Going to Rome, Florence, Venice - which one lens?

sdsviet wrote in post #6223556
isnt the sistine chapel just no flash. i definitely do remember hearing the phrase "no photos" constantly while i was trying to take a snap of the david. hehe

Nope. There are tons of big, burly guards walking around saying "NO PHOTOS!!!" I put my camera under my sweater, (had pre-set it before going in) and aimed the lens upwards...I got 45 amazing shots at aperture 2.8, ISO 3200!!!

If I were going to take just one lens - I would take the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS. This is wide enough for a lot of shots and I can shoot it at 1/10 second @ 55mm and get a very respectable % of keepers. I will shoot panos if I need wider. I have become pretty proficient at shooting short single string hand-held panos.

Using a "string-tripod" you can really shoot in some very low light levels using a high ISO and IS @ f/2.8.

That said, however, I would not want to travel with just one lens. My standard travel duo is the 17-55mm along with the 70-200mm f/4L IS lens. I can cover most of what I want to shoot using these two lenses. When I go somewhere like Europe that I know will have a lot of close quarter shooting, I will supplement those two lenses with the 12-24mm f/4 Tokina. The 11-16mm f/2.8 Tokina would be even a better backup for close quarters since the light is often not great.

i would have to agree with the 17-55 as its has good range and is decently fast for indoor cathedral or duomo shots. when i was there all i had was a fd 50 1.4 on my canon a1. still got great shots but when i was in venice i wish i had wider.

since you will take lots of architectural shots - something with IS would sure be nice and useful

Maureen Souza wrote in post #6223569
Nope. There are tons of big, burly guards walking around saying "NO PHOTOS!!!" I put my camera under my sweater, (had pre-set it before going in) and aimed the lens upwards...I got 45 amazing shots at aperture 2.8, ISO 3200!!!

I did the same thing. They use a laser pointer and a dude runs up to you saying "NO PHOTO!" then tells you to not to talk. But I did the same thing pointed my 28-70 up up and away got some nice ones.

I was in Rome this past spring and I brought my 17-40, 50 f1.4 and 70-200 f2.8. I also brought along a tripod. The 70-200 was a lot of weight to carry around considering how infrequently I used it. The tripod was really nice in some of the smaller churches (anything but St.Peters - not allowed and way too crowded). It is also nice for some night shots of the ruins. I used the 17-40 about 70% of the time. The 50 about 20% and the 70-200 about 10%.

Next time, the 17-40 and the 50 f1.4. As some other posters have talked about, most museums allow non-flash photos. The 1.4 50mm is great for this. I really liked some of photos I got in the vatican museum - no tripods allowed. The f4 of the 17-40 is too slow in my opinion (20D body) for most inside photography. The 50D sounds pretty intersting for its low noise high gain shots. I am planning a photography trip to the 3 Gorges in China in November and I just ordered the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 for that trip. I think that will be a great lens in St. Peter's.

Thanks for your help, everyone! Quick update since this thread is once again seeing the light of day. Went to the local camera store, and decided the 17-55 is a great lens. For this trip's purpose, though, I bought the 17-40..and a 40D to go with it.

Now I gotta find a light monopod and a quick translation book.