• I’m traveling to Vietnam on your photo tour, which lens should I bring along?
• Can you tell me what we are going to shoot? I just want to know which lens I should bring
• Do I need to bring my tele lens? 

 

Over the time operating different Vietnam photo tours at Momentlives, I’ve received a good number of questions relating to the gear choice among our guests. So I’m taking some down time of Saturday and write something about this.

First and foremost, in my opinion, lenses and gear are a matter of personal preference. Personally, I enjoy using a variety of lenses because each one is designed with a purpose. Great photos come with practice, so using the lens you’re most comfortable with will certainly improve your shots. That said, simply advising “just bring whatever you like” isn’t always helpful.

With that in mind, I’d like to share what works for me during photo tours around Vietnam. The focal lengths mentioned below are based on using a full-frame camera

A. 16-35mm (Wide angle)

I love this focal range (again, it’s range, to differentiate with any particular lens)  and I realise I can do a lot with it. While doing our Vietnam photo tours, every often use this range. What do I like about it?

Great for landscape

One of the most scenic spots in Vietnam for landscape photography is Mu Cang Chai, home to cascading rice terraces.

Since this is not any particular lens review blog post, I’ll just be mentioning the focal range and how the picture turns out. But at 27mm, you can take in a lot, right? The curves of rice terraces on the foreground, the mountains in the backdrop. Tips: If you want to get the sunstar, then note 02 things: 1. You need to close the aperture of your camera. The effect in the shot was generated at f.22 (although I wish I was only F16 or bigger for a milder effect). 2. The effect comes out the best when the sun is partially blocked like it is by the mountain top in this shot.

Great for minimalist photography from close distance

While minimalist images can be created with any lens, a 16mm focal length offers unique opportunities to compose minimalist shots from close distances. I particularly enjoy using a 16mm lens in fishing communities, especially when capturing scenes of people working on fishing nets. This focal length allows you to emphasize the vastness of the environment by making the people appear smaller in the frame.

However, keep in mind that at 16mm, objects near the edges of the frame will be stretched. This distortion requires careful consideration, as even a slight adjustment can result in your subject looking awkwardly stretched. That said, this distortion often goes unnoticed when photographing flexible or shapeless subjects like fishing nets, skies, or water. In such cases, the stretching can even add to the composition without detracting from the image.

Great for portraits

Portraiture with wide angle? Why not?

While it is often reckoned that a 50mm, 85mm or 135mm are great lenses for portrait, they’re not the best portrait lenses. Best is a relative word, subject to your system of criteria.

Probably because of the nature of my work (again, we’re Momentlives and we design & operate photo tours in Vietnam),

I rarely shoot tight, straight-frame portraits. Instead, I prefer capturing people within their environment to establish a sense of relationship and connection. The 16-35mm range is perfect for this style of photography.

In this particular shot, I was drawn to the light falling on the lady’s face and along the edge of her body. The background—a blend of sea, boats, mountains, and clouds—added context and depth. I focused on the area where the light highlighted her, using an aperture of f/3.2 to slightly blur the background and draw attention to her.

Quick tip for beginners: If you focus on the subject, a smaller f-number (e.g., f/3.2) creates more background blur, helping isolate the subject. A larger f-number (e.g., f/8 or higher) increases depth of field, making the background more visible.

Still, you will need to place the subject where he/she is not stretched out due to the wide angle’s side effect.

Streets or daily life scenes

The focal range can be used for a vast ocean of daily life scenes, street shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, let’s move on….(to be continued)