A set of lenses for around the world travel.

[00Q]

Hi all,

This is my first post. I just registered today but have been a long follower of canon rumours. I love lenses and I have tried many lenses both from sigma and canon. Its mainly for fun and for educational expereinces.

So I have been shooting using my 450D for more than 4 years. Currently I have invested all my money into good lenses. 450D is sufficient for me and the next stage would be a a 5D mkIII so I will wait for that.

I am planning a career break and travel the world for 6 months. Im thinking of a set of lenses I should take. Advice is welcome!

Currently I have been shooting with three lenses:

1) Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 OS.
[The optical stabilization is amazing and I would chose this over the canon equivalent of the non IS ]

2) Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 USM L.
[This is my main gun, I have just sold this as I am anticipating the MkII version of this lens]

3) Sigma 8-16mm
[This is my landscape lens. I prefer this to the Canon 10-22mm that I once owned due to the wider field of view at 8mm]

So currently as I have sold my main gun, Im hoping to buy the 24-70 back if the MkII announcement will be in Jan. Maybe the price will drop. Any idea how long we need to wait for the MkII to be in store if it is announced in january? I dont think I would get the MkII as the price might be pricy, esp if it is not IS.

I am thinking of taking a 50mm f/1.4 in my pocket. I had that lens and have sold it. I didnt like it too much as I found it to be too telefocal on a 450D. I do think its a nice toy to have in the pocket for night walks when I travel. I have tried the Sigma 17-50 f/2.8 OS. Its a nice lens but I dont find myself using it much if I have the 24-70 too.

So my plan is to keep the Sigma 70-200 and 8-16, buy back my 24-70mm canon L lens and buy back a 50mm 1.4. I might take a x2 teleconverter. I have a 430EXII speedlite and will take a Manfrotto 190XPROB. Bit heavy as I will be backpacking but I do want to record the best moments of my life. Is this too much gear? Does this sound logical. All the money as you can see is on lenses and none is invested in the 5D mkII. Would the 5D mk II be that much better that I will regret it later?

thanks loads,

[briansquibb]

If you go to the 5DII you will have to do something about the 8-16 I believe

[00Q]

Yes thats right. If I get the 5D II I cant put the 8-16 on there. The question is am I missing something big by not having a full frame? I dont want to regret it later

[handsomerob]

If I were to travel the world for 6 months, I think I would sell everything and buy a 5DII + 24-105L kit and add a 50mm f/1.4 for low light work. Paired with decent glass, FF is the way to go if you want the best possible IQ to capture those priceless moments.

One important thing you should consider is the storage of your photos, especially if you are shooting RAW. You should see that your laptop has a big enough hard drive with enough empty space to hold all those photos you will take for 6 months. You can also store them in an external drive of course.

I would take ONE MORE external drive as backup, which is probably more important than having an extra lens. You could eventually also store them with online services or on your website but whatever you do, you have to have a backup!!!!

Last but not least, I would replace the tripod with a carbon version which would be much lighter for travel.

Don't forget to enjoy your time and try to also watch the world only with your eyes, not always through the viewfinder

Have fun!

[Zo0m]

On a crop body I would really suggest the Sigma 30/1,4 instead of a nifty fifty. To my experience, that focal length is a lot more useful on crop.  You can get the sigma for 1/5 of the price compared to the canon 35/1,4L. The centre is sharp enough and the lens produces suberb bokeh. The 30mm equals to 48mm on FF...

[TexPhoto]

I don't think an around the world trip requires camera gear much different than an around the block trip. By which I mean your photo style is not likely to change.  On the other hand, support gear, storage, batteries, chargers, etc will need to be carefully thought out.

If going full frame, jump from the sigma 8-16 to the sigma 12-24, and you will feel right at home.

[briansquibb]

If I were to travel the world for 6 months, I think I would sell everything and buy a 5DII + 24-105L kit and add a 50mm f/1.4 for low light work. Paired with decent glass, FF is the way to go if you want the best possible IQ to capture those priceless moments.

5DII + 17-40 + 70-300 +50 f/1.4 + spare batteries and usb charger

15inch laptop and usb 3-1/2inch hard drive. Be ruthless with the keepers

Covers it all. Definitely a tripod although I would go for a cheap, short one that doesn't matter if it gets damaged in transit

This is what I take on my motorbike tours

[candyman]

On a crop body I would really suggest the Sigma 30/1,4 instead of a nifty fifty. To my experience, that focal length is a lot more useful on crop.

A good alternative is the Canon EF 35mm f2 (a FF lens can be used on your crop but also the future FF canon 5D MK III you are saving for)

I am very pleased with the results of this lens. And, it is around 250 euro (might be less in dollars)

[neuroanatomist]

If I were to travel the world for 6 months, I think I would sell everything and buy a 5DII + 24-105L kit and add a 50mm f/1.4 for low light work. Paired with decent glass, FF is the way to go if you want the best possible IQ to capture those priceless moments.

+1

I'd also say trade what you've got now (perhaps not the 70-200 if you're willing to carry the weight).  The 24-105mm on FF is a great and versatile travel lens.  When I got my 5DII, one of the main drivers was an upcoming trip to China - I'm really glad I had the 5DII for the trip. I took many lenses, but the 24-105mm got by far the most use.  The 50/1.4 would also be good for nighttime (I have the 35/1.4L, which combined with the high ISO ability of the 5DII was great as a nighttime walkaround lens).  On an extended trip, you may be better off with fewer lenses. 

