Wide, zoom or macro for a upcoming trip?

[jtvang125]

I have the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens that came with the camera. Hawaii is the itinerary in late May and looking to pick up one more lens for the trip. Wish I could get all 3 but my budget limits me to one. This is the specs for each lens. Which of these lens would find good use for such a trip?

16mm f/2.8-f/22
55-210mm f/4.5-f/6.3
30mm f/3.5-f/22

 

[dougp]

camera? budget?

 

[iGas]

IMHO, the kit zoom should do the job. Get an ultra wide angle lens if you are intend to take lots of indoor photos as well as landscape.

 

[sixone]

The kit lens should be fine, but I'd pick up the 55-210 for more versatility.

 

[DarkRogue]

I don't know about you, but variable aperture really annoys me.

In any case, have you considered renting?
One thing I kind of regret about my last trip to Canada was that I only brought my Tamron 17-50, which was great for portraits of the family, but almost useless during a tour on a boat. If I go on another trip again, I would think about renting a (for me, Canon) 70-200 f/4 lens just so I have a good telephoto to swap into.

I'd rent this simply because I cannot justify paying over 1k for a lens that has extremely limited use (in my situation at least.) However, it is a terrific lens.

Short of that, I would say that 55-210 is a good complement (I believe they're normally intended to be used together anyway.) Going wider is great, but it really depends on what you're shooting. For most shots, 18mm should be fine if you can take a few steps back, but if you're sightseeing, you may not be able to walk up very much closer to something.

 

[Kanalua]

The kit lens should be fine, but I'd pick up the 55-210 for more versatility.

+1. I live here in Hawaii. My hiking kit is a 17-50 mm f/2.8 Sigma and the 55-250mm. That should cover you. If you have a couple hundred extra you could pick up a cheap fish-eye if you ever think you need that UWA.

 

[XZeroII]

Definitely go wide.

 

[Throckmorton]

For taking pictures of beach babes in tiny bikinis you need the zoom lens. I don't know if you're familiar with swimwear fashion, but over the last year bikini bottoms have gotten much much smaller.

Eg:

 

[elitejp]

Take your kit lens and a p&s if you have one. I highly doubt you wll have much fun carrying around the dslr while on vacation. However a p&s will be easy to carry and unobtrusive.