Family Trip - Lens suggestions

[RRAM]

Was planning on renting a lens for family trip to Niagara Falls (US Side Only) this month, My go to set up Canon 6D + 50 f1.8 STM. These are the lens i own EF 50 f1.8 STM, EF 40 2.8 STM and EF 70-300 4- 5.6 IS USM. The subject of the photographs will be my family (3 Year Old) and if I get a chance the falls. These are the 2 lens I thinking of renting Canon EF 50 f1.2L or Canon EF 35 f1.4L. Which one would you suggest?

[DanK]

Neither, frankly, since you have both focal lengths covered already. The 40mm won't be that different from the 35. For what you are describing, I don't think the wider apertures would be any help, unless you want to do posed pictures with the background blurred out (which I assume you don't want.)

I haven't been to the falls in years, but if I were going to add one lens to what you have, it would be something that goes wider. It's often useful for landscapes, although with the falls, maybe not. When I travel with gear and a FF camera, I carry a 17-40 f/4 L for that purpose. Quite small, light, reasonably inexpensive, and optically fine, although not as good as some of the more expensive alterntives.

[Shadowman]

Agree with Dan, what you already have is sufficient, the wide angle would be a bonus lens although probably used only so often.

[rpcrowe]

If I were going to rent, I might choose the 17-40L, however if I were going to buy, I would look at the 28-75mm f/2.8 Tamron which is a great, relatively inexpensive, general purpose mid-range zoom for a full frame camera which would pretty well cover both your 40mm and 50mm lenses...

28mm is wide enough for most of my needs...

[RRAM]

Thank you for suggestions. My idea is to take only one lens on the trip ( for one lens setup my go to is 50 f1.8). The reason i was thinking of 50f1.2 or 35f1.4 was to a try L prime. On one of my previous outing i rented a ef 24-70 f4L and loved the way the colors. I wanted to take a zoom i would like to take 24-70 f4 L as its small and it covers the wide angle too.


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[LePetomane]

Ram,

You list your "go to" lens as a 50mm f 1.8? Then take that. One suggestion I might make is to see the falls from the Canadian side as well. I grew up in western NY and Niagara falls was our big trip. We always went to the Canadian side and the view was a lot better. Photographic opportunities are a lot better as well.

If you have time you may want to check out the Finger Lakes region of NY. Beautiful area.

[Shadowman]

There's a section of the park that's closed to the public, at least 80% is still reachable; so another nearby location is the Lewiston overlook. Also, inside the Niagara Falls park there is a new elevator that takes you down the gorge for another view of the falls; its free but will be very crowded during tourist season.

http://fallsstreet.com/event-calendar/

http://www.nypa.gov/vc/nvccalendar.asp
http://www.historiclewiston.org/pictures.html

[inkista]

Another vote that neither the 35L or 50L are worth renting for travel. They're big, heavy, finicky, and very very expensive. Learning to focus a 50/1.2L is to learn the hard way about focus shift. And both lenses are super conspicuous. Kind of the opposite of what I want when traveling, unless I'm only traveling for photography. To me, a travel lens should be small, light, inconspicuous, and cheap so I don't bust into tears when/if it gets stolen/lost/broken in transit. This is why I have a micro four-thirds bag. I'd say if the 50/1.8 is your go-to, pack that, and then consider renting/buying an EF 24-105 f/L IS USM. Used/refurbed, you can find it at pretty reasonable prices, and there's a reason it's a 5D kit lens. The EF 24-105 f/3.5-5.6 IS STM should eventually become cheaper, but is still a bit expensive for what it is, especially since a white-box 24-105L can be had at similar prices. My 24-105L is the most-used lens on my 5DMkII.



Yes, it has image quality compromises, but they're all to make the lens smaller (f/4) and more convenient (larger zoom range) for travel/walkaround use.

[Zone Five]

Unless you have some specific reason to restrict your trip to the U.S. side, I can't imagine anyone with an interest in photography passing up a chance to photograph Horseshoe Falls (the Canadian falls/Canadian side).

The falls are, of course, quite large, but you would normally be a decent distance from them (unless you do a boat tour down on the river), so the lenses you already own should suffice for your needs. Certainly, there is no need to rent a 50mm lens that gives you less than 1 stop advantage over what you own. The 35mm may be worth it *IF* you already have a specific (low light?) composition in mind that your 40mm won't address, otherwise there's not much difference in AOV between these.

In my opinion, save your rental money and put it towards your trip. Enjoy!

[RRAM]

Thank you John for the update, I did see that Terrapin Point is closed for summer due to renovations. Thank You for all the suggestion. I will take the 50 f1.8, 40 2.8 and GoPro session (for wet conditions). I was thinking of the L lens as I wanted to try them out and considering the weight and what I have been told here and review of the lens I will have to spend some time with the lens to work with them. Due to visa issue my trip is limited to the US side of the falls.

[Black Pearl]

Unless you are planning on setting up a tripod with a panoramic head at every place you stop to take pictures of the falls I feel you are going to be missing an unnecessary number of opportunities by severely limiting yourself to a 50mm. Personally I would be investing in or at the very least renting a wide angle zoom similar to those suggested above. A 17-40mm f4 would probably be my choice as its not too expensive, not to large, offers good IQ and covers a great range.

[rpcrowe]

I need to modify my earlier statement because I was amiss in not considering the new Canon EF 24-105 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens as an option for your 6D. The lens is fairly inexpensive (sub $400 USD on Amazon.com) but should be quite adequate as an all-around mid-range zoom lens for your 6D camera.

Combining that lens with a decent hotshoe flash would do a lot to mitigate the relatively slow f/5.6 aperture at the longer focal range of the lens...

I have originally worked with a lens of the same aperture range (EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens) and while lacking some versatility in low light levels, was a good general purpose mid-range zoom. When this was my go-to mid-range zoom, I also used a 20mm f/2.8 as well as a 50mm f/2.8 Mark-I for wider coverage and in lower light levels...

[Ken MT]

Not sure about the quality for a full frame. From review summary:-

1. Summary


Pros: ◾good image quality in the frame centre,
◾decent image quality on the edge of the APS-C sensor,
◾good correction of the lateral chromatic aberration,
◾lack of serious coma problems,
◾moderate astigmatism,
◾slight vignetting on the smaller sensor,
◾silent, quick and accurate autofocus.

Cons:
◾huge vignetting level at 24 mm on full frame,
◾significant distortion, additionally of the moustache variety, at the wide angle of view,
◾some problems with spherical aberration,
◾weak image quality on the edge of full frame.

[RRAM]

thank you for all you input. I decided to rent a EF-24-70 F4L for the trip and will be taking along the EF 50 f1.8 STM.

[inkista]

Good choice. Smaller and lighter than the 24-105L with a stronger 24mm end and better stabilization. Definitely worth it if you don't plan on using the 70-100mm range for portraiture.