Egypt Trip Lens Advice

[Listak]

Gents,

I'm off this November for the trip of the lifetime taking a boat up the Nile to see the sights and I just realized today that I only have a 50mm 1.4 ASHP for my MP. Being a rookie I haven't collected another lens yet. Given that most, if not all of you, have more time behind a Leica than I do, do you think I should invest in a 35mm for this trip? I envision great shots of Pyramids and temples as well as close up shots of wall paintings.

To date I've used my MP for one other trip in Hong Kong. I took great street shots and skyline shots and didn't feel restricted by my 50mm but this is a little different.

Just looking for groups collective advice.

[hjfischer]

As a fan of both rangefinders and"Evil SLR's", I recommend in addition to your MP you take along a SLR and telephoto for shots along the banks of the Nile from your boat. I took my Bessa R2 with 35mm Skopar and a Nikon SLR with 70-300mm zoom on my Egypt trip 2 years ago and could not have gotten the great (to me) shots of life along the river w/o the zoom. Good shooting!

[Krosya]

I'd get a Heliar 15mm lens - greal lens one should never leave home without! (takes some practice though)

[raid]

I recommend a 24-35-50 combination. You have a fast lens already, so the 24/35 don't have to be fast lenses. A small P&S with a sharp lens is useful too. Egypt is a wonderful land to visit and to photograph. I may get such a chance next year.

[HuubL]

You definitely need a wide angle. 28mm at least! Those temples are gigantic!

[waileong]

For outdoor shots, 50 and 90 are fine, 135 in place of the 90 is good too.

For shots inside the pyramids and temples, a 24 mm is recommended, along with high speed film as flash is not allowed.

Cover every lens with a filter, it's dusty!

Polarizer is a must to get deep blue skies as a background for the pyramids.

Incident light meter could be useful in case desert is too bright and fools your built-in meter.

Be prepared with lots of baksheesh.

[rxmd]

Shots inside the pyramids usually look fairly boring. I'm talking from experience here.

Take as little gear as you can. A wideangle is fine, personally I'm a 21-40 or 21-50 person, but that may be a bit extreme. 28-50 would be my recommendation otherwise.

Do something utterly non-touristic, but highly impressive, ditch the temples for a day and go to a mawlid festival if you have the time. Contemporary Egypt can be as interesting and even more photogenic than the sites.

Philipp

[ClaremontPhoto]

Originally Posted by Listak

I just realized today that I only have a 50mm 1.4 ASHP for my MP.

You just realized you have only one lens?

Take it with you.

And don't forget the camera.

[mervynyan]

zeiss 25/2.8

[HenningW]

A couple of years ago I was in Egypt, including boating up the Nile and visiting various other areas.

I had a couple of cameras with me and a bunch of lenses from 12 to 135. One camera usually had a Tri-Elmar, and the other usually either a 15 or a 135. I always find that it doesn't really matter which lens(es) I take, as there are always more pictures for that lens than I have time for. If you have a 50 now, my next additional lens for a 2 lens combo would be a 24 or 21, but that's just me.

My only film on that trip was Fuji 100 speed chrome.

Another poster had mentioned a polarizer. Yes, it can deepen the blue of skies at 90 degrees to the sun, but the main reason that the sky over the pyramids is not blue on a sunny day is a combination of (mostly) pollution and sand, and a polarizer can't help you with those. Also, a handheld meter is no better (or worse) intrinsically than a built in meter since, strangely enough, they work by the same principles.

Henning

[Listak]

All great advice! Thanks for the tips!

[Austerby]

A very wide would be useful in places such as Karnak, Abu Simbel and Kom Ombo - you get very close to the massive temples and a wide will be useful to get a sense of scale into the photos. The temples do get very crowded, so you often need to get up close if you want to exclude the tourists.

[kxl]

If you check out the Cairo & Giza gallery on my website, you'll see that that the majority of images really called for a "normal" lens, such as a 35mm or 50mm. While I had multiple lenses with me on this trip, I used the CV 35mm/1.2 the most (on my R-D1s). So, your 50mm on you MP will likely see the most use.

Yes, you'll need a WA lens (21/24/25) for some of the locales, but I would think that usage is roughly 80/20 in favor of the 50mm -- at least, it was for me.

Have fun! The Egyptians are some of the nicest and friendliest people I've ever met (right up there with the Aussies).

Cheers!

[Paul Jenkin]

Unless you can afford a good range of top-notch prime lenses, I suggest you buy a decent s/hand (D)SLR and a 24-100mm zoom with a good lightweight tripod. If you can carry a 70-300mm zoom as well, it would be worth the extra weight. My wife and I did this trip a few years ago and I can't see any advantage (other than portability) for taking an RF.

One further tip. Try to limit your photography to early morning (06:00 to 10:00) and late afternoon (15:00 to 18:00) or you'll fry. Even the locals cover up and keep indoors / in the shade between 11:00 and 14:00.

Best wishes and happy snapping. PJ.

[rxmd]

Originally Posted by Paul Jenkin

My wife and I did this trip a few years ago and I can't see any advantage (other than portability) for taking an RF.

Well he gets to use the stuff he's used to, which is nice.

Originally Posted by Paul Jenkin

One further tip. Try to limit your photography to early morning (06:00 to 10:00) and late afternoon (15:00 to 18:00) or you'll fry. Even the locals cover up and keep indoors / in the shade between 11:00 and 14:00.

If I understand correctly he's going in November, when it's already fairly cool. I don't think they will have more than 30 °C and they may well have less than 15; in fact, on the contrary it might be a good idea to bring an extra jumper or so for the night.

Greetings from Tashkent (41°C/105°F ) -

Philipp