Hi, Im going on my first trip to England in just over a month and i want to take photos of castles and buildings so i'm taking my 5D mark iii and as far as lenses go I'm thinking i will take my 24-70L ii and 70-200 Lis ii but i want to get a wider lens, so I'm thinking i might go the 17mm tse.
Does anyone have any recommendations on this lens?
I assume that you have a agenda setup. Use google earth to look at each castle / tourist city you are visiting, and plan out the best locations for photos and what lens you will or might use.
While a TS-E lens is really nice for serious photography, if you are at the really crowded places, its likely that a tripod will be banned, so research that as well. There is a amazing amount of information on the Internet.
One uncrowded castle I stayed in was in Peebles, Scotland. We took a bouncy old bus 22 miles through the beautiful countryside to the small town of Peebles, and the castle Venlaw, which sits on a hill above the town. We had a room in the turret overlooking the town. No crowds at all. There was transportation down to the town, but we walked thru the woods down the hillside to the town, which had lots of interesting shops. We then took the bus to Edinburough and took a bus tour of the city as well as walked around spending lots of $$ on woolen blankets, sweaters, etc.
After walking until my feet were sore, it was nice to sit back on the train and enjoy the country we passed thru until our next destination. Although I had been to London a few times, and been out to the country to visit suppliers for our company, when my wife and I planned a vacation, we had a local lady who was from England setup the tour, hotels, etc. I did the air travel through my company, so we got business class for the price of cattle car seats in the back.
I like London, there are years worth of fantastic things to see, but I also fondly remember the small country places and the people where we were not crowded and could take our time. Try to see both the big attractions as well as some that are off the beaten trail.