Barcelona in January

D

dantes

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Going to Barcelona in January for a week.

This will be my first trip with my M8 - Ive got a 50mm and a 35mm.

Anything else I should take/need? Was thinking something wider for the architecture... ?

Ive also got a Nikon D80... but thinking about parting with it for this trip.
 
I hope you enjoy it. It's a great city, but take care.

When I tour around the city I mostly use the 50mm (or equivalent). A wide angle is interesting for many of the city spots. Squares, las Ramblas and the architecture are apt for a wide. Though, I found myself using a normal lens the most and it can be all you need. Tele can be interesting as well, but I never used one around; If you must choose 2 lenses, I'd take the wide instead of a tele.

I think you can leave the D80 at home, if you have a small P&S backup, it can be interesting to take it. It's possible that the Classic design of the Leica might not attract so much to thieves (more below).

Take care, the tourist places (Ramblas, Barri Gòtic, etc.) are full of pickpockets and scams. Usually they are east european people, that don't have a nice reputation between the locals. If you search for the web, you might find the usual types of scams. Use common sense when going around the city, and with care you should not have any problem.
 
hi, la sagrada familia or parc guell will be better shooting with a 28mm i think, streets are not as narrow than Madrid though! las Ramblas is a nice place, but yes don't stay too late at night. Enjoy.
 
The streets in the older parts of the town are extremely narrow. In other parts of the city not so much. You will be fine with a normal, but a wide lens will come handy if you plan to shoot architecture and interiors.

BTW: The pickpockets in Barcelona are pretty international, they come from all continents (well, I didn't see an Australian pickpocket yet) and of course there are also locals who are pickpockets.
 
Whenever I travel to big cities in Asia or Europe, I find myself using a 24/25 mm lens most of the time. With film cameras, I would bring my 24mm Nikkor if I brought my Nikon SLR, or the CV 25/4 if I brought the Bessa. Even the zoom lens on my digital camera goes to 24mm equivalent.

So if you can get a 24/25 or a 28mm lens, that could be your main lens. Together with a normal lens, those should be all you need. (I rarely use a normal lens, I would use my Nikkor 35/2 or CV 35/1,7 as my normal lenses, although I often leave those at home too.) I often do not bring a tele. If I need tele lens occasionally, I just use my digital camera.

BTW, there is a CV 25.4 for sale on RFF right now. (Note : No relation to seller.)
 
Well, funnily enough I am off to Barcelona late December for just under a week too.

Thinking about taking my M2 and either CV color skopar 35 or Heliar 50 (Iwant to travel light so probably only one lens, although I am tempted to take the a 28 along for specific architectural shots).

I have been to Barcelona many times now and usually only take along my Olympus XA, but I want to do more shooting this time.

The only thing that does worry me is that I would like to get some night street scenes around the Barri Gòtic and do worry about street crime.

Hopefully the M2 will just look too old for any non-savy thief to worry about? :rolleyes:
 
IMO, there is nothing to worry about. I went to Barcelona during the summer and I was walking around, day and night, with my DSLR and big lens and I never experienced any problems.

If you see a shady character, just casually change directions... common sense, really.
 
if you can, get something wider, the buildings in Barcelona are a piece of art. if you need some cheap gear, remember Andorra is at 2 1/2hours from Barcelona and its tax free ;)
FotoCineColor is a good shop in Andorra.
 
Mzungu said:
if you can, get something wider, the buildings in Barcelona are a piece of art. if you need some cheap gear, remember Andorra is at 2 1/2hours from Barcelona and its tax free ;)
FotoCineColor is a good shop in Andorra.
Click to expand...

Andorra can also be cold and snow-bound: I actually had to turn round and go back to Seu the first time I tried to go there, in January 2003, and that was in a Land Rover with snow chains.

My enduring impression of the place is endless shops full of consumerist rubbish, which attracts rabid shoppers: you should have seen the huge numbers of cars heading into the Principality last week-end, two shopping Saturdays before Christmas. As for 'bargains', you are probably more likely than not to be turned over by customs on the way out.

At least twice a year, I pass within 5-10 miles of Andorra, between Ax-les-Thermes and Bourg-Madame, but I never bother to go into the Principality any more.

I can't help the OP with advice on Barcelona - never been there - but I can advise him not to go out of his way to Andorra.

Cheers,

R.
 
Thank you all for the great advice.

