Recommendations for travel setup please

[Petie]

Thinking of a European trip with lots of indoor usage in museums, churches and such where allowed as well as normal walk-around usage and landscapes. Would love to keep the equipment list to a minimum of course. Concerns are mostly indoor shots where flashes are not allowed. Not adverse to purchasing an additional lens or different camera body if that is what is needed for a once in a lifetime trip.
Current equipment is an EOS 60D, EF 15 Fisheye, EFS 10-22 F3.5-4.5, EFS 18-135 F3.5-5.6, EF 24-70 F2.8L II, EF 70-300 F4-5.6L IS.
What range would be most useful in large cathedrals and such without a flash? Thinking the 24-70 by itself would not have enough reach for some shots but it is wonderful in low light. My 70-300L is absolutely fantastic but not great in low light. Would you recommend I get the 70-200 F2.8 to pair up with the 24-70 for travel? Would I be better off purchasing a full frame camera like the 5D for it's low light abilities with my current lenses? Just stick with the kit 18-135 lens and put up with high ISO noise indoors? Thinking of taking my monopole instead of a tripod.
Any input from experienced travelers as to what worked best?

[TCampbell]

When indoors you probably will not need a particularly "long" focal length.  So the question regarding the 70-300 f/4-5.6L vs a 70-200 f/2.8L may be less important unless you really believe you'd use them indoors.  

The 24-70 f/2.L is a fantastic lens... on your 60D it wont have much "wide" angle.  

The 10-22 is, of course, wonderfully wide... just not low focal ratio.  At a 10mm focal length, it is possible to shoot hand-held with a shutter speed of 1/15th sec ... assuming you've got good hand-holding technique are trying to be steady.

The EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM comes to mind because of it's relatively low-ish focal ratio and appropriateness for indoor use.  At 17mm... it's possible to hand-hold a shot at about 1/25th sec, but since this lens has IS you'd be able to shoot even slower.  

The thing to consider with low focal ratio lenses is that it is going to decrease the depth of field.  The only way to get around that is to place the camera on a stable foundation -- such as a tripod (but those wont be allowed in many places).

If, however, this is a "once in a lifetime" trip... then you might consider renting it rather than buying it.  

You mentioned getting a 5D... I assume you mean either a 5D II or 5D III... I probably would not go with a 5D classic.  A 5D II or III would offer quite nice high ISO performance... but then again so would a 6D.  I think the 6D technically eeks out just slightly better low light performance than the 5D III (the 5D III is better in so many other ways -- but if you're *just* going by ISO performance, I think the 6D actually wins.)  On a full-frame body, the 24-70 f/2.8L lens will offer a much wider angle of view.  The EF-S lenses will not be useable.  But the EF 15mm fisheye be much wider than it is on your 60D.

[ebiggs1]

If you have the cash, a 5D Mk III and your 24-70mm f2.8 is about as good as it gets. If the Mk III is a little too steep, than a 6D would be my second choice with your 24-70mm.

Of course you will not be inside 100% of the time and the 5D Mk III with your 24-70mm f2.8 and the addition of the 70-200mm f2.8 is the dream outfit.

IMHO, your other lenses are not in the same league as these two, again IMHO. 

[amfoto1]

If it were me, for travel I'd take the 60D, 10-22mm and 18-135mm. Then I'd probably add one or two or a few reasonably fast prime lenses for low light/shallow depth of field purposes, choosing among 20/2.8, 24/2.8 IS, 28/1.8, 35/2 IS, 50/1.4, and 85/1.8. I'd also take a flash, since it will likely be useable at times. Monopod might be a nice option, too.

I have traveled by air within the past year with 5DII (w/grip), 20/2.8, 24-70, 28/1,8, 50/1.4, 135/2, 70-200/2.8, 300/4, 1.4X and one 580EX II. That and the accessories I use with the kit add up to approx. 25 lb. backpack (that does fit in an airline overhead compartment). That wasn't fun getting through the airport, but doable and I wasn't going to be walking around a whole lot with it otherwise.

It's different when only traveling by car. Then I take a ton of stuff. Lots of lenses, 3 to 6 cameras, two tripods, and more. Sometimes even location lighting gear (five monolights, stands, umbrellas, etc.).

Another option is to ship some stuff ahead. I've shipped my location lighting kit cross country on occasion. Wouldn't want to try to take it with me on an airline! It's in a large roller bag and weighs 85-90 lbs.

If I were going somewhere that support, repair and rentals weren't likely to be available, i might ship a spare camera and other gear ahead, to meet me there. Not likely to be a problem in England. But I prefer to keep at least a primary kit of gear with me and under my control. A monopod can go in a checked bag. But only carry on flashes, lenses, cameras, etc. If necessary, I'll wear a photographers vest to stash small items.  

***********
Alan Myers

San Jose, Calif., USA
"Walk softly and carry a big lens."
GEAR: 5DII, 7D(x2), 50D(x3), some other cameras, various lenses & accessories
FLICKR & PRINTROOM 

[Petie]

Thanks for the tips!
Guess my concern as I have only shot indoors one time with my 60D and with the 24-70 2.8 and limiting the ISO to 800 worked very well. But another time at a hot air balloon event with the 18-135 I got horrible grainy pictures as the ISO had to be so much higher. It has been about 40 years since I visited Italy and I remember the Vatican being difficult to photograph inside as it was so tall and so much of the paintings and statuary is way up there. Not sure that a 70mm or 135mm is really sufficient for that. Would love to try the new EOS 5D III with my 70-300 in a low light trial but sadly all the photo shops have closed their doors around here.

[TCampbell]

It is actually possible to calucate the size of an image given the camera and focal length of the lens.  

Here's a site with lots of photography "calculators" -- angle of view, dimension field of view, depth of field, etc.

http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/calc.htm

So if, for example, you wanted to know what the angle of view is with a 200mm lens on a full frame camera, you could quickly find out that it's about 10 degrees horizontally and about 7 degrees vertically.

Also... if you knew you were photographing an object with that 200mm lens and the object was 100' away... you could quickly calculate that the dimensions of the field at 100' is 18' x 12' (again... assuming a full frame camera).  A 300mm focal length at that same distance is 12' x 8'.  

This can help you determine what a practical focal length would be given the real size of the object you want to capture and how far away you'll be.

[ebiggs1]

The astronomer Tim is shinning through.