Best combo for travel. What would you choose?

Define travel. Car trip, never getting more than a mile from the car? If you can toss all the lenses in the car, then it's a very different answer than if you're going to carry it and have little to no space for it all. If it's the later, then I recommend getting away from a FF camera. Sacrilege, I know. However, for literally half the weight, you can get a very solid 18-135 STM (29-216 FF "equivalent") and a crop camera for less than most FF lenses. Or perhaps even the G3X or G7X depending on the range you want.

Take the 40 and the 135, and leave the rest to your imagination. Easy and super-light to carry around - stick the 135 in a Lowe-pro lens pouch and when you need to swap, the 40 will slide into any pocket.

leave the gun
take the cannoli

I did a 4 week tour of Europe with my 24-70 on 5D. Covered 90% of my shots. If I did find a nice rooftop, but wasn't able to reach a particular building, well I simply walked and found another rooftop. Get off the path and down the alleys, you'll be amazed what you find. Also had my 50mm 1.8 that stuck in my jacket pocket.

My other lens would have been a 24 TS-E for what would be 20% of the shots....but I'm still waiting for that to be in my bag.

I think we lost the OP.

I'm going to steal this thread since this is right at the top right now and I was going to post about the same thing and the OP has left the building.

I'm going to France and Italy for three weeks for my honeymoon. The major cities I'll be in is Paris, Lyon, Bordeuax, Venice, Florence, and Rome. We're going with just backpacks that can fit into overhead compartments. So I can only bring one lens with me, worried about weight and size.

I have a Canon t4i, the 18-135 STM, and the 50 1.8. We'll be visiting all the typical attractions, museums, churches. I would love to bring the 50 1.8 because of the size and speed for low light, but it's not wide enough for architecture and what not especially on my crop camera. The 18-135 is bigger and probably would not fit in my backpack well.

I was thinking of getting the 24 2.8 STM pancake. I'm thinking this would be wide enough, and definitely small enough. What are your guys thoughts on this?

I honestly think it would be a mistake to not bring your 18-135...especially if this is your primary lens. I would find a way to squeeze that thing in there. Another option is to slide it into a shoe or something. As much as I can say 50mm on FF is my favorite lens, there are always times when you simply cannot back up, and getting closer is not always an option.

Bring both the 18-135, and the 50

I had a decent thread going on travel setup
I have entirely new gear now
but there is a lot of good info to share here:
https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1208082

iAMB wrote in post #17656379
I honestly think it would be a mistake to not bring your 18-135...especially if this is your primary lens. I would find a way to squeeze that thing in there. Another option is to slide it into a shoe or something. As much as I can say 50mm on FF is my favorite lens, there are always times when you simply cannot back up, and getting closer is not always an option.

Bring both the 18-135, and the 50

Thanks for the input. We haven't decided what were are packing yet but every ounce of weight, and space matters to us since we'll each have a small 35 liter backpack for our all our clothes, toiletries, etc on us. I could try to do 18-135 and the 24mm 2.8 STM and split the weight between us. We will see when we start planning our backpacks.

kajo wrote in post #17656377
I'm going to steal this thread since this is right at the top right now and I was going to post about the same thing and the OP has left the building.

I'm going to France and Italy for three weeks for my honeymoon. The major cities I'll be in is Paris, Lyon, Bordeuax, Venice, Florence, and Rome. We're going with just backpacks that can fit into overhead compartments. So I can only bring one lens with me, worried about weight and size.

I have a Canon t4i, the 18-135 STM, and the 50 1.8. We'll be visiting all the typical attractions, museums, churches. I would love to bring the 50 1.8 because of the size and speed for low light, but it's not wide enough for architecture and what not especially on my crop camera. The 18-135 is bigger and probably would not fit in my backpack well.

I was thinking of getting the 24 2.8 STM pancake. I'm thinking this would be wide enough, and definitely small enough. What are your guys thoughts on this?

I'm not sure that 24mm will be wide enough for those destinations. Instead of the 24mm pancake, consider picking up the EF-S 10-18mm IS. It should work great for interiors with the image stabilization. Then also pack your 50mm f/1.8 for more reach, portraits and low light. That would be a pretty compact kit.

kajo wrote in post #17656377
I'm going to steal this thread since this is right at the top right now and I was going to post about the same thing and the OP has left the building.

I'm going to France and Italy for three weeks for my honeymoon. The major cities I'll be in is Paris, Lyon, Bordeuax, Venice, Florence, and Rome. We're going with just backpacks that can fit into overhead compartments. So I can only bring one lens with me, worried about weight and size.

I have a Canon t4i, the 18-135 STM, and the 50 1.8. We'll be visiting all the typical attractions, museums, churches. I would love to bring the 50 1.8 because of the size and speed for low light, but it's not wide enough for architecture and what not especially on my crop camera. The 18-135 is bigger and probably would not fit in my backpack well.

I was thinking of getting the 24 2.8 STM pancake. I'm thinking this would be wide enough, and definitely small enough. What are your guys thoughts on this?

For 95%+ of what you're going to want to shoot the 18-135 STM will be faster and sharper than the 50 f/1.8. The narrow depth of field of f/1.8 will be too shallow in a lot of cases. Additionally, for non-moving subjects, i.e. most vacation pictures, you get 4 stops of IS out of that lens. That rates the f/5.6 end of the lens as an effective f/1.4, that's faster than the 1.8 at the long end. At the short end, you're about 2 stops faster. And in both cases, you aren't limited to an overly thin depth of field.

If you are looking for a second lens to pair it with, I'd look at the EF-S 10-18 STM. The wide angle you'll really appreciate in Europe as the narrow streets can really play well against a UWA. Again, with it having IS, it'll be quite good in low light situations with static subjects.

kajo wrote in post #17656442
Thanks for the input. We haven't decided what were are packing yet but every ounce of weight, and space matters to us since we'll each have a small 35 liter backpack for our all our clothes, toiletries, etc on us. I could try to do 18-135 and the 24mm 2.8 STM and split the weight between us. We will see when we start planning our backpacks.

If limiting weight and space is the primary (or major) consideration, then give some serious thought to leaving the DSLR at home and taking a capable compact, like an RX100.

dodgyexposure wrote in post #17656910
If limiting weight and space is the primary (or major) consideration, then give some serious thought to leaving the DSLR at home and taking a capable compact, like an RX100.

This is a really good suggestion. I'm not sure you'd be happy in Europe with the focal length of an RX100, but it should make you consider what you're really giving up.

I have been several times to all the places you want to visit, except Lyon. 24 mm is not nearly not wide for the places you want to see. You will not be able to frame places like the Colosseum in Rome, or Notre Dame in Paris,or the view of the Grand Canal from the Realto Bridge in Venice. You will need at least 18 mm wide. Taking the 10-18 as the only lens will be really limited, so I would strongly suggest the 18-135.

However, since you do not want to check in the luggage, you may seriously give a thought of leaving the SLR at home. It takes a lot of space in your backpack. Maybe a compact camera or a mirrorless one would be a better fit for your type of travel.

ok i took 3 lenses to england / france in 2014 and mainly just used the 24-105 on the canon 7 d the other 2 a 70 - 200 and the 10-22 were essentially mostly wasted baggage space and weight - so i reckon take the 18-135

BUT BE very careful if you travel by car ( lock all the doors all the time) or by train in france and possibly italy and dont ever put your backpacks etc on the over head roof luggage racks of trains or even on the floor near the door unless you hang on to it - the pickpockets and the backpack thieves are very expert and incredibly quick

cheers and have fun