35 vs 50 Walkaround

Hey everyone,

So I'm driving my self crazy for no good reason really. I'm going on a trip to Hawaii next month and I'm racking my brain on what gear to take. I know there have been many threads about this same thing but I wanted to zero in on one subject I guess. I'm in a phase where I'm leaning more towards all primes (except my 150-600). I know having a zoom lens makes the most sense for travel but for some reason I'm hung up on rocking a prime walkaround lens. Am i crazy?

Current gear for my 6d :

Samyung 14mm
Sigma 24mm 1.4 ART
Canon 40mm Pancake
Canon 24-105 F4 L
Canon 85mm 1.8
Tamron 150-600

I've been debating on buying the Sigma 35 or the 50 ART and only taking the Sigma 24mm 1.4 A and this new lens on the trip (and my big lens for the whales). Am I a fool for even considering getting a new prime lens and rocking that with the 24mm and leaving the 24-105 at home? And if I'm not that crazy, which one would you pick, the 35 or the 50?

Thanks in Advance!

Is this just a trip for photo's or a family trip? If family I would take the 24-105 and the Tamron and call it a day. If it was a photo trip I would take a ton of gear LOL

Sorry, but there is not one correct answer. It all depends on what kind of photography you are doing. Your choice of gear will depend on your objectives. And your budget. And available space in your bag.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

Thanks, I know its quite open ended.

Yes, this is a family trip for sure, but I also want to geek out and take some sweet landscape.. So i would say landscape / portrait are the two main areas. My budget is pretty much one of the Sigma lenses, if I convince myself to go that route.

Thanks guys for the replies

If you need to travel light then it's got to be the 24-105 but if you want only primes then for me it would have to be Sigma 24mm Art, Canon 40mm pancake and the Canon 85mm.

I assume you shooting with a Full Frame camera..

Personally I would take the 24-105 but, if you want just two primes, then I would suggest the 24 ART and a 50 ART.

I would bring:

1) 24-105 F4 IS (weather sealed - out all day lens) - stitch together panos at 24mm F8
2) 40mm pancake - going out for dinner / family picks (plus it takes up no space while travelling)

3) Tamron 150-600 - I would only bring this lens if you are absolutely going to use it
- planned birding outings
- kids that surf
- etc

I would say 50 on ff. About 28-30/on cropcrop. I have 22mm, 40mm and 50mm on crop. I use all of them, the 50mm the least, no real reason. The 40mm lives on the t3i and 22mm on the m. I would say if I could have any between those ranges it would be 28-30mm

Yeah, a 50 and 24 would cover my typical family stuff.

Of course, when my wife takes my camera she tries moving the focus ring on my primes only to find out that it's not "zooming in."

BTW, you have my dream kit, more or less.

Thanks everyone, surprised that a few people have said to use the 40mm. Not sure why, but i rarely use that lens. Although its super small and light, I'm not considering it for some odd reason. Maybe I should revisit it tonight as a few of you have said to take the fabulous fourty\

I think its the sharpness and bokeh that the sigma lenses produce that is alluring me to them.

If you are full frame then the 24 ART for landscape. The 85 1.8 for portrait and the 24-105 for everything else Bring a flash as well You should be able to get some amazing back lit portraits.

If it was me, the 24-105L would be the only thing that I'd bring. Perfect for travel, landscape, portrait. 35 ART would be cool for nighttime outings though.

And a flash.

I mostly use my 24-105L for travel, and when I travel it is pretty much the only lens I need. I spent the last two years making several trips to Germany that had me there over a bunch of weekends. At first I was lugging a rather heavy backpack with a lot of different lenses. After a while I was just down to taking the 5D3 with 24-105L. I so rarely needed anything else, the other lenses were not worth the weight most of the time.

Trying to do any kind of lightweight travel with just primes is going to be either heavy or frustrating, and the number one thing that is handy about primes (very fast apertures) is not of much interest for travel photography. I tend to shoot a lot at f/11 while on travel.

I'm not sure why the bokeh characteristics of your faster lenses are of interest to you on travel. I can imagine the coversation now. "This smooth, creamy blur right here is actually a volcano. And this smooth, out of focus region over here is a palm tree."

icculus479 wrote in post #17789786
Thanks, I know its quite open ended.

Yes, this is a family trip for sure, but I also want to geek out and take some sweet landscape.. So i would say landscape / portrait are the two main areas. My budget is pretty much one of the Sigma lenses, if I convince myself to go that route.

Thanks guys for the replies

Heya,

24-105L on your camera when out with the family and just quick stuff here and there, this is more walk around. Do you want images of your family with Hawaii and the environment all blurry, or would you actually like to see where you are in the photos? Wide angle (24mm, etc) is going to capture more environment, so are you going to shoot at F1.4 to have a soft Hawaii background, or would you stop down a little? If so, you just answered yourself in terms of what lens you're going to use.

I'm a prime junkie. But I know when I'm on a trip and have family, I generally am not there for a fashion and dreamy family portrait where you can't really recognize where it's at environmentally, so I'd rather have flexibility and focus on having good lighting. I'd be much more stressing about having the right light. So I'd be running a prime, stopped down a bit for DOF for the environment, or a zoom doing the same thing, with an ETTL/HSS capable flash. Or two. With extra batteries.

For the geek-out photo moments, where you have time and family not standing around waiting on you, take out your other gear and have fun. The best time to do landscape is early morning pre-dawn and just after drawn, or late evening, sunset, post sunset. Mid-day is not the best time to do "sweet landscapes," you know? You can of course, but they are not the ones that will pop with all the color and you'll face all that harsh light and drastic contrast and dynamic range stretching, versus the more even and soft morning/evening light. So while everyone is sleeping, you can do sweet landscapes. And at sunset you can do them of course. Mid day, family shooting with environment in DOF and a flash to ensure they're light up nicely.

Very best,

msowsun wrote in post #17789873
I assume you shooting with a Full Frame camera..

Personally I would take the 24-105 but, if you want just two primes, then I would suggest the 24 ART and a 50 ART.

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