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isn4i

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Making a winter trip to Iceland, Paris and London in 2 weeks time.

Currently using a 5D. Currently only has 85L and a tripod.

Any recommendation?

Criterions are
1. Only bringing 2 lenses.
2. Image quality - very important
3. Weight and portability - very important
4. Budget is secondary
5. Lanscape, people, street, monuments, museums
6. Water resistant is preferred since the weather is unpredictable.

I ruled out 70-200 f/2.8L, 70-200 f/2.8L IS because of weight.
I ruled out 70-200 f/4 because no IS and it's f/4.
I ruled out bringing 85L because it's not useful range for travel.

Thanks.
 
I was in iceland this past summer.
Will you only be in reykjavik or will you be travelling?

The 70-200 f4 IS + 1.4x will get you some fantastic shots of puffins on the south cliffs (if theres any sunlight this time of year).

Otherwise I would say the 24-105L to walk around with your 5d.

My Iceland albums are here, scroll to the bottom...
http://travel.comisar.net/index.php?level=collection&id=1
 
Very nice. What were the lenses you used in your Sweden and Iceland trips? I guess my requirements would be similar to these trips of yours. Thanks.
 
I would recommend to take the 85. It may be big and heavy, but such a beauty is mentioned to be used. Short telephoto is nice for landscapes.

--
Arto Pääkkönen @ http://www.pphoto.se
 
95% of those shots were taken with the EFS 17-85. The puffins were taken with the old 70-300 (the $100 one). I have since upgraded to the 70-200 f4L
 
Given much thought to it ... narrowed my options down to the following ..

Any comments/suggestions welcome, bearing in mind my requirements and it's for Iceland/London/Paris.

Option A
16-35L + 70-200 f/4 IS + 430EX

Option B
17-40 + 70-200 f/4 IS + 430EX

Option C
24-70L + 70-200 f/4 IS + 430EX

Option D
24-105L + 70-200 f/4 IS + 430EX

Thanks.
 
isn4i said:
Given much thought to it ... narrowed my options down to the
following ..

Any comments/suggestions welcome, bearing in mind my requirements
and it's for Iceland/London/Paris.

Option A
16-35L + 70-200 f/4 IS + 430EX

Option B
17-40 + 70-200 f/4 IS + 430EX
Click to expand...
Personally, I would've missed the reach in the cities... I found myself on the long end of my 17-85 at least 30-40% of the time in stockholm, copenhagen, etc. If you dont mind switching lenses then its fine...
isn4i said:
Option C
24-70L + 70-200 f/4 IS + 430EX
Click to expand...
isn4i said:
Option D
24-105L + 70-200 f/4 IS + 430EX
Click to expand...
Either one of these is probably your best bet. Option C gives you f2.8 for in museums (keep in mind, they dont usually allow flash photography). Option D gives you longer range (nice when walking in cities and you dont want to stop to switch lenses). If it were me, I would go with D based on my scandinavia trip. I didnt have much trouble in the Hermitage Museum with my 17-85 f4-5.6. I would take the reach over the stop.

You may find yourself wanting a wider lens for iceland. All I had was my 17-85 (28-136 equivalent) and I got most of the shots I wanted... However, my next lens is surely going to be the EFS 10-22.

If you can take 3 you may consider 16-35, 24-105, 70-200.
isn4i said:
Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
Funny, you started by ruling out the 70-200's and now they're in! I went to London and Paris in July and took an arsenal:
20D + 18-55 kit lens
10-22 and 70-200 2.8 IS Canons
20 1.8 Sigma, 50 and 85 1.8 Canons
15 Fisheye Canon

So I overdid it - my wife joked that I would get heat stroke carrying all that gear on my back, but I would get GREAT pictures. I managed to not get heat stroke! Seriously, it was the trip of a lifetime...I wanted to have a full range of options. Both for focal length AND light. And nearly everywhere I went, I put it all to work (mostly the zooms I have to admit) to get various impressions of what was before me.

If you can manage it, take 3 zooms to get as much range as you can. How much overlap depends on how much you are willing to stop and change lenses. If speed is important, go for 2.8's. Or use slower (smaller/cheaper) zooms and back them up with a wide and a long prime for low light.

Yes, the 70-200 2.8 IS is big and heavy (3 lbs), but I felt it was worth it. Since you are shooting FF, you have to work harder for the reach. Is that what you want, based on the original post? (Canon's teleconverters are very good too, as you seem to have settled on.) Or do you just want wide to short tele? Those 12MP give you a lot of cropping capability too.
 
You wil need the wide angle (24 is OK) for london streets & iceland landscapes. Plus the tele to capture, well, stuff you can't get close to.

Here are soem shots from iceland (trip a couple of months ago)-

http://www.wprasek.com/photos/showgallery.php?gal=2006-08_iceland&sub=01_photographs

eg:



And some from sweden, also this summer -
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1029&message=20038547

--
warren prasek
web design ~ interactive media ~ photography
http://www.wprasek.com/
gearlist: a camera and some other stuff.
 
