Headed to Ireland in August--Dublin, Belfast, Derry, Galway, Kilarney and Shannon. We will have a party 7 with two vehicles.
I am wrestling with what equipment to bring. Do I want a wide angle? Longer lens? or will a Q43 work?
I am looking forward to the street photography in the cities, but the landscapes should be spectacular. Thusly, do I need a wide angle--14 or 15mm--for those?
I'll share what I took when we visited in 2018: I was shooting Canon glass at the time and only two lenses - a16-35/4 and 70-300. The 16-35mm was especially useful (+/- 90% of images) with castles, cities, museums, abbeys, churches, cathedrals, the Giant Causeway...so I'd definitely take a WA!
I used the 70-300 a little but mostly at the lower focal length so it didn't come out of the bag very often.
If I was leaving today: Based what I currently own this is what I'd likely take - Sigma 14-24/2.8, CV 35 APO, Sony 70-200/4 (doubles as a Macro and is a superb lens!)
*Tripod - My travel tripod (rather than my heavier landscape one).
Hope this helps. I think you'll love Ireland (we did!).
It’s been almost 2 decades since I was there, but I seem to recall my wide-angle lens (at the time, a Canon EF 17-40 f4L) was my most used lens. I also seem to recall that when I went there in August also, it wasn’t east to find hotel rooms on the fly (the way I like to travel), so you may want to consider pre-booking some hotels, especially in popular areas.
I was there in 2022, I think. I'm not much of an ultra-wide shooter, but most of what I shot was with a 24-105. It was wide enough for the landscapes I wanted and telephoto enough for most everything else. I I also took a 16-35f4 which I used a bit and a 100-400 that I took a bird photo or two of. I could make it with the 24-105 by itself, but the 16-35 makes sense as well and makes for a 2 lens kit that's plenty portable.
We were there in August 2024. Family of 4. I took with me the EF16-35 f/2.8, 24-70 f/2.8 and the 70-200 f/2.8. I got the Canon R5MII just the week before and did not have any RF lenses. Almost all my photos were with the 24-70, and some church interiors with the 16-35 and family portraits with the 70-200. If street and landscape are your targets, I would cover the 14/15mm-70 mm range with one or two lenses.
