Just got back from my trip to Rome (second trip since I went in Jan this year). The trip was really for my mom and Gran (82yrs old), and once I had arrived, starting seeing the same monuments again, and the hordes of people (compared to when I went in Jan this year and it was much quieter), my appetite for marching the streets of Rome was dampened quite a bit. I also somehow left my monopod on the underground Oh well. Here's what I got this time round, basically more of the same, bar a few shots of passers by and a few street performers with the 300 f2.8. The street shots of passers by were taken at piazza del poppolo with the 300 on the monopod, just aiming and shooting. Nobody came up to me etc. It was a real pleasure not getting bothered by pesky police officers looking for us terrorists with our scary lenses, and just enjoying the afternoon. As far as focusing goes, I had the dk-17M eyepiece, which made mf a little easier, but (for subjects moving towards me) I think what I should have done all along, but was a little tough getting the hang of, and did so in a few shots, was to try and focus just a tad in front and wait till the image became clear to fire off a few shots. It was nice having the 16-35, I must have got down to around 1/6th or so, so VR was pretty nice to have. It was my first time going wider than 24mm with my own glass, so it was a little strange to get home and see my shot wasn't 100% vertical and needed some cropping. Quite annoying thing that I must say. I also made a bit of a cockup in that I bought 3 Roma Pass cards, and while I knew I should have got the Roma et Piu (and more) card, which allows entry into Tivoli Gardens, when I asked the pass my brain just thought meh I don't think we'll even bother going outside central rome. Well we did, and upon arrival at villa d'este, they promptly told us is was ELEVEN EUROS entry per person. I scoffed as did my mom, and we just left it. The real kicker however was that nobody else felt like tramping the roman forum, so the free entry into two sites, wasn't even used. A big waste of 75 euros but oh well, you live and learn. Finally, on the morning of our departure, seeing as my mom was in charge, I left it to her to decide when we were getting up, and leaving with a taxi for the airport. Well turns out our flight was at 6:45 gate closing at 6:10, and we were still at the place we rented, at 5:45. Luckily, the airport was 15 minutes by car (our driver hit 160kmph, woohoo), and the gate was a 5 minute walk from the airport entrance. We made our flight, and got home safely. So in a nutshel, if you're going to go to Rome; 1; don't go any time that's peak, it may be more pleasant temperature wise, but people and crowds wise, it won't. 2; The good thing about Rome, is that you don't HAVE to go inside everytging to have a good time, which means unless you plan on getting on and off transport A LOT, don't bother with the Roma pass. Others have got by without it. Also, the underground, is NOT fun. You have to go down what seems like 4 stories of escalators, to get to the platform. If you can figure out what buses to take they are a lot better and you see more. 3; Don't get a headache in Rome. I was told it would be SEVEN euros for a pack of headache tablets. Funny how in Greece they cost a third of that. It's a shame I hadn't thought of it at the time, but there were a few phrases in my Rome book that could have come in handy; "Molto Karo!! Chiama le Polizia!!"( Very expensive!! Call the police!" Not quite accurate but I'm sure I would've got the point across. Luckily I found one at the bottom of my bag. Anyway, here are a few pics. Again, sorry if they're pretty same same, but here we are; St Peters; From Piazza Del Poppolo; Outside the Colosseum; A new type of street 'performer'. Toss them some coins and they all start laughing. Pretty bad imho, but hey, you gotta make a living somehow; Piazza Dela Rotonda Outside the pantheon; Piazza Navona; Outside Chiesa Nuova (a funeral was happening, I assume it must have been for someone important); Santa Giovanni in Laterano;
Greg - that's a nice set. I especially like the shot of the Swiss Guard and the angled shot of the arch in front of the Coliseum. Bummer on the monopod What all gear did you bring on this trip, and is there anything you wish you had or hadn't brought?
Hmm, last time I was probably carrying the same weight, but in my lowepro slingshot 100AW bag, which means you're carrying the same weight on one shoulder, which is a recipe for disaster. This time I probably had more weight, but along with my 450AW bag as my carry on (that in itself weighs 2 kilos due to the heavy padding) I also had a eastpack/jansport type super thin backpack. I never throw my gear down so wasn't concerned about it not having any padding. That made the weight of the 300 f2.8, 16-35VR, 50m and D700 quite tolerable. I probably could have left the CPL at home (a £100 marumi digital one) but it ended up staying in the bag as the skies were mostly cloudy. So I had the Nikon 300mm f2.8 IF ED manual focus lens, which I had bought a month ago or so for my upcoming trip to my family in south africa this xmas, for a wildlife park I wanted to visit, but otherwise will try make use of it for any surfing (with 1.4tc) or sport I can try get to see. I also just got the 16-35 F4 VR as I didn't have an ultra wideangle, and while normally I would just take the hit, with the difference in price between the 14-24 and this (glass is forever etc etc), I couldn't justify the focal range, for the price. The VR on the 16-35 did come in handy, mostly just to make up for the lack of f2.8, and it did work very well. I was able to get clean shots at 16mm 1/6th (while also being able to stop down to f5.6 in churches for a little more sharpness), which would normally have needed 1/16 or so. Overall though I was pleasantly surprised by how sharp the 16-35 is. I seldom print my photos, and if I do they aren't usually bigger than A4 at most, so any difference in corner sharpness with this and the 14-24 aren't something that would've made spending the extra money worth it for me. I am also thinking of taking the 16-35, instead of the 24-70 with me on my trip to sa this xmas although may just take the 24-70 but still on the fence with that one. The 50mm was of little use to me in the end. I did get a tiny bit frustrated at times that it was either 50mm or 300mm, but not to the point that I wished I had brought the 70-200 instead. I had looked at the exif for my photos last time and only a handful were between 70 and 200, most were 200-300mm (with the 70-300VR). In Rome, for me at least, it's either 300mm for street shots/detail shots of the architecture, or uwa for interiors. Even then, your average joe would have left the 300 at home, as I had to make an effort to find shots for it. None of the people shots are anything that special, but I like them for what they are, street and candid. The 70-300VR could have got them but I can't have something and not use it, so I took it with me anyway. The 300 focuses down to 4 metres which is nice, not that I got anywhere near that close for the street shots. For those shots I was sat down on a bench next to some other people that were a few feet away either side, with the monopod extended just facing the opposite side of the square waiting for anybody interesting looking to come my way. So to close, on my rather bloated reply xD I'll just say the less of a big deal you make about the weight, the less it is one. Carrying a light backpack and not some fancy padded bag, that weighs more, also helps. The only padded case I had with me was the lens case that came with my 24-70, for the 16-35, so when I had the 300mm mounted, the 16-35 was in the pouch, and the 50 was in my pocket. Again, please excuse my bloated post, I man weed a little that someone commented on my thread
