I returned from the trip Sunday night. Started looking through the photos and some look pretty good, although I had a few issues I’ll go over in the coming weeks through articles on the site.
Quick tip:
Don’t use clear lens filters. I had a higher-end clear “digital” lens filter on the FA 31mm Limited and it caused very bad flare/reflections in some situations (reflections off of the filter were showing up in the images). So my suggestion is to always buy multi-coated filters if you want to have some protection on the lens. I had a 49mm Hoya UV HMC filter on my cheap DA 50-200mm WR lens and the results were consistently great. I went against my better judgment when buying that clear filter for the 31mm.
I just ordered a few Hoya UV HMC/SHMC filters to replace the clear ones I have. I like filters for convenience, but clear uncoated ones are just not up to the level of quality I require.