Semi-Pro Lens Question for 7 day trip

[luthi726]

Hey everyone,

This is my first post here and I certainly appreciate and words of wisdom. I am a Canon shooter and I have already made the determination to carry around my heavier gear for the duration of my trip. I will use my 100-400 for Animal Kingdom on either my 5d2 or my 7D. I also have a 70-200 2.8 (non-IS) which may spend most of it's time in the bag in the hotel room. I will of course have my 50 1.8 around for any lower light situations and it's silly lightweight.

My question really revolves around my general "walk around" lens in the various situations. I currently have a 24-70 2.8 (non-IS) and I have just recently picked up a 24-105 f/4 IS for general purpose. I am thinking about selling the 24-70 (I know, it's heresy) to recoup some dollars as I generally don't find myself shooting at 2.8 on the "wide-r" side of things, and of course the optics of the 24-105 are solid. I am really just looking for some folks who may have used both in Disney, to shoot EVERYTHING - both family shots outside and inside and landscape/architecture, etc. I know that for fireworks at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot I'll be fine with either lens and I also have a Sigma 15mm f/2.8 fisheye that I will use for some of the really wide stuff like Spaceship Earth and interior ceilings and such.

Do you guys think I should keep the 24-70 2.8 or let it go? Will there be a need for me to have 2.8 at 24-70 outside of what my other lenses can do (i.e. 50 1.8 or 15mm)? Thanks so much for the input!

 

[havoc315]

Only that the 24-70 would give you a bit more flexibility shooting indoors. Yes, your nifty-fifty will be just fine indoors and dark rides, but the 24-70 would give you more flexibility if you don't always want to be stuck at 50mm. F4 will only be useful in very well-lit indoor locations. That said, I find for true dark rides, you really need the extra stop of the 1.8.... 2.8 just isn't fast enough for the darker dark rides.

 

[HPS3]

That's a tough question for me because I use 2.8 a lot on my 17-50(APSC). In WDW, there are only a few occasions where I wish I had more reach. I usually carry the 17-50 f2.8, Sigma 30 f1.4 and Rokinon fisheye. Thats all I tend to use at Disney. I shoot more photos of my family than anything so I can keep it under 50mm. Everything else is shot pretty wide for me. The Sigma 30 is for dark rides and when I want really thin DOF.

 

[photo_chick]

I use an older 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 as a walk around lens and I love the focal range for most situations. But as far as if you should keep the 24-70... that's a question only you can answer. I personally wouldn't have it and the 24-105 in my bag if I had fast primes to cover the focal range. But we all have different wants and needs.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

It really depends on what you intend to shoot. From my experience, Disney uses a lot of indoor reduced lighting for effects. If you intend to shoot things like FOTLK, then you will need the ability to shoot lowlight. Will you be able to obtain acceptable images with an f4 lens and higher ISO? If not, then the f2.8 with lower ISO will be needed. Shutter speeds will have to be fast if you desire to capture the movement. You know the capabilities of your equipment so that will have to be your call. I have attempted to use my 100-300 on a crop sensor camera and found it to be too long and bulky for use in the bouncing truck of the Safari. The 70-200, on my crop sensor camera, gave me what I needed. My walkaround is a 28-70 f2.8. In normal situations that gives enough length and the lowlight capabilites I need without having to change lenses. If I need the extra length for things like the outdoor/indoor shows, I switch to the 70-200 f2.8. I have my Sigma 30 f1.4 for the dark rides. I don't have a dedicated UWA lens, so if I need something wider its the consumer 18-55.

I can't tell from your post whether or not you are a Disney veteran, so I just tried to give you what I use to correlate to your equipment. I hope it helps.

 

[bob100]

Hey everyone,

This is my first post here and I certainly appreciate and words of wisdom. I am a Canon shooter and I have already made the determination to carry around my heavier gear for the duration of my trip. I will use my 100-400 for Animal Kingdom on either my 5d2 or my 7D. I also have a 70-200 2.8 (non-IS) which may spend most of it's time in the bag in the hotel room. I will of course have my 50 1.8 around for any lower light situations and it's silly lightweight.

My question really revolves around my general "walk around" lens in the various situations. I currently have a 24-70 2.8 (non-IS) and I have just recently picked up a 24-105 f/4 IS for general purpose. I am thinking about selling the 24-70 (I know, it's heresy) to recoup some dollars as I generally don't find myself shooting at 2.8 on the "wide-r" side of things, and of course the optics of the 24-105 are solid. I am really just looking for some folks who may have used both in Disney, to shoot EVERYTHING - both family shots outside and inside and landscape/architecture, etc. I know that for fireworks at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot I'll be fine with either lens and I also have a Sigma 15mm f/2.8 fisheye that I will use for some of the really wide stuff like Spaceship Earth and interior ceilings and such.

Do you guys think I should keep the 24-70 2.8 or let it go? Will there be a need for me to have 2.8 at 24-70 outside of what my other lenses can do (i.e. 50 1.8 or 15mm)? Thanks so much for the input!

I think I would keep the 24-70 2.8 but walking around all day with the 100-400? that's a heavy lens!

 

[luthi726]

Thanks everyone for the thoughts. Yeah, the 100-400 is heavy, but that will really only see use in Animal Kingdom. That's why I picked up a 24-105 for my main "walk around" lens. I'll have the 70-200 for occasional use but my gut tells me that it will likely stay in the bag in the room for most of the trip. I am not sure how many of the "shows" we will take in with an almost 3 year old, but we will see. If we do any of those sorts of things then having a little more reach at 2.8 might be nice (i.e. the stunt shows.) I think that 105mm at f/4 will be fine for nice bokeh "portrait-y" types of shots of my family and characters/cast and really the majority of my shots. And I'm looking forward to using the 15mm fisheye a fair amount also (ceilings and other architecture and also any "tighter" areas.)

Probably one the biggest items on my checklist of shots I want to get is a phenom shot of the fireworks over Cinderella Castle. That one tops my list and I hope that I will be able to capture what is in my head. I do a lot of research and planning prior to going anywhere I really want to come away with nice shots, but if anyone has any resources or recommendations I welcome the experience and thoughts of others.

Thanks again,

Michael

 

[luthi726]

Oh and to answer the question of "am I a Disney Veteran", this will actually be my first time back in a couple of decades. However, my brother and sister both worked there and I have a couple of close friends who are also photogs who go quite often. This will actually be my wife's first trip there (which is basically a sin as much of a Disney fanatic as she is.) So, while I know that carrying around the heavier equipment will mean some trials and tribulations in my lumbar, I'm REALLY looking forward to capturing as much as I can and coming away with some really high quality shots. I don't know how long it will be before we are able to do this again so I want to do all that I can on the front end to "get it right."

And, from the looking around I have done (and it's extensive btw) on Flickr and other places where I can really see what kind of ISO's folks are having to shoot at, I"m not really too afraid of bumping up the ISO on a full frame sensor. But also, I don't have a real need for a lot of the "inside the rides" types of shots except for a couple of the staples like "It's a Small World" and the like.