Exactly one year from today....

[Quicklabs]

My DH and I will be hopping around Barcelona, awaiting the start of our 10 Day Mediterranean cruise on the Disney Magic, celebrating 30 years of marriage. (We changed our plan from the Carribean several weeks ago)

The intinerary is port-intensive. (Barcelona, where we plan to stay for 2 nights before the cruise--Malta, Tunis, Naples, Rome, Florence/Piza, Corsica and Nice/Monte Carlo) We are planning to book with local tour companies for private touring to the cities or to travel on our own via local transportation (so that if I want to stop and take a picture of something, I don't have to do it through the window of a speeding motorcoach). While I want to capture the memories in photos, I definitely don't want to be seeing my vacation through a viewfinder, and taking forever to set up a shot, so I don't want to mess around with too much gear.

What lenses would you suggest I consider taking along for this trip?

My current line up is the Siggy 10-20; Nikon 18-200, Nikon 24-70 2.8, Siggy 30, Nikon 50 1.8 and the Siggy 150. Prolly would also have either the 70-200or the 80-200 by then. Not sure what camera I'll have.

I don't there there would be a whole lot of night shots taken, since the ship usually sails by 9 p.m. from the "major" ports.

I have 365 days to plan this out, so I'm starting NOW!

 

[My2Girls66]

Wow! What an awesome trip!
I'd be tempted to take everything just in case(but I wouldn't) and depending on how much you want to carry- but I'd def. take the 10-20mm for the cities as they can be very tight and the 18-200mm for walking around. I think you'd get the most use out of those 2. Throw in the 30mm or 50mm for lowlight inside museums/churches. Our last 2 trips to Europe I used my 18-135mm pretty much the whole trip. Like you said, I didn't want to be living the entire trip looking thru the lens and worrying about setting up/carrying a tripod, changing lenses but still get some nice pictures. I should have carried my 50mm 1.8 for inside but I did ok without it. Our 1st trip to Europe I had my brand new D50 and a 35-70mm lens. No where near wide enough in Rome/Florence. Live and learn! I also brought a 70-300 that 1st trip. Never used it once.

 

[Quicklabs]

That's sort of what I was thinking. Good to know that you never used your 70-300; I was wondering about how much reach vs width I'd need. I really don't want to take any more than 3 lenses.

 

[WVDisGeek]

My boss just got back from a trip through Europe and all he took was his D200 and the 18-200. He got some awesome shots of the concentration camps, the palaces in the Chech Republic and the churches throughout Eastern Europe. Granted, it wasn't a great indoor lens, but he and his wife wanted to travel light. He also traveled with just that lens to China last year and Ireland the year before. He has several LARGE panoramas famed on his office wall from those trips and the pictures are all pretty good.

You might like to keep the 30mm for the indoor stuff.

 

[My2Girls66]

In Scott Kelby's new book he says the same. He has a section on which lens to use when. He says(about the 18-200)- I GRAB THIS LENS FIRST WHEN I'm going on vacation.

 

[Evad]

Wow congrats and have fun!! We are planning the same thing for our 25th next year. We are doing the Carribean though. Your new D700 will certainly come in handy on this trip!!

 

[spinetnglr]

Congratulations !!! Sounds like as awesome trip.. I am sure you will be totally prepared but that time will roll around before you know it!

 

[senecabeach]

Sounds like a wonderful trip!!

I know its a real hard thing to do, but, travel as light as possible. I spent the month of May doing almost the same thing with a few different ports. 1 week in Lisbon then the Med cruise (Princess), Barcelona, Gibralter, Malta (WONDERFUL...take a $1. bus ride at the ship to the town center, have lunch, awesome church there with marble, mosaic floors which are tombstone covers and rumor has it..templer knights buried there..Enjoy), Marsellies, Provence, Aix, Casablanca, Sorrento, Naples, Florence/Piza, Amalfi then disembarked in Rome and spent a week there.

Took and used my Nikon 18-135 and 50 and certainly missed having a WA. Maybe used my 70-300 twice, but, could have left it home and not missed it. Didn't miss my tripod/monopod either.

Have a "Great" time planning...BTW..Here is a tour company, also supply private guides, that we used since we had a week in Lisbon & Rome to visit. They are all over Europe and we were very satisfied with them.
Check it out: www.viator.com/faq?aid=se1

AH... I want to go BACK !!!

 

[Steve's Girl]

I'm thinking your best options are the 10-20, 18-200 and either the 50 or 30 for low light cathedral type shots. As much as I love my 24-70 and 70-200, I don't think I would want to lug them around Europe. The 18-200 is pretty sharp if stopped down to F8 or so and you can use a prime lens for low light indoor shots. Those three lenses would pack into a pretty light easy to carry kit.

Now, if you go to FX, that could change all of the above as I think all of those lenses are DX.