Vacation + Daddy Slacking = I'm stressed

Get a 15-85 and a 70-200 f4 and you will be set for 99.99% of outdoor photography options other than UWA and wildlife, which are probably not significant concerns at Disney anyway. That combo is light and versatile.

starkyrulz wrote in post #15317367
believe me the 18-200 served me well at Disneyland in Feb and WDW in August - but you need a fast prime when night falls and my sigma 30 f1.4 served me well here. The 18-200 may not be the best lens out there but substantially sharp at f7 beyond whatever distortion at the wide end can be addresses through Adobe Camera Raw.

this is actually one reason why I was looking at the 24-70 when this first started and another reason why I like the 17-55mm suggestion; the 2.8 will help immensely. I'm not a tripod lugging kind of guy and would appreciate a lower f stop without giving up sharpness which has been a severe sore spot with my other lenses.

please tell me what you have in mind - with family in tow and time short i really do not believe you will be in a position to change lenses and taking shots. you would rather enjoy the time there and good photos are a plus. Every lens has a use and sometimes an all purpose zoom will serve you well.

what I have in mind?

Really, having been through this a few times, I'm familiar with how I'll handle the gear. But, now that we've got a little one... I guess what I'm really after is a lens that:

• Is a great all-in-one for family/child portraits and scenery
  
• Behaves well in low-light (ie: fireworks and nighttime parades)
  
• Provides sharp images. My gripe with the 28-135 is that it just doesn't provide that dynamic separation (is this the term bokeh? forgive my ignorance) and that's the reason I'm hunting options.
  

I went to Disney last christmas and here is my take.

I owned a 70-200 f4L IS, and rented a 35L and Zeiss 50 MP2 for the trip.

The rides provide great opportunities for memories to be capture. The problem is they are DARK and no flash allowed. The 35L was glued on my camera anytime I went on a ride. The parks are also really well decorated, and night shooting capability opens up many photo opportunities that may otherwise be missed with a slower lens. Again, 35L was my go-to night lens. I did use the 50 MP2 on some rides, and in some rides that were brighter I was sometimes able to stop down a little to aid in the depth of field. ISOs were still riding quite high, 6400-12800. Pirates of the Caribbean definitely requires a fast, fast lens. For soem reason I had my Zeiss 50 MP2 on at that ride, haha, and between manual focus and a f2 aperture I didn't get many keepers.

During the day it was Zeiss 50 MP2. Made some great images, and the 50mm focal length with the f2 aperture made it really easy to "remove" the severe background and tourist clutter when taking pictures around the parks. There really is a ton of clutter at all times haha, it is disney after all. The parades were excellent photo ops, and the ability to single out the primary actors and wash out some of the clutter really helped.

The 70-200 mostly stayed in the bag, except for one park. The animal kingdom is where the telephoto shines. Lots of cool animals there, and I was wishing for more range even at 200mm on full frame. On a crop, 200 might be okay, but 300 might really help. Other than animal kingdom though, never really wanted much more than 50mm on a full frame.


So all considered, on a T3i, I would look at renting a 24LII or Sigma 30 1.4. The 35L would actually be a good equivalent of the 50mm f2. On the long end, your 70-300 probably will work well, if you really don't like that lens, I would possibly rent the new 70-300L or 100-400L.


And last but not least, here are some examples from my trip.


Low light rides:

35L, f1.4, ISO 12800, 1/30 sec

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tamron 28-75mm f2.8?

^ I feel like I walked in to a restaurant that has everything on it's list and I'm starving.

way too many options. lol.

agree with natderoxl7 - you need a versatile zoom and a F1.4 lens - i had the sigma 30mm f1.4 on t3i and it helped me get great shots in Magic Kingdom specially - the 18-200 more at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood studios where you need wide end and telephoto end at extremities. You will need a fast lens for some of the shots inside a slow ride, at night. Do remember through the 18-200 is not a fast lens and needs light.

bikinpunk wrote in post #15317504
what I have in mind?

Really, having been through this a few times, I'm familiar with how I'll handle the gear. But, now that we've got a little one... I guess what I'm really after is a lens that:

• Is a great all-in-one for family/child portraits and scenery
  
• Behaves well in low-light (ie: fireworks and nighttime parades)
  
• Provides sharp images. My gripe with the 28-135 is that it just doesn't provide that dynamic separation (is this the term bokeh? forgive my ignorance) and that's the reason I'm hunting options.
  

Taking pictures on rides isn't of utmost importance.

As this thread evolves and I run round and round in my head, it looks like the 17-55mm suggestion is the most pertinent and best bang for my buck. The 15-85mm was in but I really think the f/2.8 will really round out the above criterion. I'm reading about the Sigma alternative right now. I've written off the Tamron 17-50mm due to some comparisons and reviews I've read here already.

I have the 10-22mm if I want to do something very up close; which I rarely use but keep because it's a great lens. I also have the cheapy 70-300mm for long range zooms.

We got to Disney twice a year (one visit to FL, and one to CA), and I've gone with a variety of different set-ups.

