Trip to Rome
Trip to Rome
I'm going to be taking a trip to Rome later this year and trying to figure out if I need to pick up another lens. Right now I have the Sigma 24-70 f/2.8. Will this lens do it or will I need to get something wider? I plan to take the normal pics of the historical sites and some of the sites over in Vatican City. We also plan on heading down to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast.
If I can get by with the 24-70 i'd rather do that but if I'll be frustrated that I can't get some of the sites can you suggest a lens that doesn't break the bank?
What are you going to be visiting and taking photos of? Will it be during the day or will it be at night or indoors and dimly lit?
Assuming good lighting, or slow moving subjects that allow you to use a slower shutter speed, I have two idea for you.
First, 24mm is fairly wide. I had a series of zooms with my prior Nikon bodies before moving to Sony. So far I've been able to hold out with a 35mm and 50mm prime. I do find the 50mm too tight from time to time (ie I physically can't back up far enough to frame my subject), but that's rarely the case with the 35mm. Unless you're going to want to take an single photo of the entire contents of a fairly small room you should be fine. In most situations you'll be able to physically back up enough to frame your shot.
The second is that you can always take a multiple photos and stich them together when you get back with something like hugin. Just make sure you take very obvious "start of panorama" and "end of panorama" pictures so you know what photos were part of the panorama.
Unrelated to lenses, do you have a flash? Having one will enable you to do things like take photos of dimly lit people in front of a brighter backdrop. An easy example is a person/group of people with a sunset behind them, but you might find yourself in this situation if you're shooting in an area with a lot of foreground shadows.
Not really sure what we'll be photographing yet. I would imagine the historical structures like the Colosseum, Pantheon, St Peters, etc... indoors and outdoors. At that time of the year it'll probably be getting dark early so probably a fair amount of nighttime shots.
Assuming you have a stabilized body and you're going to be taking mostly photos of architecture and/or adults I think you will be fine with your Sigma. Have you done any travel and/or low light photography before? If you have a museum nearby they tend to have at least one section with challenging lighting. It will also give you a feel for whether or not you want a wider lens.
I think that 24-70 is likely all you'll need. I don't think you'll miss out on the wide end, but I don't know if you'll miss out on telephoto because 70 doesn't get you too far. It depends on how you like to shoot though. I personally prefer to shoot closed in a little more but many others prefer the wide look. I still think 24mm is pretty good on the wide side for most types of shots.