Need to outfit a R2a with lenses and Bag

[roarksglory]

I am going to India in the Spring and plan to photo journal the trip. I am going to sell off some of my SLR equipment to purchase a R2a (chose because I wear glasses and have read mixed reviews about the R3a and specs) for the trip. I need to outfit this bad boy with all of the goodies for the trip.

Lenses! I will need some lenses:
35mm f1.2 probably
50mm f1.5 maybe
75mm f2.5 or 90mm... not sure which
25mm f2 or 28mm f1.9... not sure which

A bag! I want to get a bag that I can carry everything in:
I mean everything. I will be traveling light and I want to get it all over my shoulder. So aside from camera, lenses, tripod (light weight), meter, film, flash, and whatever other photo equipment. I would like to get my extra gear in there as well; extra socks and underware, extra tshirt, slippers, and light weight jacket, as well as a bar of soap, razor, and tooth brush and tooth paste.
Domke seems to have some nice under the radar sort of bags.

Also a good flash. I use nikon sb26's right now cause of the built in optical slave should I stich with that or pursue something else.

Thank you for your feed back and wish me luck.

 

[Doug]

Welcome to RFF! And wise of you to get gear sorted out well ahead of time, and build some confidence in its operation and reliability. Few lenses is better in general than more lenses... One or two will emerge as your most commonly used, I expect.

In our most recent overseas trip with 35mm, I had a Bessa-L with 15 & 25mm, a Minolta CLE with 40 and 90mm, plus just for fun an Olympus OM with 500mm mirror lens. The 25 and 40mm got almost all the use, and I was very pleased and surprised how useful the 25mm turned out, especially for narrow streets and alleyways and interiors. I used the 90mm only once.

I'd try to pare down your lens list to three. Everyone being somewhat differernt, my three might well not be your three. I'd definitely want either the 25 or 28mm. Given the 25, the 35 goes well, and the occasonal use of the 75. Given the 28mm, the 50 would be a good partner, and the 90 could be carried just in case.

Just note too that the Noctons are quite large, especially the huge 35mm 1.2

 

[celluloidprop]

I'd pick one of the 35/50 set (the 35 Nokton is a beast, so I'd lean 50 - or a 40 Nokton, which is fast and small), one telephoto and one wide-angle wider than what you're looking at - either a 21 or a 15 for interiors, setting it at hyperfocal distance and the like.

A 15/4.5, 40/1.4, 75/2.5 kit would be reasonably small and very useful.
(The only problem there, I guess, is learning to guesstimate the 40mm lines from the 35 set? But the difference isn't huge.)

My personal set would be:
15/4.5, 35/1.2 and a Zeiss Biogon 50/2, a C-V 50/2.5 or a Leica Elmar 50/2.8. I don't like telephotos with a RF and the kit has one high-speed lens - a high-quality, slower 50 could be used all day long when you don't need f/1.5 and can do head/shoulders portraits without any trouble.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Billingham do a good bag for travel and camera.

I forget the exact model name but if you ask them for "Michael Palin's bag" they'll know the one.

 

[Fred]

Hi roarksglory and welcome to the forum.

I agree with you choice of the R2a having tried one at Robert White a while ago compareing it to the R3a and M7. I have glasses and could see the 35 frame without too much of a problem. As for lenses for a travel kit? I'd consider the following:

CV 28 Skopar f3.5, its tiny and will easilly fit in a pocket, use the full VF view for frameing and adjust a tad for close up parallax. I own and love this lens.

CV 35 Ultron as it's not too big but very well built (see 'wirehead' and 'Just add steam' in my gallery) or the Skopar (again for its size).

Any 50, I've not used the CV 50s but I hear that they aer very good. A used cron or elmar should not cost the earth

The CV 90 Lanthar is fantastic for sharpness, much better than the price sugests. OK it's f3.5 but it is small, light and easy to focus at .7M on a Bessa. Example Threads in album one in my gallery.

If you have room the CV15 is a wonderful lens for the money also.

