When travelling, the secret for an enjoyable trip is to travel light but also to have enough equipment to satisfy your photographic needs to achieve high image quality. Your needs may vary from wide angle lenses for landscapes to super telephoto lenses for distant birds and animals.
For travelling the Nikon range of DX cameras and lenses are excellent as they are quite a bit smaller that the equivalent FX lenses. There are full details of the renge of Nikon lenses in the Nikon Lens Reviews section.
DX Prime Lenses for Travelling
If you are keen in prime lenses for travelling then a selection as follows may be appropriate:
- Nikon 20mm f/2.8D AF,
- Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S,
- Nikon 85mm f/1.8D AF.
These three lenses will cover the range most photographers would require when travelling, however if a longer lens is required then you could add the Nikon 300mm f/4D IF ED AF-S which is an extremely sharp lens.
DX Zoom Lenses for Travelling
For the zoom lens traveller some of the suitable zoom lens selections are as follows:
- Nikon16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX,
- Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF ED VR AF-S.
The above zoom selection will provide an excellent range, however is a wider angle lens is required then the Nikon 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED AF-S DX lens could be added.
FX Prime Lenses for Travelling
For photographers using FX cameras and prime lenses you should probably be aiming for the higher performance lenses to get the best image quality. An excellent selection is as follows:
- Nikon 24mm f/1.4G ED AF-S,
- Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-S,
- Nikon 85mm f/1.4G AF-S OR Nikon 105mm f/2.8G IF ED VR AF-S Micro.
Again if a high quality long lens is required then you could not beat the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S, this lens is one of the sharpest Nikkors available.
FX Zoom Lenses for Travelling
Some of the FX zoom lenses are quite large and they consequently can add a lot of weight to your camera bag. Some of the best zooms are as follows:
- Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF-S,
- Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S OR Nikon 24-120mm f/4.0G ED VR,
- Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II OR Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF ED VR AF-S OR Nikon 200-400mm f/4G ED ASF-S VR II
There are quite a few optiions for the above lenses and the final selection will depend on wheter you have a preference for the wide end or for the telephoto end of the range.