Another Europe Advice Thread

Hi All,

 

Just another ‘I’m off to Europe, what lens/s are good’ thread.

 

I have a Canon 70D

(which I’m considering switching to the Canon EOS M6 - thoughts on that too please)

 

I currently have the 10-18mm and the 50mm f/1.4.

I do have the 18-135 kit lens and a 70-300mm - but these wouldn’t be ideal!

 

I’m looking for wide I guess - architecture and all that good stuff so the combos I’m looking at,

(and need a good point of direction/ experience) is either:

 

1) 10-18mm with a 24mm f/2.8

2) 17-55mm f/2.8 with a 50 f/1.4

 

Or some combination with those lenses.

 

I just feel the 50mm is just a bit narrow for my little crop camera.. but the f/1.4 is wonderful hahaha.

 

Open to recommendations though.

I like the idea of the 17-55 f/2.8 over the 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 .. even though it has less range

I think the recommendations will hinge on how you plan to travel - cruise ship, river cruise, rail pass, rented car?

 

Also, do you have a second camera? I cannot imagine being 2 days into the trip of a lifetime and have my only camera quit on me - I always have a spare of some sort.

I take a 28, 50 and a 135 with me on my (frequent) trips to Europe.

I use the Carl Zeiss lenses for Contax and take a 139 or RTS II and a Sony Nex 6 with a Contax to Nex adaptor.

1 set of lenses and two bodies, film and digital.

I would take the 18-135 and 10-18, with the 18-135 as my standard lens.

I'm European but not sure what to say, since I am admittedly not familiar with Canon's crop lenses.

Tomorrow daylight saving time will end and it will turn dark quite early. You are likely to bump into people around here, so bringing the 50/1.4 is a good way to deal with such encounters.

You seem to love your 10-17mm, so I guess it is packed? - Since it is ultra light, just 240g you can't go wrong with it.

With my Pentax crop stuff I packed 12-24mm which saw some use, 18-55mm kit lens seeing more use by daylight, 50/1.4, 134/2.8 and 2 bodies. - I am doing quite fine with the 50/55 to 135mm gap, but I like the longer end covered. There are details to pick, scenes to watch, to me it feels somehow worth it and when I am travelling with others it sees a whole lot of use. My extended low light option would be adding a huge Sigma 24/1.8. I carried it through London for half a week but no, I think I didn't use it there and I most likely won't pack it for traveling.

Back to your stuff: Considering how dark it is around here, I firmly recommend to not skip IS on your wide to standard lens; that technology makes tourism easier.

Like Bob above I preach a 2nd body. Traveling with others or windy days and excessive lens juggling don't go well together. Short trips with guided sight seeing tours require an ability to shoot fast.

Which 24mm are you pondering: Pancake? - Or IS? - I'd probably lean towards IS. so my kit of choice would be 2nd body 24IS, 50/1.4, 10-17 + 17-135, assuming I am not urged to march carrying everything and my entire luggage.

No clue what to say or think about EOS M. - What attracts you towards it? - I read there aren't many native lenses and what is there isn't L glass. - Mirrorless tends to guzzle batteries, adapting lenses you have might work but will dual pixel AF really rock with the 50/1.4's seasoned construction? - Canon put some table online...

If you want an EOS M, fine, toss it in as the 2nd body and you'll be safer than without one, especially if you add spare batteries. I'd love to have something with additional EVF. Shooting via a rear display isn't my cup of tea.

Jochen's right about changing lenses.

We had a trip to Auschwitz when we were in Poland earlier this year. The only time we have had a guided tour (ever!)- in this case you had a guided tour or you didn't get in.

Just taking a couple of snaps and we found the tour was a couple of hundred metres ahead of us. Not a chance of changing lenses.

 

So, we (my wife and I) do our own thing and walk everywhere.

I took a trip to Europe this past month and used only a 35mm (equivalent) fixed lens camera. I was happy with the results, see them here. Once in a while there was a shot that I would have preferred with a wider lens but not enough to carry any more weight.

Which countries in Europe? As Jochen said, with daylight saving, it's dark early, but in the south that's not as bad as the north.