Have fun

 

[bmicklea]

I'm an R2a user and have found my lenses: 21/4; 35/1.7; 50/2 (Jupiter-8) to be very good. If I were packing light for a trip I'd ditch the 50 and go with the 75. The 21 is a hyper-focal dream and, to my mind, the 35 f1.7 is a great compromise between speed and size/weight. By paring down your lenses to three you could also potentially justify the addition of a Bessa R as a backup body.

 

[roarksglory]

Thanks for the quick feed back.
I think I will go with a: 21mm (super wide), 35mm 1.2 (low light), 50mm cs (daytime ease), and 75mm (tele)

But what bag can I throw on my back and tool around with holding a change of clothes, toiletries and my camera gear. I am thinking Domke f2, but I do not know about the size being too big and cumbersum. can this bag be connected to a bet so I can be nimble and mobile.
Cheers,
roarksglory

 

[BrianPhotog]

Thanks for the quick feed back.
I think I will go with a: 21mm (super wide), 35mm 1.2 (low light), 50mm cs (daytime ease), and 75mm (tele)

But what bag can I throw on my back and tool around with holding a change of clothes, toiletries and my camera gear. I am thinking Domke f2, but I do not know about the size being too big and cumbersum. can this bag be connected to a bet so I can be nimble and mobile.
Cheers,
roarksglory

For carrying one RF and a few lenses, I have a Domke F3x.

In my F2 I can put:

Bessa R2 with mounted 35/2.5 Skopar
Bessa R2a with mounted 35/1.7 Ultron
CV 15/4.5 Heliar
CV 50/1.5 Nokton
50.2 Jupiter-8
CV 75/2.5 Heliar
CV 90/3.5 Lanthar
Nikon SB-28
Minolta Flashmeter IV
A bunch of film.

The F2 really holds a bunch as long as you don't mind stuff knocking around a little, for example I stack lenses in the lens pockets (they are much deeper then the lenses themselves). There isn't a belt attachment for it that I am aware of, but there are "backpack straps" for it.

HTH

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Or get a regular (non photographic) backpack and wrap your lenses in your clean socks.

 

[danielnorton]

Second the Backpack

Second the Backpack

I have several Domke bags (F-1xb little bit bigger bag and F-4af..but not the f2) and I love them, however I make frequent trips to Miami to shoot and have found the best bet to be a nice sized backpack (I have an eddie bower one I got at Target for like $45. It easily holds a small dslr kit (body, grip, two lenses, flash, batteries etc- way more camera stuff than you are bringing) and enough clothes , toiletries etc for 3 days (if you pack light) That being said, it's not the easiest bag to work out of, I generally get to the hotel, dump all my non camera stuff and just take the cameras to the shoot. If you are walking around with everything all the time, you'd likely want to keep your camera out (around your neck) or it will be a process to get a shot. I take the inserts out of my Domke and put them in the bottom of the backpack to keep things organized, but I think for rangefinders, I'd get some protective wraps (or use your socks 🙂 ) to hold the extra stuff, film and batteries in ziplocks and you are good to go.

Before I had the backpack I did use the Big Domke for travel and it worked great, however I like having both hands free, so the backpack works better for me now.

 

[photogdave]

I've travelled all over the world with many different combinations of photo and personal gear, so here's my two cents:
I agree with everyone about paring down your gear. These days I also just pick one lens and one body to take out shooting for the day and try not to think of the shots I am "missing" because I don't have that other lens. Just having one lens gives you a feeling of freedom and forces you to be more creaive with it. Having said that...
I would never leave ther rest of my gear behind in any hotel in India unless it was was the poshest of the posh. So my favourite solution is a normal average backpacj for clothes etc. with the camera gear stuffed into a small Lowepro bag like a PhotoRunner or the even smaller accessory bag. Either one should fit a Bessa, some lenses and film. Walk around with this on your shoulder and your camera out, ready to catch what you see!
Cheers!

 

[Uncle Bill]

Now I am contemplating a R2a purchase in the new year myself. Now if I was off to India I would probably just pack a 35 Skopar, the 50 Nokton and the 90 Lanther. There is something to be said for traveling light why take a zillion lenses you may only use once or twice. I could make a case go real old school and just pack a 50. Worked for Cappa and Bresson and they documented a lot.

