Going to Rome this weekend, what 2 lenses to take?

I don't want to burden myself with weight, and my camera bag only fits 2. My limited options:

Sigma 10-20
Sigma 18-50
Canon 55-250

I was thinking the 10-20 and the 55-250 (I won't really miss the 20-55mm range), but my 18-50 is my sharpest and favorite out of the bunch. But if I bring the 18-50 then I won't be able to go really wide when I need to. I also think the telephoto is a must, not matter what.



Anyone wanna shine some light on this situation?

You need the wide. A lot of the traditional places to photograph are confined i relatively confined space (it's a tight city)

If you have the room, bring the EF501.8 in your list. A lot of churches don't allow the use of flash, so a fast prime will do you good indoors

A fast prime won't help you shoot architecture where you need depth of field.

Take the two short ones, unless you're going to be doing street candids. You'll definitely need the 10-20. I think you'll want the 18-50 as well, because of the building shift that ultrawides create. So you'll actually want to shoot at around 35mm where possible to get your buildings straight. From 35, you will want wider much more than longer.

GilesGuthrie wrote in post #6383542
A fast prime won't help you shoot architecture where you need depth of field.

Take the two short ones, unless you're going to be doing street candids. You'll definitely need the 10-20. I think you'll want the 18-50 as well, because of the building shift that ultrawides create. So you'll actually want to shoot at around 35mm where possible to get your buildings straight. From 35, you will want wider much more than longer.

Hi Giles, I would agree with your reasoning, as I recently visted Barcelona and my 10-22 and 17-85 were just perfect.

El Duderino wrote in post #6383412
I don't want to burden myself with weight, and my camera bag only fits 2. My limited options:

Sigma 10-20
Sigma 18-50
Canon 55-250

I was thinking the 10-20 and the 55-250 (I won't really miss the 20-55mm range), but my 18-50 is my sharpest and favorite out of the bunch. But if I bring the 18-50 then I won't be able to go really wide when I need to. I also think the telephoto is a must, not matter what.



Anyone wanna shine some light on this situation?

10-20 and 18-50. No need for a tele

My standard kit for travel photography is the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS and the 70-200mm f/4L IS lenses on two bodies. However, when traveling in areas that I know I will need a wider view, I will include the 12-24mm Tokina f/4 ATX.

I use my tele lens very-very often. It is great even for city shooting because:

1. I can often get shots of locals without their realizing and reacting to the camera.

2. I can isolate portions of a scene.

3. The tele lens will compress distances.

Why not take ALL of your lenses? After-all, the 55-250mm is a very light weight lens!

I'd take the 18-50 and 55-250
Once I bought my 17-55 I found that I didn't use the 10-22 I owned at the time very much.

You actually can get away with just the 10-20 in Rome. I was there in June, hot hot hot, and I used my Canon 10-22 most of the time. You can take pictures inside museums and churches but you cannot use flash or a tripod, they don't want a law suit when someone trips over your tripod. Most of the time you can walk-zoom but there is one occasion when you cannot do that, which is when it comes to the ceilings and you don't want to miss the beautiful paintings up on the ceilings. In addition, inside museums, there are a lot of huge paintings but not too much back up room so wide is definitely needed. Have fun.

Your two shorter lenses will be a wise choice. On my last trip to Italy I took lenses from 8mm - 200mm. I have much more pictures with the wider lenses than my 70-200 zoom.

I traveled to Rome this past spring and brought a 17-40L, 50/1.4 and a 70-200/2.8. I used the 17-40 about 60% of the time, the 50/1.4 about 30% and the tele about 10%. Next time, the 70-200 stays home. Since then I bought a Tokina 11-16 that I am really looking forward to using on my next trip.

I've been there and you need something wider than 18mm. 10-20mm is a must.

def wide

Last time I was in Rome I brought a 10-22, 24-105 and 30 1.4. The 10-22 is a definite must for the colloseum, the forum, inside the vatican, and when you're right up in front of fountains in tight piazza's like trevi fountain. Your 50mm will definitely be great at for night shots of buildings, squares and inside museums where it's pretty dimly lit.

I definitely missed my 17-50 2.8 while I was there, especially the f/2.8, but one thing you want to think about is how much lens swapping you want to do. It can be a pain if you are constantly changing lenses in tourist locations between your 10-20 and 55-250. The zoom definitely comes in handy for closeups of the huge vaulted ceilings inside the Vatican, the statues outside at the top of the Vatican, and shots from the top of the dome.

So I'd probably recommend taking your 10-20, 55-250 (I wish they had that lens when I went!), and maybe picking up or renting a sigma 30mm 1.4 if possible. Grab a polarizer or a GND 6 hard filter if you plan on a lot of outdoor shots. Have fun!

Thank you, everyone. I ended up taking the 10-20 and the 18-50 because of this thread. GLAD I did.

I posted some shots in this thread:

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=577163