Canon R7 RF Travel Lens Suggestions

[Woodbadger]

Hi! I have an R7 with the RF-S 18-150 and the RF 100-400. I mainly do bird photos and have not use the smaller lens much at all.
We are going to Spain on vacation this fall/Autumn and will NOT be doing any birding. I originally planned on taking just the RF-S lens. Normally on vacation I take a lot of architectural shots. I think this will be a good lens for most uses. My only concern is the aperture range at max f/3.5 when shooting interiors. Looking at metadata from previous trips with a bridge camera I see that I was shooting at f/4 (max available)and < 1/50sec at 1000 ISO and my pictures suffered for it.
I realize I now have much more room as far as ISO, but still wonder if I need a faster lens for those indoors conditions? (Think inside castles, cathedrals, mosques etc.)
If so, do you have any suggestions (e.g RF 16mm f/2.8) i am somewhat limited in budget and probably the L series are out reach.

 

[koenkooi]

The RF16mm is a great lens for its price, especially if you're using it on APS-C, which cuts off the parts where it isn't so good. It also is very compact, which I appreciated on family vacations.

 

[Grahamk]

Agreed. The 16mm is a good lens for the price. Also, very compact and fits in a pocket easily when using another lens if travelling without a camera bag.

 

[ctitanic]

Hi! I have an R7 with the RF-S 18-150 and the RF 100-400. I mainly do bird photos and have not use the smaller lens much at all.
We are going to Spain on vacation this fall/Autumn and will NOT be doing any birding. I originally planned on taking just the RF-S lens. Normally on vacation I take a lot of architectural shots. I think this will be a good lens for most uses. My only concern is the aperture range at max f/3.5 when shooting interiors. Looking at metadata from previous trips with a bridge camera I see that I was shooting at f/4 (max available)and < 1/50sec at 1000 ISO and my pictures suffered for it.
I realize I now have much more room as far as ISO, but still wonder if I need a faster lens for those indoors conditions? (Think inside castles, cathedrals, mosques etc.)
If so, do you have any suggestions (e.g RF 16mm f/2.8) i am somewhat limited in budget and probably the L series are out reach.

I see that you own the RF50 f1l8, that's another good option for interiors. I used in my last cruise and it worked for me. The RF16 will perform well but you may have to use Topaz Denoise in some pictures.

 

[Woodbadger]

Thanks for your response. Yes, since I posted I have been lucky enough to pick ip both those lenses. Since they are small enough for my daybag, I plan on taking both primes and the kit lens. I have also added a CP filter to the 18-150 for outdoor shots.

 

[MrSparks999]

My favourite walk around lens for holidays is the 24-105 f4, covers most things i would take pictures of on a holiday.

 

[JoeTheSnowPlowGuy]

I’ve been really impressed with the RF 24-105 f4-7.1. It’s a little narrow at 85 and beyond but the only thing it seems it impact is bokeh. High ISO with an R7 I’d imagine is just fine. It’s about a 38-168 on aps-c but that’s still a decent range. Also can’t go wrong with the RF nifty fifty. $180 bucks and phenomenal performance for what it is. I really like the way 50s on aps-c look, too. Heck, the 50mm and 16mm silver ring lenses are so cheap and small you could pack both.

 

[ctitanic]

I think that I found my travel lens. Tamron 18-400 EF. It covers the whole range from wide angle to zoom. You can get it used for $550. Image quality is good enough after post editing. But the biggest point is that you will not miss anymore a good picture because you have the wrong lens in your camera.

 

[JoeTheSnowPlowGuy]

How does that lens do in low light?

 

[TonyB]

When I last travelled with the R7 and 18-150, I found myself wanting wider, a lot wider. The 1.6 crop factor on the 16mm brings it to 25.6mm, which is better but I still want wider. I really hope Canon puts out a 10-22 (16-35 full frame equivalent). As far as how it performs in low light, the IBIS really holds up and with today’s choice of AI noise reduction software you can pull out some really good low light images.

To see how the R7 and 18-150 held up on a trip to Paris and London, check out my web page for our trip, https://www.balzanto.com/Travels/Paris-London. There’s a link at the top to just see the gallery of photos.

 

[ctitanic]

How does that lens do in low light?

If you are asking me about the Tamron 18-400, this is not a fast lens. It’s the lens you take to walk around a city or archeological site. It’s not a lens to take pictures inside of a room but still, AF works as expected and once you clean the noise you end with decent pictures.

Expect a little better performance than the RF18-150 which I also own.

 

[ctitanic]

Here is a picture taken with the Tamron 18-400.

• Join to view EXIF data.

No perfect but not bad either.

 

[506ABN]

Hi! I have an R7 with the RF-S 18-150 and the RF 100-400. I mainly do bird photos and have not use the smaller lens much at all.
We are going to Spain on vacation this fall/Autumn and will NOT be doing any birding. I originally planned on taking just the RF-S lens. Normally on vacation I take a lot of architectural shots. I think this will be a good lens for most uses. My only concern is the aperture range at max f/3.5 when shooting interiors. Looking at metadata from previous trips with a bridge camera I see that I was shooting at f/4 (max available)and < 1/50sec at 1000 ISO and my pictures suffered for it.
I realize I now have much more room as far as ISO, but still wonder if I need a faster lens for those indoors conditions? (Think inside castles, cathedrals, mosques etc.)
If so, do you have any suggestions (e.g RF 16mm f/2.8) i am somewhat limited in budget and probably the L series are out reach.

I have used the EFs 10-18mm in a coal mine with great success.

 

[Woodbadger]

I have used the EFs 10-18mm in a coal mine with great success.

I ended up getting the RF 16mm f2.8 for a steal. The combination of that and the RF-S 18-150 fulfilled my needs.

 

[David Berry]

I ended up getting the RF 16mm f/2.8 for a steal.

Woody, you chose the correct lens. Some suggestions:

• Consider purchasing the lens hood for the RF 18mm.
• Before you go, practise shooting multi-shot panoramas and stitching them together on your computer. There'll be times when 25 mm (FF equivalent) won't be sufficiently wide.
• The polarising filter should prove invaluable for removing reflections from glass and enhancing water. It can also be used to do unnatural things to perfectly acceptable skies!

Enjoy!

… David

 

[Spitfirejd]

I have used the EFs 10-18mm in a coal mine with great success.

I was just looking at these. They are cheap as chips right now. I saw a used one for $100. Makes me wonder how bad the image quality is for them to be so cheap.

Edit: sorry, I was looking at the EF-S 10-22. The 10-18 is still only $150 though. Anyone ever compared the IQ of these 2 lenses?