Best lens to bring is a fast, fixed aperture medium focal length zoom and a good speed light. That should literally cover 95% of everything you would want to shoot. And simplify your load. Don't let having to change lenses or messing with gear get in the way of actually enjoying the park (it will if you let it.) I used to travel with a bag full of gear, and its an utter pain trying to lug around and baby it all day in the park.

There are times that I have either used, or wish I had packed an UWA or telephoto lens, but for the most part, but on the trips that I did bring them, I found that they didn't get nearly enough use to justify the trouble of bringing them.

The parks tend to be pretty crowded (and we always go on the off season), and unless you're wanting to photograph a show or parade, you don't have much room to utilize the long-end of a telephoto lens. UWA lenses, though nice to have, aren't terribly necessary for landscape shots. You have plenty of room to frame landscape shots on a medium length zoom.

Forget packing primes, IMO If you're anything like me, you'll be switching back and forth from shooting landscapes, outdoor portraits, indoor portraits, etc etc, and it isn't worth the hassle of having to switch primes out each time (I've tried it).

Last piece of advice to snapping great pics: get to the parks when they first open, that way you can snap some shots that aren't littered with crowds in the background!

As with a previous poster, really the only time I bring out the long lenses is when I am in AK. Not to say you couldn't use them in other parks, but that is where you get the best use of them.

I use my 11-16 and kit 18-55 while walking around. But, you are not going to get great separation with either of those. I tend to use my nifty fifty inside the rides as it is the fasted lens I have.

Do you plan to bring the 10-22? If so, the 17-50 or Tamron 28-75mm. If not, the 15-85. There's a good difference between 15 and 17mm. Most of my photos from Universal Studio Japan were at 15mm. However I dont have a 10-22mm...

So, I am going to give you my two cents as someone who has been to Disney many times and carries a lot of gear when there. You posted you have also gone a lot and always brought your gear, so ask yourself what did I wish I had the last time I was there?

You have the 10-22 already, so that is a great start as there are tons of things to shoot around Disney with that lens. Next I would recommend something fast, 2.8 is not fast enough, After many trips I have found that the Sigma 30 1.4 does what I need for indoor rides and the night parades. The last lens is one to walk around with, I think the suggestions of the 15-85 would be great if you did not already have the ultra wide, but since you do I would recommend the 24-105 that you referenced in one of your posts. I know you said brand new is out of your price range, but they stick these in the 5d kits and folks are selling them new for $800 and less. The tele you have is fine, you really only need it at Animal Kingdom.

I really don't feel the 17-55 is fast enough, therefore i think you should bring the 10-22, 28-135 and add the Sigma 30mm 1.4.

bikinpunk wrote in post #15317310
All,


I did some more digging and I played around with my current set of lenses. I even went back through all my old photos and found that nearly 80% of my photos were shot under 50mm with my crop bodies.

I know your propensity for data from another site, so I know you're not getting that number out of the ether. And I think you're spot on with the 17-55mm 2.8 IS. I was just comparing it to the 50mm 1.4 last night. It did shockingly well. In fact, it beat the 50mm at 2.8. Granted, it was a limited center image comparison, but it's big winner.

Personally, I'd happily take it, a speedlite, your 50mm 1.8 and nothing else. It would, however, leave you lacking on the long side. But you do have the 300mm zoom you could throw in the bag.

Last time I went it was 99.5% 16-35 2.8L MkII on a 7D. In hindsight I wished I had my 50 on me a little more. I'd take the 10-22, the 50 and perhaps look into the 35 f2 so you've got a fast wide. You can put it in a small bag or large pockets and be able to have it handy most of the day without much issue, it's really only the bigger roller coasters that I had to pass the camera off to my no coasters period person. I even carried it on the ride through Soarin'. I'd also recommend a good padded strap with the Op-Tech my rig that's thought of as heavy by most was very comfortable. I had a specific event one morning where I had the backpack, after that put the spare lenses in the car and went with one lens all day, in Disney it's often easy to get closer in on something unless you want a lot of really tight detail shots, so I really didn't miss having any true telephoto, 35 (or the Sigma 30 1.4) is a good intermediate focal length, the 50 is a short Tele with the crop body and the 10-22 would be a likely workhorse outside of the dark rides. Aside from the need for portraits, the vast majority of my experience I was making an effort to capture the atmosphere, where the wide angle paid off for me.

As far as replacing your zoom, take a look for refurb and white box 24-105s they were under $700 a few months ago, and I'll personally be looking out for them to fall back into that range after the holidays pass.

To those of you suggesting a lower prime, have you used the 28 f/1.8? That looks like a pretty solid contender. The suggestion to keep the 28-135mm handy for the trip but use the lower prime makes sense and is something that I can borrow from a buddy (he says if I break it, I buy it ), so I'm considering just going that route. I own the nifty fifty (forgot to mention it before because I so rarely use it). Typically my wife shoots and the 28-135mm stays on the camera nearly all the time when she's using it. Personally, I like the 50's sharpness so I try to use it, but as you would suspect it's too zoomed in for most shooting and I've often wished I had a lower value prime.