Lens choice for Costa Rica: We will be taking a tour for 7 days in Costa Rica. Sights include River boat ride and the cloud forest. I will be bringing my Canon 7d Mark 2 and a 15-85...

wkocken Loc: McGregor, MN

We will be taking a tour for 7 days in Costa Rica. Sights include River boat ride and the cloud forest. I will be bringing my Canon 7d Mark 2 and a 15-85 lens as my primary lens. I need to pick one additional lens. Either a 70-300 f4-.6 zoom or a 90mm f2.8 macro. I enjoy shooting landscape as well as wildlife the most but still enjoy taking some flower photos. Which lens shall I choose?

cval52

I use a Tamron 28-70 for most of my flower photos.

Joe Blow

I would take the 15-18 and the 70-300. That should cover most of the expected range. A prime would be nice, but unless you know you will be using it, it would only be extra weight.

As an alternative, you might want to investigate renting an EF 70-200 f2.8 instead of the 70-300. While heavier, it is a far better lens and it is weather resistant.

Enjoy your trip.

Tgbyrne

It’s a tough choice. You’ll find landscape (wide angles), bigger wildlife (telephoto) and small creatures and flowers (macro opportunity). You can’t bring 3?

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

wkocken wrote:

We will be taking a tour for 7 days in Costa Rica. Sights include River boat ride and the cloud forest. I will be bringing my Canon 7d Mark 2 and a 15-85 lens as my primary lens. I need to pick one additional lens. Either a 70-300 f4-.6 zoom or a 90mm f2.8 macro. I enjoy shooting landscape as well as wildlife the most but still enjoy taking some flower photos. Which lens shall I choose?

If I were making the trip, there would be no question - I would take the 70-300mm because it would add more capability, but I'm not you. Asking which two you would take on a similar trip in the US is probably your best guide to what you would want on this trip.

mrpentaxk5ii

wkocken wrote:

We will be taking a tour for 7 days in Costa Rica. Sights include River boat ride and the cloud forest. I will be bringing my Canon 7d Mark 2 and a 15-85 lens as my primary lens. I need to pick one additional lens. Either a 70-300 f4-.6 zoom or a 90mm f2.8 macro. I enjoy shooting landscape as well as wildlife the most but still enjoy taking some flower photos. Which lens shall I choose?

I Don't use canon, so I am not up to speed on your lens choice, you stated that you will be on a river boat and in a cloud forest. The reach on the 15-85 and 70-300 is good but if you are only going to carry two lenses you might want to rent a fast telephoto that will allow you to photograph in low light, while the 55-300 has the reach it is not a fast lens, a 70-200 f-2.8 would be my choice.

JPringle Loc: Australia

I like to travel light and uncluttered with just my EFS 15-85 or sometimes my EFS 17-55. Try and avoid a camera bag in favour of a vest or harness too. If I expect some birds or wild stuff, I'll throw in my EF 70-300 (non L), its useable but a touch soft at 300mm but OK at 290mm. I also usually pocket the tiny EFS 24 f2.8 pancake - its not macro but you can get pretty close. I occasionally pop in an EF 15 f2.8 fisheye too, another small lens. Now if I was going on Safari in Africa, I'd organise a porter and take a bit more. But usually I'm going somewhere for a holiday, with a camera, rather than going somewhere to photograph.

sueyeisert Loc: New Jersey

wkocken wrote:

We will be taking a tour for 7 days in Costa Rica. Sights include River boat ride and the cloud forest. I will be bringing my Canon 7d Mark 2 and a 15-85 lens as my primary lens. I need to pick one additional lens. Either a 70-300 f4-.6 zoom or a 90mm f2.8 macro. I enjoy shooting landscape as well as wildlife the most but still enjoy taking some flower photos. Which lens shall I choose?

On my way home from Costa Rica. Had a wonderful time. I used 2 lenses 18-135mm on a Fuji xpro-2. I also brought an Olympus EM-5 with a 70-300mm lens which is actually 140-600mm. You will need the long lens to photograph crocodiles, monkeys, birds etc.
Have a great time.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

wkocken wrote:

We will be taking a tour for 7 days in Costa Rica. Sights include River boat ride and the cloud forest. I will be bringing my Canon 7d Mark 2 and a 15-85 lens as my primary lens. I need to pick one additional lens. Either a 70-300 f4-.6 zoom or a 90mm f2.8 macro. I enjoy shooting landscape as well as wildlife the most but still enjoy taking some flower photos. Which lens shall I choose?

Take the 70-300mm.
For close ups get a set of close-up filter lenses.
They work well and are small and easily used and carried.
You will definitely want the 300mm reach for wildlife.
I am not sure of the shyness of the animals in the route you are taking though. I some jungles of SA I found I could walk up and nearly touch many of the colorful birds I encountered but it was areas where they were not in the presence of humans and saw me as no threat.

nikonkelly Loc: SE Michigan

wkocken wrote:

We will be taking a tour for 7 days in Costa Rica. Sights include River boat ride and the cloud forest. I will be bringing my Canon 7d Mark 2 and a 15-85 lens as my primary lens. I need to pick one additional lens. Either a 70-300 f4-.6 zoom or a 90mm f2.8 macro. I enjoy shooting landscape as well as wildlife the most but still enjoy taking some flower photos. Which lens shall I choose?

having been to CR a few years ago, I would without hesitation take my longest lens as the wildlife is everywhere especially since you have the wide side already covered.

mckraft

I suppose the question is whether your looking to take pictures for publication or good quality snapshots to share with friends and family. I have traveled Central America frequently and find humidity is the worst enemy. The 7d is weather proofed but your choice of lenses is not. You will be needing a L lenses (renting one is a good option). The longer the Lenses the better. The recommendation of a travel vest is a good idea. Get the lightest one the uses a breathable netted material. When I travel I carry a 5D with a wide angle zoom and a Long zoom L lens. This is a heavy combination, but does produce professional quality pictures. The problem when traveling with groups you don't always have time to set up the shot to include fiddling with camera and lenses. Because of this, I carry a backup megazoom Powershot SX60. With this camera I have taken shots I would have missed with my 5D. Plus the SX60 allows me to take movies. I consider the SX60 as sacrificial (I already lost one in a rainstorm in Belize). But Canon repaired for $99. Have fun on your adventure.

Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains

Costa Rica has a very wide range of photo ops and I would have hated to have had nothing available longer than a 90mm on the trip I took there several years ago. Is it really impossible to take both the 90 and the long zoom? If so than I would advise leaving the 90 at home but there will probably be occasions when you wish you had a macro. But if you don't take the 70-300 there will be many more occasions when you wish you had it.

insman1132 Loc: Southwest Florida

On a once in a lifetime trip I have never been sorry I took the lens with the longest reach. If I were in your shoes, wk, I would take all 3 of them. Any reason you cannot?

Desertrataz Loc: Tucson, Arizona

Just returned from Costa Rica, traveled light by just taking my travel camera instead of canon 7d MII/canon 5d MIV + lenses. Got amazing images from the Sony DSC-RX 10 IV whose range is 24-600mm. No regrets and fantastic results. Recommend renting this to give it a try.

genesamit

16 to 300 Tamron lens did the trick for me. Most of my shots were at the lower mm #s.