Which lenses to take to Tahoe and Yosemite?

[Huss]

Just take the 43 and enjoy. You'll be with your family and kids. Work with what you have, you'll find it freeing.

 

[L Gebhardt]

You know how often you use each lens, so that would be how I’d choose. I would take the 65 and 150, or just the 65. I don’t own the 43, but I do have the 50 and I probably only shoot a small percentage on it since it’s a bit wide. The bulk of my shots are on the 65, so take that into account.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I have been shooting in the Sierras for 60 years, and almost never even bring along a wide-angle lens - nearly always long lenses. But some of my companions only bring and shoot wide-angle lenses; so everything is a matter of your personal proclivities, how YOU see things, and not someone else. And the worst thing you can do is to overthink this and bring too much gear, and waste time fiddling around with it. Take what is already spontaneous to you. In crowded Yosemite Valley itself in Summer, you'll need some time to find your own space, and hopefully there won't be tons of smoke or smog there. Pity you have to do it on a guided walk looking for old AA stereotypes, which simply won't seasonally be there in summer anyway. But if you have to hand-hold your camera under such circumstances, that is obviously going to be a lot easier using normal or wide lenses than any long one.

The enormous advantage of long lenses and a tripod under such circumstances is that you can home in on distant details in the cliffs and so forth, without a bunch of people in the scene. But the post-covid entry restrictions in place, requiring an entry reservation in advance, might tame the crowds somewhat this summer, and be a blessing in disguise. But there's little you can do if a forest fire somewhere imports smoke into there at the same time. So I hope it turns out well.