Bill

 

[physiognomy]

I just wanted to point out this thread incase you hadn't seen it...

TimBuk2 bag (click on link)

I use a mesenger style bag to carry my books, gloves/hat (It's bloody cold here in Denver today!) plus a Kiev w/ j-12 that I carry always... The nice thing about these bags (mine is a Timberland brand one that I picked up from Ross for $20) is that you can sling them across your shoulder and shoot handsfree while your gear stays safe and close to your body.

I hope you find what works perfectly for you!

Peter

 

[eric mac]

R2 Where are you?

R2 Where are you?

My current trip carry is a Bessa L with a 21, an R3a with a 40 and a 90 tele elmarit in a domke case. I'd probably consider an R2 as it doesn't need batteried to function. The 50 nokton is quite a big lens, I had one and sold it as it protruded a bit in the frame. If you want speed, go with the 40mm 1.4 or a nikkor 50 1.4. The Nikkor is a bit soft wide open.

Eric

 

[markinlondon]

Thanks for the quick feed back.
I think I will go with a: 21mm (super wide), 35mm 1.2 (low light), 50mm cs (daytime ease), and 75mm (tele)

But what bag can I throw on my back and tool around with holding a change of clothes, toiletries and my camera gear. I am thinking Domke f2, but I do not know about the size being too big and cumbersum. can this bag be connected to a bet so I can be nimble and mobile.
Cheers,
roarksglory

50 and 75 are awfully close, I'd either drop the 50 or go to 90. Personally I'd go with 35 and 90 only, but I like to travel very light and have less expensive stuff to keep track of. As has been said, the 90 Apo-Lanthar is very sharp and very useable wide open, making that f3.5 maximum aperture not quite so bad.

Incidentally, the "Michael Palin" bag is the Billingham Packington.

http://www.billingham.co.uk/prodbuy.asp?id=44

Very pricey, but like all Billingham kit, VERY tough.

Mark

 

[sockeyed]

I just returned from a month in SE Asia and Sri Lanka, and it was my first trip out with a rangefinder kit. I carried an R3A with 25/4, 40/1.4 and 75/2.5. I don't have glasses, so the R3A is not much of a problem. I was suprised how much I used the 25mm - probably 40% of the time. The 40 was mounted for about 1/2 my shots and was invaluable for low-light work. I didn't use the 75 as much as I thought I would, but I still think that I would carry it with me on another trip.

I also brought along a Bessa R with a 35/2.5, just for B&W.

I have a Crumpler bag which I love - you might want to look into those as well.

And toss a few silica crystal packs in your bag if you're heading to any of the damper parts of india.

 

[dostacos]

Thanks for the quick feed back.
I think I will go with a: 21mm (super wide), 35mm 1.2 (low light), 50mm cs (daytime ease), and 75mm (tele)

But what bag can I throw on my back and tool around with holding a change of clothes, toiletries and my camera gear. I am thinking Domke f2, but I do not know about the size being too big and cumbersum. can this bag be connected to a bet so I can be nimble and mobile.
Cheers,
roarksglory

I have a domke f2 and it is not huge, although I can put enough of my Pentax gear in it to make it REAL HEAVY 🙂 it will conform to you. they also have padded inserts for the end pockets; the four inner pockets will hold camera and lots of lenses. you might get a soft pouch so you can drop a couple of lenses in the same padded pocket. I think they have a harness so you can wear it like a back pack.

http://www.tiffen.com/domkecat35.htm link to DOMKE straps

it comes with a 4 section pouch BUT there is room for two more, or stuffing stuff on either end, the front pockets are very roomy as are the side pockets [I would leave the pads for them at home and shove socks or underwear in them, ]


AND BRING SOME BIG ZIP LOCK BAGS FOR DIRTY CLOTHES 😀

I would suggest your favorite low light lens and not bring the other low light at home., If it is a once in a lifetime trip you might think about a second body.