Travelling to Singapore: Canon 5D lens recommendations?

[sabesh]

Hi all,

I'll be travelling to Singapore at the end of this year. I'm wondering which lenses to bring. I'm considering the following three Canon lenses for my 5D DSLR:

16-35L Mk.II
50L
24-105L IS

Will also bring along a small tripod, 430EX flash and 500D closeup lens for the 50L. Will this be sufficient for a lightweight travel kit in Singapore? I'm not visiting the zoo, so a long zoom will not be needed (I hope?).

I'd like to take some aerial views of Singapore as well. Aerophile Singapore seems like a good place to do that from. Would the 16-35L Mk.II or 24-105L IS be the best option?

Thanks,

Sabesh.

 

[lsisaxon]

Hi all,

I'll be travelling to Singapore at the end of this year. I'm wondering which lenses to bring. I'm considering the following three Canon lenses for my 5D DSLR:

16-35L Mk.II
50L
24-105L IS

Will also bring along a small tripod, 430EX flash and 500D closeup lens for the 50L. Will this be sufficient for a lightweight travel kit in Singapore? I'm not visiting the zoo, so a long zoom will not be needed (I hope?).

I'd like to take some aerial views of Singapore as well. Aerophile Singapore seems like a good place to do that from. Would the 16-35L Mk.II or 24-105L IS be the best option?

Thanks,

Sabesh.

Hi, if it's only one lens you're going to bring, then I'd pick the 24-105. Will you be travelling on your own or coming with a tour group? There are some scenic places where an ultrawide would certainly give a nice perspective, especially the waterfront, so the 16-35 would come in useful but 24mm should be wide enough most of the time.

My opinion is 50mm is pretty useless on a full frame, it's not long enough nor is it wide enough to be extremely useful but the fast aperture can give you some great handheld candid shots in the evening twilight where activities are buzzing. Alternatively, a slower shutter with the 24-105 IS might give you some nice motion blur.

 

[sabesh]

Well, the 50L is my most used lens (apart from my 85L.II). It's great for candids and closeups.

The 24-105L exhibits visible distortions @ the widest ends, so the 16-35mm will be great for the WA shots. The question is: Are there any useful scenics that will dictate the use of an UWA lens in Singapore?

Thanks,

Sabesh.

 

[lsisaxon]

Well, the 50L is my most used lens (apart from my 85L.II). It's great for candids and closeups.

The 24-105L exhibits visible distortions @ the widest ends, so the 16-35mm will be great for the WA shots. The question is: Are there any useful scenics that will dictate the use of an UWA lens in Singapore?

Thanks,

Sabesh.

It really depends on where you go to. I think they are lighting up Orchard Road for Christmas. You might want to check out some of the galleries here to see some of the shots that you can take here. Really depends on whether you're going to shoot the culture or the scenery here.

This thread has some good pictures and I think many of them are shot with wide/ultrawide, so that should give you some ideas.
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=209099

Like I mentioned before, if I am limited to only one lens, I'd pick the 24-105 because it's the most versatile, going somewhere unknown, I would want to cover as much as possible. I usually bring 18-200 for my trips.

In Singapore, people are usually camera shy and do not like you taking pictures of them, so I think 50mm might be a bit too short for that purpose, but then again, I might be biased because I don't use 50mm very often. If you feel very comfortable with it, then by all means bring it, it's just about how we capture the things we see. Nothing's wrong and nothing's right.

 

[Dream Merchant]

Hi and Welcome Sabesh!

I would go with what Isisaxon said.t

A lot depends on what you want to shoot, as we do have just about everything from lots of cityscapes (+ Christmas lightings during the time you will be here) to delerict buildings and quite a fair bit of biodiversity and wild-life (surprisingly for such an urbanised island).

Your set-up sounds just about ideal actually, since you mentioned hat you were not interested in doing the zoo thing, but in any case, if you do find yourself short of a particular lens, there are several reputable members here who run businesses that include equipment rental - from your home-operator right up to one company that has a small arsenal of Canon bodies/lenses and Carl Zeiss (to fit Canon) lenses as well as just about everything you might need to shoot a motion picture!

Let us know if we can be of any assistance to make your visit here more enjoyable.

CHEERS!

 

[sabesh]

Thanks guys, this is great info! Now I'm thinking that I should take the 85L.II or 135L instead of the 50L for available light pics or potraits. Cheers.

 

[lsisaxon]

Thanks guys, this is great info! Now I'm thinking that I should take the 85L.II or 135L instead of the 50L for available light pics or potraits. Cheers.

Hahaha... sometimes I even have to use 200mm on a 1.5x cropped sensor to snipe on people. ;p I think a fast 135mm should be a good lens for capturing the people here. Just stand a distance away and either they don't notice or the distance is too great for them to give you any trouble.