Travel lens\es on crop body

[oarvision]

Hello,

My wife and I are going on holiday to Italy toward the end of November (first time, and yes we're very excited), and I need your collective advice. I've seen a lot of posts for FF travel suggestions, but not so much advice for crop bodies.

If you could only take two lenses with a crop body, what would you choose and why? (or do you have a compelling argument for bringing a third lens as well?) My reasoning for only bringing two is weight, space, and not having to change lenses too often.

I have a preference for L lenses because of weather sealing and quality (November in Italy is supposed to be rainy), but I want to hear your arguments for any other lens\es you would suggest.

I'm curious to hear your suggestions! Thanks in advance,
Seth

(current setup - yes, it's simple )
Body: EOS 7d
Lens: 24-105 f\4L

[neuroanatomist]

I'd add a wide angle (24mm on APS-C is normal, not wide).  You could use the 17-40L, but honestly I'd get the Canon 10-22mm or Sigma 8-16mm.

[RLPhoto]

Hello,

My wife and I are going on holiday to Italy toward the end of November (first time, and yes we're very excited), and I need your collective advice. I've seen a lot of posts for FF travel suggestions, but not so much advice for crop bodies.

If you could only take two lenses with a crop body, what would you choose and why? (or do you have a compelling argument for bringing a third lens as well?) My reasoning for only bringing two is weight, space, and not having to change lenses too often.

I have a preference for L lenses because of weather sealing and quality (November in Italy is supposed to be rainy), but I want to hear your arguments for any other lens\es you would suggest.

I'm curious to hear your suggestions! Thanks in advance,
Seth

(current setup - yes, it's simple )
Body: EOS 7d
Lens: 24-105 f\4L

17-55mm 2.8 IS - Everything
50mm 1.4 or 50 1.2L or [Insert Fast Prime Lens] - Everything at Night. 

Done.

[florianbieler.de]

The 24-105 is good to start with, I'd prefer the Tamron 24-70 VC but hey your lens also covers that zoom range. On crop you could also go with the 17-50 at a lower image and build quality.

Definitely a keeper, perfect for traveling (if you are into landscape etc) and not too expensive is the 70-200 4.0L! With and without IS it offers a top notch image quality. I decided to get the non-IS version, got it used for 390€, it's lightweight, zoomring goes very smoothly, just great to use.

[robbymack]

For crop I prefer the 17-55 2.8 over the 24-105, but since you already have the latter maybe just rent a 10-22 for the trip and stick a 50 1.8 or 1.4 in the bag for those night shots.

[Act444]

24-105, definitely.

The second lens would depend on if you want more wide-angle or you're a telephoto shooter. If you prefer wide, perhaps a 10-22 (although it is EF-S and not weather sealed, it is the only true UWA Canon lens for 1.6x). If you prefer tele, the 70-300L would be a great choice (or 70-200L f4 non-IS if on a budget).

[Random Orbits]

For crop I prefer the 17-55 2.8 over the 24-105, but since you already have the latter maybe just rent a 10-22 for the trip and stick a 50 1.8 or 1.4 in the bag for those night shots.

+1.  You don't need to bring all the lenses everywhere you go.  If you're going out for the day, a 10-22 and 24-105 combo would work well.  Just use a fast prime (30, 35 or 50mm) when you head out at night.

[dhofmann]

A good two lens setup for travel (other than safari) is the 10-22mm lens and the 15-85mm lens. If you need anything beyond 85mm, you can always shoot in RAW and crop.

For the same reason, a good one lens setup is just the 10-22mm lens, unless you're really sure you don't need the 10-14mm range.

If you plan to take more telephoto photos than normal field of view photos, then substitute the 70-200mm f/4.0L IS lens for the 15-85.

[pj1974]

Firstly, I acknowledged you have a good lens the 24-105mm f/4, mainly intended for FF. I would strongly recommend the Canon 15-85mm as a great travel lens for an APS-C / 1.6x crop - either to hire or buy.  It's got a great and practical zoom range, and matched with fantastic IQ.  Sharp, good contrast, decent bokeh and natural, rich colours.

A few weeks ago I went on an interstate holiday, and took 2 lenses: my 15-85mm and Sigma 10-20mm. My Canon 15-85mm was my most used lens, but the ultra wide (ie used @ 10mm) of my Siggie 10-20mm certainly handy for some landscape and architectural shots. I can imagine that you'd get some ultra wide usage in Italy (great landscapes and of course rich architecture).