 

Do you think all you will shoot is wide-angle? Do you feel the f/2.8 aperture of the 17-55 or 24mm are needed, in comparison to the lenses you already own? I sure wouldn't dismiss something like the 18-135, it's a hugely convenient range and apart from wide-angle shots of the architecture, you occassionally may want a capture of details, so a bit of range wouldn't hurt.

Another thing is that I'd always be anxious to buy something new just before a trip - make sure you have time to properly test it before you leave, so that you're sure it works OK.

Consider the Sony A6000 with the kit lens and an adapter for your Canon lenses. Here is a photo and a crop shot at ISO 3200 f/5.6 1/100 sec no noise reduction applied to raw file. I have the 7D with the Sigma 17-50 which is a great combination but the 7D is not a great low light camera. The Sony has greater dynamic range which is great for blown out skies or recovering shadows. B&H is offering discounts right now.

We haven't heard from the original poster with details about the upcoming trip, so I'll add a couple of ideas in the dark.

 

I asked about the nature of the trip because, if the trip includes a cruise (river or ocean), I strongly recommend taking the 70-300 for shots from the ship. Whether you can rest the camera on a railing or use a monopod rested on the deck depends on how much engine vibration transmits throughout the ship. You can test it at the start of the cruise by resting the camera on a railing to take a shot and then examining the image on the LCD. Don't just assume you can use a railing etc as a support - make an informed decision.

 

Rain covers - you can carry several OpTec "disposable" covers in a pocket, and I enthusiastically recommend them.

 

Take gear that you are familiar with - don't buy a new camera and try to learn it while on your trip. That will cause you to miss shots you'd have gotten successfully with the old camera. Take whatever wide angle lenses you have used so far - if you like them at home, you'll like them on your trip, too. However, having said that, if you have a lens you use a lot but it handicaps you at times (e.g., f-stop limit), consider getting a replacement that mitigates the handicap your current lens has. If a slow f-stop hampers your indoor shooting with a lens, it will be even more frustrating on your trip.

 

My wife and I just completed a 14-day cruise that started in Copenhagen with a half dozen stops in Europe before crossing to New York. I took a second camera body, but it stayed in the room on the ship. I didn't take it to have a backup on me at all times - it could replace a malfunctioning camera once I got back to the room, and that was adequate for this trip. So I didn't cart 2 camera rigs around all the time, but I still had a spare. I also made extensive use of the 70-300 from the ship - got some wonderful shots entering and leaving the ports, and some of the Orkney Islands as we sailed by. I even got a decent bird shot near Scotland! I didn't carry the 70-300 off the ship - my kit lens (24-85) was all I carried, and it was equal to what I wanted as a walk-around lens.

 

Have a great time.

A lot depends on final use — how good of quality is necessary for what shots. I don't like being weighed down with lots of bodies and lenses and I'm not a fan of having to change lenses (it's really a laziness thing I think). So, while some days I'll have two bodies and four lenses, most days it's one body w/ a Nikon 24-70 (usually) or 70-200 and my iPhone. If the shot is something that I want or need high quality for then I'll do my best w/ whatever DSLR I've got.

 

Often though my need for wider is a shot that I'll just show to friends or because it's some bit of architecture that I like. iPhone quality is quite good enough for these. I've also published my fair share if iPhone shots with articles and I've never had a comment about poor image quality (except one gal that wanted to use one for an ad and was not able to correct the quality enough for that but that's a rarity). I have once or twice opted to take the time to go back to our flat for a different lens or body.

Which camera and lens combination would you use at home and why do youthink you would want something different in Europe? Where in Europe are you going? Sicilly, Portugal, Scotland, Finland, Norway, Russia, Bulgaria, Greece, Germany, France, the alps, the north sea shore, cities, small villages, ...? What concept of Europe do you have? What do you want to photograph?

My advice - travel light and enjoy your trip.

We travel quite a bit. I have a 7d and have found my 24-105 gets used for 80-90 percent of my shots. I use a 10-22 for 5 to 10 percent. I will always take a 50 f1.8 in case I want it and a 70-200 f4, which I will use for maybe 5 percent. The wide angle and mid range/tele lenses are the percect combo for most typical travel photography.