Lens for overseas travel

[Aszental]

Hey.
well im goin overseas for a year to study, im gonna be doing a lot of hiking and want to be able to take photos of the landscape and scenery.

At the moment i have
17-70mm Sigma 2.8
50mm 1.8 Canon lens.

I will also be doing alot of street photography.

Would these lens be sufficient?, what others lenses should i look into?

Thank you

[Kris]

Having travelled for nearlly 3months only last week I can tell you what I took and used alot.

Full frame 5D
16-35 (used this about 65% of the time)
Fast low light lens, 35 F1.4L in my case. Your 50 1.8 would be good if you don't mind shots that are a bit longer. I used this lens only at night as I didn't want to carry a tripod/flash. I used this alot!

70-200 F2.8 IS, long zoom with a tele. Didn't use this too much and you could do without it if you want to travel light. When I did need it (sports games, portraits from a far) it was invaluable.

In my opinion and if budget allows, take a wide angle such as your 17-70, a fast wide prime for night shots and a long zoom. This gives you great coverage, no need for tripods and flexibility during the day with your wide zoom (this doesn't need to be fast but your F2.8 will do wonders)

Hope that helps

[Aszental]

Using 30d btw.

Yep it sure does, more opinions i get the better!

[Kris]

In that case, add a 70-200 F4 to your arsenal if you dont mind the extra baggage and your set! if you're a bit richer, the f2.8 IS is nice and you'll get a bit more reach cause of the 30D's 1.6x multiper

[christiand]

Hi,

I just returned from a trip to Germany.
The two lenses I used were a 12-24mm and a 28-70mm.
Most of the time I used the 28-70mm but sometimes that wasn't wide enough and the 12-24mm helped a lot.
I had the 70-200mm plus tele converter with me, however I never used the long focus.

HTH,
CD

[BT*ist]

For the all-important kilos-to-usage tradeoff, I tend to sacrifice my back and travel with too many lenses. The wide zoom and a nice prime are must-haves. I personally find a lengthier telephoto to be quite useful (eg 70-300) for zooming in on buildings from hilltop or high-rise vantagepoints.

For landscape and scenery and street photography, you might have pretty good coverage with what you have.

[Reschsmooth]

Having travelled for nearlly 3months only last week...

Wow - you have really mastered the art of time compression!!!

Sorry - had to pick that one up!

[Kris]

Having travelled for nearlly 3months only last week...

Wow - you have really mastered the art of time compression!!!

Sorry - had to pick that one up!

 LOL

[gstark]

Having travelled for nearlly 3months only last week...

Wow - you have really mastered the art of time compression!!!

Sorry - had to pick that one up!

 LOL

I lived for three years in Modesto, California, one weekend.

[Aszental]

Excellent, thanks so much guys.

Now one more Question.

i have about 300-400 to spend on a Tripod/head, what is something that is relatively small and lightweight that i could take with me? Not goin to be doing so much backpacking over there, so it doesnt have to be tiny!

Thank you

[christiand]

Hi Aszental,

what would you like to use the tripod for ?
Reason I'm asking is that allthough I've got two tripods, I hardly use them. My tripods (were $250 without decent head) are not allways of the sturdiness I need and I also found that in a number of situations, like indoors I can get away with placing the camera on some something. A sturdy, reliable, long lasting tripod, that can also take rough terrain with a great ball head will cost far more, I believe, than your budget that you have indicated. Also carrying a tripod around is not much fun.
A believe that a little bean bag (heat pad) may help a lot.

Just my 20 cents,
CD

[benhoskin]

even look at going wider on the 30d if your taking buildings/landscapes.
i took 30D with a 17-40f4l... still not wide enough!

[Aszental]

mmm so its between a 10-22mm for the Wider shots, or a 70-200 for the telephoto.

Thanks guys!

[Kris]

Youll use the 10-20 more than a 70-200 for your trip I'll bet my $

[Alpha_7]

I tend to agree with Kris. Having just spent 5 weeks overseas myself.

[benhoskin]

yep the 17-40 was my widest lens, the 70-200 was used probably less than 10%