If you are thinking of doing a lot of low light shooting (I do realise Italy is heading close to winter...end of November will have relatively short / darker days), maybe buy (or hire) the 17-55mm instead of the 15-85mm (of course, shooting wide open). The 24-105 is also a great lens, but just not wide enough as a travel zoom on a crop for my usage (but you may have a different shooting style). Matching to any of these decent / good ultra-wide though (eg Sigma 8-16, or 10-20mm or Canon's 10-22mm, or Tokina 11-16mm), does make a lot of sense.

Best wishes for your photography, and enjoy Italy.  It's a lovely country.

Paul

[wickidwombat]

I would say the 15-85 EF-S
and the canon 50 f1.4 unless its a 7D then i would say the siggy 50 1.4 becasue you can AFMA

if you need wider than the 15mm then shoot a panorama and stitch later


or

option 2  if you want to spend more

canon EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS

and sigma 85 f1.4 (if you have 7D and can AFMA) or the canon 85 f1.8 if you want to go a bit cheaper on a body with no AFMA

or Option 3

3 lenses
15-85 EF-S - zoom range is nice
40mm pancake - f2.8 brilliant l is niceens and small light and unobtrussive
85 f1.8 canon or 85 f1.4 siggy (canon is smaller siggy is bigger but better quality) - fast aperture for low light

any of those combos will be pretty kick arse

[RC]

Since you've got a 24-105, buy/rent the 10-22.  If you plan to go FF and don't want to buy an EF-S lens, buy/rent the 17-40 or 16-35.

[IIIHobbs]

With the 24-105L you have a great travel lens. If you like L glass then rent or buy the 14L for your trip. It is effectively a 22mm on the 7D.

The EFS10-22 is very good, not L, but solid and excellent as an ultra wide on a crop sensor body.

[marekjoz]

I will also share my experience from the trip to Greece. One week, lazy most of the time (beach and pool mostly).
I took 5D2, 50 1.4, 24-105, 70-200 F 4 L IS, ext 1.4 II

I didn't make a lot of photos (about 1000 of all), have chosen 139 as "good enough" to keep them.

In those 139 photos:
- 9 made with 24-105
- 11 with 50 1.4,
- 107 made with 70-200,
- 12 made with 70-200 + ext.
Checking all the focals used on photos, the average weighted focal was 133.

When using 70-200: 30% of photos were @200mm and also 30% were @ F4 (what means that it's too short and too dark lens for me because I would use wider than F4 and longer that 200 if I could)

Looking at all the statistics, if i were you and took 7D with 24-105 and would like to make all 139 photos which I decided to keep, I would miss:
- 2 photos because I would need wider than 24mm on crop
- 3 photos because I would need faster than F4 @50mm
- 52 photos because I would need longer than 105mm on crop

That's me, my style of shooting, place where I was and subjects which were shot. You can have quite different needs.

Below I attach bubble graphs for real geeks:
- the bigger the bubble the more photos at specific focal and aperture
- horizontal axis take focals, vertical - take apertures
- the bubbles for different lenses don't have the same size meaning specific amount of photos (ie bubbles on 24-105 showing one photo are bigger than those on 70-200)

Explanation - I'm not crazy, just wanted to check what I use mostly and if my lenses were apropriate for me.

[sdsr]

It depends on where you'll be and your photography style.  For instance, if you want to photograph inside churches and similar buildings you would benefit from a very wide lens (I rather like Sigma's 8-16, which goes wider than anything else).  You would also benefit from a fast lens when photographing interiors to minimize noise; unfortunately, ultra-wide zooms aren't both....  If you like night or other low light photography - and there will be more of that in November - fast lenses will help there, too, for the same reason.  If, like me, you often find detail shots more interesting than overall scenes, you'll want a zoom with a good deal of reach. 

If you want all that, two lenses won't do; and if you're concerned about convenience, you probably won't want to take a fast zoom at all (the f/4 70-200s are far easier to travel with than the f/2.8s).  (FF cameras are much easier to travel with thanks to their superior low light performance.) 

So, if you want just two lenses you may need to compromise - a ultra-wide angle (8-16, say) and an all-purpose long zoom (e.g. Canon 18-200 or Tamron 18-270 - not lenses one might normally want, but...).  Or a zoom and a fast prime; or a couple of fast primes.  You get the idea....   

[rdespy]

When i went to Italy i just brought two lenses 17-55mm 2.8 mostly covered a low light churches and a 55-250mm  you are all set