Ideal Travel Camera + lens for enthusiast - tips please!

Nice post i read your objective good work keep it up.

Thanks
Muddassar Shah

These questions really depends on yourself and only you can answer.

I would think that a mid zoom lens like the one you mentioned is probably best for most people out there. It's probably fast enough that you don't even need a prime lens. As for the lens - look at the Tamron 17-50 or something like that. That's also quite good.

For eg. Many people may say landscape dudes (like me) would be good to get a ultra wide zoom and a tele zoom. But for me I like the slow pace, I spend 3hr and may only shoot 4-5 diff scenes touting my tripod etc... Spend 15min to compose etc... For me I think two little primes suit me better.

What is your budget?

Nikon D7000, Nikon 50 1.4f (for isolation shots) and the 18-105 3.5-5.6f G for a walk around lenses, the 18-105 is good because to can shoot at 1600-2400 and have low noise and good shutter speeds with the camera.

You don't need the expensive 2.8 lenses anymore to shoot hand held you just crank up the ISO and use a less expensive lenses. I do carry the 50 1.4f (which shoots as a 75mm 1.4) to isolate subjects as at 1.4 it has a very narrow depth of field. The 2.8 lenses do give a narrow field of view but it is wider than the 1.4 and less than the 3.5 end of the 18-105.

I don’t believe there is one lenses solution. A travel kit of a 18-200 and fast 50 is very common. Sigma, Nikon, Canon and Tamron all make an approximately 18-75 2.8 for a price.

Yeah but the Tamron's 2.8 lens is quite affordable at $400 odd US .... much cheaper than the Canon or the Nikon which could cost up to $1600US....

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=ramron+17-50mm&N=0&InitialSearch=yes

By comparison Nikon's digital 18-200mm which is 28-300mm equiv cost $800US and that's just a f/3.5-5.6.

Re: the body. I think that even the cheapest body is fine. You might get one command dial and not that fast FPS but for amateur photog should be fine. I think a friend who switch to a portrait photographer (for her job) uses a Nikon D5100. Equiv of a Canon would be fine too. If you want a bit more convenience you might want a D90 but that is quite a bit old, due for replacing or the equiv. Canon.

Edited by: Rayonline

Thanks everyone some good advice!

can't comment on teh Canon side much, but indeed body wise they all do will ok. Nikon D7000 is a great camera and offers lot of functions, but question is do you really need it?
For most the D5100 does the job and even the little D3100 is an excellent little camera delivering great image quality on a low price.

As for the lenses if you want a cheapish one lens solution then nothing wrong with a Sigma 18-50 f2.8 EX DC on the Canon side.
For Nikon however the Sigma and the Tamron AF 17-50mm f/2.8 SP are both still made for Nikons older body line up requiring screw drive AF - which the new entry level bodies don't have anymore. So not recommended.

On Nikon side you could look around for second hand Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8G, there are plenty around as quite a few that used those lenses went FF in the meantime. One camera shop just nearby my apt has 3 Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8G second hand right now.

But as said if on a budget and one lens setup nothing wrong with your combo 550d + Sigma 18-50 f2.8 EX DC.
As many others I would prefer a two lens setup.
Even the 550d with the kit lens and then adding a 50mm 1.8 if really on a budget.

This should help a bit: Pro body and a cheap lens or pro lens and a cheap body?

Which camera is best for you and your needs depends on a couple things. If you want easy access to more of the settings and controls because you will be changing them on the fly, a more accurate and/or more sophisticated autofocus system (if you plan to take control of it), faster continuous shooting speed, and some additional abilities to customize the camera's controls and functions to work exactly how you like, then you may want to step up from the T2i or T3i (pretty much the same but with rotating screen) to the Canon 60D or even the Canon 7D. On the Nikon side, this means going from the D5100 to the D90 (an older but cheaper model) or the more current D7000.

If you like to "keep things simple" as you say, you may want to stick with the 60D or D90 and not the more versatile but more complicated 7D and D7000.

For myself, when traveling, those above features are pretty much exactly what I have found to be important in order to be able to capture the shots I want (the autofocus system, the shooting speed, access to more controls).

And of course as you realize, a good quality lens is very important. Determine what focal range you like working in, as you already indicate, and get the best lens you can afford with that range. That Sigma or similar Tamron should be a nice lens, and Canon makes some great f/2.8 lenses in that range too.

So, in order to compare those cameras - the T3i vs 60D vs 7D, have a look at this article of mine which describes their differences and explains why they may or may not be important to you:
http://blog.dojoklo.com/2011/02/20/canon-t3i-600d-vs-t2i-550d-vs-60d-vs-7d-etc/</a>

There is a similar Nikon article also - D5100 vs D90 vs D7000
http://blog.dojoklo.com/2011/04/14/nikon-d5100-vs-d7000-vs-d90-etc/</a>

And as far as accessories and additional stuff that you need or which may come in handy while traveling, have a look at

Accessories for Travel Photography

And of course, learn the camera as best you can before you go - learn to take control of the autofocus system, aperture priority mode, and maybe even the different metering modes so that you know what to do and how to change the settings for whatever situations you run into.