Suggested Gear Rental for 1 Wk in Sicily?

Squelch

Hi all,

I am going to Sicily from 11MAR to 19MAR with a group of West Point cadets for a historical tour. Right now I own a 50D, a 17-40 L, and a 70-200 f/4L. I also have a 100mm f/2.8 macro and a 50mm f/1.8, as well as a 580 EXII. Last summer I went to Italy and carried the 50D, 17-40 and 70-200.

While on our trip we will be touring historical sites around Sicily. My primary focus won't be on photography; instead, I am in charge of running the trip. However, there will be many opportunities to take a few minutes and walk around various sites taking pictures, and three or four "free" afternoons where I will have a couple of hours to walk around Taormina, Palermo, and Milan. Last summer I seemed to use the 17-40 a lot more than the 70-200, only breaking out the long lens when I wanted to get a shot of something far away, (duh!) and as a substitute for binoculars. Many of my pictures were candids of the cadets, and group shots and historical locations.

I've been lusting after a 5D MkII for a while, because I want to move to full frame to take advantage of the 17 end of my 17-40, and to have movie capture capability in my SLR. I've hesitated on pulling the trigger for a number of reasons, including money, the fact that a 5DIII might be coming out soon, and money. Oh, and money.

I can swing $400 or $500 pretty easily to rent some equipment for the 10-14 days of our trip. My questions for you are:

1. Would it be worth it to rent a 5DII to bring with me? I don't know if I want to be using a completely different camera from what I've used for the past couple of years. But it's still a Canon, and it won't be that much different I suppose. Plus it would give me a chance to test drive the 5DII, so to speak.
2. What about lenses? I like my 17-40, but a 24-105L might be a nice option, or even a 28-300L for ease of use. I'm sure there are many better options too.
3. How about a 7D instead? It would be cheaper to rent than a 5DII, but in reality would it be that much better than my 50D?
4. With any camera rental should I bother renting the battery grip? I have one on my 50D and I use it pretty often, but I don't know if it's worth the extra $60.

Thanks so much for your help. I welcome any comments, including "don't worry about the gear, just take a bunch of pictures with the gear you already own!" :thumb

Richard

I have the same basic setup as you--50D, 17-40, 70-200 f4/L. What I might add is the capacity to go wider, either by renting the 5DII or by adding an EF-S 10-22. The 5DII, 17-40 and either your 100 f/2.8 or 70-200 would be a great travel kit.

Squelch

The 10-22 might work, but I don't know if it would give me an unwanted fish-eye effect. This 17-40 is the widest lens I've ever used, and on my old Elan 7E, it's pretty darn wide.

ziggy53

Squelch wrote: »

The 10-22 might work, but I don't know if it would give me an unwanted fish-eye effect. This 17-40 is the widest lens I've ever used, and on my old Elan 7E, it's pretty darn wide.

The EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM will not create as much distortion as a fisheye lens but there can be some curvilinear distortion. You can either accept the distortion, which is often not that much, or you can correct for the distortion.

Other distortion that you might notice from the lens is perspective distortion, which is generally more visible. It is also pretty easy to correct in software if you need or wish. Here is some similar correction applied to a Sigma 10-20mm super-wide lens image:

Original image:


Snapping a reference line (to define vertical):


Correcting the perspective distortion:


Resulting image after all corrections:


More image samples from that lens:

Squelch

Wow, that might give some really interesting results. And it would be cheaper than renting a 5DII and using my 17-40L. But to be honest, I don't do a lot of post-processing. Many of these images will go on a website for the cadets, and I will print a few to hang somewhere (sometime). But I do like the idea of a wide lens on my own camera.

ziggy53

Squelch wrote: »

Wow, that might give some really interesting results. And it would be cheaper than renting a 5DII and using my 17-40L. But to be honest, I don't do a lot of post-processing. Many of these images will go on a website for the cadets, and I will print a few to hang somewhere (sometime). But I do like the idea of a wide lens on my own camera.

It's only for those subjects that have straight lines that you will even notice the perspective distortion. Post-processing is always an option but not a necessity.

In the case of the outside of the church it was necessary to use that wide of a focal length because of a picket fence that I wanted to shoot over (in order to avoid the picket fence in the scene.) If I had used a longer focal length I would have had to stand further back and that would have then included the fence. The scene was considerably improved from avoiding the fence in the scene, even if I had not done the post-processing.

Squelch

Interesting. So maybe a 10-22 and the 24-105 would do the trick, both on my 50D. That would give me an effective 16-170mm total range, which should be enough for the wide group shots and at least a little bit on the telephoto end. And it would be a lot cheaper than renting a 5DII.

But I have to say, there's a part of me that says it would be nice to try the 5DII out, and this is a good excuse to do it!

Richard

Squelch wrote: »

Interesting. So maybe a 10-22 and the 24-105 would do the trick, both on my 50D. That would give me an effective 16-170mm total range, which should be enough for the wide group shots and at least a little bit on the telephoto end. And it would be a lot cheaper than renting a 5DII.

But I have to say, there's a part of me that says it would be nice to try the 5DII out, and this is a good excuse to do it!

I'd go with the 5DII, which gives you 17-200 using the lenses you own, plus much better low light capability. There is, of course, the danger that you will want to buy one....

Squelch

I think I might go with the 5DII after all. If I rent it for two weeks and give myself three or four days before departure to play with it and learn it, I should be good by the time I actually get on the ground. I still don't know if I'm going to want the battery grip or not. I'm so used to using it on my 50D that I might miss having it there.