Lens Problem

[tenlientl]

Hey, guys. I got a lens dilemma. I'll be going to the Philippines and going to 2 trips there (Boracay and one of these: Palawan, Subic, Puerto Galera).

I have a Nikon D90. 50mm 1.8, 17-55mm 2.8.

I dont want to bring my D90 coz I'm afraid it'll get stolen. If I bring the camera, I'm definitely not going to bring the 17-55.

I have a friend that has an 18-105mm (which I sold to him, actually), but at the same time, it'll be Summer so I don't wanna take that lens from him.

I'm thinking of getting a 50-200mm, around there, but I'm not sure which. My budget is $200. This lens is mainly for this trip, so hopefully I can resell it. I might even buy used (which I hate coz I feel better having warranties).

My concern is, I don't have a wide. Maybe I can just use a point-and-shoot when it comes to wide? But that will kinda defeat the purpose of SLR since I wont be able to take landscape shots.

Any other solution? I know my budget is low, but it would be nice to have a sharp lens. Hopefully nothing too big since my 17-55mm and D90 doesn't work well with my on-camera flash when I use wide because the top part of lens blocks the flash.

Do you guys even think I'll need more than 105mm? I'm not going to Africa to take pictures of lions. I guess around 100mm should be fine, right?

edit: also, I see that there's 70-300mm by Tamron and Sigma, which would be nice to actually own coz of the 300mm. Then again, I use a cropped sensor, so 200mm wold probably be fine, right? And if I do go this way, there's the "not having a wide angle" problem.

Also, buying more than 2 lense to get the 20-200mm would be fine as long as everything doesn't cost more than $400. If I gotta spend around $200, I might have to borrow money, so let me know. btw, I'm bringing the 50mm 1.8 coz that's the only thing I have for low light.

 

[gsgary]

Why buy a nice camera and lens and be scared to take it out, i don't get it

 

[KmH]

+1

Your gear could get stolen just as easily at home. You always have to be aware of your surroundings and in a foreign land, try not to look and act like a victim.

Or a rich American.

But since you are a rich American, get some insurance. :thumbup::lmao:

 

[tenlientl]

lol. I'm Canadian, and definitely not rich. Hmm.. Well, I'll be going to the Philippines, like I said, for 2 months. Theft is an issue there, although it's never happened to me. I would still rather get a cheap lens to bring down there.

 

[KmH]

lol. I'm Canadian, and definitely not rich. Hmm.. Well, I'll be going to the Philippines, like I said, for 2 months. Theft is an issue there, although it's never happened to me. I would still rather get a cheap lens to bring down there.

With no general planetary location listed in your profile one can only guess at your nationality. Since the vast majority of TPF members are here in the USA, guessing American was the odds on favorite.

Of course the Internet is global, so TPF has members from all over. :thumbup:

 

[gsgary]

lol. I'm Canadian, and definitely not rich. Hmm.. Well, I'll be going to the Philippines, like I said, for 2 months. Theft is an issue there, although it's never happened to me. I would still rather get a cheap lens to bring down there.

So when you get back with crap quality photos you will have wished you took your best lens, don't forget to get some cheap plastic shoes because your leather ones could get stolen while your at it get some cheap trainers and a cheap watch don't want your Breitling stolen

 

[tirediron]

Take the gear and be careful - I've walked all Manila, as well as some pretty "undesirable" areas of India and Mexico carrying $5000+ worth of gear without a problem. Use a backpack style bag, get a GOOD qualtiy camera strap and don't have your back to a crowd when you're changing lenses or digging in your bag.

 

[tenlientl]

Take the gear and be careful - I've walked all Manila, as well as some pretty "undesirable" areas of India and Mexico carrying $5000+ worth of gear without a problem. Use a backpack style bag, get a GOOD qualtiy camera strap and don't have your back to a crowd when you're changing lenses or digging in your bag.

Yea. I plan to bring a non-camera bag. I will probably change my camera strap that doesn't say "Nikon" all over it.

And yes, I will be buying $1 slippers there because I don't want my shoes to get stolen. Thanks for the help, guys.

Now, what's the best lense under $300 that's going to cover the telephoto range? 200mm is probably overkill.

 

[tenlientl]

Okay. The situation has changed.

I plan to bring my 17-55mm with my 50mm now.

Budget also went up a bit. Not much, but I'm willing to spend $350 so I'm thinking of the 55-200mm VR.

However, if the performance isn't greatly better than a Tamron/Sigma 70-300mm, then I might go with the non-Nikkors.

I'm still reading up some old threads about 55-200mm vs 70-300mm, but still unsure and most of the threads I'm reading about doesn't really tell me which exact models.