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Bob P's picture

Yosemite late fall/winter lenses to bring questions

Starting off, hope that this is appropriate for the group. Obviously nuke the post if not. :)

Going to be going to Yosemite before year-end and taking the camera and lenses. I’m wondering if I need to add anything to the collection before I go.

I have on-hand:

Nikon D7000
Nikon 18-105 lens (kit with the D7000)
Nikon 28mm f2.8
Nikon 80-200 f2.8
Nikon 300mm f4
Nikon 200-500 f5.6
2 tripods, one Mefoto travel tripod that can be converted into a monopod and one Manfrotto beast that’s solid as a rock and weighs to match.

Obviously don’t have to bring all of that kit and don’t expect I’ll be doing a lot of wildlife photography, which is what I mostly do here in SoCal.

I’ve never done any astrophotography and am intrigued to try. Maybe the 28mm would work, but I’m mulling adding a wide zoom from Nikon or Sigma—but not emotionally attached to a specific one.

I also don’t have any neutral density or grad filters and haven’t done any long exposure photography but am wondering if this would be a good venue to try some.

Any thoughts on what I will definitely need? Won’t need? Should consider?

I’m staying outside the park and trekking in daily and not planning any deep backcountry hikes at the moment.

Thank you!

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4 Comments

I’m curious to see what others recommend, but I’ll say this: the one thing you leave at home, whatever that is, is the one thing you’ll probably need the most. LOL.

Quite.

Suggestion - get a Breakthrough Photography Night Sky light pollution filter for the lens that you choose to use. Also get PhotoPills, The Photographer's Ephemeris and SkyView apps for your phone to help you plan your shots. Oh, and dress warmly.

Since you're considering astro-photography, you might be interested in the Irix 15mm 2.4 . It's almost twice as wide as your 28mm, so you can leave the shutter open for almost twice as long before getting star-trails. It won't break the bank (I think around $500), but the catch is that it is manual focus.
I have the canon-version and I like shooting with it.

Edit: just looked it up: https://www.irixusa.com/irix-15-mm-f-2-4