Camera lenses - SLR users

[drgnfly30]

I've just upgraded to a Canon Digital Rebel from my Canon S200 - It's been a while since I had a SLR camera - for those familar - what lens do you find you use more at WDW - I currently have the 18-55mm that came with the kit & a 28-200mm lens (for versatility) but was thinking of exchanging it for the (lighter) 55-200mm. I would carry both lenses but don't want to have to consistently change them. HELP! I'm making myself confused!!!
Christine

 

[bigbabyblues]

We have a Minolta SLR camera with a 28-200 lens, but I wouldn't want to drag that thing around WDW for anything. I'd go with the smaller lens, provided it has enough zoom that it suits your needs.

Ours is a film camera though, I don't know if there's a difference.

 

[Geoff_M]

Bad idea... remember that the Drebel has a lens magnification factor of 1.6x. Meaning the 18-55mm actually acts like the 35mm film equivilent of a 29-88mm on the Drebel. That zoom range runs from medium wide-angle to medium tele-photo. I used my 18-70mm (27-105mm 35mm equivilent on a Nikon D70) exclusively at WDW this month. Very few times did I ever want for a longer lens during our two weeks there. Most vacation photos tend to skew towards the wide-angle end of the lens spectrum. The 55-200mm would be the equiv. of a 88-320mm lens... that's mostly overkill. Also, remember that the Drebel is a 6MP camera... you've got pixels to spare to crop an image tighter!

Here's that I was able to do with just the one lens:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=593831

 

[LKS]

If you can learn to live without zoom - picture quality is better with a fixed focal length lens. I use a 50 and it works for most of my pic. I move instead of zooming.

I am very, very picky about picture quality.

 

[eclipseSD]

I have a 50mm as well - sharp as a tack - even though the crop factor on the D70 can be annoying. However, it is the only lense I am taking to WDW this week.

 

[montblanc]

I would favor the 18-55mm lens. Most of the interesting pictures are of the more panoramic variety, telephoto lenses require more light, stability and capture far less field of view. You can also crop wide angle photographs should you wish to accentuate a particular aspect of a scene.

I use both a digital camera and a rather heavy 3 CCD DV Camcorder. The weight is around 3 lbs. but I use hip packs which are connected to my belt and hardly notice it.