topic Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks in EF & RF Lenses

Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

Far-Out-Dude — Tue, 28 May 2024 12:43:56 GMT

I Thinking of Renting A L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks this year, I will be using a Canon eos-M50 with a Canon adapter to use EF lenses and was wondering if anyone would have any suggestions? Also any suggestion of whom to rent from in the United States if allowed? I too some pictures last year that did not turn out bad though I was closer to the fireworks than I would have liked and they were just some some friends and people in the neighborhood has shot off as I had gotten sick earlier in the day and did not want to go far. I had used a Canon EF-S 18 55 macro 0.25m 0.8ft lens on that day and I would like to try a lens better than that. Link to that thread below.This all depends on how my girlfriends health goes, she had a brain aneurysm bleed back in September and has been having problems with that and she fell and broke her hip in February so my life revolves around her, she is more important than photography right now. Thank you for reading and everyone have a good evening.

https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/Share-Your-Photos/First-Attempt-at-Photographing-Fireworks/td-p/427325

Re: Thinking of Renting A L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

jrhoffman75 — Tue, 28 May 2024 10:01:30 GMT

I don't have any specific recommendations for a rental company but I have friends that have rented from several of the well-known ones on the Internet and all have had good experiences.

Depending on where you live a local camera store may do rentals as well.

Wishing you and your girlfriend good health.

Re: Thinking of Renting A L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

Waddizzle — Tue, 28 May 2024 10:49:35 GMT

I thought the photos at the link looked pretty good for a first attempt. They look much better than mine. It became too crowded to use my tripod, so I had to shoot handheld.

Are you looking for an ultra-wide angle lens, a wider aperture lens, or both? Whatever lens you used in the linked post did a pretty decent job.

Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

ebiggs1 — Tue, 28 May 2024 14:13:58 GMT

My good friend Dr, Frank Perez at the Memorial Day Celebration at the Station in KC. He used a Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 Lens.

Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

shadowsports — Tue, 28 May 2024 14:37:01 GMT

@FarOutDude,

Its been a while. Nice to see you again.

Lens Rentals dot com is a good place to rent from. For any rental gear, you should plan to get it 2 or more days before your event, so you can test and ensure all is working.

Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

kvbarkley — Tue, 28 May 2024 14:38:40 GMT

+1 to lens rentals.

If you really like that lens, they will let you buy it. That is how I got my Tamron 150-600.

Re: Thinking of Renting A L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

Far-Out-Dude — Tue, 28 May 2024 21:56:45 GMT

Thank you very much John for the well wishes for my girlfriend and myself. Unfortunately the closest camera store that does anything like that to me is over an hour away, with gas prices being what they are that is just not an option. It was a good suggestion though and I thank you for it.

Re: Thinking of Renting A L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

Far-Out-Dude — Tue, 28 May 2024 22:02:23 GMT

I am thinking a ultra wide angle would be the choice, I am not sure an wider aperture is necessary since I am dealing with bring lights, but I may well be mistaken as I am still learning. I am willing to be corrected if I am wrong about that though.

Thank you for the compliment on the linked pictures, I used a Canon EF-S 18-55 macro 0.25m 0.8ft lens on that evening.

Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

Far-Out-Dude — Tue, 28 May 2024 22:13:40 GMT

Thank you much, I will look into it for sure. His picture turned out quite nice.

Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

Far-Out-Dude — Tue, 28 May 2024 22:30:35 GMT

Thank you much, nice to see you as well. I have not been able to shoot much since her brain aneurysm bleed on Sept. 3 I had foot surgery two days before that and she was supposed to take care of me for a month but I ended up on the foot an awful lot and things have gone poorly with it, I almost had to have it amputate but luckily the doctor that did the surgery realized that what they thought was bone infection was what he had to do to do the surgery. There was severe infecting for sure, I would post a picture but I think it would gross some people out. But I have not been able to get off the foot as I am caring for her so it is not going well. I have consequently not been able to take many pictures as she is a fall risk and I am afraid to leave her along and going far from the truck gets painful fast anyway. I was able to get this picture while pulled off the side of the road. I will check that site out and will be sure to get it ahead of time, I would like to rent for a week so I can play with it.

I have the money to get the R5 or the R5 ii when it is released but with what is going on I will wait until things have settled down, no sense wasting a warranted while it sits on the shelf not getting used.

Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

Far-Out-Dude — Tue, 28 May 2024 22:31:08 GMT

Thank you much for the suggestion and the information.

Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

shadowsports — Wed, 29 May 2024 00:20:18 GMT

Greetings,

Sorry to hear about your health challenges and I wish you and your partner speedy recoveries. Lens Rentals does rent by the week. They also sell. I know the 4th is a ways off so hopefully both of you will be up and around and she will be able to sit and enjoy the festivities with you. 😀

Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

Far-Out-Dude — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 05:24:18 GMT

Thank you, unfortunately she fell Friday night and broke her other hip in the same was as she did the other in February and had to have the same surgery done. I will check them out, thank you much.

Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

krahe — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 18:20:08 GMT

I've been very happy with the EF-M 15-45mm "kit" lens for fireworks. Even if you can't get real close, I think this is one of those situations where it makes sense to take advantage of the high resolution of the M50 and crop to what you want. Here is one where I cropped a vertical segment out of a landscape shot.

Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

Far-Out-Dude — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 18:26:40 GMT

Turned out nice. Since I have gotten my L series lends for wildlife I have started to become a bit of a lens snob, I would like to get as many L series lenses as I can. I THINK an 85 is one I would like for landscape, but I am unsure how it would work for fireworks.

Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

krahe — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 18:36:09 GMT

Unless you're pretty far from the launch site, I think an 85mm on an APS-C camera will be too tight. I took that shot at 33mm and it filled the frame vertically. I was about 1/3 of a mile from the launch site. (I think 85mm might be a little tight for landscapes, too. You might want to try before you buy!)

Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

Tronhard — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 05:42:41 GMT

I am extremely sorry to learn about your partner's health issues. It must be terribly distressing for you and you have my sympathies. I hope the treatments for her injuries progress well and you do get the chance to photograph the fireworks on July 4th as it will be a stress relief for you, which I suspect you will welcome and need. When my wife was dying of cancer, photography was my escape: taking a photography brought me away from the stresses and distresses to be in the moment, and made me concentrate on something else.

As some of my colleagues have mentioned, much will depend on how far away you are from the action and the spread of the fireworks, which can vary quite considerably, depending on the budgets, restrictions and skills of the show hosts!

It might be a good idea to look for photos of the fireworks at that event in years past to figure from what points the images were taken from and the scale of the show compared to landmarks below.

Generally, I try to get a bit of the ground and area around the likely spread - it is better to crop in a bit than cut out the display, and the challenge is that those lights can be very unpredictable in intensity and spread. I shot on a tripod, in B mode with a remote shutter release and just opened and closed the shutter to try to capture significant bursts, or collections of them.

As far as lenses go, considering the lighting conditions and the spread, you could do far worse than looking at the EF-M 11-22mm, it's an excellent lens in its own right and if you bought one you may well like it for other purposes.

To give you an idea, I will include a couple of shots that were taken with a Full Frame camera using a 24-105L lens, so I shall translate the focal lengths into what you would need to get those Fields of View on your M-50.
On a Crop sensor camera: 16mm, f/22, 6.6 in B, sec, ISO-100On a crop-sensor camera: 16mm, f/11, 5.2sec in B, ISO-100I could have done with a wee bit more space, so while something like the EF-M 15-45 might work, in your place I prefer to have the extra width offered by the wider angle 11-22mm focal range. If, on the night, it turns out the show is not as wide as you expected, if you have the 18-55 you can swap to that. As others have commented, you need to be a long way from the show to use a telephoto lens, especially on a crop-sensor camera.

Again, however, much depends on where you are related to the fireworks, and how wide they spread. It's not an exact science unless you know all the details of the setup for the display.

Again, I hope things for your partner stabilize and even improve, both for her sake and yours.

As we say in NZ: Kia Kaha, which is a Māori mantra meaning hang in there, or endure...

Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

Far-Out-Dude — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 06:32:44 GMT

Thank you much for that advise.

I picked up the Canon EF-M 22mm f/2 STM Lens this week for the M50 Mark i, it was normally anywhere from $150.00-$200.00 but B&H had it as a send your email and they would send you a discounted price and I got it for $99.00 and I have been wanting to try a prime lens so I grabbed it. I can tell already that I wish I had been able to get the 32mm that I wanted but it is a nice little lens, the 32mm just gave a little more punch which is what I wanted, but I plan to get an R5 by the end of the year, I would have gotten on in April but there have been a lot of health problems here so I held off. Nothing special, just a shot outside the hospital where my GF is rehabbing her broken hip. I wonder if the new lens would work well for fireworks?

Re: Thinking of Renting an L-Series Lens to Photograph Fireworks

Tronhard — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 07:06:06 GMT

In short, YES - the 22mm should be good for fireworks, given the considerations that I went through in my post.