Good lense for holiday (landscape/cityscape)?

Im off to Pisa, Florence and Rome in a few months and want to be sure i cover my photography needs. I already have -
300D kit lens
EF 100-300 F4.5-5.6 USM (on order)

My pictures on holiday tend to be anything from landscape/cityscape to close ups (especialy architecture that may be high up)
Will i need anything else?

This will be my first time travelling with a Dslr

I'd suggest the 50mm 1.8 as an inexpensive but very high quality low light solution. Neither of your lenses is a particularly good low light performer. And it's light weight too.

I think wide angle is a must... your kit lens should do ok.
For people candids and snapshots etc, a 50mm could come in handy

Andy, I reckon you need a nice 'wide-ish angle to walk-around' to compliment your zoom, but only if you didn't fancy the kit lens quality wise for wide. Those places are a bit hectic and lots of oportunities for people and street scene style shots. Check out the fredmirana forum for user reviews of options.

The latest Sigma 24-70 f2.8 DG Macro would work nicely as great build and fast. May be a bit pricey at around £260 or so, or try ebay. The good old Tamron 28-75mm is an option and you can get that for £250 shopping around. Alternatively, the 50mm II would add some zip to what you have and be useful indoors and for street style shots, but range covered by your kit lens already (quality is better tho'). Costs around £60 from 7dayshop. It fits in your pocket ... but so does the kit lens!

Another option is wide-wide, but decent ones cost money. The Tokina 17mm AX in the marketplace is a good buy. I'd get it myself if I hadn't blown the budget!!

Thanks all,
So the 50mm is getting praise and seems a good buy.
I missed the Tokina 17mm but may keep looking.
So are primes good for landscapes?

Can be ... I tend to prefer a zoom just because it's easier to frame what you want. Maybe I'm just lazy! You can use pretty much anything for a 'landscape', it's just that with a longer zoom or prime you will get much less in the frame ... you'd get some land, but much less scape You can also 'stitch' together several narrow frame shots in software to make one long landscape ... personally, I can't be bothered!

Of course, your kit lens is 18mm (I think!!) at the wide end and it might be worth seeing if the quality is up to scratch for you. I have never used mine so dunno. Seems to be mixed reviews, some like it and some don't.

The 17mm (x 1.6 crop factor, of course) is nice because you'll get a lot in, but then you may have to walk forward or back a bit to get the image framed as you'd like (or you could crop the image afterwards). With a zoom you can frame without walking around and so you are less likely to need to crop later (or as much).

First time I used my Tokina I found it was immediately apparent what an advantage a wide can be. You just get so much more in shot. I definitely welcomed the zoom, and I think I would miss it if I didn't have it now, but I'm sure I would have adapted to a prime as well. I just might not have used it as much or with such flexibility.

My Tokina is superb and VERY well reviewed. Because it's not seen as a 'cool' L lens you can pick them up at nicer prices ... less than £200 if you're very lucky: a bargain considering they normally sell at around the £450 mark new!

Check out the review section at fredmiranda and see if you can find anything decent in your price range ... then have a look on ebay. Never know ... that's how I got mine. Just luck. It was my first choice, along with the Canon 17-40 L which sells for silly money SH, and there it was on ebay. Fate I had a 'wide and walkaround' shortlist that I typed up and if you want it I can see if I can find it and post later.

Hi Dave,
Some good points there regarding fixed vs zoom.
The tokina does seem very well reviewed, maybe more than i was thinking of spending at the moment, but i have a few months yet before the holiday.
If its not much hassle the list would be handy.

Ok, here it is with the lens name, the score on the fredmiranda review section and the number of reviews (more is better, very few is more suspect). Finally, there is a very rough ball park price in UK £'s to use when judging ebay price value:

Wide

xTokina AT-X 17 f3.5 AF Pro - 9.2/9 £250
xTokina AT-X Pro 12-24 f/4 £365
xTamron AF 17-35mm f2.8-4 Di LD Aspherical - 8.9/17 £329
xCanon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM - 9.1/33 £559
xSigma 14mm f2.8 EX Aspherical - 8.4/11 £535
xCanon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - 8.9/33 £549
xSigma 12-24 f4.5-5.6 EX DG Aspherical HSM - 8.6/32 £450
xSigma 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 EX Aspherical DG DF - 8.3/33 £390
xSigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC - 8.2/11 £329

Wideish to walkaround (18mm +)

xTokina 20-35mm AT-X 235 AF PRO - 9/5 £399
xTamron AF 28-75mm f2.8 XR Di Zoom - 9.6/53 £264
xTamron SP AF28-75MM F/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) 8.2/13 £265
xSigma 28-70mm f2.8 EX Aspherical DF - 8.5/11 £229
xSigma 20-40mm f2.8 EX Aspherical DG DF - 10/3 £350/250
xSigma 24-70mm f2.8 EX Aspherical DG DF - 8/30 £279

The ones in bold are the ones I was mainly looking at from POV of performance/price.

many thanks Dave, i'll check the FM reviews aswell.

Penance wrote:
Im off to Pisa, Florence and Rome in a few months and want to be sure i cover my photography needs. I already have -
300D kit lens
EF 100-300 F4.5-5.6 USM (on order)

My pictures on holiday tend to be anything from landscape/cityscape to close ups (especialy architecture that may be high up)
Will i need anything else?

This will be my first time travelling with a Dslr

get the 50mm 1.8 from 7dayshop.com, costs less than anywhere else I know of and its a great prime lens. best budget lens canon do.
the 24-70mmm range lenses (tamron, sigma canon L) are all very good, as are the 17-35mm ones, but the cost adds up!

I stopped using my 50mm F1.8 because it's inaccurate focus motor was costing me shots. I've upgraded to the 50mm F1.4 and my keeper ratio has at least doubled. Gona sell the 1.8 soon.

That's a great sales advert for your 1.8

Never had a problem with mine, just the opposite in fact, but they are so cheap I guess Quality Control isn't their first priority. Maybe that's a good reason to buy new and test, especially as SH they tend to sell close to best retail anyway here in the UK. I got mine from 7dayshop and the hood off ebay.