gdanmitchell Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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ksmmike wrote:
Thanks Dan,
The reason why I was so specific is because I've been on a different Viking Cruise and been to European cities, however I've been down that river or to those cities. I'm guessing the 24-120 and either the 20mm or the 50m prime will suffice, but I wasn't sure if there was something about Amsterdam or one of the other cities that might lend itself more to a 20mm or even a 200mm.
Hi,
I don't have much to offer specifically regarding the other cities (though I"ve been to places where the situation is likely pretty similar), but in Amsterdam I feel like 120mm would likely be long enough for most things you'd want to photograph. 24-120 covers a lot of ground. (I use APS-C for travel, and my widest lens is 14mm, with is angle-of-view equivalent to 21mm on FF, so not much wider. My long focal length is typical 90mm, the AOV equivalent of 135mm on your system.)
The question of which prime to add to the zoom may come down to what kinds of things you think you'll need to shoot at apertures larger than what your zoom provides If you are thinking interiors of places where you can't get a lot of distance, then the 20mm obviously gives you that. On the other hand if you are thinking of the larger aperture lens for things like photographing in the street in low light or at night, 20mm might be wide enough to seem limiting and 50mm might make more sense.
The challenge with travel gear — as I'm sure you already know — is that there are so many trade-offs if you want to keep the weight and bulk down. From my perspective this means that I know that I won't have the ideal lens for everything... however I can usually find a way to make a photograph of a subject with the lenses I have. I expect you might be going through the back and forth internal debate – we've all been there — that goes like this: "I might be photographing inside where I'll need the short focal length and the large aperture. But 20mm might be too wide with some of my other low light subjects!"
If bringing one large aperture prime for low light and carrying a zoom that goes to 24mm, I think I'd probably want the longer focal length for the prime. (My choice would be more like 35mm, but that's just me.) I'm not familiar with the camera and zoom lens you are working with, but I'll assume that it has some kind of image stabilization. If your low light interiors don't generally feature a lot of moving subjects, you may be surprised at what you can do with the zoom at 24mm, wide open, and with IS.
One other thought to consider. Since you'll be on a river cruise, if you plan to photograph things along the banks as they pass by... the added reach of the longer zoom could be useful. Sorry to say that. ;-)
I'm not recommending that you do what I do, but for perspective here's what I carry on similar trips (including my last visit to Amsterdam). As I mentioned, my setup is based on an APS-C camera, so I'll give actual focal lengths followed by the angle-of-vew equivalents for your FF system in parentheses:
14mm (21mm FF) f/2.8
23mm (35mm) f/1.4
27mm (40mm) f/2.8 pancake lens
35mm (53mm) f/1.4
90mm (135mm) f/2
The 27mm is usually on the camera. The 14mm is my wide angle, particularly for interiors. The 90mm is my long lens, and is also useful for some kinds of people photographs. I usually leave the two f/1.4 lenses in my hotel safe during the day, but they become my main lenses for urban night photography in cities.
One reason I mention this is that the 90mm (135mm) lens is nowhere near what I would carry in non-travel situations. I used to worry about that: how many shots would I miss without the longer lens? Not too many, it turns out. If that hold for you, the 120mm lens might just be enough.
Good luck and enjoy your travels. We're really anxious to get back to Europe. We had a six-week trip all set up, including seeing the Paris Opera Wagner "Ring" Cycle for fall 2020, and it all had to be cancelled. We have relatives who live in Germany and we've really missed our visits with them. We're hoping to return this fall. Fingers crossed!
Dan
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