Vacation with 50mm only: is it possible?

[wgerrard]

When I go out and about locally, I carry one body with one lens. I can do that because I know where I'm going and what to expect when I get there. No bag, although if I'm driving I will use a small bag to keep things safe while in the car.

On vacation and other travel that lends itself to walkabouts, I go around with a body and three lenses in a bag. I'm certainly not fond of carrying the stuff, but I'm typically spending times in cities and won't know what I'll be shooting from minute to minute. In that circumstance, I seem to have settled on 3 lenses: the 35/1.2 Nokton, a 50 (either the Zeiss Planar or the Nokton 50/1.5), and the CV 21/4. The 21/4 is so small and light that there's always room for it.

Do I need three lenses? No, but I want three lenses. I'll probably put up with the hassle they entail until I hit a tipping point and decide my trips would be more enjoyable without two of them.

 

[former member]

I like to travel with a 35, 50, and 85 or 90. For a day trip, often go out with just a 50. But on an extended trip, going somewhere, the choice of lenses allows more flexibility. Often, I'll pack a fixed-lens RF in place of the 35 or the 50.

 

[wlewisiii]

Right now I only own 50's 😀 I don't find it especially limiting - in 99% of the cases my two foot zoom will suffice.

William

 

[btgc]

On weekend I feel good having 25-50 zoom lens, mostly using it at 25 or 50 settings (developer and fixer in one package, so to say).

I agree 45-50 is great for a single-lens adventure. Yes, I like 28mm but if there's mood to go with one lens, it would be 48mm.

 

[BTMarcais]

My last trip to the netherlands (vacation and to see friends and family) I took the M3, 50mm collapsible 'cron, 90mm collapsible elmar, and an old zeiss folding 645 w/ a 75mm lens. No wide angles.
pictures
Almost everything w/ the leica was shot w/ the 50, and while I always had traveled w/ a wider lens before, I had no real problems. The 50 is my walk around lens most of the time, and is just the most comfortable for how I see. I'd have no trouble traveling with just that.

The problem would be deciding WHICH 50 to bring...!

-Brian

 

[k.a]

i spent a week in new york with my old olympus e-420 and the 25mm (50mm ekv.) and was very pleased with the results

 

[DeanSilliman]

My last trip to the netherlands (vacation and to see friends and family) I took the M3, 50mm collapsible 'cron, 90mm collapsible elmar, and an old zeiss folding 645 w/ a 75mm lens. No wide angles.
pictures
Almost everything w/ the leica was shot w/ the 50, and while I always had traveled w/ a wider lens before, I had no real problems. The 50 is my walk around lens most of the time, and is just the most comfortable for how I see. I'd have no trouble traveling with just that.

The problem would be deciding WHICH 50 to bring...!

-Brian

There are some really, really amazing shots in there and the collection as a whole is fabulous.

Dean
(A fellow 50mm-aholic and So Cal resident.)

 

[wiedo]

My last trip to the netherlands (vacation and to see friends and family) I took the M3, 50mm collapsible 'cron, 90mm collapsible elmar, and an old zeiss folding 645 w/ a 75mm lens. No wide angles.
pictures

Nice to see my country trough 'tourist' perspective, it's beautiful.. opens a new world for me 🙂. I'll try to do something with is.

 

[kshapero]

Last summer in New England with only a CV 35/1.4

 

[kdemas]

In '06 I did Paris with an M7 and a 50/2.8 Elmar almost exclusively. Primarily daylight shooting and happy with the results.

If in a big city Id probably opt for something a bit wider, a 35mm, as a walkarpund lens. Makes getting full architecture shots easier (possible) in tight cities. I now enjoy my Zeiss 25mm on my M8 when in Paris as my most used combo.

 

[robbeiflex]

Wow, over 50 posts in a day! In that case I have to put my two cents in worth too.

For a long time and a lot of short trips I've been shooting with only a 50 and enjoyed it very much, but in big cities I find it a bit tight and plan to try a 35 a.s.a.p.

 

[tbarker13]

If I were going on a serious vacation/photo trip, there is no way that I would limit myself to a single lens of any FL. It's one of the appeals of RFs. The lenses are small enough that it requires little extra in the way of weight/packing to toss in an extra lens or two.
There might be days when I'd go out and about with a single lens and camera. But I'd want options. There is a reason we have different focal lengths - a 90mm lens sees the world differently than a 28mm lens.

