Which Lens to Take

[docfrance]

Just catching up with this discussion as I'm planning an early July 2015 climb of Kilimanjaro (8-day Lemosho Route). I live at 2000m and climb mountains over 4300m routinely here in Colorado. Right now, I'm planning the following:

5D MkIII with four batteries
24-105mm
50mm f/1.4
100-400mm Mk II

I also have the 16-35 f/4L, 40mm pancake, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mk II. The last of these is out due to weight and redundancy, but still thinking about the 16-35 and the 40's so small... On the good side, a friend going on the climb is bringing along his new 7D Mk II with 18-135mm kit lens. I can probably talk him into carrying an lens. I also hope to buy/find/borrow a lightweight tripod for night shots. I'd appreciate any thoughts and recommendations on my kit.

 

[expatinasia]

Personally I would only take the two lenses, your 17-40 and 70-200 ii. Have a fun trip. (that was for the OP, did not realise the thread was so old!).

Just catching up with this discussion as I'm planning an early July 2015 climb of Kilimanjaro (8-day Lemosho Route). I live at 2000m and climb mountains over 4300m routinely here in Colorado. Right now, I'm planning the following:

5D MkIII with four batteries
24-105mm
50mm f/1.4
100-400mm Mk II

I also have the 16-35 f/4L, 40mm pancake, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mk II. The last of these is out due to weight and redundancy, but still thinking about the 16-35 and the 40's so small... On the good side, a friend going on the climb is bringing along his new 7D Mk II with 18-135mm kit lens. I can probably talk him into carrying an lens. I also hope to buy/find/borrow a lightweight tripod for night shots. I'd appreciate any thoughts and recommendations on my kit.

Personally I always recommend to travel light and I would take the 16-35 f/4L and the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mk II. I would also take my own lightweight tripod.

 

[tron]

Personally I would only take the two lenses, your 17-40 and 70-200 ii. Have a fun trip. (that was for the OP, did not realise the thread was so old!).

Just catching up with this discussion as I'm planning an early July 2015 climb of Kilimanjaro (8-day Lemosho Route). I live at 2000m and climb mountains over 4300m routinely here in Colorado. Right now, I'm planning the following:

5D MkIII with four batteries
24-105mm
50mm f/1.4
100-400mm Mk II

I also have the 16-35 f/4L, 40mm pancake, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mk II. The last of these is out due to weight and redundancy, but still thinking about the 16-35 and the 40's so small... On the good side, a friend going on the climb is bringing along his new 7D Mk II with 18-135mm kit lens. I can probably talk him into carrying an lens. I also hope to buy/find/borrow a lightweight tripod for night shots. I'd appreciate any thoughts and recommendations on my kit.

Personally I always recommend to travel light and I would take the 16-35 f/4L and the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mk II. I would also take my own lightweight tripod.

So a 70-200 f/2.8L IS MkII is your idea of travelling light? Also if you had just the 16-35, the 70-200 and one camera you would switch lenses all the time...

 

[Hillsilly]

I don't speak from experience, but after admiring a lot of photos of the region, I get the impression that a longer focal length would be preferred over a wider focal length. I'd leave the 17-40 behind and go with the 24-105. You can always stitch images together is you want a wider view.

Personally, I'd be so tempted to take the 100-400, too, and get some mountain peak shots. But you hear how hard it is for most people to cope with the altitude and how much time is required just to walk a few hundred meters, that I'd hope I'd be too sensible for that.

 

[sanj]

5d3. 16-35 f4 IS. 24 f1.4 II. Tripod. Extra battery.
I know you do not have any of these lenses but you asked......
Have a great trip. Hope the earthquake does not come again...

 

[Moulyneau]

On treks like this, weight is an issue to take very seriously. If your 5D2 is still in good working condition, I'd suggest you take it instead of 5D3. That, just in case something would happen to your gear. Lens minimum would be 24-105. Your nifty 50 might not survive but, light and cheap, it might find great use when not yet in the mountain. I myself never leave home without a wide angle. Himalayan ranges seen through them are just too fantastic. Up to you for the added 500 grams and the trouble to change lens by minus, well, many degrees...

 

[tron]

In recent (NOT mountain) trips I carried with me what I considered an absolute minimum:

5D3 with 24-70 2.8L II.
5D3 with 100-400 4.5-5.6L IS II
TS-E 17mm
EF1.4X III

It was heavy! In some cases I had to walk alot - on sea level though - I had removed the TS-E 17 and the 1.4X.

Also when the terrain was easy I carried the 5D3 with the 24-70 out of the bag so as to make it lighter.

The 2 cameras with lenses were very helpful. Avoiding lens changes is a bonus.

But, if this setup was heavy on sea level one can only wonder about mountains.

Maybe a 5D3 with the 24-105 and a separate 16-35 f/4 IS would be the absolute minimum.

Or, a 5D3 with 24-105 and an EOS M (or M2 or M3) with the 11-22 EF-M for those ultra wide scenes.

(Not having to change lenses is always a bonus)

 

[gsealy]

About all I can say is that I envy all you guys for being able to go to these exotic places and shoot great stuff. I enjoyed reading the various posts and I learned a lot. Good luck and be safe in your travels.

 

[NancyP]

My favorite hiking kit for exploratory photography (as opposed to specific landscapes in mind) is an APS-C (mine is the 60D, but SL1 or 70D or 7D/D2 might be a choice too) and EF-S15-85mm f/3.5-5.6. You can cover a lot of territory with that range, and I believe that it goes to 0.25x, so closeups are decent. Cotton Carrier vest. Camera is kept available and hands kept free for poles/.

 

[Hjalmarg1]

Take the 17-40L + Canon 70-200L is mkII + nifty 50 canon 1.8.
If you get the 24-70L II or Tamron 24-70 VC replace the 17-40L from above.

 

[RustyTheGeek]

My favorite hiking kit for exploratory photography (as opposed to specific landscapes in mind) is an APS-C (mine is the 60D, but SL1 or 70D or 7D/D2 might be a choice too) and EF-S15-85mm f/3.5-5.6. You can cover a lot of territory with that range, and I believe that it goes to 0.25x, so closeups are decent. Cotton Carrier vest. Camera is kept available and hands kept free for poles/.

In a similar spirit, I took the SL1 + Tamron 18-270 to Philmont last summer. I built my own lightweight rig to carry it across my chest between the shoulder straps and I carried a EF-S 10-22 in the pack for use in camps to capture more story during the activities. The only thing I wanted to take but decided to leave behind to reduce weight right before we departed was the small 270EX-II flash and batteries. We were on the trail for 10 days and it worked great. Love the SL1. Now it's sort of a "beater" camera I use for all kinds of misc things including handing off to other adults at campouts to get more shots.