Lens rental suggestions

[PantherJeep]

Say you had a week to spend in a photogenic city like New Orleans, and wanted to rent a "special" lens or accessory for the trip. Intended use would be for available-light shots, day and night. What would you rent, assuming you already owned the following:

Nikon D90, Tokina 11-16 f/2.8, Nikon 35mm f/1.8, Nikon 17-55 f/3.5-5.6 VR kit lens, Nikon 55-200 f/4-5.6 VR kit lens, IR shutter release and a carbon-fiber tripod

Would you rent a medium telephoto like the Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR? How about a fast macro such as the Nikon 105mm f/2.8G VR? Maybe a specialty lens to experiment with, such as a Lensbaby Composer? Or would you rent some other lens or non-lens accessory?

Just trying to get some ideas as this trip's coming up for me soon, and I'm curious what others would put in their bag for an "assignment" like this. Ultimately I have adequate glass to not need to rent anything at all if I choose not to, so there's a bit of a thought experiment element to this as well.

 

[Consultant]

Depends on what you do, I only do f2.8 zooms, and the general purpose for DX is this:

AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED
That could replace my first 2 lenses below.

I have mainly full frame camera, so I use
20-35 f2.8
35-70 f2.8 (not so great)
80-200 f2.8
50 f1.4
?? f2.8 Macro
I also have a skylight or UV filter on all lenses.

70-200 f/2.8 VR is fairly big compared to the rest of your kit. Do you need it? Probably not for vacation photos.

 

[flosseR]

I would say your kit is already pretty good and the tokina will give you good wide angle and allow you to get really great shots.. if i would have to suggest one I would agre with the 17-55 Nikon ...
That being said, the nikon is now fairly old and has not that great corner performance. I would almost go as fara s saying the tamron 17-50 would be sharper but its also much much cheaper hence not really worth renting.


I'd say leave the 35mmand the 18-55 (there is no 17-55 VR lens ) at home and rent the nikon 17-55, if you MUST rent one.

Word of warning though: its big.. i mean massively big and heavy...

 

[wilhelmreems]

my first thought when reading what you have: "Why not replace the kit lenses with a 18-200mm VRII since you'll get basically the same performance w/o switching lenses all the time, and it's a great walking around lens"

 

[compuwar]

Say you had a week to spend in a photogenic city like New Orleans, and wanted to rent a "special" lens or accessory for the trip. Intended use would be for available-light shots, day and night. What would you rent, assuming you already owned the following:

Because of performance, I'd be tempted to try a 14-24 and because of convenience a 24-70. I'd probably rent the 14-24 first though.

Paul

 

[PantherJeep]

my first thought when reading what you have: "Why not replace the kit lenses with a 18-200mm VRII since you'll get basically the same performance w/o switching lenses all the time, and it's a great walking around lens"

The 18-200mm is definitely on my radar. It has been for a long time frankly; acquiring it is just a low priority.

I appreciate the feedback so far guys!