Prague - What should I take?

Thanks all, much appreciated.

For those that are too high brow to offer a steer on what camera to take...lighten up! I read the other travel thread tonight about how many rolls of film to take and thought it was a pointless question, but got some useful insight to peoples approaches to shooting.

This will be my fifth time to Prague, but I've never been brave enough to tell the rest of the group, "I'll miss this round as I'm off to shoot some film". I did it a wee bit in Ljubljana and was so pleased I did.

PS. There is no central Europe, only East and West, Smiley face.
 
I spent a week in Prague in 2005. Although Prague has a very convenient metro system, you'll do a lot of walking, so travel light and wear comfortable shoes. I strongly recommend the old Jewish quarter, with beautiful cobblestone streets and interesting old buildings and shops. I found the Jewish Museum (divided among a number of old synagogues) extremely interesting and worth the visit. The cemetary there is photogenic. Prague Castle is, well, a major site, but even nicer is to walk down from the castle through some of the neighborhoods towards the Vltava. The Lonely Planet Guide to Prague has some nice walks that get you into some of the less traveled parts of the city. I used it and was very satisfied. And, one final MAJOR recommendation: DO NOT MISS the Museum of Communism. It's a hoot.

Prague is a beautiful city, and a lot of the grime on the buildings has been cleaned up. Looks a lot different than the city Koudelka photographed in 1968! I've got a set of Prague photos from 2005 over on my flickr site. For photo gear, if I were going again I'd take a single rf or slr body w/ a 28 and a 50, and maybe the XA for back-up and stealth photography. Leave the other gear at home, and take lots of film instead. YMMV.

Happy travels!
 
scarletfawth said:
Thanks all, much appreciated.

For those that are too high brow to offer a steer on what camera to take...lighten up! I read the other travel thread tonight about how many rolls of film to take and thought it was a pointless question, but got some useful insight to peoples approaches to shooting.
Hey! That was my thread! :eek:

Regardless, I think that those types of threads, however redundant, can be helpful for the OP, even if they just help clarify a few things in the OP's mind ( as my did for me ).

Anyway, enjoy Prague, tell your pals instead of stepping out to shoot some photographs that you're scouting the area for some type of esoteric, Prague-only-available-in-the-brewery beer. You can return and tell them that the the quest proved elusive, or you may actually stumble upon one!

Prague is awesome - it's a place that I'd really love to return to someday soon.
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I've been there 3 days, with a 17-40mm, 50mm, 135mm (canon SLR). I've done 95% of my photos with the 50 and the 135mm (but thats normal, i'm not a big fan of wide angles). It was just too heavy, as I walked like 10 hours per day. You should be happy with just your G2 system.
 
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Personally, I like these "what should I pack" threads. I get to imagine myself in the poster's situation: travelling to a new local and getting to choose from a different set of gear. A virtual/vicarious vacation.
 
FrankS said:
Personally, I like these "what should I pack" threads. I get to imagine myself in the poster's situation: travelling to a new local and getting to choose from a different set of gear. A virtual/vicarious vacation.
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I like them too. :) I understand the criticism, but I think it ignores the armchair traveler aspect which is enjoyable in its own right, and having posted a "what should I take" thread myself, I found the input from other members useful. Nothing wrong w/ soliciting a bit of learned advice... one of the things RFF is good for. :)

As for the OP: I forgot to mention the obvious about Prague in my last post: the beer is very good, and very cheap. :D
 
Read my link.

I don't know the OP from Adam. I don't know their style, or level of competence. As it happens I have been to Prague a number of times and have opinions that I would be happy to share if that was what was asked. But what irks me is the "Here is my laundry list of kit, what should I take when going to x?" approach that simply smacks of "look at how much money I have".

I make my own choices in life, and my own decisions. I consult where and when appropriate. I would no more consult a bunch of strangers on what camera to take as I would a shop assistant on what style of underwear to buy.

Regards,

Bill
 
Two days in Prague is a very short time. You won't be able to see much of the actual soul of the city because it's likely that your feet will keep you within the most touristic areas (Charles Bridge, Jewish sector, Castle, Old Town Square, Kampa isle and park, etc). Nice places to visit of course but once you have experienced the crowd on Charles Bridge you'll be happy to cross the Vltava using another one (Victory Bridge or Legion Bridge are nice to walk over too).

Too bad because there is much more to see and get inspired with if you get out of these places. The most interesting thing in Prague being the melting-pot of architectural styles, and, among them, all the Art Nouveau and rondo-cubist buildings (the Czechs were the absolute leaders at this at the beginning of the last century).

I'd recommend anyone to go and explore the New City (Novè Mesto) sector which takes place on the right bank of the Vltava around Frank Gehry's "Ginger & Fred" house. BTW you have the Prague Photo Gallery there, too. This is a less touristic sector but you will find some architectural treasures there (and many buildings still in the condition the communists left them, so, you'll make a trip back in 1948 as well).

It's a city which requires at least 5 days to be visited and appreciated - mostly by walking on your own (and yes, take comfortable shoes because the small pieces of the superb marble pavement covering all the city walksides hurt after a while).

As for photo gear take two compatible cameras, one loaded with B&W film and the other with color, and a lone set of lenses (28-35-50).