24mm of FF is pretty wide (15mm on your camera gives the same FoV).  If you want ultrawide and like 8mm on crop, consider the Samyang (Bower/Rokinon) 14mm f/2.8. It's manual (focus, aperture) but pretty cheap and the IQ is very good

Happy travels!

[katwil]

I've just returned from a Middle East vacation, having taken about 1,100 pictures with my Canon T3i / Tamron 18-270 PZD lens.  I brought along my Canon 24-105L, but it didn't get much use as it just wasn't wide enough.  I do wish I had taken my Canon 5D II (which I've purchased since the trip), as it would have allowed me to get a lot of use out of the 24-105.

The Tamron 18-270 PZD did pretty well and you can beat the convenience of a single lens, but shots at the upper and lower ends of its limits aren't great.

If I had it to do all over again, I would have taken a Canon 5D II with my 24-105L and my Canon 70-200 f/4 IS (the weight savings would have been more important that the extra stop).

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, if you are planning to take multiple lenses, I'd suggest that you bring some kind of sensor cleaning kit with you.  Few things make me feel more helpless than spotting a spec of lint on my shots after the first day's photos knowing that it will be there for the rest of my trip.  Fortunately, this didn't happen on my recent trip, but it has before.

[unruled]

katwil do you have any example shots from the 18-270 (at the extremes that aren't great)? I'm curious as to how bad is bad.
also interesting that you own and had L glass and chose for that tamron indtead.

cheers

[00Q]

If I were to travel the world for 6 months, I think I would sell everything and buy a 5DII + 24-105L kit and add a 50mm f/1.4 for low light work. Paired with decent glass, FF is the way to go if you want the best possible IQ to capture those priceless moments.

I'd also say trade what you've got now (perhaps not the 70-200 if you're willing to carry the weight).  The 24-105mm on FF is a great and versatile travel lens.  When I got my 5DII, one of the main drivers was an upcoming trip to China - I'm really glad I had the 5DII for the trip. I took many lenses, but the 24-105mm got by far the most use.  The 50/1.4 would also be good for nighttime (I have the 35/1.4L, which combined with the high ISO ability of the 5DII was great as a nighttime walkaround lens).  On an extended trip, you may be better off with fewer lenses. 

24mm of FF is pretty wide (15mm on your camera gives the same FoV).  If you want ultrawide and like 8mm on crop, consider the Samyang (Bower/Rokinon) 14mm f/2.8. It's manual (focus, aperture) but pretty cheap and the IQ is very good

Happy travels!

Thanks so much for everyone who has replied so far. Im very happy to receive lots of good advice in such a little time. It seems that the general opinion is to get a 5DII. I will definitely look into this. Im new to FF photography. can someone help to explain to me why it will be much better quality? I know that the the ISo performance will be better and the bokeh will be good too with high signal to noise ratio as the pixels are larger in size. There will be large noticeable difference then it seems on FF? Ive never taken shots with FF before.

Regarding the 24-105 lens that some members here have kindly adviced, I have tried it a few times. I did like it very much, esp on the cropped 450D I have I get a nice zoom range. And the image quality is really sharp. I did however find it frustrating shooting indoors and in low light ( not even night time) due to the f/4 aperature. So Im in two minds to exchange the 24-70 for the 24-105.

thanks,

[Cosk]

I spent 4 months traveling through South America - and traveled light (one small backpack... 80% of it was camera gear, 10% was a bottle of wine, and the rest was for clothing.)

If you're interested, here's the blog I wrote on the way, so you can see my style of photography, and whether my recommendations are going to work for you:  http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/seankervin/1/tpod.html

I'll first tell you what I took... and then what I would take if I had to do it again.

30D
Super wide: 10-22 (950)
Wide: 24mm 2.8 (450)
50mm short portrait (10)
85mm 1.8 long portrait (1300)
70-200 f/4 IS (1250)
1.4x (1400)

The numbers in the () are the number of shots that I actually took with that lens.  Back home, my favorite lens is the 50... but although I carried it for 4 months, I didn't really use it.  The 85 was far more useful for capturing photos of people, and interesting things because I could be more discrete.  That 85/1.8 really delivered. 

I used the 10-22 a LOT... but it only delivered 2 photos that are wall worthy.

I hated the 24mm.  It sounded like an electric razor... and although I loathed putting it on my camera, it had an exceptionally high wall rate... I have a love-hate relationship with all the photos this lens credits on my walls.

The 70-200 saw the most action, but realize that's the lens most likely to get motor-drived, but the important thing is that half of the shots had a 1.4x converter.

So, I recommend adding the awesome 85mm 1.8 and (sigh) the scratchy 24mm 2.8 to your kit.


Finally... consider a used 5D classic.  I just bought one off Ebay for $750 and bought the 35L (on sale now) to replace my 24 - I LOVE it! 

[neuroanatomist]

The FF noise advantage over APS-C is ~1.3 stops, a little more coming from an older xxxD body.  So, f/4 on FF would be like ~f/2.2 on your camera in terms of low light performance for the same noise. 

[Kahuna]

[/quote]

5DII + 17-40 + 70-300 +50 f/1.4 + spare batteries and usb charger

15inch laptop and usb 3-1/2inch hard drive. Be ruthless with the keepers

Covers it all. Definitely a tripod although I would go for a cheap, short one that doesn't matter if it gets damaged in transit

This is what I take on my motorbike tours
[/quote]

Agreed.  and don't forget a nice waterproof / water resistant bag