Lens for Yosemite

danpak

Not sure if I am posting in the right forum...

Need lens advice.

I'm planning for a 4 day trip to Yosemite My first time there. I have...

17-55 f2.8 Nikon
12-24 f4 Tokina
70-200 f2.8 Nikon
50 f1.8 Nikon

I am not sure if I have the right lens - especially focal length wise.
Here are my concerns.

Looking at various pics paying close attention to the focal length, many are taken with mid-zoom 35mm -ish for "grand landscape" shots. I am not sure if 17-55 f2.8 would be a good lens for this. I am still not convinced that this is a good lens for this. Without this I don't have anything from 24 to 70 range. And 50mm f1.8 may be too long for most of the shots.

Should I get something like 35mm f2.0 Nikon for this trip? What do you think? :scratch

jeffmeyers

danpak wrote:

Not sure if I am posting in the right forum...

Need lens advice.

I'm planning for a 4 day trip to Yosemite My first time there. I have...

17-55 f2.8 Nikon
12-24 f4 Tokina
70-200 f2.8 Nikon
50 f1.8 Nikon

I am not sure if I have the right lens - especially focal length wise.
Here are my concerns.

Looking at various pics paying close attention to the focal length, many are taken with mid-zoom 35mm -ish for "grand landscape" shots. I am not sure if 17-55 f2.8 would be a good lens for this. I am still not convinced that this is a good lens for this. Without this I don't have anything from 24 to 70 range. And 50mm f1.8 may be too long for most of the shots.

Should I get something like 35mm f2.0 Nikon for this trip? What do you think?

Seems to me like you have the 35mm range locked up with your Nikon and Tokina. I'm not sure why you would need a separate 35mm lens.

What's wrong with the 17-55mm lens in your mind?

davidweaver

(I'm assuming that you are using the DX nikon format here)
17-55 f2.8 Nikon [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]26-82mm [/FONT]
12-24 f4 Tokina 18-36mm
70-200 f2.8 Nikon 105-300mm

I'd leave the 50 f/1.8 at the hotel as the 17-55 covers it with less than a stop difference.

No mention of a tripod. It's essential for yosemite as some of the most dramatic shots are in low light (Longer exposure) situations. Don't crank the ISO up unless you absolutely have to do so.

I'd probably walk out of the lodge with the 12-24 on a body but then I love my 12-24. The 17-55 will be very useful for some of the longer shots of the valley and it is a great lens for lower light when walking around. There will be plenty of low light when walking around in the valley.

I have no idea what I would use the telephoto for but it is a solid pice of glass and if you don't mind hauling it around then it can't hurt to bring.

Have fun! And please post some pics when you get back.

Cheers,
David

danpak wrote:

Not sure if I am posting in the right forum...

Need lens advice.

I'm planning for a 4 day trip to Yosemite My first time there. I have...

17-55 f2.8 Nikon
12-24 f4 Tokina
70-200 f2.8 Nikon
50 f1.8 Nikon

I am not sure if I have the right lens - especially focal length wise.
Here are my concerns.

Looking at various pics paying close attention to the focal length, many are taken with mid-zoom 35mm -ish for "grand landscape" shots. I am not sure if 17-55 f2.8 would be a good lens for this. I am still not convinced that this is a good lens for this. Without this I don't have anything from 24 to 70 range. And 50mm f1.8 may be too long for most of the shots.

Should I get something like 35mm f2.0 Nikon for this trip? What do you think?

danpak

jeffmeyers wrote:

Seems to me like you have the 35mm range locked up with your Nikon and Tokina. I'm not sure why you would need a separate 35mm lens.

What's wrong with the 17-55mm lens in your mind?

Thanks for your response.
I have this impression that 17-55mm is more of a photojournalism/event lens, best with aperture wide open. Some people say it is soft. Not sure if it is my mind telling me this... but it seems soft for landscape shots for me...

danpak

Thanks for your reponse and advice.
My worry was not so much with the low light situations, but that my 17-55mm would not perform well in landscape situations in the range that my Tokina (12-24) would not cover. I have this unfounded impression that this lens is good for event photography at wide open aperture setting than landscapes...

Yes, I am definitely brining my tripod along with CPL, ND grads. I will post pics when I return.

davidweaver wrote:

(I'm assuming that you are using the DX nikon format here)
17-55 f2.8 Nikon [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]26-82mm [/FONT]
12-24 f4 Tokina 18-36mm
70-200 f2.8 Nikon 105-300mm

I'd leave the 50 f/1.8 at the hotel as the 17-55 covers it with less than a stop difference.

No mention of a tripod. It's essential for yosemite as some of the most dramatic shots are in low light (Longer exposure) situations. Don't crank the ISO up unless you absolutely have to do so.

I'd probably walk out of the lodge with the 12-24 on a body but then I love my 12-24. The 17-55 will be very useful for some of the longer shots of the valley and it is a great lens for lower light when walking around. There will be plenty of low light when walking around in the valley.

I have no idea what I would use the telephoto for but it is a solid pice of glass and if you don't mind hauling it around then it can't hurt to bring.

Have fun! And please post some pics when you get back.

Cheers,
David

Awais Yaqub

I don't know about Yosemite but if i have to go out for landscapes here i will take 12-24 and 70-200

Hikin' Mike

Well, I've been to Yosemite "a few times" ( I live 90 miles away), but I using a Canon...sorry. Anyway, when I started getting 'serious' I used my 300D and the kit lens for a while (17-55). Now I'm using my 17-40. I also use my 70-200 as well for some landscape shots. I also have a 300mm and a 1.4TC for wildlife.

Hope this helps.

cj99si

Take the 12-24 and the 70-200, and if your bringing that much pack it all:D When I was there my 10-22 stayed on most of the time and I used a 75-300 as well for a few shots... I didnt have my 70-200 when I was there and I wish I did.

Wiiide is the way to go:D

GREAPER

The telephoto could be useful if you encounter wildlife (coyotes are not uncommon). Other than that, wide is the way to go. The canyon is very deep and narrow.

danpak

Thank you for all your input!
I will be thinking wide... Thanks again.

torags

I would suggest a polarizer, you will probably take some sky...

Shane422

I just went in May to Yosemite for the first time. I took my 28-75MM and rented a 10-20MM and an 80-400MM from www.borrowlenses.com. They have the option for local pick up not far from the San Fran airport.

The 80-400MM was not a good choice. It was too big and heavy and I really didn't use it. The 10-20MM was nice, but I mainly used it in the Mariposa Grove of Sequoas and in Muir Woods just North of San Fran.


So I mainly used my own 28-75MM. If I were going again. I would probably rent the 24-120VR lens, or and 18-135MM. 95% of my shots were in that range.

And definitely do not go without a tripod. I shot everything bracketed so that I could try some HDR images and it worked out very well. I just shot on Aperture priority at about f11 and set the camera to bracket for + and - 2 stops.
Here is the tunnel view HDR I ended up with. It is also a stiched Pano.