I recently went on an overseas holiday to Phuket, Thailand, and had a hard time deciding which lenses to take. On the one hand, I wanted to ensure I had lenses to cover the focal lengths and lighting conditions I might encounter, but on the other hand, I didn't want to have to carry around all my lenses all the time.

In this post, I discuss the camera gear I took, and provide details on why I decided to take that gear.
I also provide the results of some quick analysis of the photos I took, determining how I used the lenses I took, and which focal lengths were the most popular. This allows me to then review the choice of lenses, and provide some recommendations for other travelling photographers.



In addition to my Canon 350D DSLR body, I took the following lenses:

• Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens
• Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens
• Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM macro lens

The 17-85mm is my mid-range zoom, and is my most frequently used lens, so I couldn't leave it behind. The 10-22mm is a great wide-angle lens, so I took it primarily for landscapes and architecture shots.
I decided to take the 100mm macro lens because it's a fast lens (f/2.8), and hence is good for low-light. I was also thinking it might be useful for some macro shots of the local flowers (ie, orchids), and it's also a great lens for portraits, due to the small DOF it is capable of.

I also took my Canon Speedlite 430EX flash, and at the last minute, decided to take the very cheap and lightweight Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens (commonly referred to as the "nifty fifty" or "thrifty fifty").

I left my Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM lens at home, as I didn't think I would need that length much. It's also one of my heaviest and largest lenses, and I wasn't keen on the idea of carrying it around all the time (although the f/2.8L versions are about twice the weight of the f/4L versions!).



I took nearly 600 photos, but after a first-pass deletion, I was left with 474 photos that I intend to keep.
The number of photos taken with each lens is as follows:

lens description	photo count
EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM	308
EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM	115
EF 100mm f/2.8 USM macro	43
EF 50mm f/1.8 II	8
total	474

In retrospect, I barely used the Speedlite 430EX flash, and could probably have left it at home.
As expected, the 17-85mm lens was the one used most frequently, and was on my camera most of the time. The 10-22mm lens was used quite a bit for landscapes and buildings/architecture, as well as some urban street shots.

The 100mm macro lens also proved to be quite useful, and I took quite a few photos with it. The low light performance of this lens also proved useful in a few situations. However, on a number of occasions, I left the 100mm macro lens at the hotel (in the room safe), and just took the 17-85mm and 10-22mm lenses, to reduce the amount of gear I was carrying around all day.

There were very few occasions when I would have wanted the additional reach of the 70-200mm lens, so I'm glad I didn't bother taking it with me.

The 50mm lens wasn't used much - I used it a few times indoors at night, but all in low-light situations where the large aperture was required, and typically in situations where the 100mm macro lens would have been too long.



I used a program called ExposurePlot to analyse the EXIF information in the photos taken in Phuket, to determine which focal lengths, apertures, shutter speeds, and ISO settings I used.

ExposurePlot can process EXIF data in photos, and generates graphs showing the number of photos taken different focal lengths, apertures, shutter speeds, and ISO.

The graph below shows the number of photos taken at the various focal lengths. Red annotations were added to the graph by myself.

focal length usage (mm)

This graph indicates I tend to use the 10-22mm lens mostly at its widest, ie, at 10mm (13%), with a reasonable number also taken fully zoomed at 22mm (9.3%).

Similarly, it shows a lot of photos were taken with the 17-85mm lens at its extremes, with just over 14% of all the photos taken at 17mm, and nearly 9% taken at 85mm. The relatively high number of photos taken with the 17-85mm at 17mm indicates I probably should be putting the 10-22mm lens on my camera more frequently, rather than just leaving the 17-85mm lens on the camera.
The relatively high number of photos taken at 85mm indicates I probably would have used the 70-200mm lens if I had taken it. However, it's a relatively heavy lens, and I wouldn't have enjoyed carrying it around each day.

Approximately 9% of the photos were taken with the 100mm macro lens indicating it was certainly worth taking, and some of my favourite photos from this holiday were taken with the 100mm lens. Only a handful of photos were taken with the 50mm lens, but given its light-weight and small size, it was worth taking along.

The majority of the remaining photos were taken with the 17-85mm lens, typically in the range from 20mm to about 70mm. This confirms that it's my most commonly used lens, as it covers the most frequently used focal lengths.

For completeness, here's the additional graphs generated by ExposurePlot:

• photo count by aperture
• photo count by shutter speed
• photo count by ISO

After reviewing the photos, and performing the analysis above, I'm happy with the lenses I decided to take on this overseas holiday. Each of the lenses was used, although I could possibly have left the 50mm lens behind. However, given its small size and weight, taking it along had a minimal impact on the size and weight of my camera gear.

Ideally, I would like to upgrade the relatively slow 17-85mm f/4-5.6 lens with something faster, and have been considering the following lenses:

• EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens
• EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens

A faster mid-range lens would provide more opportunities for low-light photos, as well as allowing a shorter DOF for creativity. It would also (almost) remove the need to take the 50mm f/1.8 lens.



Here's some other general recommendations for anyone intending to travel with their camera gear:

• insure your camera gear
  Make sure you insure your photographic gear when travelling overseas. Many people have cameras and lenses insured as part of their home contents insurance policy, but that often doesn't cover the gear overseas. It's also important to itemise the camera and each lens, and provide the serial number of each item to the insurance company.
  
  
• customs declaration
  Australian residents should complete a Goods Exported In Passenger Baggage form, available from the Australian Customs Service website, prior to departing to another country. Other countries will probably have similar forms.
  This form allows you to itemise your camera gear (and any other expensive gear you're taking with you), including serial numbers. When departing Australia, be sure to get a Customs officer to inspect your gear, and sign the form. This form proves that you were in possession of all items listed on it, and hence you will not have to pay Customs duty on the items when you return to Australia (as you will typically need to pay Customs duty on items purchased overseas that you are taking into Australia).
  Note that the Customs officer will need to inspect each item, and confirm that the serial number on it matches the serial number on the form. If the form doesn't have sufficient lines to list all your items, attach a second sheet of paper to the form, and ask the Customs officer to also sign this second sheet.
  
  
• don't check in your camera bag on flights
  Always take your camera bag as hand luggage on airline flights. Camera gear is likely to get damaged during loading and unloading, and I've heard far too many stories about camera bags (or just the contents) going missing during a flight, or from the luggage carousel at your destination.
  Be sure to read the luggage restrictions for your flight, so you know the allowed size and weight of your hand luggage before you arrive at the airport.
  
  
• use a good backpack
  A good backpack is very important if you are going to be carrying your camera and lenses for extended periods of time. It needs to be comfortable on your back, large enough to carry your camera gear, and yet not exceed the maximum hand luggage size for airline flights. Ideally, a backpack that doesn't look too much like a camera bag may be useful, as it won't draw attention to the fact that you may be carrying expensive camera gear around.
  
  
• pack a plastic bag
  If you don't have a camera bag with an all-weather cover (such as the Lowepro AW series), pack some plastic garbage bags in your camera bag. If you get stuck outdoors in the rain, you can cover your camera bag with an upside-down plastic bag, to protect your camera gear from the rain.
  A plastic bag can also be useful to cover your camera if you intend to shoot outside in the rain.

Finally, in conclusion, be sure to take your camera on your holidays, so you can enjoy your photography while on holidays, and capture lots of great memories ;-)