(Of course, I might feel differently if I were hiking for a week and carrying everything on my back.)

 

[helen.HH]

YES,YES and YES to a 50

A 50 Rules SUPREME ...
its the PURRfect distance between me & what I see
I LOVE the Intimacy and the size of the Subject with a 50

on occasion a 21 superangulon might be a complimentary companion

 

[Bingley]

For short trips and business travel, I'm a one camera, one lens kinda guy.

But for vacation travel, not so much. I try to balance the enjoyment that comes from the use of camera gear with the pleasure in traveling light and not having "too many" choices. I too shot exclusively with a 50 while living and traveling in Europe for most of the 1970s, but that was mainly b/c I was a starving student and couldn't afford another focal length lens. But that's not the case any longer, and I can now enjoy photography with other lenses, as well as with the venerable 50.

So, I'm with Raid, in that I've found that a 50 and a wide angle makes a very useful kit, and can accommodate different shooting environments. Not too much; not too little. For me, it's been a 50 and a 28, although I just got a 25 Snapshot Skopar that I'll be taking with me on summer vacation travels. The constant is the 50, though: it's the anchor lens. My dilemma is like Brian Marcais': WHICH 50 to bring!

 

[-doomed-]

For the longest time all I had was the 50mm so that was my go everywhere do everything lens, I took that and my old M3 on a vacation and it turned out to be all I needed. Perhaps the limits of just the one lens let me just shoot, no choices about what lens to use , just grab and go.

 

[Rico]

My FM2 kit had exactly one lens (50/1.4 Ais), and it managed three months of 1980's South Africa with no problem. These days, I prefer a 35, but one FL is still mighty attractive.

 

[ChrisN]

From 1980 to 2005 I owned one camera with one lens (a 50mm). I never missed the others I didn't have.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Of course it can be done... But I haven't... Closest was a long, several countries trip with a 20mm only... Never wanted any other lens during the trip, and I'm very happy with those rolls; they share the same feeling all the time: being there, space narrative... Had I used a 50 only, the feeling would have been a very different one: more intimacy, distance, isolation of scenes or feelings... You know what you want... If you want to record a visual memory of the places, you'd better go for a 35 at least... For people as individuals, the 50.

Cheers,

Juan

 

[umcelinho]

Possible, yes. I use a 35/1.4 on my R-D1 and a Summicron DR on my M6. I really like wide angles, though, so when travelling I can't help taking a ultra-wide with me.

After I bought the M6 with a 50mm, I spent from March to July shooting 50mm only. Sometimes I would put a Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim in my pocket for wide angle moments. Went to Paris with that setup and it was fantastic, as the VUWS is amazingly light, amazingly wide (22mm) and despite having a plastic lens it gives beautiful results. And it's so darn cheap...

In July I was going to travel through Italy and Greece, so I decided to get a lens that would allow me to capture those scenes where you look all over and think "wow... if only I could register this whole beauty". So I got a LTM 15mm Heliar. It was pretty useful and it is really cheap and small. I would have it in my pocket all the time.

If I were to take a single lens to a trip, though, I'd take a 35mm instead of a 50mm. It's better to be able to capture wider scenes and sometimes having to crop than missing a scene because you can't frame it, IMHO. But I'm a wide angle fan, so consider that.

For 2 lenses, I'd go 21mm and 50mm. Covers almost all situations you might encounter. And the CV 21/4 is cheap and has a VF with brightlines, much better than the 15's or the 12's. Just leave the wide in your pocket for when it is really needed.

Going back to the OP's question, I agree with what has been said that it depends where the vacation will be.

 

[benno]

Surely it is possible. Having only used 50mm lenses, here are my observations:

Confined spaces (narrow streets, building interiors) require something wider (35 or 28 maybe, no way to calculate).

Landscapes, especially mountains, require something longer (every time I've been in the mountains I wish I had a 90-135 lens, which my later calculations support). Anything else, medium sized things (humans) in medium distances, 50mm works fine for me.

Most of these were already mentioned but just wanted to share my experience.

I tend to agree. On my last long trip, maybe 85% of my pics were with a 35, 12% with a 90mm and 3% with a 50, and I only used the 50 for it's speed as it's faster than my other two lenses.

I could quite happily travel with just a 35. But I think I'd probably bring the 90 anyway, as it's small and I really like the perspective and you do just get occasions where you can't walk any closer.

And I'd bring my Fuji 690 for a backup with it's approximately 35mm equivalent lens 🙂