On travelling light

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markinlondon

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With all the recent threads of the "what gear should I take to..." type I was as undecided as ever what to take on holiday with me. As I repacked my Hadley for about the seventh time I had a sudden attack of sanity. My outfit (ha!) ended up being one M2 body (recently serviced), a collapsible Summicron 50, a Sekonic L308 meter and a pile of film. After a few test readings I left the meter in our accomodation and just used sunny 16 for the week. I ended up only carrying a bag at night to disguise the camera or for longer days out when I wanted to take more than just a camera.

So what did I miss? To be frank, nothing really. I have cropped some of the frames to about 75/90 views. With fine grained film this gives acceptable results. I never felt the need for a wide lens, interiors and monuments are better dealt with by buying postcards IMO. Scenic shots were dealt with by taking a couple of steps back to the 35 viewpoint.

So that's me then, one body, one lens, two films (Delta 100 for days and Tri-x for nights) and a meter just in case. What am I to do with all the rest of this stuff? Am I done?
 
As I saw the title to your post I was thinking ... "I bet he says M2 and a Summicron!"

I'm psychic ... I know how you think! 😛 😀

So ... so sensible Mark! 🙂
 
I'll probably do the same as you for my next trip (except that I have an elmar)


(and a digital with 3 fix focal lenses... 🙂 )
 
I can't think of many times where I had significant regret over packing just 1 body, 1 lens & 1 meter. I can, however, think of plenty of times where I was super pissed that I brought no camera at all.
 
I'm back in the US now (Boston) and I'm travelling light.

Canon P, 50/1.8 lens, VC II meter, Minolta Semi-P and back up Sekoinc light meter.
I was going to bring a TLR or an SLR but my wife said "think again" 😀

I'm worried about going back though - I've got a few old film cameras packed away that I might find myself taking home with me 😱
 
Keith - am I that predictable? Oh dear, oh dear 🙂

-vin- the Elmar was an option and on reflection would been lighter and more flare resistant thus allowing me to dispense with a hood a lot of the time. I can count the frames shot at f2 on the fingers of one hand.

Manny, good luck with your zone focusing and enjoy the trip.
 
markinlondon said:
So that's me then, one body, one lens, two films (Delta 100 for days and Tri-x for nights) and a meter just in case. What am I to do with all the rest of this stuff? Am I done?
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As for travelling the obsession to miss anything important with one lens only has no real background. But one has to do it once to know it's true. I personally prefer a 35 or 25 tho, on a Bessa L too, like ManGo.

Or a Praktica MTL5 with a 2,8/29 on it , together for 70,- Euros, mint.. Which adds a new thought to the discussion of minimalism. The economic one. A bad, destructive thought as I must admit. 😀 😀 😀

Bertram
 
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You did exactly what I did propagandise in several threads and discussions and what is based on my own experience of last year´s holiday trip. I had a 35mm with me to accompany my 50mm, but hardly ever used it. So I decided to reduce it to 1 body and 1 lens.

Your experience assured me that I am on the right way.

Thomas
 
markinlondon said:
-vin- the Elmar was an option and on reflection would been lighter and more flare resistant thus allowing me to dispense with a hood a lot of the time. I can count the frames shot at f2 on the fingers of one hand.
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I think it all depends on the kind of travel you're going to do... for landscapes, for example, I think a 20mm lens is very useful. a 50mm is always with me, anyway.
 
I'm thinking that my minimum travel kit would be Hexar RF with 50 Elmar f3.5 (or 2.8) and 28 Canon f3.5 for 400 B+W film, Leica MiniLux for colour slide film, and a folding Fuji GS645 with 100 B+W film.

The Hexar has framelines for the 28 (none of my other RF cameras do), the Elmar and the Canon lenses are tiny, and this would be my main camera. Slide film is for family sharing/reliving vacations, and the MF camera is for those special sights where a big enlargement would be nice.
 
Bertram2 said:
As for travelling the obsession to miss anything important with one lens only has no real background. But one has to do it once to know it's true.
Bertram
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I'm not afraid to miss something with one lens, I just like to play with all my cool cameras and have some color neg, slides, and black and white and a couple different speeds and a little digicam. If I was on a grande tour I'd probably do it different but last time I went to Mongolia for a week I took a contax t; contax t2; oly om2 and 50mm f1.4 and 28 f3.5; yashica electro gsn; and my panasonic lumix FZ5. I used it all and even wish I'd brought more.
 
On my last big trip, I carried an M3 with a 50mm and an Oly XA. Sort-of wished a I brought the tiny VC 21, too, but I didn't really miss it. Sometimes I left the M3 in the hotel, sometimes I left the XA. This was a heavy kit for me. Next time, it'll be just one camera. Prolly the M3 with a 50mm.
 
as much as I want to travel light and just take my M6(or film for that matter) on a trip, I really don't want to sacrifice the ISO flexibility I get with my 5D..
 
Goodonya Mark ... I have just taken my M2 out of the cupboard ... put my 35mm f2 Canon on it and put some black and white C41 film in it.

See ... you've inspired me! 😀
 
I've had back problems recently. I always travelled light but now I'm a strictly one camera/one lens kind of guy.

Ian
 
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