The old story: "which lenses should I take with me on my upcoming trip?"

[boojum]

After the little black 120 box Brownie I got a 35mm Voigtländer Vito II which is my meme. It was a folder and had a 50mm f/3.5 non-interchangeable lens. It worked just fine. A fifty will do ya. Have a great trip, take lots of pics. Those kids will be gone and on the other side of the country before you know it. From diapers to degrees in a flash.

 

[das]

Just another two cents. If you are not set on taking the digital Leica, I have found that the best one camera, one lens set up for me for travel is a SLR with a close focusing 35mm focal length lens (they pretty much all focus way more closely than any M lens). A 35 can be a poor man's 50, but sometimes you can't get far enough away from a subject for a 50 to work.

 

[peterm1]

Raid I am responding to soemthing you said about this being a family trip. Though I usually have at least a couple of cameras and several lenses with me including when travelling I recall a trip some years back when I decided that it was not likely to be a photographic trip particularly. I was meeting up with a pal of mine in Hong Kong - he coming back from visiting his girlfriend in Europe and me at a loose end with my wife working away. I knew this was likely to be a boozy trip with a mate. (which it was). 🙄 I dithered for a while and ended up taking only two cameras - a Canon G12 and my M8 with a Summicron 50mm and Voigtlander 75mm f1.8 and that's it. Most photos were made on the G12 as it was pocketable and reasonably flexible with its inbuilt zoom. It worked out OK especially as I knew that photography would be purely incidental.

 

[boojum]

For me to cut it to the bone it would be the A7M III and the 24 - 240 zoom, period. All reasonable focal lengths in an auto-focus, auto-exposure glorified point -and-shoot. I get a lot of good pics with it, in focus and properly exposed. Yup.

 

[raid]

After the little black 120 box Brownie I got a 35mm Voigtländer Vito II which is my meme. It was a folder and had a 50mm f/3.5 non-interchangeable lens. It worked just fine. A fifty will do ya. Have a great trip, take lots of pics. Those kids will be gone and on the other side of the country before you know it. From diapers to degrees in a flash.

Yes, such a family trip will become a rare event as both girls will be in college and then finding jobs somewhere. We treasure these moments.

 

[raid]

Just another two cents. If you are not set on taking the digital Leica, I have found that the best one camera, one lens set up for me for travel is a SLR with a close focusing 35mm focal length lens (they pretty much all focus way more closely than any M lens). A 35 can be a poor man's 50, but sometimes you can't get far enough away from a subject for a 50 to work.

I have been several times to Venice (say), and I did very well on one of my Italy trips with having only two "normal lenses". Rolleiflex 2.8D and Minox 35GT. (and a light tripod). I " see" with 50mm vision, so to speak. I like it. I will use my M10 as it has not been used before on any trip so far.

 

[raid]

Raid I am responding to soemthing you said about this being a family trip. Though I usually have at least a couple of cameras and several lenses with me including when travelling I recall a trip some years back when I decided that it was not likely to be a photographic trip particularly. I was meeting up with a pal of mine in Hong Kong - he coming back from visiting his girlfriend in Europe and me at a loose end with my wife working away. I knew this was likely to be a boozy trip with a mate. (which it was). 🙄 I dithered for a while and ended up taking only two cameras - a Canon G12 and my M8 with a Summicron 50mm and Voigtlander 75mm f1.8 and that's it. Most photos were made on the G12 as it was pocketable and reasonably flexible with its inbuilt zoom. It worked out OK especially as I knew that photography would be purely incidental.

Hi Peter,

I am less of a tele user when traveling. I used tele lenses a lot with my children locally. With the phone as a back-up camera, I find it nice to travel with only one Leica.

 

[raid]

For me to cut it to the bone it would be the A7M III and the 24 - 240 zoom, period. All reasonable focal lengths in an auto-focus, auto-exposure glorified point -and-shoot. I get a lot of good pics with it, in focus and properly exposed. Yup.

Use what works best for you.

 

[furcafe]

My longtime travel combo was 1 digital camera (usually an M body) + lens (typically a 35 or 28), 1 film RF (usually the M7) + 1 lens (typically a 50 to switch w/the wide on the other body), & a backup "fancy" film point & shoot (e.g., Minolta TC-1, Nikon 28Ti, etc.) for backup. If I were to travel today, because of the risk of film damage from the new high powered CAT-scan X-ray machines for carry-on luggage, I might go all digital or maybe have only 1 film camera, using the iPhone as the main backup. Lens-wise, my shooting style doesn't change when I travel, so I'll stay in the 28 to 50 range unless I know I'll be in tight, confined conditions, in which case I might bring a 21.

 

[boojum]

Use what works best for you.

Here's a couple of reasons why I like the A7 + 24 - 240. There is not always a lot of time to compose a shot, get the focus right and exposure correct. We use computers for repetitive tasks. When programmed correctly they are faster and more accurate than we are.

​

And here is a quick one with the 55mm f/1.8 Sony/Zeiss. Yeah, RF manual focus is fun and "artsy" but the A7 is the "git 'er done" camera for me. This spontaneous shot would not have happened with the M9. I have a higher hit rate with the A7. I will try the Amotal on it, too. No more autofocus with that one but auto exposure and auto ISO. You see, I want to have more photos to discard and I can do that with the A7 + 24 - 240 because more are in focus and exposed properly. You guys may be fast enough but I am not.

​

 

[peterm1]

Hi Peter,

I am less of a tele user when traveling. I used tele lenses a lot with my children locally. With the phone as a back-up camera, I find it nice to travel with only one Leica.

