I have been asked many times in my life why I had so many cameras and lenses. The answer was pretty simple back in the day of film. You needed one camera set one way and a second camera set the other. That could be as simple as one with color and another with black and white film. The next case could be color film and slide film in the other camera (positives as they were known).
I had at one time 5 DLSRs. I am currently the owner of only one. I did sell my D300 but have regretted it a few times. I liked the cropped sensor for the wildlife photography as it did allow for more close-ups from a distance. These should show you some of the advantages of the digital age especially a full sensor high quality camera.
I recently went to the National Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio next to Wright Patterson Air Force Base. I knew going in that they were in the process of remodeling and moving aircraft. I had big hopes of getting to see the Presidential plane exhibit and the research and development area. Those sadly were closed due to the fact they were on the base. It was a long trip and I missed the main reason for going. I hope to get back in the future when it is all in the new facilities.
I went there with two lenses: a 50 mm f/1.8 Nikkor and a 70-210 Nikkor. I knew I would not use the telephoto lens in the building but thought it might be handy with the outside areas. The images I posted here are copyrighted and in the process of being registered so take note and do not use.
The ability of a full size sensor camera and a fairly fast lens is a great combination. The only issue you will have in a museum like this is the different lighting they use and the size of the exhibits. This museum has full size military aircraft and the smaller civilian type aircraft used in the early years.
A great example is the building has a full size B52 bomber inside. It has a real space shuttle and also a B36 Peacemaker. These aircraft are huge. They also have B1 and B2 Stealth bomber, F117 stealth fighter, F22 fighter and an SR71 Blackbird. These are pretty much in one building. I hope you get the idea just how big these buildings and aircraft can be.
If I was going there for a formal photo shoot I would definitely take a wide angle lens for some shots but I hope you will be able to see that a normal lens will do pretty well if you compose and shoot properly. Many shots with the 50mm require getting close and some required shooting from across the hanger. That type of shot is a great example of the versatility of the full sensor cameras.
I also did something that I normally do not do and that is I used the AUTTO WB setting on the camera because of the variety of lighting used by the different exhibits. I still shot the rest on manual as I am much more comfortable shooting on manual. That is just my way caused by 40 years + of shooting on manual.
I hope you enjoy these images and the idea that you do not need a tremendous amount of lenses to shoot this type of place. You do not need a tripod. Some people where carrying them around but with the other people walking around so much they really did not have much luck with them. Plus that extra weight can be a problem. I shot mainly at F/3.2 or 2.0, ISO 800-1250 and a shutter speed of 1/100 with the 50mm. Some of the darker areas required a little more latitude. There is a full size real Predator Drone hanging from the ceiling. It required moving across the hanger. It was shot at F/2 ISO 1250 and 1/100 of a second.
I do suggest that you have good software for this type of shoot. As always I shot RAW. As I have stated before I use Adobe color scheme, 14 bit uncompressed NEFs. I have and use in various situations Capture NX2 (I like this a lot for the Nikon NEFs), Lightroom 6 and Photoshop 5.
This should show you that you can get great shots in museums or aquariums like the Florida Aquarium in the Tampa area without a major effort. The 50mm Nikon lens is an older Nikon but fits and works great on the D700. I do use back button focusing most of the time including this shoot. With the 50mm focusing at infinity allowed me to move and recompose without the lens trying to refocus in the low light thus removing some vibrations.
There is a slideshow with the article on examiner. Just click the examiner blog link on the side and chose the article.