What lenses should I take?

[DisneyGirl4188]

I have a Pentax k100d and will be taking it to WDW for the first time. I'm not sure which lens I should take to the parks.

I have:

18-55mm F3.5-5.6
28-80mm f/3.5-5.6
70-300mm f/4-5.6
50mm f/1.4 (it should arrive soon; I can't wait).


Any suggestions? I know I'll take the 50mm, but I don't know if I want to keep that on all the time. Should I leave the 28-80 or would that work better than the 18-55?

 

[YEKCIM]

In addition to the 50 (for low light situations, and because it is small/light), I'd probably take the 18-55 (28 is not wide enough for me, personally) and the 70-300, and would be willing to bet that 70% of my pix would be with the 70-300, since I tend toward tele shots, for subject isolation, tight closeups, etc.

~YEKCIM

 

[handicap18]

I echo what Yekcim said, however, I would use the 18-55 more than the 70-300. The 70-300 will get a lot of use at AK and also for some shows such as Lights, Motor, Action; Indian Jones and some others.

The 50mm f/1.4 is great to have for Spectro, Indoor rides such as PotC, IASM, Great Movie Ride, Pooh and others. It is also good, though kind of short depending on where you get a seat for Festival of the Lion King and Fastasmic as well as Beauty and The Beast. Just be sure when using this lens that your focus is spot on with the wide apertures as DOF is very shallow. Pentax is good with the high ISO's so do be affraid to use ISO1600 when the situation allows.

 

[ukcatfan]

I agree to leave the 28-80mm behind b/c there are not many shots in the missing range of 55-70mm where you could not either back up or move closer. I would personally use the 50mm most of the time and switch to the others when needed. I say that b/c it is the sharpest lens you have. The Pentax kit is a pretty sharp lens compared to some other kit lenses, but it is still not as sharp as the prime.

Kevin

 

[mabas9395]

It really depends on what kind of shots you want to take. On my last trip I used my 28-135 more than anything and it was more than wide enough because most of my shots were trying to zoom in on what my kids were doing.

 

[Groucho]

You might be curious to look at my "lessons learned" thread, which is from my trip with a Pentax *ist DL and the 18-55mm kit lens, Pentax 50-200mm, and four primes: Pentax 50mm 1.4 (love it!), Zenitar 16mm fish-eye, Sigma 28mm, and Vivitar 400mm. I also included some exif charts. Here's the one that relates to your question, listing focal length usage.

As you can see, the 50mm was easily the star lens! On the other end, the 400mm was never used at all, although that's probably somewhat because it's old, big, and very heavy (you pretty much need a tripod or monopod.)

I don't know who made your 28-80mm lens but chances are that the kit lens is as good or better, and will give you more room at the wide end, which is important. That'd be the first one I'd drop if I was cutting back.

If you're trying to carry the fewest lenses possible, I would probably bring the 18-55mm and 50mm most days, and only bring the 70-300mm on Animal Kingdom days. You can always crop a little bit - you'll lose resolution but chances are that the 50mm will produce much sharper photos than the 70-300mm, so it might not be too awful a compromise.

The 50mm is also very small so it's pretty painless to carry around when not in use.