My first trip to Hawaii was last summer with the family. I took my D700, 24-70/f2.8 and 80-400/f2.slow. I used the 24-70 for 90% of the pictures, but the 80-400 came in very handy for shots of birds and the day my older son took surfing lessons.

We took a second camera (D70s) with the 18-70 kit lens. My wife carried it around and between the two cameras we always seemed to have the right lens for anything we wanted to capture.

By next summer I plan to have a 70-200/f2.8 with a teleconverter (1.7 probably) that will be used in place of the 80-400.

a-dobbins91 said:
Mike that photo reminds me of a scene out of lost. I am sure it was shot in ohau?

Spot on.

My best,

Mike

I would say take the tele as well.. if you are going to pearl harbour .. the ships may be big but you don't get too close to them in fact 200 may not be long enough :-)

re the war.. i am sure there will be some sweet battles.. sabre rattling and storming castles.. ;-)

Thanks for all the tips. I have decided to leave the 50mm, 60mm Micro, and the 85mm behind. I will probably leave either the 24mm or the 35mm behind as well, but not both. Still trying to decide which one of the two make the cut.
The three zooms will be coming with me. I would hate to miss the wonderful landscape and not have the 14-24mm. The 24-70mm will probably be used the second most, and if I have to leave another lens behind, sad to say I think the 70-200 is going to miss out due to the size, and weight, and the fact that most of my shots should be on the wide side of things.

Tripod is a given (Gitzo Traveler), and I think the SB-400 will be the only strobe I bring. I haven't come up with a good reason to bring the SB-900 yet.

The war reference was the fact I was in El Salvador, where the poster was . . . it was not a comparison of war/honeymoon ;)

Interesting, if I was on my honeymoon I'd try and keep it simple and bring a zoom such as a 24-70 and a 70-200mm and keep it at that. I'll be going to the Phillipines for one week so I'll be in a similar dilemma. I think I'll go with my 14-24, 28-300 and a 35mm prime and thats it. Can't wait! I hope you enjoy your honeymoon, I've always wanted to go there actually :)

18-200 is out of the question guys, he's got a D700.

I agree with the 50mm prime, 14-24 and 70-200. It's got a bit in between and wide and tele.

Should be enough to get you through.

I also agree with carrying whatever compact camera you've got- you're not going to dinner with your wife with a D700 and a 70-200 strapped around your neck.

You're going to want to carry something smaller.

tcole1983 said:
IMO an 18-200 lens is really what you need even though you have such nice glass. It isn't as big and heavy as your lenses and you wouldn't have to switch.

I would have to agree with the 18-200. I'm a frequent vacationer in Oahu and Maui and with wife and three kids, the 18-200 covers me all the way without being bogged down by the weight and having to switch lenses. I do bring other lenses but they just end up staying in the bag.

EDIT 2: I don't see anybody mentioning this but don't forget to bring a tripod. You will want pictures with you and your wife "together". I would think having a picture together with the wife would be more important when you're looking back 10, 20, 30 years from now.

Mike that photo reminds me of a scene out of lost. I am sure it was shot in ohau?

As for lens, 14-24mm the 50mm and the 70-200mm. Keep it simple :)

heartyfisher said:
LOL Comparing his honeymoon to the civil war !! Hehe.. I can see it !! heh!

Hi hearty,

Pity. I wasn't the one who made the comparison.

My best,

Mike

LOL Comparing his honeymoon to the civil war !! Hehe.. I can see it !! heh!

Hi Segura,

Knowing what kit to take makes for a better time on location. Primes are really, really nice. I use a prime over a zoom anytime I can, unless I'm carrying a kit across a dateline. ;-)

I might opt for a zoom that covers the prime, with any exception that would mean a dominate use of a prime, for instance, 70-200 over 85, unless I new that I would be taking more 85mm portraits, then I'd opt for the prime and skip the zoom.

When I was a working press guy, I carried 6 lenses, but really three of the lenses were duplicates. Since zooms weren't considered sharp enough to use, we had to carry a 24mm, a 55mm, and a 135mm, on a B&W and color and a color camera.

I also worked in El Salvador, too, during the civil war.

Good luck with which ever why you go and my best,

Mike

Lol why did you ask if you are just taking them all? Even not being a pro if you have invested that much in lenses you have to know something about using them. I would assume you could figure out there would be landscapes, wildlife, and plants.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

My style - I am not a pro photographer, I am a glass collector it seems. Photography is just a hobby but my girl is sold on the fact that I take pictures, and I always have a camera. I will not be taking a PS at all, in fact I used to have the Canon S90, but it never got used, I consider my D700 my PS camera.
For my lady, she understands about capturing the moment, and bringing some (not most) of my gear will be a PITA on the trip, but looking back at the pictures 10/20/30 years from now and having amazing pictures from our honeymoon will greatly outweigh the week+ of lugging the gear around.
I didn't even think about an underwater, and will be getting an underwater PS for that . . . thanks for the reminder!

