Travel Photography kit - Canon 7d + ?

Jonesgj

Jonesgj

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Hi all,

Been looking at the canon 7D as a replacement for my Oly E3. I am interested in something that has a robust build for travel photography, and just wondered what Lenses are suitably robust to match the body.

Working on a budget my 'starter set' would be the following:
Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4.0-5.6 IS USM
Canon EF 70-300 f4-5.6 IS USM
Sigma 10-20mm F3.5 EX DC HSM
This emulates the focal range I have with my Oly set-up, possibly not the best (?) Not being familiar with Canon kit I don't know how to tell which are at least spalsh proof.

Any advice etc greatly appreciated.

Kind regards
 
my first thought is that the 7d needs great glass to make the most of the huge resolution it has... and all of those might not be up to the task.... & none are particulary robust/strong...it may be worth considering getting a cheaper boday 40/50d, both very capable, but getting some strong L glass to fit on it :)
 
Thanks Guys. L Glass? Will have to do further reading but what are the diferences between Ef, EF-S and L lenses?

I liked the 7D because it just within my budget (major factor :) ) , feels right in my hands, it has remote triggering of flash units, a 100% view finder and decent 3" screen.

I could save-up for better glass as soon as my gadget fund recovers, but the 'starter set' will keep me going I think..

Just thoughts at the moment.
 
L series are the top-end stuff. Very good build, very good optics, very quick focus. L series lenses have a red ring around the end of them. You often see them in the hands of journalists on the telly. At sports events the large white 'L' series lenses are also very popular.

If your looking for robust the bodies to look at are the 5DII and 7D, both pretty tough bodies or used 1 series cameras (probably a 1Ds Mark II or 1D Mark III - both built from 'unobtainium'). As you may know the 5DII and 1Ds cameras are both full frame, the 1D is a 1.3x crop factor.

It might be wise to look for a 1-series camera (If you don't mind the associated weight) like the 1D MKIII. I find 1.3x crop makes your lens choice much more interesting and easy. I use a Mark II and a 17-35 'L' - This gives me a 21-44mm f/2.8 lens. Ideal for journalistic shots as 21mm is pretty wide and 44mm is nice and long. Also the 1D cameras have some incredible AF systems and shooting speeds alongside a load of useful features to explore.

Then I've paired it with a 70-200mm f/2.8. Thats about an 85-250mm f/2.8, really nice length for portraits.

To fill the void I pop a 50mm f/1.8 in my pocket, nice for low light and quite a nice lenght on the crop (hated it on 1.6x and 1.0x). I also have another small collection of the f/1.8 primes but I find they often stay at home.

Perhaps this isn't the ideal route for you to take but if I were you (and weight wasn't too much of an issue) I'd look at a set-up like this? (all used prices to keep it under budget)

1DIII + Spare battery (1.6kg) (£1250?)
Canon 16-35 (0.6kg) (£450-600)
Canon 50mm f/1.8 (0.1kg) (£80)
Sigma 70-200mm (1.3kg) (£400-£500)

So thats what 3.6kg and somewhere between £2000 and £2500 (so potentially slightly less than your 7D set-up would've cost and I'm pretty sure its a fair chunk better - so long as you don't mind the weight). It's a very popular journalistic/travel set-up. If your not into wider shots perhaps swap the 16-35 out for a 24-70, still a cracking set-up.#

If you don't want the 1.3x crop, you could go for a 1Ds Mark II. Full-frame, 1 series. If that was the case I'd probably advise a 24-70mm instead of a 16-35, but it depends of your style).
 
Jonesgj said:
Hi all,

Been looking at the canon 7D as a replacement for my Oly E3. I am interested in something that has a robust build for travel photography, and just wondered what Lenses are suitably robust to match the body.

Working on a budget my 'starter set' would be the following:
Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4.0-5.6 IS USM
Canon EF 70-300 f4-5.6 IS USM
Sigma 10-20mm F3.5 EX DC HSM
This emulates the focal range I have with my Oly set-up, possibly not the best (?) Not being familiar with Canon kit I don't know how to tell which are at least spalsh proof.

Any advice etc greatly appreciated.

Kind regards
Click to expand...

The Canon 15-85 is much better than the 17-85...
But you might consider the 17-55 as it is a f2.8 all the way and is built very nicely.

Cheers

MIP
 
What do you mean by "travel"? Now i assume you don't mean backpacking so weight won't be a huge issue, however size will to an extent and the suggestions so far seem a little extreme to me (unless of course you are going on specific photo holidays).

I'd go for similar to what you have gone for, just with a few tweaks.

Tokina 11-16 f/2.8
Tamron 17-50 f/2.8

For the wide and standard range then either a 70-200 f/4 and/or a 300 f/4 or just the 70-300 IS depending on how flush you are and how much weight you want to move around. Maybe sticking a 50 f/1.8 in there too as a small cheap low light lens for emergencies.

The 11-16 70-200L and 300 f/4L are all pretty tough (the 300L is pretty much made up of a single piece of metal pipe) and the 17-50 and 70-300 IS will do most occasions, unless we're talking rainforest or long periods in the desert (in which case the 300L at least wouldn't be much better, I lost AF when I went to Gambia in the rainy season, presumably because of the moisture, worked fine when I got home).

So yeah, cheap/light option:

Tokina 11-16 ~£350
Tamron 17-50 ~£200-£350 depending on version
Canon 50 f/1.8 ~£60
Canon 70-300L ~£350

~£950

Expensive/heavier option

11-16
17-50
50 f/1.8
70-200 f/4L ~£425
300 f/4L ~£450

~£1400

All prices used.

Both setups would see you quite well but the second would weigh more but give quite a bit better IQ at the long end (200mm+) and be a lot stronger. You could also go for the IS versions of the L lenses as well, more expensive (probably looking at around £800 more) but around the same weight and size.

I'm looking at swapping my kit for the former list for a bit of long term backpacking but probably wouldn't get the 50mm and swap the 11-16 for a Samyang 8mm fisheye due to it being only £200.
 
go for 17-55IS over the other options for a standard zoom as the high pixel density makes bad glass look a lot worse
 
For travel I would get 5d mk2 without much thinking. 24-105mm kit should be a good choice, alternatively you may consider something like 17-40 + 50mm + 70-200mm f/4. FF will give much better colours and sharpness than any cropper. 7D is for wildlife and sports.
 
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