asiafish
Established
I'm heading to Seoul for two weeks inJune and while it is not a photography trip, my wife does want a color photo book at the end. My goal is to travel fairly light, one rangefinder with 35 and 50mm lenses and one autofocus compact. Mostly will shoot casual walk around stuff, some street and lots of family candid portraits, with possibly a few staged portraits as well.
My choices are as follows. For the rangefinder, either the M-E or M Monochrom with 35mm f/2.5 Summarit and either the 50mm f/2 Summicron or my vintage 1937 Carl Zeiss 5cm f/1.5 Sonnar. I 'm leaning toward the M-E and the Sonnar over the Summicron. My wife complains when I shoot only black and white, though I I the end she likes the images. M-E B&W conversions are good enough here as I won't be printing larger than 11X14, which is the size I usually make my photo books. The Summicron is a much better lens for most things than the ancient Sonnar, but wide-open for people that Sonnar is simply magical.
For the autofocus its e other the Leica X Vario with its slow, but excellent 28-70mm zoom or the Leica X 113 with its fast 35mm f/1.7 prime. This is the difficult choice as the X Vario is extremely versatile in good light, but challenging low light, while the X works well everywhere, but I lose the chance of wider or longer focal lengths than I have with my M.
I was in Tokyo a few years ago with a bag full of lenses and used 35mm for about 85%, so I'm leaning toward the X 113 for its usefulness indoors and at night. I do not own and have no desire to purchase a flash, or any other new gear for that matter.
Thoughts and recommendations?
My choices are as follows. For the rangefinder, either the M-E or M Monochrom with 35mm f/2.5 Summarit and either the 50mm f/2 Summicron or my vintage 1937 Carl Zeiss 5cm f/1.5 Sonnar. I 'm leaning toward the M-E and the Sonnar over the Summicron. My wife complains when I shoot only black and white, though I I the end she likes the images. M-E B&W conversions are good enough here as I won't be printing larger than 11X14, which is the size I usually make my photo books. The Summicron is a much better lens for most things than the ancient Sonnar, but wide-open for people that Sonnar is simply magical.
For the autofocus its e other the Leica X Vario with its slow, but excellent 28-70mm zoom or the Leica X 113 with its fast 35mm f/1.7 prime. This is the difficult choice as the X Vario is extremely versatile in good light, but challenging low light, while the X works well everywhere, but I lose the chance of wider or longer focal lengths than I have with my M.
I was in Tokyo a few years ago with a bag full of lenses and used 35mm for about 85%, so I'm leaning toward the X 113 for its usefulness indoors and at night. I do not own and have no desire to purchase a flash, or any other new gear for that matter.
Thoughts and recommendations?
Bill58
Native Texan
Just be careful-most Koreans don't like to have their photo taken w/o permission and you might get some angry responses either way. I don't ask and get into trouble all the time.
You might wanna see this gallery for ideas of where to go:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/seoulphotoclub/pool
You might wanna see this gallery for ideas of where to go:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/seoulphotoclub/pool
asiafish
Established
I've been to Korea many times and speak the language.m my only issue is deciding on gear load.