Toronto Photography Meetup Group

So I just booked a trip to Prague and Vienna, 5 days each city.

Any travel and photography tips from those who have been?

I'm hoping to travel light/compact but any definite must have piece of gear I should bring?

I'm thinking Canon 7D with 17-70mm f2.8-4.5 and 30mm f1.4, roughly 96-108 gigs of memory. Leaving flash and 85mm f1.4 home. Pondering if I should bring my Nikon 58mm f1.2.....

GF will bring her EP-1 with 14-42 kit and Minolta 28mm f2.8....or 45mm f2

oooohh. have fun! You have a noct?!

Go wide, if you can rent the UWA from Future Shop it will make your night palace shots. Architecture is big in both cities. Vienna is awesome for art nouveau. Be sure to see Klimt's frescoes. While in Vienna, take a little trip towards Salzburg, see the mountains and Mozart crap

If you're low on money there are options to travel

1. hitchhike
2. car share thingy (people who go in that direction are looking for passengers for extra cash)

Both are cheaper than bus/train usually

I prefer number 1, but sometimes you end up in less than great situations. Sometimes you meet great people who provide even greater opportunities

If you have time/money also consider traveling about Southern Germany. Alps are a gem to shoot and hike

Oh...most important. Bring a tripod!

Usually but not always euro passes and car rentals are cheaper to buy in Canada. In many of the places that you would like to use a tripod they are forbidden. In these places image stabilization and a gorilla pod can be your friends.

I also forgot to mention: Couch Surfing
If you're traveling it's the way to have cheap lodging. Research it!

leaving flash at home?! You are planning just to take pictures of the scenery only, not planning to take picture of yourself+GF?

For the extra space and weight (don't forget batteries) he can use his on-board 7D flash

Did something similar (Vienna->Prague->Munich->Salzburg->back to Vienna) when I got married...and all I can say is, as someone mentioned above, go wide...real wide

If I was to go back again, I'll bring whatever wide lens I have, a fast normal prime, a good standard small zoom and leave the tele at home. It's a LOT of walking so be light as possible but I think you know that already. Oh, and bring the lightest tripod you can get away with. Those places are great in the day but breathtaking at night as well.

Wasn't into photography when I went in 2005 so only used my wife's point and shoot but still, just because the area was great, the photos + memories were wonderful. I would suggest Salzburg as well but with the amount of time you have maybe leave that for another day(though 2-3 days would be enough I think). Anyhow, would love to go again! Have a great trip and take lots of photos, but more importantly don't forget to have fun

Oh one more thing...if you care for such a thing, get a gps logger. I look back at my photos and there are times when I just can't remember what some of the buildings were called (or where they were) and I say to myself "If I could just figure out where I took the photo I can figure out what it was..."
Got myself a Sony GPS-CS1 a while back for dirt cheap and works wonders for these type of things.

I'm only carrying my slim Domke bag

or maybe my small lowepro trekker