Lens for Crater Lake NP

[Random Orbits]

My family and I are planning on visiting national parks in the Pacific Northwest including Crater Lake National Park this summer, and I've started looking into what focal lengths would be useful. I've seen a few webpages stating that an UWA lens is a must, but how wide of a lens is useful for Crater Lake NP? Is 16mm on FF wide enough or would a 11-24 or fisheye be useful?

 

[bholliman]

I can't really give any useful advice since I was using a point and shoot camera the only time we visited Crater Lake National Park in 2009 or 2010. Its a beautiful location! The Pacific Northwest if probably my favorite part of the USA, so many diverse environments in a fairly small area.

Based on my recollection and images we came back with, I believe 16mm on a full frame camera would be wide enough. If you wanted to do some wide panoramic images of the entire crater, you could of course create a panorama in post.

We are planning another trip to Oregon and Washington next year, so I look forward to the responses of those with DSLR experience there.

 

[Orangutan]

My family and I are planning on visiting national parks in the Pacific Northwest including Crater Lake National Park this summer, and I've started looking into what focal lengths would be useful. I've seen a few webpages stating that an UWA lens is a must, but how wide of a lens is useful for Crater Lake NP? Is 16mm on FF wide enough or would a 11-24 or fisheye be useful?

It's been some time since I was there, but here's my best advice. For the lake itself, you'll want gear for wide and panorama. Also remember that there's more to the park than just the lake: depending on how much time you have, you may want to explore some of the areas away from the crater. The car-accessible viewpoints can get very crowded in the summer. If your family are avid hikers, plan an early morning hike away from the road (horizontally or vertically) for a less-crowded view.

One more thing, I wish I'd had this book: http://www.oregonhiking.com/navillus-press/oregon-guides/trails-of-crater-lake-national-park

 

[Random Orbits]

My family and I are planning on visiting national parks in the Pacific Northwest including Crater Lake National Park this summer, and I've started looking into what focal lengths would be useful. I've seen a few webpages stating that an UWA lens is a must, but how wide of a lens is useful for Crater Lake NP? Is 16mm on FF wide enough or would a 11-24 or fisheye be useful?

It's been some time since I was there, but here's my best advice. For the lake itself, you'll want gear for wide and panorama. Also remember that there's more to the park than just the lake: depending on how much time you have, you may want to explore some of the areas away from the crater. The car-accessible viewpoints can get very crowded in the summer. If your family are avid hikers, plan an early morning hike away from the road (horizontally or vertically) for a less-crowded view.

One more thing, I wish I'd had this book: http://www.oregonhiking.com/navillus-press/oregon-guides/trails-of-crater-lake-national-park

Thanks for the recommendations! We were planning on taking a boat in the lake and going to the island for a few hours. It'll depend on whether or not we can get tickets for the boat. I wasn't planning on taking specific pano gear, but you've definitely got me thinking about it!

 

[Random Orbits]

Ended up bringing both a 16-35 and a 11-24. The 16-35 was used more on the entire trip, but my favorite from the rim was at 11mm. Taken shortly after dawn. The haze/orange colors are from the smoke from nearby wildfires. The previous afternoon, you couldn't even see the water below nor the other side of the rim because smoke had filled the entire crater.