One lens to bring on Europe trip - Which one?

Thanks for the info so far!

I may try to rent the Sigma and/or Canon before I buy one and at least try it out first. I am not looking to buy another camera, I rather invest the money in my SLR rather than another camera.

Goodysgotacuda wrote in post #14754389
Thanks for the info so far!

I may try to rent the Sigma and/or Canon before I buy one and at least try it out first. I am not looking to buy another camera, I rather invest the money in my SLR rather than another camera.

Fair enough. If you only want to carry one lens, 15-85 will be my pick.

Used to own one and 15mm is wide enough imo. The extra 30mm on the long end over the kit lens is nice too, as long as you don't mind the variable aperture and work around it. I'd bring an external flash.

Goodysgotacuda wrote in post #14754207
I think a 15mm-85mm IS USM would make a nice range for me, I would hope the USM would provide a little sharper image than my kit 17-55 as well.

Three things:
- A USM lens will not necessarily provide sharper images than one without.
- Your lens is the 18-55, not the 17-55.
- The 18-55 IS is a fairly sharp lens, and you may not see any improvement with the 15-85.

All up though, I'd endorse the idea of the 15-85, or even the 18-135 if you feel that the extra reach would justify the small reduction in image quality.

You will definitely see a positive difference with the 15-85; bring the 50 for low light situations.

I just came back from 3 weeks in Europe. About 1/2 of it in cities and second in country. I had 17-55 2.8 on my 60D 98% of the time. I had with me 70-200 4.0L and 50 1.8. I would do it with only 17-55 without any problem. It is a great lens.

kosinar wrote in post #14757226
I just came back from 3 weeks in Europe. About 1/2 of it in cities and second in country. I had 17-55 2.8 on my 60D 98% of the time. I had with me 70-200 4.0L and 50 1.8. I would do it with only 17-55 without any problem. It is a great lens.

Ditto, my last camping vacation I took most of the lenses in my current kit and ended up using only the 17-55 95% of the time.

the 15-85 is an excellent option as an general walk around lens. The 17-55 is preferred if you need 2.8 for lower lighting, although for simple indoor portraits the 50mm will have you covered.

If weight is a serious issue, I suggested taking the 18-55 you already have. (I assume that it is one of the IS versions.) Otherwise, I suggest the 15-85IS for its additional range. I think you will find the 15-18 part of its range very useful for architecture -- particularly indoors. It is, however, heavier than the 18-55 lenses.

If you have good noise-reduction software, you should be able to get decent results even at ISO12800 on your T2i, although I personally find that ISO 3200 or 6400 is usually enough. And at the wide end of its range, most useful for indoors, the 15-85 is f/3.5, not much slower than f/2.8.

I took this lens on my last two major vacations - a cruise and a trip to France. I used it for most of my pictures, with my 10-22 getting lonely in the camera bag.

One more vote for the 15-85 plus a nifty 50. I'll be in the UK in the fall and that's what I'm taking

Another vote for the 15-85. I have travelled two times when i had a crop body only with this lens. You can't find more versatile lens than this

15mm

IMAGE IS A REDIRECT OR MISSING! HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

IMAGE IS A REDIRECT OR MISSING! HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

IMAGE IS A REDIRECT OR MISSING! HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

Another vote for the 15-85mm. On my first long Europe trip I took three lenses, the 17-85, 10-22 and 70-300. Of 8000 images 90 percent were in the 17-85 range and 1 percent in the 70-300 range. Between any lens in the 10mm to 20mm range, including Sigma or others, and the 15-85mm you can capture 99 percent of what you'll see. I no longer have the 17-85--replaced it with the 15-85 and it as good as most say it is.

get a 10-22 and carry your 50 with you just in case. if you like wide the 10-22 on a 550d is an awesome combination. i don't even own a crop camera anymore but i still have my 10-22 just in case...... i love that lens that much. if you like wide you need to consider dipping into ff eventually. i started out with a 550 thinking i would mostly shoot long then i fell into a deal on a 70-200 f/2.8 is and a 50 f/1.4 and soon found out that i liked landscapes a lot. wasn't long after that that i got a 24 f/2.8 and a 10-22. then i moved on to ff bodies. it's a filthy habit but god i love it.