I think I am going to bring most of my gear, with the exception of the 50 / 60M / 85 lenses. The 14-24mm will be used mostly to get the landscapes. When I was in El Salvador, I found that 90% of my daytime pictures were taken with this lens. The 24-70mm will be my walk around lens if we are checking out the towns. 70-200mm will be in the bag and used as needed.

The 24mm and 35mm will be used in the evenings, and taken out at night when I need the available light for some luaus.

SB-400 will be with me well most of the time, and the SB-900 will probably stay in the house.

I would grab a P7000 and what ever YOUR fav lens is.(Sounds like its the 14-24?) that 24 1.4 sounds like a nice combo with the D700 for such a trip.

Its a "honeymoon" the P7000 will allow you to capture the moments! Only other sugegstion is get a waterproof camera instead of the P7000(Panasonic lumix FT2?) ! hawaii and water goes together!

Most importantly enjoy your time there! Lots to experience!

You wont have time to be setting up macro shots.

You will have time for getting a lot of lovely environmental portraits of your wife.

you don't need 24mm for that (yikes)
you don't need 1.4 for that

what lense makes her look the best? maybe the 24-70 (lanscapes in a pinch at 24) or the 70-200 (wildlife in a pinch at 200).

you need to take 2 or 3 speedlites and an umbrella, maybe a small softbox, some pocket wizards.

A Canon S95 does most of what you want and is very nice and small. Perhaps leave ALL the big toys at home. ;)

broxibear said:
Is it just me or shouldn't you be thinking more of your wife rather than which equipment you need to take?
You only have one honeymoon...you could always go back to Hawaii another time to take photographs ?

Exactly. At least you are smart enough to have all the nice lenses before you got married. They get harder to come by when you get married for some reason :)

Is it just me or shouldn't you be thinking more of your wife rather than which equipment you need to take?
You only have one honeymoon...you could always go back to Hawaii another time to take photographs ?

I will say it again...because of the size and weight of the 70-200 I can't imagine you want to take it on your honeymoon. If your soon to be wife is anything like mine (or most women) she will hate you after the first day if you think you are going to bring tons of camera gear and be switching lenses, etc all the time....just my $.02 for a newly wed ;)

I went to the Bahamas on mine and I don't have a single picture I would put on my wall or say was great, but that wasn't the point of the trip right?

Went to Kauai a few years back. Thye have the most beautiful island for taking pic's. This is the island that Jurasic Park was filmed.

70-200 2.8 would be a great choice for all landscape. The Napali coastline would be a great location too.

Have fun,..it's the best place I have ever seen.

aesnakes said:
You really need the 70-200 to get to the wildlife.... Munkseals, seaturtles, dolphins etc as you are not allowed to get close....you can actually be fined for bothering some there.

I didn't think about wildlife when I dismissed the 70-200. Good point.

I love the Nikon 18-200 VR for travel - hate carrying and changing lenses, and it's light and works great, and the aperature limiting characteristics of it don't come into play outside. I'd also take something with low light, maybe the 24mm 1.4 for landscapes and to carry around in the evenings and stuff ( I personally use the 35mm F1.8 for this and it's perfect for me.

I was just there and I did use my 11-16, 24-70, and most of all the 70-200 with the 2x tcIII.

You really need the 70-200 to get to the wildlife.... Munkseals, seaturtles, dolphins etc as you are not allowed to get close....you can actually be fined for bothering some there.

At minimum take the 14-24 and the 70-200 you can also use it's close focus for the beautiful flowers and stuff there also.

Rob

(long-time lurker, now a member)
I found the 18-200 invaluable for day-to-day cruising around Kauai, lets me frame quickly, but of course is aperture-limited. This is not much problem except in a few cases when I want to "pop" something in front of a background.

The 14-24 and 70-200 could cover a lot of that ground, and if I had it, I would bring the micro. I found a lot of flora photos to shoot but had to mess around with distance/focus/frame filling for detail.

Since you won't be carrying the 24mm 1.4 around, I say bring it for those night time possibilities, but check the weather before you go to see if there will be any clear nights--its "winter."

I can see the argument for the one lens 24-70 solution. It's a pitty OP doesn't have a prime wider than 24 because the 14-24 is such a beast.

I, personally, would be using the 24 and the 85 almost exclusively, but there ARE going to be great opportunities for ultra-wide use in Hawaii AND macro. That said if you can afford all these lenses you can likely afford to go back, and maybe should focus on WAF this trip.

EDIT: Also jealous, as I love the 24 f/2.8 and can only imagine how much more I'd love the 1.4!

EDIT 2: Perhaps rent a 16-35? 16-35 + 85 1.4 is a bitching combo.

EDIT 3: Again (not knowing your style I may be way off the mark) but I really think the 70-200 would be your least used lens by a huge factor.

EDIT 4: PS - Congrats on the wedding!
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