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What lenses to bring on multi country cruise


david_berwitz

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I will be on a 14 day cruise starting in Barcelona hitting Florence Rome Athens Malta .... You get the drift I am looking for 2 lenses to bring

with me for all the excursions. I have a T1i and I am considering a 60d but will most likely stick with what I have. I would like to shoot

street landscape some low light I am sure and family. All suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

Dave

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<p>For the low light, get a 50mm f/1.8 lens. Used less than $100 often. It's a short telephoto on your camera (actually either the T1i or the 60D). For a more "normal" focal length depending on your style of shooting, a 28mm f/2.8 or (more expensive) a 35mm f/2.<br>

Otherwise, two zooms - the cheapest would be the EF-S 18-55mm and the EF-S 55-250mm "kit lenses" - both image stabilized.<br>

Spend more money and you get faster lenses, but twice as much money won't necessarily get you lenses that are 2X the image quality of the kit lenses.<br>

A nice quality all-around set up is the EF-S 15-85mm IS lens (practically a one-lens solution in itself), together with, perhaps, a nice 70-200mm f/4 L lens. <br>

The sky is practically the limit here in terms of how much you could spend, and many lenses are offered in the 'normal' zoom and the seventy something to whatever range.</p>

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<p>In cities, especially where you can't necessarily back way out, I suggest going as wide as you can; I like a minimum of 15mm. You often get the 'falling down building syndrome as a result of distortion, but you can correct that in photoshop. <br>

Others, who are more in the know than I just stitch together a bunch of images; I suspect the advantage there is few distortion issues. In that case you can even limit your lens choice further; maybe just a 24-90 and then stitch things together on the wide end.</p>

<p> </p>

 

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<p>In the 1960s when I spent the better part of a year there I found that a 35mm lens was just about right most of the time, occasionally a 50 or 90. In the digital world, I'd probably choose something in the 14-18mm range on the wide end and a 50 on the long end.</p>
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<p>I would second what JDM von Weinberg suggested. I would also consider the option of renting a FF body for the trip, such as a 6D if you wish to stick with Canon. It has arguably the best low light, high ISO performance of any Canon body currently available at a reasonable rental cost. If you plan on hand holding in situations where tripods aren't allowed, it would make sense. There is the issue of size of lens, body, that make you somewhat of a standout in a crowd or on the street. The relatively new Canon SX50 superzoom could also be a competent backup or even a primary choice unless you're planning on printing gallery size images from your trip.</p>
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<p>I don't do cruise but ... I go light too, 8lbs daypack and maybe 6lbs camera gear all up incl the light Gitzo tripod for my style. </p>

<p>To go light. I assume it's crop sensor digital. A small kit lens is good like the 18-55 abouts. Take a good prime lens like a 35 or 50 what picks your fancy and that's about it. Test it around at home at night and see if you can get away with the pop up flash so you don't get any shadow in your pix. When I go it's tripod, kit lens, wide angle (for my style) and a fast prime but I don't use the latter much as I don't do much walkabout or street photography. The kit lens is my general lens when the light is not so dark.</p>

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<p>I was seriously considering the 18-135 or 18-200 will that be wide enough? for shooting the sites and I assume indoor I would want something faster like maybe a 40 or 50 prime?<br>

The other question I have are filters ... necessary or not (this may be a question that gets some interesting responses. I have read quite of few different opinions on this subject.<br>

I was trying to keep it to 2 lenses so that I was not fumbling too much with lens changes also I was considering a small tripod (tabletop) or gorilla? <br>

I was also looking at borrowlenses.com are there other or better places to rent from? </p>

 

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<p>18mm is pretty wide unless you're like me and into wide vistas of landscapes and cityscapes and enjoy the distorted view. Have a look at my profile where I captured the Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers when I was in the fountain park - that was taken at 10mm. 18mm is more than enough to capture Tokyo street buildings for example ..</p>

<p>The only filter I use is a polariser and some square filters for landscapes that's about it sunrise/sunset. With digital you have software. I don't use UV filters.</p>

<p>This was shot on film so about 11mm on the Canon digital:<br>

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5041/5326019980_2a259e2f9e_b_d.jpg</p>

<p>18mm on my cropped sensor Nikon digital:<br>

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2253/5789886330_e3c88f65e6_b_d.jpg</p>

<p>Or 24mm<br /><br />http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2271/5789331959_d1976bd202_b_d.jpg</p>

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