Vacation with 50mm only: is it possible?

The 35mm lens covers most cases, and the 50/21 combo should be more fun.
In the end, most importantly the trip should be enjoyed.
 
nickthetasmaniac said:
Heh, 8 year old thread... Interesting topic though :)

I backpacked through Europe for about 5 months a few years ago and shot basically the whole trip with a Voigtlander Nokton 25mm (50mm equivalent on Micro Four Thirds). Thoroughly enjoyed it and took a lot of photos I'm still very fond of.
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I have been using m 4/3 (old) cameras with lenses that gave me standard to tele views until I got a Panasonic 25/1.4 "Lux". It gives a nice 50mm look. That lens alone works well as the only lens in a trip. I took with me to a trip to Germany 2 m 4/3 cameras with a 25 and a 50 lens for a 50mm and 100mm views in a small package.
 
The years of Pro are behind me!
Sure I carried, lugged, transported, dragged all that dumb equipment.
2 or 3 SLR bodies, meter, lenses: 28, 35.50, 55 macro,105 mm (money lens), 70~300 zoom (seldom used) and 200 mm. Flash units..
Even that is little compared to pros today with roll suitcases..

On one shoot for self I had most of it!
Some guy about my age was also shooting on the rocks at Newport Beach.
He carried a Rollei 35 and a spare roll of film.
No bag, no pouches, no bandoleer straps like a Hollywood version of Pancho Villa! A simple outfit which I soon adopted.

Digital was next break thru!
Compact toy cameras with zoom lenses, spare batteries (AA).
MY preferred way to travel in days of sinister security..
None of that " would sir, please step this way..!"
 
I committed to a 50mm focal length using my X100s and a TCL-X100 back in June of 2017. I shot that focal length exclusively (except for occasional forays with a Yashica Electro35 GS & its 45mm fixed lens) until a few weeks ago. During that time I took six cruise vacations to various ports using only those two cameras. I figures if a Leica M3 and a 50mm Cron was good enough for Henri Cartier-Bresson it was good enough for me. As a result, I see differently now. After decades with various wide-angle and telephoto zooms for news/editorial work, it was almost a God-send! Recently I switched the TCL-X100 adapter for the WCL-X100 adapter for a 28mm focal length and am giving it a try.
 
antiquark said:
For various reasons, I'd like to go on my next vacation with a single lens: a 50mm equivalent.

Has anyone ever gone on a vacation with a 50mm only? Did you miss many shots? Were you always able to "work around" the angle of view limitations to produce good compositions?

Thanks,
Derek.
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Forty some years ago, when I got my first SLR, I only had a 50mm lens. Took it on all vacations and everywhere else. Was a number of years before I got another focal length. It worked fine, used the two foot zoom method. Walked up close for telephoto, walked far away for wide angle.

Best,
-Tim
 
These days digital makes minimalism easier e.g. stitching for width or high ISO overcoming a small aperture.
Still I find 50mm is just a bit tight for a comfortable all rounder.
40mm or 28mm on APS-C seems the sweet spot for me when a 28+50 pair is too much to bring.
 
HCB may have used a 50mm most of the time but Oskar Barnack finally fitted a 40 or 42mm* to the Ur-Leica. So it's a question of mentor really.

Luckily, there's always the excellent Leica CL and a load of others (Olympus; Pentax etc) with 40 or 42mm lenses...

OTOH, if you're not sure about focal lengths, there's lots of P&S's and bridge cameras to give you a lot in a small package, film or digital.

Regards, David


* The Milar used is given as either focal length; it depends what source you look at.
 
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On my trip to Cork, Ireland and the Isle of Man at the turn of 2018, I carried the Leica M-D with 35 and 50 mm lenses. More than 90% of all the exposures I made were made with the 50mm lens.

On my most recent trip to the Isle of Man, Cambridge/Oxford/London in England, the northeast corridor of the USA, and then the subsequent train trip across the USA, I carried the Leica CL with 28 and 50mm lenses (42 and 75mm eqFOV). More than 95% of my photos were made with the 28mm lens.

There are few lenses more universally useful than a reasonably fast lens in the normal range for any format. Never worry about how many photographs you might miss; worry only about what fantastic photographs you'll make. :)

G
 
It can certainly be done but these days I'd take a 21mm along if I were shooting with the Leica. If I decided at 2am before the flight, the Nikon F2 were coming along, then it would be the 50mm f/1.2 and the 28mm f/2.8. If I wanted to pack ultimately compact though, I'd carry my Retina IIa which has a built in 50mm f/2 Xenon lens and a ton of film. You can't really go wrong with any 50mm option by any manufacturer of any vintage. Even the dogs are still pretty decent.

Phil Forrest
 
Godfrey said:
Never worry about how many photographs you might miss; worry only about what fantastic photographs you'll make. :)
G
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Less changing lenses & deciding..... more looking & seeing
 
Phil_F_NM said:
...If I wanted to pack ultimately compact though, I'd carry my Retina IIa which has a built in 50mm f/2 Xenon lens and a ton of film.

Phil Forrest
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Still using that Retina, Phil? I’m glad it’s with you still.

I took a 50/2 and 15/4.5 to Italy last year with an M-D 262. Happiest shooting 50, for like many others here, 50 was my one and only in my SLR youth.
 
As I wrote before, for tens of millions only 50mm lens was the only choice for decades.
Zenit and 50. Zorki and 50, FED and 50. Keiv and 50. Sold as kit and used as sold.
Vacations, New Year, November 7th demonstration, working in kolhoz, skying in the forest and so on. All with 50.
 
helenhill said:
back in 2010 I commented Yes to 50mm

in 2018 I would take a 50 / 21 combo
or if just one a 35... :p. :)
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So would I. It doesn't matter which. Rolleiflex with an 80mm. Fuji 6x8 with a 90. Leica with a 35. It's the final image that matters, not the ones you could have taken if only you'd have had a .....
 
Ko.Fe. said:
As I wrote before, for tens of millions only 50mm lens was the only choice for decades.
Zenit and 50. Zorki and 50, FED and 50. Keiv and 50. Sold as kit and used as sold.
Vacations, New Year, November 7th demonstration, working in kolhoz, skying in the forest and so on. All with 50.
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Yes for a good few years its all I had a Cosina CSM with a standard lens, I was a school kid and did not have the money left after film to buy another lens. Though I have on occasion gone away and just taken a camera with a 50 or similar angle of view in recent years.
 
When I got my first SLR, as a student, having a camera that took interchangeable lenses was a novelty, and I often thought about the other lenses I wished I had.


When traveling and living abroad, armed with a compact fixed-lens RF, interchangeable lenses weren't an option, so I didn't even think about other focal lengths.


- Murray
 
This is why this forum is still relevant.

When threads are resurrected you can have one or more cohorts answering the same question and if one cares enough to consider historical points of view, one can.
Perhaps thats the problem with FB and other new forms of discussion arenas - everything is now, me and whats been discussed before doesn’t matter because Im in a hurry to get the answer that I have already preconceived.

Michael.



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