Lens advice for New York City

[AlanK]

My wife is running the New York City Marathon this year and we are taking our first trip to the city along with my son (17) and daughter (13).  We arrive November 1 and leave November 4 - it will be a short trip but the kids will be missing 2 days of school.  We don't have specific plans yet but I imagine a ferry tour will be on the agenda along with some of the bigger attractions (Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Grand Central, etc.)  I am looking for advice on what focal lengths I should take to capture our trip.

For cameras I have: 7D, EOS M (and EF adapter), and a S100.
My lenses are: EF 70-200mm 2.8 IS II, EF 50mm 1.8, EF-S 18-135mm, EF-M 22mm

With my son in college next year, we are on a pretty tight budget but I have considered purchasing one of the following:  EF-M 18-55mm, EF-M 11-22mm, or Sigma 50mm 1.4.

I am leaning heavily toward leaving my 7D and 70-200 at home. If I were to rely solely on the M and the S100, do I need 2 or 3 lenses and what should they be?  Any other advice also appreciated. 

Thank you!

[Canon 14-24]

ULTRA WIDE focal lengths, so go with the 11-22mm.

You already have a 18-135 and 50 1.8, so the 18-55 and 50 1.4 are crossed out.

You would only use the 70-200 for like on the ferry shots/street photography/marathon or up top Rockefeller/Empire State building if you want to purposely have that pincushion distortion (otherwise probably about 5-10% of your trip shots).

The wide angle will probably be used like 70%+ of the time.

If you have the time try and squeeze: The High Line, DUMBO / Brooklyn, Roosevelt Island from the Tram, NYC Public Library 3rd level rooms + Bryant Park, Times Square, Central Park (early morning dawn/sunrise to avoid the tourist hordes).

[epsiloneri]

Hehe, an ultra-wide lens.. how could you expect any other advice from a user nicked Canon 14-24? But from your options, yes, I agree.

[bainsybike]

+1 for the 11-22 - I think it's an amazing lens.  I like to pair it with the shorty 40 + adaptor, which handles very well with the M.

[AlanK]

OK - 11-22 it is!  And I appreciate the suggestions on places to visit....
Alan

[Mt Spokane Photography]

OK - 11-22 it is!  And I appreciate the suggestions on places to visit....
Alan

 
Is the 11-22mm available in the USA?  You would have to order it from Canada.  I don't think you can rent it either.
 
Fortunately, there are good Canadian stores to order it from, but there will be no service in the USA until / unless Canon decides to sell it here.  The service centers won't have parts or tools to fix itr, so its back to Canada for any repairs.
 
If you get the EF-s 10-22, its readily available. Then with a adapter it can be used on either camera, and its a excellent lens.  They are available refurbished as well.
 
http://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/lenses-flashes/refurbished-lenses-speedlites/ef-s-10-22mm-f-35-45-usm-refurbished

[T-Man]

I think you will need a wide angle lens (10-22mm) for landscape shots, a walk-about lens and a telephoto lens.
I would take the 70-200 as it has IS -- very valuable for night shots. The 50mm f/1.8 will also be handy in low light, if you intend going to either the Empire State Building or Top of the Rock for night shots.
In the absence of a lens similar to 10-22 for your 7D, I'd use the 18-135 as my walk-about lens.

[sdsr]

I would take the 7D (especially if you're going to photograph your wife in the marathon) and leave the 70-200 at home - it's a pain (literally) to lug around all day and if you're anywhere crowded it/you will be a nuisance.  Plus, unless you're in a wide open space, such as the middle of Central Park, or want to focus on some small detail on top of a skyscraper (in which case 200 isn't really long enough anyway), your 18-135 will be more useful.

Unless it's really cheap, I don't see any point *buying* a lens for a short trip like that, especially if you have education expenses to deal with; rent one instead (assuming you live somewhere where that's an option).  The one omission amongst what you own that would be really useful in NY (depending on your taste, of course) is an ultrawide zoom; you can have fun looking up skyscrapers with such a thing, for instance.  Your M/22mm and 50mm should be enough for wandering around at night.  But at least you're in NY: if it suddenly occurs to you that you need a lens you don't have, pay a visit to B&H or Adorama or even J&R.

And don't forget the first rule of packing: no matter which lens(es) you leave behind, you'll wish you had them with you; and if you take them all with you, you won't use most of them....

[AlanK]

OK - 11-22 it is!  And I appreciate the suggestions on places to visit....
Alan

 
Is the 11-22mm available in the USA?  You would have to order it from Canada.  I don't think you can rent it either.
 
Fortunately, there are good Canadian stores to order it from, but there will be no service in the USA until / unless Canon decides to sell it here.  The service centers won't have parts or tools to fix itr, so its back to Canada for any repairs.
 
If you get the EF-s 10-22, its readily available. Then with a adapter it can be used on either camera, and its a excellent lens.  They are available refurbished as well.
 
http://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/lenses-flashes/refurbished-lenses-speedlites/ef-s-10-22mm-f-35-45-usm-refurbished

Good suggestion.  I had not considered the EF-s 10-22 but perhaps I should.    My 7D was refurbished and arrived with only 7 clicks on it and the 70-200 was refurbished too, with only a brown box to say it was anything but new.   So I have no complaints with refurb'ed equipment and I didn't realize the EF-s 10-22 was such a value at $519.

My struggle is that I really like the form factor and the image quality of the EOS M.  And I suspect that the EF-M WA would be a better fit on the M than the EF-s counterpart.  If I continue to use my equipment as I am, I could see myself only using the 7D and 70-200 for my son's club soccer games and using the EOS M for (nearly) everything else.

DigitalRev has the EF-M 11-22 for about $50 more than what I could order it from Canada for; plus they offer a 'local' warranty where I can have the lens repaired at a service center of their choosing and they pay the repair costs.  It is implied that they have service centers in the US.  I want to look more into this warranty service but that might be worth an extra $50 for the peace of mind.

Thanks also to everyone else that responded - I do appreciate everyone's suggestions.