Prepping for Western Carribbean Cruise - Which Lenses?

Hello all!

I'm prepping for a cruise I'm taking on the NCL Getaway in late January 2016. I was on the Getaway in January of 2015 and only took a P+S and regretted it afterward.

The photos were good, but not *wow* worthy.

I used to own a Canon 40D, but I came across a good sale at Sam's Club for a 70D, 2 kit lenses and a bunch of accessories so I upgraded. I also wanted to upgrade so I didn't have to take my camcorder anymore, I could do it all from the 70D.

Here are my needs:

I want to be able to take nice photos on board the ship. I know I'll need a fast prime, but I'm not quite sure how fast. I also know it needs to be fairly wide too.

I also want a nice "walk-around" lens for the ports.

Our ports are Ochos Rios (we're probably only going to take a rugged P&S here since we're going to Dunn's River Falls), Cozumel (looking to take the DSLR since we want to see the Mayan ruins), Georgetown (probably will take the DSLR) and Great Stirrup Cay (...might not get off the boat).

I have the following lenses.

EF 50mm 1.4

EF-S 18-55mm STM

EF-S 55-250mm STM

EF-S 24mm 2.8 pancake lens STM

EF-S 10-18mm STM

I also just bought a Sigma 18-250mm DC OS HSM Macro last night ($249!). I thought this would be a great walkaround lens and I wouldn't need to carry both the 18-55mm and the 55-250mm. I may still carry around the 10-18mm.

Here are my questions.

1) Is the 24mm f2.8 lens fast enough and wide enough for low light photos on the ship? If not, I don't think there's a wider lens and the faster 50mm 1.4 isn't wide enough (is it?)

2) I'm probably going to take the 18-250mm Sigma and the 10-18 STM to the ports. I shouldn't need a prime lens though, right? It'll be daylight, so I shouldn't have concerns w/ lighting.

3) Am I missing anything critical?

4) I don't think I'm going to drag my DSLR everywhere on the boat, but I'll have a night or two dedicated to taking photos. I'll be taking the previously mentioned P&S with me for spur of the moment photos.

Thanks everyone for your help!

Personally, I'd probably go with your 10-18mm, 18-250mm, and 50mm F1.4, if I wanted to lighten the load and cover most bases. The alternative might be to go with the 18-55mm and 55-250mm, if you think your telephoto might be of better overall quality than the superzoom lens...though I find those superzoom lenses can be pretty solid.

I find a fast prime at least in the F1.8 range to be more favorable than an F2.8 - 2.8 is pushing it for handheld onboard shots, but if you can find a table, rail, or bring a small monopod or tripod, the wider angle would definitely help. If it were me, I'd want the 50mm F1.4 for night handheld shooting too, along with interiors...and for other interior shots I'd use the much more useful 10-18mm ultrawide, setting it up on tables, rails, bars, etc to shoot some interior rooms with slower shutter speeds. I typically like to bring a tripod, though I don't use it often - for around-the-ship interiors, I usually pick one late night on an at-sea day to go around the ship and take tripod long exposures - at 1am there are fewer people around and many lounges or rooms are mostly empty - so it's a great time to shoot the ship. 10mm is definitely useful for some of those smaller rooms and lounges and bars.

For outdoor stuff, when on the ports, I'd definitely be bringing the two-fer of the 18-250mm and 10-18mm. That's a reasonably light and small pair to bring along - a very small camera bag can accommodate both - and covers a very usable focal range (I bring the same combo myself on most islands - a 10-24mm and an 18-250mm on my DSLR, or for my mirrorless camera, a 10-18mm, 18-55mm, and 55-210mm).

 

1) Is the 24mm f2.8 lens fast enough and wide enough for low light photos on the ship? If not, I don't think there's a wider lens and the faster 50mm 1.4 isn't wide enough (is it?)

Your 18-55 kit lens at f/3.5-ish with stabilization may actually trump the 24mm's f/2.8. Also, at 45mm equivalent, the 28mm isn't all that wide.

The 50mm may be fun for details. I did a small gallery of shots taken at f/1.4 on our last Alaska trip as a "project".

http://galleries.pptphoto.com/p350564793

2) I'm probably going to take the 18-250mm Sigma and the 10-18 STM to the ports. I shouldn't need a prime lens though, right? It'll be daylight, so I shouldn't have concerns w/ lighting.

My personal experience is that 98% of shots taken in ports are between 16mm and 50mm. Your two lenses should cover anything you run into. (IMHO)

4) I don't think I'm going to drag my DSLR everywhere on the boat, but I'll have a night or two dedicated to taking photos. I'll be taking the previously mentioned P&S with me for spur of the moment photos.

Evenings on the ship are crowded and noisy. I find the best ship-shots are done early. Bonus: Sunrise!

Until I switched to the much smaller Sony NEX-7/A6000 cameras, my wife forbade the DSLR at dinner. I carried a P&S that became known as the "dinner camera". You are on the right track! :)

3) Am I missing anything critical?

Yes! Always! I use that human failing as an excuse to cruise again and again! ;)

The serious answer? Consider a mini-tripod or a clamp-pod for use on the ship. I have taken my flash on every cruise and used it maybe twice. Your mileage may vary but I'm finally giving up and won't be taking mine on the next one.

There's my 2¢...

Enjoy the trip!

Dave

I concur that the 24 on crop isn't all that wide. You can go wider with the 14/2.8 and you can go faster with the 24/1.4 - both are expensive but you could rent. Looks like there's a Rokinon 16mm f/2 for EF-S mount as well.

In April/May, I decided to experiment with more shooting 'round the ship. On full-frame, I was reasonably happy with the new 11-24/4, 24-105/4 IS, 85/1.2, and 100/2.8 IS Macro, though next time I'll take a 50mm f/2 Macro instead.

Thanks everyone for their responses.

Unfortunately, I discovered that my 70D might have been bitten by the "poor autofocusing in viewfinder mode" bug so I'll have to wait for results from Canon before playing with it more.

For any one interested, here are some photos that show the issue.

This was taken on Liveview

This was taken via the viewfinder (same ISO, same exposure, same aperture)

I also turned it to Live View, let it focus, switched to manual focus and viewfinder and it was in focus in the picture (but the camera said out of focus).

I also want to try a more scientific approach like "using a tripod" :-)

I agree with Dave

The 18-55 IS is probably a better choice than the 24 for on the ship.

Re the other issues a lot depends on what you want to shoot and what you want to do with the shots, for a lot of port time the 18-250 may be all you need.

Perhaps another suggestion...

Even fast primes have limitations when used indoor, most notably depth of field (assuming that in order to get more light, you are shooting wide open). Taking group photos wide open can be frustrating as someone in your group will no doubt be out of focus. One thing that you could try is buying a flash, preferably one that you can angle and bounce light off of the ceiling. That way, if you need greater depth of field, say for taking group photos, you can narrow your aperture and rely on bounced flash to get enough light.

Some people balk at flash photography, but its cheaper than fast lenses and/or full frame sensors. With enough practice, you can create natural looking images with your artificial flash.