of days of actual birding trips if I'm lucky.

Hoping to avoid hauling around my big 80-400 zoom, I've just bought a Tamron 18-270, but so far am not happy with its sharpness: it's softer than either of my Nikon lenses (18-55 kit lens and that Nikkor 80-400 zoom) at all focal lengths.

So, would you recommend:

* Nikkor 18-200 alone?
* Nikkor 18-200 plus teleconverter?
* Trying another Tamron? I hear this lens can be hit or miss, and maybe I just happened to buy an inferior piece of equipment.
* The 80-400 plus a pocket camera?
* Other combinations that have worked for you?

Even if you're not a Nikon user, knowing the lens-type combinations that have worked for you during such a trip would be helpful.

Also, of course I'd be delighted to learn of good birding guidebooks for this region. I've just requested Garc?a's Where to Watch Birds in Southern and Western Spain from interlibrary loan; other recommendations (maybe smaller?).

--By the way, I've started a new blog about natural history that includes reflections on birding as well as other topics (and of course photographs); you're warmly invited to take a look at naturalpresence.wordpress.com. (There's also a new batch of summer bird photos on my Flickr page at flicker.com/photos/trileigh.)

Thanks in advance for your advice and good birding to all,
Trileigh

^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Trileigh Tucker
Lincoln Park, West Seattle
naturalpresence.wordpress.com
flicker.com/photos/trileigh