Lens for Europe

I will be traveling to Europe and am wondering which of my lenses to take with me. My kit includes a 550D, Canon 18-55 kit lens, Canon 55-250, Canon 10-22, Tamron 17-50 VC, Sigma 30mm, Canon 50 1.8. (Yes, I realize I have some redundant lenses that I have yet to sell). I also just bought a tripod for self portraits of myself and my wife (typical shots in front of Eiffel Tower, Pisa, Colosseum, etc).

I will take the 10-22 and 55-250. I am wondering about the mid-range. I want to travel light. I am thinking of the following options:

(1) sigma 30mm (sharpest)
(2) tamron 17-50 vc (most versatile)
(3) 18-55 kit lens and 50 1.8 (size, size, size....wouldn't worry about throwing it in the day pack since they are so light and cheap)

I am trying to avoid taking both the sigma 30 and tamron 17-50vc. I would like to take a maximum of 3 lenses, unless it's the 50 1.8 as it's so small. Please let me know your thoughts? Do I even NOT take the 55-250 and 50mm would be long enough? Or any other combinations that I haven't considered? Thanks in advance!

It truly depends on what kind of pictures you plan on taking. Landscape and iconic attractions, definitely the 10-22.

Tamron 17-50 could be your walkaround/general purpose lens + Sigma 30 for low light shots.

I took my Tamron 17-50 and i don't remember taking it off except to clean it.
I went to Swiss mountains, castle in Germany, concentration camps and Mountains of Poland and streets of Austria and it served me well. The only time I needed reach was in the mountains of Switzerland to just focus on one peak and not 5 to 9 peaks. But it was just that one time.
Even in low to no light inside the castle and camps, using 2.8 was fantastic. If I go to Europe again, ill take just the 17-50 and 70-300 and not the 50mm and 18-135mm.

Thanks for the replies. My tamron 17-50 also stays on my camera the majority of the time. However, I usually only have one lens when I shoot locally. One of my thoughts of not taking the 17-50 and taking the 30mm is that on this trip, I would actually be carrying the 10-22 and 55-250 with me.

Can the 10-22 shot at the long end be used as a general walk around lens and a (kind of) portrait lens (pictures of wife in front of churches, statues, colosseum, etc)?

Europe is a very diverse continent with lots of different landscapes, wildlife, culture and so on. If I asked you what lens do I need to take pictures in America, could you answer me with a simple response?

It all depends on your type of shooting. Most people will be fine with a standard lens (17-50 ish thing) and maybe a uwa for landscapes. But if you like wildlife or bird photography, the answer will be totally different.

The 10-22 and 55-250 seem like good choices for sure. It's really hard to pick the third lens, but I'm guessing it would make sense to take your favorite walk around lens out of the others.

I've traveled to 14 countries in the past year and a half, 11 have been in Europe.

I've gotten along great with the 10-20, Sig 30mm, and 70-200. I find that in the actual cities the wide-angle gets the most use at maybe 40-50% of the time, as you can fit a full building into the frame on the narrow streets. I'd say 30-40% of the time I use the Sig 30, I like it as a general walk-around and use it heavily indoors, but sometimes it's a bit to narrow for street shots. Then the remaining 20% or so is the 70-200, some of my best landscapes and cityscapes are with this lens, but you need the space to use it.

Thanks Jason for sharing your experiences!!! It definitely helps! It confirms a little of what I thought that the UWA would be used the majority of the time. So I'm leaning towards taking the 30mm since my UWA would probably be on my camera the most (while if the mid-range (17-50 or 30mm) would be on my camera the most, I would probably take the 17-50 for its versatility).

And I can only dream of traveling to so many countries, not only in a year, but in my lifetime!

The Sig 30 is still probably my favorite lens all-around. The focal length seems closest to what my eyes see, it's perfect for portraits and snapshots, the low aperture is great for low-lighting indoors and at night, and I still love low aperture bokeh in my photos.

The wide-angle gets used a tiny bit more often because some of these cathedrals and palaces are massive on the narrow streets (but quite impressive!). The parts I dislike about the wide-angle though is that you end up with some distortion, and it's a pain to swap lenses every time I want to take a portrait of my family in front of something.

My insane traveling started only recently - my wife is temporarily posted overseas in Hungary for two years for her job. I remained behind at my current job since it wasn't a permanent thing for her, but they let me flex my hours a bit to take long weekends. We try to meet up every 4-6 weeks at a different country in Europe. While it's tough being apart from my wife, we're making the best of it and it's been very cool to be able to see all these countries that we'd never be able to see if we both had int'l flights to take.

What countries are you going to be hitting on your trip? If they're any I've been to, I can try to remember some of the better vantage points I enjoyed (and maybe others can chime in with their favorite spots)

it depends on how you're getting around while there. If you're taking trains, I'd bring the 10-22, 55-250 and 50 1.8. if you've got a car, bring it all.

In all my extensive European travels, I have rarely had use for something like the 55-250mm. Perhaps on a few instances, some interior shots of something very specific in a building like a church or gargoyles on the exterior.

On the balance of the list I see...

Canon 18-55 kit lens vs. Tamron 17-50 VC - the 18-55 has great image quality and without doing research I do not know the capabilities of the Tamron. Inclined to suggest the Canon as I see you plan on a tripod but keep in mind that in many building where a tripod is a necessity, they are not allowed. Maybe take the one with the faster aperture.

Canon 10-22 -Yes

Sigma 30mm - leave at home, the Canon 18-55 or Tamron 17-50 has you covered.

Canon 50 1.8 - maybe leave at home (same reasons as immediately above). If you feel good about shooting indoors at relatively high ISO (800+) then definitely leave at home.

If I were you I would take the 10-22mm & 17-50mm lenses... The 55-250mm ? Take it only if you think you will make some nature / zoo shots.

Titi

From experience (Switzerland + Rome w/gf), take the Tamron 17-50 and keep it light. At most I would bring the 55-250 OR the 10-22, but definitely not both. The 10-22 will be too wide for most shots except for some specialty things like inside an old church, the 55-250 I think will be less useful. You certainly won't have it on your camera as a walk-around. The Sigma 30 is redundant. I would not bring a tripod as you will be miserable walking around all day in the heat. I'm sure your wife will make you carry water bottles, extra sweaters, shoes........ok maybe that was just me.

I took my 70-300mm and used it <10%, and those shots weren't very interesting. I also took my Tamron 10-22 which I used ~20%, and got some interesting shots. However, I took most of those at the longer range where I could just have used my 17-50. When you travel you want to have context in your pictures otherwise they could have been taken anywhere. My best trip shots were the ones that would be considered "snapshots", but those are the ones that reminded me most of what the trip was like.

For the life of me, I cannot understand purchasing a plethora of lenses and then only wanting to take one lens on an important trip! However, if photography is not at the top of your agenda, I suggest bringing a single bridge camera or changing to a smaller format like the 4/3 if weight is a problem.

I would not want to tak a trip without at least two lenses. I can cover 90-95% of my imagery with the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS and 70-200mm f/4L IS lenses. I may (or may not) also bring a 12-24mm f/4 Tokina. I would seriously consider that for Europe (although I hardly used that lens on a two week China trip)...

I would choose the Tamron 17-50 and 50/1.8 alongside with the 10-22 and 50-250. And I can expect that the 17-50 will be used for the most of time. According to my experience, you would not even need the 50-250 too much, but bring along just in case.