So my advice is : walk, walk, walk, and look, look, look. Walk at night as long as you can - Prague at night is magic. Leave the metro aside - the tramways are much more useful (fast and there is another one every thirty seconds or so). The tramway line 22 can bring you almost anywhere you want to.

Late spring in Czech Republic can be quite hot as well as not too so take a mix of clothes to face both the two possibilities.

Safety-wise, no big deal, just avoid to get overcrowded and don't stay at a corner of a street unfolding a map of the city like a total rube. Do your best not to look like a rich tourist and everything will run fine.

Foto Skoda is a place to visit yes - on the other side of the same street at one entrance of the Lucerna Passage (a place to see and visit for itself) you also have Foto Jan Pazdera which is interesting.

Don't forget to pay a visit at U Provaznicè tavern (metro : Müstek) in memory of Micromontenegro and me.;)
 
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For daylight color and low-light handheld shots I recommend you take the Nikon D40 with the 30mm 1.4.
For black and white the G2 kit with all 3 lenses is perfect but keep the 28mm on the body most of the time.
For a film backup one of the compact cameras you have should be good enough.

As far as film is concerned I recommend you take loads of 35mm Ilford XP 2 and Reala 100.
For landscape night photographs I would skip the 1600 film and take a pod instead.
A pod is a round flat bean bag with a screw to fit into your camera's tripod socket.
The smallest one (yellow pod) is big enough for any one of these three cameras.

Have fun!
 
scarletfawth said:
Thanks all, much appreciated.

For those that are too high brow to offer a steer on what camera to take...lighten up! I read the other travel thread tonight about how many rolls of film to take and thought it was a pointless question, but got some useful insight to peoples approaches to shooting.

This will be my fifth time to Prague, but I've never been brave enough to tell the rest of the group, "I'll miss this round as I'm off to shoot some film". I did it a wee bit in Ljubljana and was so pleased I did.

PS. There is no central Europe, only East and West, Smiley face.
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I will let the Czechs know when I see them next. ;-)

Is Germany East or West?
 
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BillP said:
Read my link.

I don't know the OP from Adam.

I make my own choices in life, and my own decisions. I consult where and when appropriate. I would no more consult a bunch of strangers on what camera to take as I would a shop assistant on what style of underwear to buy.

Regards,

Bill
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Czechs have great underwear, Pleas brand, most comfortable in the world.
Larger rather than smaller is recommended, for men. ;-)

Contax G2 with 28mm and 90mm served me well in Prague.
 
Safety-wise, no big deal, just avoid to get overcrowded and don't stay at a corner of a street unfolding a map of the city like a total rube. Do your best not to look like a rich tourist and everything will run fine.


Don't forget to pay a visit at U Provaznicè tavern (metro : Müstek) in memory of Micromontenegro and me.;)
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Metro Mustek is quite large, those marble squares are granite, even harder, and keep items you carry in front of you, no backpacks, -- Mustek and Museum are the two more popular spots for pick pockets, and they work in groups, the group I chased down to get my wallet ($20 got it back) were five, and I caught them when I doubled back from Namesti Miru.

They quite normally work the larger crowds getting on trams or the metro, and work normally from the back. I saw some trying to sell their stolen cameras, clue was, they asked for the clerk to take the film out for them, and then asked how much will they give for the camera?

Thankfully they are generally not violent, but I do have a photo of some of them. ;-)

Seems you enjoy Prague, it is a most enjoyable destination, I would have to say if I only had two days, it merely leaves an excuse to return.

I met my friend there and she organized a whole day of camera shops, what a woman. I did later buy her some shoes, in the US, that took more than a few days.

If you do not want to look like a tourist, wear shorts, and sandals, with socks. ;-) Truth is, they spot you a block away every time.


Regards, John
 
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JohnTF said:
Metro Mustek is quite large, those marble squares are granite
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;) OK so the address of the tavern is Provaznická 3, it's near the exit of the metro Müstek going to Na příkopě (actually it's in a narrow street located just between Na příkopě and the barocco "States Theater" where Mozart's Don Giovanni was played for the first time in Europe).

The pavement covering Prague's walksides is a (beautiful) mosaic of small black and white squares. The black are granite or basalte and the white are marble with quartz inclusions.

Příští zastávka : Újezd.
 
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BillP said:
Read my link.

I don't know the OP from Adam. I don't know their style, or level of competence. As it happens I have been to Prague a number of times and have opinions that I would be happy to share if that was what was asked. But what irks me is the "Here is my laundry list of kit, what should I take when going to x?" approach that simply smacks of "look at how much money I have".

I make my own choices in life, and my own decisions. I consult where and when appropriate. I would no more consult a bunch of strangers on what camera to take as I would a shop assistant on what style of underwear to buy.

Regards,

Bill
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Not to be too much of a pedant but what I actually asked was what kit would you take? (from the list of things I have available). And without wanting to sound sycophantic, I'd really welcome anything you have to share on Prague.

I have learnt something from the great constructive contributions from the kind posters on here. Maybe that say's I didn't know much in the first place, maybe that's true. In my view, consultation from a knowledgeable audience (as seems to be the case here) is seldom wasted.

Thanks gents, walking shoes on, places noted. I better make sure I do it justice now! Any tips on bars most welcome. I can tell the rest of the boys to settle themselves in for a few, while I go forth and click!
 
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