What lens for indoor museums and churches when traveling? I will be traveling in England, Scotland, Ireland and France next summer. I have a Canon 60D camera and would like advice on...

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What lens for indoor museums and churches when traveling?

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Jul 31, 2013 15:34:13 #

djnordlund Loc: Bothell, WA

I will be traveling in England, Scotland, Ireland and France next summer. I have a Canon 60D camera and would like advice on what would be a good lens for taking pictures in museums, churches, castles, etc. Since these tend to be low light situations, I imagine I would want fast glass, but how fast? Also, I imagine a wide lens would be useful.

Currently, I have the EF-S 18-200 f3.5-5.6 that came with the 60D. In addition, I bought a Sigma 70-200 f2.8 for dog shows and grand kids' sports. That lens works for the dog shows and the kids, but I have plenty of room to work there. I am concerned about getting good indoor shots in what will often be less open surroundings.

Any suggestions (and the rationale for those suggestions) would be greatly appreciated.

Jul 31, 2013 15:47:41 #

pappy0352 Loc: Oregon

I also shot the 60D and when indoors I use my 50mm 1.8.

Pappy

Jul 31, 2013 15:58:11 #

djnordlund Loc: Bothell, WA

pappy0352 wrote:

I also shot the 60D and when indoors I use my 50mm 1.8.

Pappy

I forgot to mention that I also have the 50mm f1.8. Did you find that wide enough?

Jul 31, 2013 16:11:44 #

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

djnordlund wrote:

I will be traveling in England, Scotland, Ireland... (show quote)

:roll: :roll: An inexpensive addition might be the Canon EF 40mm 2.8 Pancake lens. I've had some success with using it in lowlight. GL :roll: :roll:

Jul 31, 2013 16:19:33 #

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

You don't really have any very wide-angle lenses.
Buy or rent one of these:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/882235-REG/Tokina_atx116prodxc_ii_AT_X_116_PRO_DX_II.html

Jul 31, 2013 16:36:52 #

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

djnordlund wrote:

I forgot to mention that I also have the 50mm f1.8. Did you find that wide enough?

Good question on the wide enough ... I used my EF 35mm f/1.4L indoors at the National Cathedral a few weeks ago with great results. For the 60D / 7D cropped sensor, this approximates the view of a 50mm on a full frame. Your 50mm will be fast enough for the low light, but will be a bit of a zoom if looking for a wider perspective. Your EF-S 18-200 will handle most situations except the lowest light indoors. Do consider the rental idea. Although, a rental for a few weeks on a wide angle with wide aperture could approach the cost of buying the thing ...

Jul 31, 2013 16:38:36 #

djnordlund Loc: Bothell, WA

GoofyNewfie wrote:

You don't really have any very wide-angle lenses.
Buy or rent one of these:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/882235-REG/Tokina_atx116prodxc_ii_AT_X_116_PRO_DX_II.html

Thanks to pappy, davidrb, and goofy for their suggestions. I may rent a fast, wide-angle lens to try out in some local old churches.

Other suggestions still welcome.

Jul 31, 2013 16:46:31 #

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

djnordlund wrote:

Thanks to pappy, davidrb, and goofy for their suggestions. I may rent a fast, wide-angle lens to try out in some local old churches.

Other suggestions still welcome.

http://www.borrowlenses.com/product/canon/Tokina_11_16mm_f2.8_canon
2 weeks... $71 plus shipping

here is another:
http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/canon/lenses/wide-angle/tokina-11-16mm-f2.8-at-x-pro-dx-ii-for-canon

http://www.lensgiant.com/Rent_Tokina_116_Pro_11_16mm_DX_camera_lens_p/c017.htm

Jul 31, 2013 16:56:32 #

djnordlund Loc: Bothell, WA

CHG_CANON wrote:

Good question on the wide enough ... I used my EF ... (show quote)

I appreciate your thoughts on this subject. I have thought about replacing my EF-S 18-200 since I bought the Sigma 70-200 f2.8. I know the 24-105mm f/4L IS is a much better lens than the 18-200, but I am thinking that I may want to go with lenses that are at least f2.8 in the future. The problem is that I don't have a lot of cash to spend. So, I need to do some experimenting to see what works best for me. I may be leaning toward a wide angle zoom. I guess I also need to see how far I can push the ISO on my 60D before I get unacceptable (for me) noise.

Thanks

Jul 31, 2013 17:05:44 #

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

djnordlund - I edited my thoughts a few times after rereading your original post. I saw later the EF-S zoom and then retracted the idea of the 24-105L after realizing the overlap and the weight differences. Since you have until next summer, you do have time to experiment on a decision. The chip in the 60D is the same as the 7D (the 7D has two inside). I limit my ISO to 3200 although I end up needing more PP when I use that setting...

Goofy's recommendation on borrowlenses is a great price. I tend to use and recommend LensRentals.

Jul 31, 2013 18:04:04 #

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

djnordlund wrote:

Thanks to pappy, davidrb, and goofy for their suggestions. I may rent a fast, wide-angle lens to try out in some local old churches.

Other suggestions still welcome.

I prefer RentGlass for my rentals.
http://www.rentglass.com/

Jul 31, 2013 18:11:19 #

JPL

djnordlund wrote:

I will be traveling in England, Scotland, Ireland... (show quote)

Well, it depends on what kind of pics you want. Do you want to take pics of single items, then a 35 to 50 mm f1.4 or 1.8 would be ideal. If you want to capture as much of the rooms you are visiting as a single picture then you need a wide lens, the wider the better. Then you need something like 8 mm, 10,11 or max 12 mm lens.

Jul 31, 2013 18:37:11 #

DOOK Loc: Maclean, Australia

I use a Sigma 17-50 f2.8 for indoor work. It is fast & very sharp. The OS works well & allows pretty slow shutter speeds hand held. :D

Jul 31, 2013 20:52:32 #

djnordlund Loc: Bothell, WA

JPL wrote:

Yeah, I kind of knew that I might need to be more specific. Unfortunately, I suspect that when I am in a museum I will want to shoot specific objects and in churches the architecture may be of more interest. It is looking more and more like I will need to rent a super wide angle lens to get more familiar with that perspective and compare that with what I get from my 18-200 at the shorter focal lengths and see what will work best for me (before I buy anything).

Thanks again for all the input.

Aug 1, 2013 01:34:17 #

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

djnordlund wrote:

I will be traveling in England, Scotland, Ireland... (show quote)

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/351542-USA/Canon_9518A002_EF_S_10_22mm_f_3_5_4_5_USM.html

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