Lens/gear choice for trip to Germany

So I've been given the opportunity in May to have a expense free trip to Bremen, Germany. As a high school student it's very exciting and I want to make the most of my trip and not regret lacking the necessary gear. Right now this is what I plan on taking with me:

- Gripped 60D
- Rokinon 14mm 2.8
- Tamron 17-50mm 2.8
- 85mm 1.8
- Tripod
- Possibly a slider and small steady cam for some video.

My goals for the trip are to get a variety of street and portrait pictures to build up my portfolio justineisner.com (in the rare case any of you are interested) in hopes of getting an internship next year at college. Now, are these lenses going to get the job done? Where would you make changes? Please take into consideration that I'm a high school student trying to save for college, so I'm not trying to drop a lot on lenses, but I really don't want to go on this trip unprepared either. Thanks for your help!

Heya,

I'd take the Tamron and leave it at that. When visiting places, you're not going to have a lot of time to sit in one area for hours. So having something that quickly covers wide angle and slightly zoomed in, will cover most bases. The 17-50 F2.8 will do that for you. You'll probably spend more time at the wider end of things. If you want to do portraits, the 50mm end will do that for you. F2.8 is plenty for portraits.

The tripod will be useful if you manage to go to the country side for longer exposure landscape stuff. But you probably won't even need that.

The only reason I'd take the tripod & Rokinon would be for some star photography if you find an interesting place that is dark and has some nice foreground stuff (like a castle!).

Very best,

I agree, I'd even leave the grip at home, just extra weight you won't want to carry. Might add the 14mm, but only if there's room. Tripod? Leave that at home unless you want to do night work. Or get a gorilla pod. I go to Germany at least once a year and never bring a tripod, I could use ones from my family over there but never have. Also don't bring the 70-200 anymore, as I never used it. Sometimes I just take my G12 and no big gear at all.

If anything, you could look if a 1.4 converter works with your Tammy, that would be small and handy IF you need to go longer. But for in town etc, 17-50 is going to cover easy 90% of what you'd want to shoot. I took my 17-55 and the 14mm this winter, used the 14 on some landscapes but could have lived without it easily. It's a pretty extreme lens.

Don't know about the video gear, but can't imagine you'd need a steadycam setup for a bit of vacation filming? Don't know if you have an iphone or similar, I'd just use that for video. Then enjoy your stay, Bremen is a very pretty town! And May should hopefully be nice weather

Oh, boy! I surely do envy you. I spent five years in FRG (now just Germany) in the late 70s/early 80s. Bremen in beautiful and sophisticated. It is the home of Beck's Bier, if you didn't know that. I stayed at a small Naval Station in Bremerhaven, just up the road, on the port, for about two years. The rest of my time was spent in Bavaria.

Oh, I'd take the 17-50 and 85 1.8. Borrow a 10-22, you'll find use for it.

EOS5DC wrote in post #16642611
Borrow a 10-22, you'll find use for it.

This!

Agreed with the other posts, Take your zoom, take the 14mm and leave the grip and tripod at home. Travel light.
I would almost recommend getting the 40mm stm and not taking the zoom. But a zoom is more convenient.
If I were going I would take my 24mm and my 40mm and call it a day. You don't need the 85mm.

Borrow the 10-22 if you can. The 17-50 will be used a lot. Leave the grip. You initially want to pack a lot so you won't regret not taking something, but you'll get tired of keeping track of and lugging around all that gear. The more minimal you go, the less you'll worry about gear and the more you'll focus on having fun, ENJOYING the trip, and the experience.
Many people on this forum state they wish they took less gear when on vacation because they get tired of lugging around the gear.

My vacation camera is an SX260HS. I hope someday to upgrade that to an SX50IS.

EOS5DC wrote in post #16642611
Oh, boy! I surely do envy you. I spent five years in FRG (now just Germany) in the late 70s/early 80s. Bremen in beautiful and sophisticated. It is the home of Beck's Bier, if you didn't know that. I stayed at a small Naval Station in Bremerhaven, just up the road, on the port, for about two years. The rest of my time was spent in Bavaria.

Oh, I'd take the 17-50 and 85 1.8. Borrow a 10-22, you'll find use for it.

EOS. My wife was born in Bremerhaven. He father was stationed there in the US Air Force and her mother grew up there.

I used the 17-50 alot with my t2i and i hardly used my nifty fifty. I regret not having a telephoto for further shots.

We were in Germany this summer. I tend to travel heavy. I used the 17-55 and the 70-200 f/2.8 L IS Mark II most of the time. If I wanted to travel light, I would have brought the 70-200 f/4 L IS. The telephoto zoom range, 70-200 was a must for me.

Nick5 wrote in post #16643059
We were in Germany this summer. I tend to travel heavy. I used the 17-55 and the 70-200 f/2.8 L IS Mark II most of the time. If I wanted to travel light, I would have brought the 70-200 f/4 L IS. The telephoto zoom range, 70-200 was a must for me.

Yep bingo. I was missing that telephoto range which i regretted. Was in the EU during December.

Nick5 wrote in post #16643042
EOS. My wife was born in Bremerhaven. He father was stationed there in the US Air Force and her mother grew up there.

I was there from 1/76 until 9/77. I loved it. Hung out in a place called the Atlantic Bar on weekends. I worked on the port, mostly. Lots of good memories of that place. Both my kids were born in FRG. The oldest one at FrauenKlinik Bamberg, the other at a US Army Hospital, Nurnberg. I plan to go back, someday. GOTTA LOVE THE BIER!

Take off the grip, bring the zoom. If you have a gorilla pod or table top tripod, bring that, I definitely wouldn't lug a tripod around. I went to Germany/Switzerland for 3 months when I was 21 and I loved it, I really want to go back. I brought my 20D and Tamron 18-270mm when I went and I'm really glad I didn't have more gear than that.

Enjoy your time there, not just capturing the moment in a photograph, but living it. My time there literally changed my life, while a school trip likely won't be as profound, it's still a big opportunity and you shouldn't weigh yourself down with extra gear and worrying about catching perfect photos.

EDIT: Just realized you never actually said it was a school trip. May I ask the details of the trip? Family? Vacation? Just because...? (no answer would be wrong )

After hearing other comments if I were you I would take one good zoom, that's it. Light and simple, focus on the trip not the gear.
Take the 17-55mm IS It was my 'go-to' lens for my 650D a did a whole trip last summer with only that setup in a backpack and I never had to swap lenses.