Lens

Hi, everybody,

I am travelling from Portugal to Chicago, next saturday, visiting the town for a week. Can anyone tell me which is the best lens to take with me in order to cover a wide range of photography of the city as well as people, as my main interest is portrait, although I want to photograph the life in the city.

My equipment, at the moment is a Canon 400D EOD, Canon 50mm lens, Canon 70-200mm lens, Canon 18-55mm lens.

I have a quite large Lowepro Sling Bag, which can take everything inside, but is rather heavy when I have all the equipment inside. Is there a compromise, i.e, is there a lens that I can take around with me during the day, with which I will be able to do to city and portrait work?

Also, is it dangerous, in Chicago, to carry the camera open view?

Thank you for your help.

Xanadu

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Permalink Reply by CameraClicker on November 26, 2008 at 6:38pm

Only spent one day in Chicago, years ago and was driving, so I can't comment on relative dangerousness.

If you are not purchasing new equipment, my advise would be to take the 18 - 55 and 70 - 200 since the 18 - 55 is pretty light and covers the 50. Canon makes a few 70 - 200 lenses and weight varies. The ones I have are good but sometimes I find I can not back up far enough, particularly with the crop factor. Take the next day or two to spend some time in your city and see which lens works best for what interests you if you are determined to only take one lens.

I keep a Sigma 18 - 200 with image stabilization on my Canon EOS 30D, and a Sigma 10 - 20 in the bag along with a 2X tele-extender and extension tubes. The Sigma lenses are not as sharp as the Canon L series lenses but the 18 - 200 gives a convenient range that minimizes lens changes so I get less dirt on the sensor and quality is still very acceptable. The Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM is 705g and the Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 DC OS is 610g so you can take one lens and save some weight at the expense of speed at the long end of the lens.

Tameron has a new lens, B003, 18 - 270 at 550g including vibration compensation. Have not tried it but it is lighter still, and longer. It more than covers the range of your present lenses. Tameron have been around a long time, quality is probably good.

Enjoy Chicago

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Permalink Reply by Mel on November 27, 2008 at 1:39am

Hi,

Thank you so much for your advice. Great help.

Kind regards.

Mel

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Permalink Reply by Tareq AlObaid on November 27, 2008 at 4:37am

Hi Xanadu,
70-200 is a must , I would recommend a super wide angle lens 10-20mm is a great lens for big cities and landscapes
good luck and have fun shooting (^_^)
looking forward to see your pictures soon after you get back
take care
yours
Tareq

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Permalink Reply by Xanadu on November 27, 2008 at 4:40am

Hi, Tareq,

Thank you for you advice.

Regards.

X

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Permalink Reply by Sean on November 27, 2008 at 8:47pm

One lens may cover it all for you...Sigma 18-200 OS...I have yet to take this off my camera since I bought it.

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Permalink Reply by Xanadu on November 28, 2008 at 3:10am

Great advice.

Thank you, Sean.

Regards.

X

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Permalink Reply by Davers on November 28, 2008 at 11:53am

As with any city, it could be dangerous, just keep your wits about you!

As for lenses, if you are concerned about weight then I might suggest switching to Olympus!~,

I can carry around 3 lenses with a range of 14mm to 400mm in my bag and not notice any weight issues!Have to keep checking that I still have them in there! lol

I am joking about switching platforms, to be safe take them all and keep your 18-55 on camera and tele in your bag, tele's are great for people shots and catching otherwise awkward photo ops.

Have fun in the windy city.

Dave