Which would you rather have???

[TheSon]

If you were going to live on a tropical island and only had one lens to bring with you... (your camera is a 21mp EOS-1Ds Mark III)

Which would it be and why? (These are the only options and all are L-glass lenses)

A) 17-50mm
B) 50-100mm
C) 100-200mm
D) 200-400mm

(I do have a reason for this :mrgreen

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Canon doesn't have a 17-50L, and no folac length of such exists on full frame, so that's ruled out.

Canon's 55-200 is in fact an EF lens, but not L, so I guess that's ruled out.

Canon doesn't make any sort of 100-200

Only Nikon makes the 200-400

So I guess with these sort of options for my 1Ds MkIII, I guess i'd have to poke a hole in my lens cap, since none of these will work.

 

[TheSon]

Since when did I ever say these lenses were real? The island is not real either.

I'm asking for which one you would bring with you. It's a hypothetical question.

(I can tell which side of the brain you use more )

 

[KvnO]

Perhaps giving a reason would make someone more inclined to answer...

I mean, if the island's not real, what's the point?

 

[Sw1tchFX]

If this is fake, then i'd go with the 17-50.

Extreme wide to normal would be pretty sweet.

 

[Al-Wazeer]

17-50, 'cause it's wide, you can use it for various situation and the focal length will do, i'm not a big fan of long lenses .

 

[Garbz]

200-400 because tropical island means bikini girls.. erm.... i mean wildlife.

 

[Mike_E]

If I could afford to live there then I could afford all of them.

 

[TheSon]

Thank you Sw1tchFX, Al-Wazeer, and Garbz. Those were the exact answers I was looking for. Anyone else?

KvnO... what's the point of any hypothetical question? I am trying to figure out what zoom length people can not live without and why. It will help with my assignment on what type of lens is the most preferred. ie... wide angle, mid-range, telephoto, etc. Thank you! :thumbup:

If I could afford to live there then I could afford all of them.

I love this "American" excuse. Most of us can EASILY afford to live on a tropical island, because they're usually rated as 3rd worlds. I have done it for 6 months and I lived like a king on $400 a month. It's just easier to make excuses than to actually go.

 

[ksmattfish]

I'd pick the most expensive, and then sell it along with the 1Ds III so I could buy the camera and gear I'd prefer to be on a tropical island with.

 

[TheSon]

Wow... a lot of you didn't play nice when you were younger... did you.

Please DO NOT post if you're only contributing to your POST COUNT and not to my topic.

I don't care if you'd sell the camera, or if you want to be rich, etc. Let's show some maturity here, this is for one of my classes.

 

[Mike_E]

You're kidding, right?

Won't your instructor find fault with your using an internet forum for your research?

Or if you are the instructor, won't your employer?

Just for giggles, why would you want a digital camera in one of the worst environments for it? Full time? Humid to the point of being wet is not good for electronics. Nor is having to have a computer and network or at least an expensive printer and steady supply of ink and reliable enough electricity to plug it all into to keep from ruining your nice electronics.

You say it's cheap to live there (assuming I would want to abandon my family. NOT) yet one must still make a living. Is it your intent that we should hang a shingle to teach photography? With one lens? Do you plan to sell portraits to the nice tourists? Or macros to a magazine? Wildlife maybe? With one 'quality' lens?

I hope there is no crime there because the rig you're talking about would equal several years salary for your average inhabitant and would be quite the temptation.

Maturity indeed sir. Consequence and responsibility are part and parcel, perhaps you might consider these along with you original question.

 

[MikeBcos]

17-50 because you will get way more use out of a wide angle than a telephoto.

 

[RacePhoto]

Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS USM which does really exist. There's no logical reason to ask about lenses that don't exist. This is better than the hypothetical 100-200, if that's what you are limiting yourself to for an answer, it's the comparable lens.

Some people who are thinking the wide is better, are correct, but forgetting that the 1Ds is not a 1.6 crop sensor, it's a 21mp full frame. The 50mm on a crop camera is about 80mm equivalent, so your 70-200 would be a wider lens.

Sharp, fast, wide enough and weather sealed, which would be good for an island.

 

[KvnO]

KvnO... what's the point of any hypothetical question? I am trying to figure out what zoom length people can not live without and why. It will help with my assignment on what type of lens is the most preferred. ie... wide angle, mid-range, telephoto, etc. Thank you!

In that case, I'd go with 17-50 for the reasons stated by others.