Over the past few weeks Ive got a decent set ready for the trip.

M8, CV 15mm, CV 35mm 1.4, CV 50mm 1.1, CV 75mm 2.5 -- all x1.33 of course.

All in a Crumpler bag. :)

This should have me covered for the trip I hope!

Any final words... leaving next week.
 
I'd use that CV15 on the M8 half the time. Get (very) close and check the corners.

I love that city and Catalonia.
 
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Whatever the gear you take, you will find plenty of opportunities to use it. Concerning safety, just the basic precautions and the usual common-sense, as written in previous posts. Some photos from Barcelona
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joaofreitas/sets/72157615861949366/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joaofreitas/sets/72157625396038979/
Have a nice trip
Joao

PS- Concerning Andorra, when you reach an agreement about the price to pay for a camera, be prepared to see the seller remove the lens, the ERC, the box, the manual, the klens cap, etc. These parts may sometimes not be considered in the deal. Don´t ask me how I know...
 
@bigeye - what do you mean check the corners? I just got the 15mm viewfinder today... with the crop factor it still isnt completely accurate. Did you use the 15mm finder?

@Joao - I think I already saw your photos on Flickr when doing a barcelona search earlier - nice work! Interesting insight into Andorra -- seems they have an M9 for $6335 - also, nice collection of TLRs - I picked up a Koniflex while in India a few years ago -
 
I just got back from Barcelona last week. Still working through the photos, all shot on film. I took two M-bodies and a 50 and a 35. I did not carry both bodies w/ me at all times, but I always had at least one camera. For architecture, I sometimes wished I had a 28, but I was also pleasantly surprised how much I liked detail shots taken w/ my 50 (I don't mind converging lines too much). The 50 was useful for people photos and in dim light (I have an f1.4 lens), so I was v. glad I brought mine. For me the 35 is the perfect general travel lens, so that is my perspective.

Regarding safety, I heard many warnings about pick-pockets everywhere, and I was careful. Honestly, though, I always felt safe, and Barcelonans are very friendly. I noticed that people in general don't mind being photographed--they either smile or go about their business. Make sure to take the metro--it made getting around the city very easy. The food is superb when you avoid the overly touristy areas.
 
I have been there roughly 20 times in the last 10 years, maybe more. Sometimes for stays of a few weeks. I have not been pickpocketed but everyone I know there has been. I also send students there. One semester we had 17 university students there, each of them got robbed at least once. Yet I feel it's a safe city. You just need to hold on to your stuff tight and be aware, especially in the tourist areas.
 
Pablito said:
I have been there roughly 20 times in the last 10 years, maybe more. Sometimes for stays of a few weeks. I have not been pickpocketed but everyone I know there has been. I also send students there. One semester we had 17 university students there, each of them got robbed at least once. Yet I feel it's a safe city. You just need to hold on to your stuff tight and be aware, especially in the tourist areas.
Click to expand...

I agree, you can get robbed anywhere, but Barcelona was for me a safe place.
 
charjohncarter said:
I agree, you can get robbed anywhere, but Barcelona was for me a safe place.
Click to expand...

Pretty much same for any city on the Med...

Joao: you have to take more care with the 15mm in composition - you'll be at 21mm on the M8, so it won't be as hard, but you have to sweep your eye around the viewfinder to make sure that you are getting what you want, the way you want it. Little changes of camera body angle change how lines converge greatly with it. It can make a shot look like you used a 50 or you can bend them for perspective distortion with a little cant, if you want.

It's a great lens as a full frame ultrawide and just as great as superwide on a cropper. Do you have a 21mm VF for it?

This is off my first roll with it (IIIf with TriX) and it highlights what's great about it and how easily you can make mistakes. The horizon is a bit off, which also raised the bow up a bit (kind of neat, though) and I would have liked to have tried rotating it down and to the left to get the whole cleat (parallax comp) and come down the side more. A tad closer, too, though I was only about 12cm from the cleat, it could take more.

CV15mm002.jpg


It's a really fun lens to shoot with and 21mm would make it all little faster and less crazy to work.

- Charlie
 
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Hey Everyone -

A quick update from Barcelona --- Ive only been using my 35mm and 15mm on the M8.

It has been working out quite well! And Im loving the M8 - Im really glad I left the Nikon at home. Still getting used to focusing though.

Ive got a couple days left and will try to get the 75mm out.

thanks again everyone!
 
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