Raid I was really alluding more to the utility of compact cameras in situations like this. A good compact camera has some advantages - size, built in zoom and hopefully good image quality. They lack in other respects of course - e.g. good image quality does not mean great image quality as compromises necessarily exist. Also they are not much good at night or in poor lighting. But I was surprised back then at just how nice many images from the Canon G12 were. Is it ideal? No but I found it could be an option an option I still sometimes avail myself of in situations in which I was not able or willing to carry a bigger and heavier camera and lenses..

 

[raid]

Hi Peter,
I have no decent compact digital camera except my two cheap m 4/3 cameras. I am spoiled with the M8, M9, and now M10, and I try to use excellent lenses with them. In the end, it is you the photographer who creates the wonderful images and not the compact camera, Peter.

 

[james.liam]

Raid, have you considered a MATE? Their prices have come down in recent years, particularly the E55 version. It isn't a match for primes but does negate the need for traveling with several.

 

[raid]

I have not given such lenses any thoughts: I prefer using primes. I may try one out eventually.

 

[Archiver]

My vote was for the Nokton 50, Rokkor 28 and Hologon 18. The Nokton will cover any low light situation, the 28 will do general shooting, and the Hologon will let you capture everything that your eye sees, if that makes sense. It would be fantastic for being indoors at a cathedral, for example.

My travel kit for my M9 has historically been:

Zeiss Biogon 21mm f2.8
Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f1.4 MC
Leica Summicron M 50mm f2

In 2010, I went to Japan with this kit, along with the Voigtlander Heliar 75mm f2.5, Ricoh GRD III and Canon S90. The S90 was hardly used, only to take videos. I wish I had taken more videos! The Heliar 75 didn't get much use, so my travel kit from then on was just 21, 35 and 50. This focal length range gives me everything I want, from capturing wide expanses and indoor scenes to low light portraits and street shooting.

For a 2013 trip to Hong Kong, I took the same kit of M9 + 21, 35 and 50; and I also took the Olympus E-M5 with:

Panasonic 14mm f2.5
Panasonic 12-35mm f2,8
Olympus 45mm f1.8
Olympus 75mm f1.8

The Ricoh GRD III also came, taking many snapshots. But the bulk of the work was captured with the M9 + 21 and 35, and E-M5 with 14mm and 12-35. The 45 and 75 saw a bit of use during a birthday dinner and through car windows, but not much else. The Olympus was a huge boon for video, allowing me to shoot ages and ages of it at any time.

On another trip in 2017, I took the same M9 kit but the Zeiss Sonnar 50 instead of the Summicron, and changed the E-M5 lens setup to:

Olympus 17mm f1.8
Olympus 25mm f1.8
Olympus 45mm f1.8

Most Olympus images were shot with the 17, giving a 35mm focal length equivalent. As the E-M5 is so small, it was almost like a pocket camera, especially with the 17mm. I also carried the Panasonic LX7, which was excellent for wide angle snapshots.

My preference for travel photography is to have a lens that is wide enough to capture what my eyes see, which means entire rooms and surrounding context of subjects. 21 suits me perfectly for that. A fast 35 handles night shooting and environmental portraits, and a fast 50 is like a portrait lens in comparison.

Now that I have the Distagon 35, the new travel kit will be:

M9 + Biogon 21, Distagon 35, Summicron 50
Panasonic G9 or GX85
Sony RX0 for pocket camera

The lens kit for the m43 camera will depend on which camera I take. The G9 being larger means it will balance with larger lenses, so I could easily use the 17 and 25mm f1.2 Pro lenses, and the tiny Olympus 12mm f2 for general shooting. If I take the GX85, I'll use the small Olympus primes instead. The GX85 has excellent video quality, almost as good as the G9 at 4k.

At this stage, I'm unsure how the Panasonic S5 fits into my travel kit, as the lenses are larger than I like unless I use adapted M mount or Minolta Rokkors. I don't have a set of Panasonic f1.8 or Sigma f2 primes yet, so we shall see how that goes.

 

[raid]

Thank you for the details! Your choice of lenses makes sense.

"My vote was for the Nokton 50, Rokkor 28 and Hologon 18. The Nokton will cover any low light situation, the 28 will do general shooting, and the Hologon will let you capture everything that your eye sees, if that makes sense. It would be fantastic for being indoors at a cathedral, for example."

The CV 50/1 can be used in almost any sunny to dark scenes as a normal/short-tele lens; you just walk closer to the object/subject.
The Rokkor-M can be used as a slightly wide angle lens without distortions in the edges for color or for B&W.
The Hologon is for me a lens to enjoy using from close-up. In order to avoid the purple smearing (mainly on the right side of each image) I will use images from it without colors.

 

[raid]

The lens coverages:

The full frame is maybe for 16mm, like the Hologon.

Would a 16-28-50 set cover most what is useful here?

 

[Darthfeeble]

One can always crop........ Particularly with the high res camera you have.

 

[raid]

One can always crop........ Particularly with the high res camera you have.

This is true, but my M10 is not the model M10-R with the larger resolution capabilities.

 

[ptpdprinter]

If you take one trio of lenses you will come back with one set of images. If you take a different trio of lenses, you will come back with a different set of images. Who knows whether one set of images would be better than the other. I don't know what your shooting style is so I don't think me telling you what lenses I would take has a whole lot of relevance. I don't know if this is an option for you, but maybe you should consider taking a mirrorless with a zoom lens instead of a Leica with three primes.