I haven't been to Iceland yet, but I've been to London and Paris a few times.
I would defineately recommend a wide angle, at least 24mm.
If I could bring only one lens it would the 17-40L.
If I could bring a second one it would be the 70-200f4L.
I prefer to bring both and the 851.8

SInce you have ruled out the 70-200s (though the f4 IS might be an option) and the 85 and you like lenses faster than f4 that are top quality and not too heavy.

I'd suggest the 16-35L as a wide angle, but after that I'm stuck. Perhaps the 135L.

If you could live with 24mm at the wide end you could look at the (rather heavy) 24-70 and a lightweight prime, perhaps the 35f2.

cheers

Vin
 
isn4i said:
Making a winter trip to Iceland, Paris and London in 2 weeks time.

Currently using a 5D. Currently only has 85L and a tripod.

Any recommendation?

Criterions are
1. Only bringing 2 lenses.
2. Image quality - very important
3. Weight and portability - very important
4. Budget is secondary
5. Lanscape, people, street, monuments, museums
6. Water resistant is preferred since the weather is unpredictable.

I ruled out 70-200 f/2.8L, 70-200 f/2.8L IS because of weight.
I ruled out 70-200 f/4 because no IS and it's f/4.
I ruled out bringing 85L because it's not useful range for travel.
Click to expand...
24-105mm f/4L and 35mm f/1.4L.

--
Whoever said 'a picture is worth a thousand words' was a cheapskate.

http://www.pbase.com/dot_borg
 
Have you considered the 70-300 DO?

Of course, pair that with a 24-105 IS. If you must take only two lenses.

Cheers
Ryan

--
Florence - Venice - London - Reykjavik
http://ryan.li/
 
Ryan Li said:
Have you considered the 70-300 DO?

Of course, pair that with a 24-105 IS. If you must take only two
lenses.

Cheers
Ryan

--
Florence - Venice - London - Reykjavik
http://ryan.li/
Click to expand...
Yes I did. But since the weight between 70-200 f/4 IS and 70-300 DO ain't much different, I would take 70-200 f/4 IS over 70-300 DO.
 
vin 13 said:
I haven't been to Iceland yet, but I've been to London and Paris a
few times.
I would defineately recommend a wide angle, at least 24mm.
If I could bring only one lens it would the 17-40L.
If I could bring a second one it would be the 70-200f4L.
I prefer to bring both and the 851.8

SInce you have ruled out the 70-200s (though the f4 IS might be an
option) and the 85 and you like lenses faster than f4 that are top
quality and not too heavy.

I'd suggest the 16-35L as a wide angle, but after that I'm stuck.
Perhaps the 135L.

If you could live with 24mm at the wide end you could look at the
(rather heavy) 24-70 and a lightweight prime, perhaps the 35f2.

cheers

Vin
Click to expand...
I ruled out most of the 70-200s (f/2.8IS, f/2.8 and f/4 non-IS) because they are either heavy or better alternative is available (f/4 IS vs f/4 non-IS).

In your trips, how often was the 85 1.5 used?
 
warren prasek said:
You wil need the wide angle (24 is OK) for london streets & iceland
landscapes. Plus the tele to capture, well, stuff you can't get
close to.

Here are soem shots from iceland (trip a couple of months ago)-

http://www.wprasek.com/photos/showgallery.php?gal=2006-08_iceland&sub=01_photographs

eg:



And some from sweden, also this summer -
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1029&message=20038547

--
warren prasek
web design ~ interactive media ~ photography
http://www.wprasek.com/
gearlist: a camera and some other stuff.
Click to expand...
Very nice photos!!
 
warren prasek said:
You wil need the wide angle (24 is OK) for london streets & iceland
landscapes. Plus the tele to capture, well, stuff you can't get
close to.

Here are soem shots from iceland (trip a couple of months ago)-

http://www.wprasek.com/photos/showgallery.php?gal=2006-08_iceland&sub=01_photographs

eg:



And some from sweden, also this summer -
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1029&message=20038547

--
warren prasek
web design ~ interactive media ~ photography
http://www.wprasek.com/
gearlist: a camera and some other stuff.
Click to expand...
What lenses did you use for your Iceland trip? Great shot on Skogafoss waterfall.
 
mcomisar said:
Personally, I would've missed the reach in the cities... I found
myself on the long end of my 17-85 at least 30-40% of the time in
stockholm, copenhagen, etc. If you dont mind switching lenses then
its fine...
Click to expand...
Do you have the pictures of copenhagen and stockholm somewhere online for us to see? a link?
Thanks
--
best regards
Michael
http://michaelbennati.dk/galleri/index.php?list=14
 
...on my 20D. i've recently acquired the 24-105 to replace the 28-135. Much nicer AF, build, colour, contrast and sharpness. Plus the 24mm is critical on a 1.6x crop sensor. 28 is just too long.

--
warren prasek
web design ~ interactive media ~ photography
http://www.wprasek.com/
gearlist: a camera and some other stuff.
 
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