Wide Angle Lens for National Air and Space Museum

Some time in the coming month or so, I am planning to make a trip to the National Air and Space museum at Chantilly, VA. I would like to rent a super wide prime or zoom. Right now I'm tied up between the Canon 17-40, 16-35, 14mm, and the Sigma 12-24 mm. The widest lens I have in my bag at this time is a 28mm. For those of you who may have been there before, my goal is to capture a nose to tail shot of the Concord. I am currently shooting with a 5D2.

Thanks in advance.

If your going to be indoors with low or poor lighting then you have no choice but to go with a lens with a f/1.2 or f/1.4. I would go with the 24mm f/1.4L if hand held. If you can bring a tripod then I would go with the 16-35mm f/2.8L.

Take Care,
Cheers, Patrick

The lighting will be variable depending on what kind of day it is. Tripods are not allowed. However, the ISO performance of the 5DII is such that I dont think a 1.4 or 1.2 is necessary, especially since I will likely want to shoot at f/4 or better for depth of field. Most of the aircraft is arranged in such a way that shooting at a large aperture will be detrimental to the shot unless your intention is not have the entire apparatus in focus. My major concern is focal length and field of view. Even with full frame, I suspect that 24mm will not be wide enough to capture the kind of shots I will be looking for.

They let me use a tripod when I was there. I manged with a 17-50 F2.8 and was able to stop down to F11 at times to get the star effect from the overhead lights. Actually one of the people working there came up to me and started talking about the plane to me when I had the tripod out and was taking pictures. They were all very friendly and the tripod was not a problem. This was last August so things may have changed. Be sure to head over to the Presidential and Experimental planes hangar, very cool.

I'll have to check on the tripod issue. At one point they weren't allowed.

I've been there a few times, but it's been a few years. It's pretty dim lighting, even on a bright day outside. With a 5DII, I still think you take the 17-40mm f/4. Without a tripod, shooting wide open at f/4 is probably going to require ISO 800 at the long end and ISO 400 at the wide end. No problem.