What lens should I bring on my White Mountain hikes?

[Magijr]

Hello,

I always appreciate the forum's advice, so I turn to you all once again. I am hiking the White Mountains in a couple weeks and I am not sure what lens I should bring with me on the hike. The hikes are day hikes, Mount Monroe and Mount Eisenhower. I shoot with a 60D worn with a 17-55 most of the time. I was thinking of renting an L series lens to bring with me; should I go 70-200 2.8 or would a wide angle lens be a better option? Or, do I just bring the 17-55 and call it a day? I own a 60 macro and a 50 1.4 as available options.
Thank you again, I look forward to reading your responses.
Bruce.

[neuroanatomist]

I'd bring the 17-55 and 60/2.8 macro. Alternatively, consider renting the EF-S 15-85mm for a broader focal range.

[Kayaker72]

+1. Take the money you were going to spend on a rental and buy a 6-10 stop ND filter (B+W screw in) and a tripod ( or gorillapod) if you don't have one. Great waterfalls in the Whites.

[jrw]

If I may suggest starting with an answer to the question of what kind of shots you want to do that your current equipment is not capable of doing then it might help to narrow down the list of possible suggestions that span a pretty wide range of focal lengths.

[Lumens]

It all depends on what you want to shoot. The 17-55 is a great lens and one I would definitely take with me for general walk-around. The 60 Macro is another for those outdoors insect and small creature shots. The hole I see here is the wildlife that doesn't want to let you in too close. I would consider taking a look at something with more range to fill that gap. Perhaps renting the 70-300L to fill that gap, granted that says take all three so you need to consider something to carry these in as well.

Mostly it depends on what you want to shoot. How much range do you need for what you expect to be shooting - and then the image quality you expect from that particular lens.

[Magijr]

Thank you for your suggestions. I am targeting to get mainly two kinds of shots; pictures of the land, ie lakes, rivers, landscape, waterfalls and pictures of my wife and I on the hike, in the mountain and other at cool locations. I am brining a gorillapod.
What ND Filter would you recommend?
Thank you again,
Bruce

[Kayaker72]

My most used nd filter is the B+W 6 stop (106) screw in filter. I like that I can AF through the lens (5DIII and 7D) and it fits the way I like to shoot water falls. There is also the 10 stop (110) which will, of course, allow for even longer exposures. I have and use both. But I use the 6 stop most often.

[peety3]

My most used nd filter is the B+W 6 stop (106) screw in filter. I like that I can AF through the lens (5DIII and 7D) and it fits the way I like to shoot water falls. There is also the 10 stop (110) which will, of course, allow for even longer exposures. I have and use both. But I use the 6 stop most often.

I'm going to chime in with a +1/2. I started with a 3-stop, on the premise that if I needed an ND filter for a shot, one stop wasn't going to buy me much. Three stops is 1/8th the light, still plenty easy to see through in most cases, though you do probably want to shoot on a tripod. I used it some, not very often, but later added a 6-stop to my bag. It gets used more rarely, but I'm not much of a landscape shooter anyway so take all of this with a grain of salt.

I am contemplating some interesting uses for my 3-stop coming up. I may end up using it for some studio work, where I'll have a 24-70/2.8 mounted to a camera that's probably shooting at ISO 200, f/8, and 1/200th or so. I might dial up a second camera with an 85/1.2 shooting at ISO 100, f/2, and 1/200th or so, but with a 3-stop ND filter on the front so the 3 stops of ND and 1 stop of ISO equals out the 4 stops of additional aperture. The 24-70 gives me great flexibility in positioning both in DoF and in light intensity, whereas I can do some headshots of individuals with a thinner look on the flight without having to rebalance all of my lights.

[erno james]

Three suggestions:
1. If renting an L, the 24-105 f/4L is a great all purpose lens
2. If want to guy super light, buy instead of renting the 40 mm pancake. I consider it a must own for any canon shooter. Weighs nothing and takes up no space.
3. Take both above.

[neuroanatomist]

1. If renting an L, the 24-105 f/4L is a great all purpose lens

I'd agree...if the OP had a FF body. Personally, I'd not recommend a mountain hike without a wide angle lens (24mm x 1.6 = 38mm FFeq, and that's 'normal' not wide).