Renting for Las Vegas

Hello all

I'm going to Las Vegas in a few weeks and I want to get your suggestions on what lens I should rent for my trip. What ever I rent my also be my next purchase depending on it's performance.

Thanks

Canon 60D 18-135 70-200 2.8 mk2 50 1.8

bump

any help?

I'm sure you'll be fine with the 70-200 walking around outside for some interesting shots. But, I'd also look into something wide. 17-55 f2.8 as a walkaround?

It'd take the place of your 28-135, and would compliment the 70-200.

There in't much to shoot like birds and wildlife. So that leaves out anything longer than 200. The general tourist ends up shooting a lot of architecture (read non-gambling areas of casino indoors and night shots outdoors), cityscapes and some landscapes if they move away from the Strip (to places like Red Rock Canyon, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and such). They also shoot a lot of street/people shots on the Strip and Fremont Street. So a good wide-angle and a fast (wide max aperture) walkaround along with a steady tripod should suffice, IMO. At most shows and bigger events, they won't allow to take anything other than a pocket-size P&S with you. What are your activities going to be, I may be able to help you better.

The sin city is about the night life. You need a:
- tripod for taking pictures of cityscape
- fast lens

For lens, here's what I would bring:
- since you own 70-200, bring it with you. This is useful for taking photos of shows. If you don't plan to watch and take photos of shows, then don't bring it. It's heavy; and you won't use it much.
- you need a walk around lens 24-70 would be good.
- then bring 10-22 for taking a nice cityscape; and perhaps you want to travel to Hoover dam and Grand Canyon

Sigma 17-50 or Canon 17-55IS would be excellent walk about in Vegas. There usually is not a lot of room to backup.

Setting up tripod on the stirp is nearly impossible in the evening time. But no issue at all at sunrise. I did wake up early to take some empty street shots. Pretty interesting.

liupublic wrote in post #13170614
Sigma 17-50 or Canon 17-55IS would be excellent walk about in Vegas. There usually is not a lot of room to backup.

Setting up tripod on the stirp is nearly impossible in the evening time. But no issue at all at sunrise. I did wake up early to take some empty street shots. Pretty interesting.

+1 ^^^

Along with the above suggestions you might consider the Tokina 11-16/f2.8

Regards & Have Fun,

liupublic wrote in post #13170614
Setting up tripod on the stirp is nearly impossible in the evening time.

Well not really, if you are pick the right spots and are quick. I don't frequent the Strip now-a-days, but when I used to, I would use a tripod all the time at night. Fri-Sun are the busiest. Our "big" camera+lens+tripod setup looks impressive enough to most usual P&S tourists to be watchfully and courteous to give you your space, but be quick and be mindful of your gear on the streets. What actually spoils the shots more often than not are the traffic signals, streetlights, electric poles and wires.

liupublic wrote in post #13170614
I did wake up early to take some empty street shots. Pretty interesting.

Yes, early morning shots of the Strip look like ones of a bride whose husband died just after honeymoon You get good shots of the early morning view of the LV valley from far off places elevated places like Red Rock Canyon, specific spots in Henderson and far eastern side of the Strip and it gets better, if we are lucky to have had a thunderstorm the night earlier, so that there is less haze.

OP - if you are a first-timer to Vegas, you will realize later that you end up walking a lot more than you think at first by looking at those casinos. Covering 3 big casinos in a day is tiring. So bring your heavy 70-200 II with you for occasional use but don't lug it around town, IMO. Even if the weather is nice now, you really don't want fatigue to set in and spoil the fun. The rest of what others and I have suggested stands i.e. a wide-angle, a fast walkaround.

nikmar08 wrote in post #13171334
Well not really, if you are pick the right spots and are quick. I don't frequent the Strip now-a-days, but when I used to, I would use a tripod all the time at night. Fri-Sun are the busiest. Our "big" camera+lens+tripod setup looks impressive enough to most usual P&S tourists to be watchfully and courteous to give you your space, but be quick and be mindful of your gear on the streets. What actually spoils the shots more often than not are the traffic signals, streetlights, electric poles and wires.

OP - if you are a first-timer to Vegas, you will realize later that you end up walking a lot more than you think at first by looking at those casinos. Covering 3 big casinos in a day is tiring. So bring your heavy 70-200 II with you for occasional use but don't lug it around town, IMO. Even if the weather is nice now, you really don't want fatigue to set in and spoil the fun. The rest of what others and I have suggested stands i.e. a wide-angle, a fast walkaround.

I'd guess that's why the Toke 11-16 can come in handy. Get right up front to some of these places and take the shot. Bellagio fountains in particular comes to mind for this.

And yes, lugging around the 70-200 II would be hard when also lugging around a vegas "yard".

One other thing. Keep track of your stuff while framing your shot. Photographer is an easy target for pick pocket while framing the perfect shot.

I just finished renting the Tokina 11-16 and I suspect there was something wrong with the copy I got as it would show near perfect focus, even through the lens with liveview, but would end up blurred once the shot was taken. Not sure what would cause this, but it was VERY frustrating experience. I'd suggest getting into a store that rents the lenses and trying them out before leaving.

canon 17mm TS-E or maybe the 24mm TS-E?

Thanks for all the suggestions. I was thinking of renting the tokina 11-16 2.8 and the 24-70 2.8 and bring my 70-200 2.8. I don't think I'll be bringing my tripod as it's way to heavy to carry around all day. Thanks for the replies....

There are some absolutely stunning national parks near there. I hit up CES each year and I find most of the stuff to see is an hour in every direction from the strip.

There is plenty of wildlife to shoot around there--yes it is a desert, but that doesn't mean critters and birds don't live there. If you head east over the dam there gets to be some awesome foresty stuff.

If you are ON the strip and only on the strip, then fine, bring a fast prime and a UWA...though you can get some nice candids with longer lenses.

I couldn't imagine leaving home without my 70-200. I love that lens soo much!!!! And I'm kinda spontaneous so who knows where we may end up......