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the perfect travel kit


geesbert

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My travel kit for city travel:

M9

WATE

MATE

 

Optional:

12mm CV

90mm Elmarit

 

For things like National Parks, where you might want to go long, a DSLR goes too (D800E for me). After the M240, we'll see about the need for anything more.

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For me right now, it's the Leica M7 and Ricoh GXR, with 2 lenses: 28mm Elmarit and 50mm Sonnar. That way you get 2 bodies - one film, one digital - and 4 focal lengths (28-42-50-75). If it's just a weekend trip, then it's just the 35mm/1.2 Nokton.

 

One day I might go to 21mm and 40mm, though, so that I'll get 21-33-40-60, which might be even more versatile.

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I am thinking for the GXR too. Something in between 12mm and 28mm.

SE 18mm or SE 21mm.

Jan

 

The CV Super Heliar 15mm is surprisingly good. I had a real downer on CV lenses having had one totally unusable one (21/4), one poor one (35/2.5) and one barely adequate one (35/1.2 Mk1). I decided to give them one last go and a French company had a sale this summer, with a new one of the 15mm Mk2, M mount, RF coupled lenses, at an exceptionally good price. It vignettes a fair bit on the M9 but using the 21/2.8 Elmarit code pretty much cures that. The vignetting will be less objectionable on the smaller sensor of the GXR (vignetting is barely noticeable at all on an mFT sensor). It is also a very neat little lens and has a nice focusing tab on it as well. It is not up to the quality of the WATE but at a very different price point and far smaller.

 

Here is a pic of it on my EP-2 Olympus (taken with M9, 50mm LTM Summitar and SF-58D flash to meet forum regs :) )

 

It will also be good on the M-240, using the Olympus VF-2 viewer off my EP-2, rather than guessing the field of view, like I have been doing to date on the M9, as the Frankenfinder went with my WATE, when I exchanged that with a forum member.

 

Wilson

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I am thinking for the GXR too. Something in between 12mm and 28mm.

SE 18mm or SE 21mm.

Jan

 

To be honest, I prefer the GXR with longer than 35mm lenses, simply because the wide angle ones would not make for very fast objectives. For example, to get 28mm on the GXR, you would need a 18mm or 19mm, which would be around f3.5-f4. For street in daylight, that is of course more than enough, when we are typically shooting at f5.6 or f8 anyway. And the GXR does work very well with the wides I have tried it with - 21mm and 24mm Color Skopar, 28mm Elmarit ASPH. I think the compact Super Angulon or C-Biogon would be great on it, but have yet to try those.

 

But the GXR becomes really interesting and useful when you stick a 35mm f1.2 Nokton on it (it almost becomes a Noctilux clone that behaves better than the 50mm/1.1 Nokton sister), or the 50mm C-Sonnar, which gives you a very compact f1.5 short portrait lens.

Edited by Ruhayat
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My travel set-up recently has been my M7 and just a couple of lenses - 50mm Summicron and 28mm Elmarit - and it's served me well. In fact, on my last trip I used the Summicron almost exclusively. Now I've got a NEX 7 and some adapters, I will bring that along too in the future for those shots where I want higher ISO.

 

To be honest though, one of the reasons why I switched to the M in the first place, and why I like the NEX as well, is their low weight and bulk, so less rather than more is better in my book when you're on the road.

 

With my set-up, you can slip everything into a Billingham and be carrying it all day without even a twinge of ''SLR shoulder'.

Edited by RFNewcomer
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Size ok. But weight? My IIIf is heavier than my EOS 650.

In my opinion weight is an issue.

Jan

 

True. I find the same with the M7 vs an SLR, especially with the 90mm Summicron E55 attached. Although, the IIIf is "full frame", as they say.:p If you carried even a 6D with the plastic 50/1.8 it will weigh more.

 

But the M4-P with 28mm Elmarit ASPH or 35mm Color Skopar is not as bulky as an SLR and weighs considerably less, enough for me to carry it everywhere in a pocket pouch without feeling it most times. For the same reason, these days for digital I use the GXR with reasonably fast non-Leica glass (f1.5 Sonnar and f4.0 24mm Color Skopar), and my Pentax K5 gets left home a lot I'm even thinking of selling it off if it weren't for the AF which I need for work stuff.

 

The GXR can mount my M, R and m42 lenses - it's my crop sensor Leica M Type 241! :D

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An Elmar 3.5/50 or a (future) pancake would make the Leica pocketable. The Ricoh remains too thick. But for traveling with a Leica in your pocket the camera remains too heavy.

Very nice on the other hand is the DP1 of Sigma (28 mm lens).

Jan

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An Elmar 3.5/50 or a (future) pancake would make the Leica pocketable. The Ricoh remains too thick. But for traveling with a Leica in your pocket the camera remains too heavy.

Very nice on the other hand is the DP1 of Sigma (28 mm lens).

Jan

 

Jan,

 

If you move away from Leica lenses, there is always the CV 35/2.5 Colour Skopar, although mine is quite poor, being both soft and with an inaccurately ground RF cam. A better alternative would be the Zeiss Biogon C 35/2.8. A little larger than the Colour Skopar, but I am sure significantly better and without the usual CV lottery, as to whether you get a good one or not. Both these would give you a pocketable camera.

 

The final series of Elmars were not very well made. My 2007 one had virtually no detents on the aperture ring, which was loose and wobbly as well. Others complained about the same issue. I think Leica was going though a very sticky patch at this time, as both the 2007 50 Summicrons I had, were plain poor as well and I ended up buying a Zeiss 50 Planar instead. The lens extension on the late Elmar did not feel like a hydraulic piston, which my earlier LTM Elmar 3.5 and 50/2 Summitar resemble.

 

Wilson

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+1 for the Color Skopar series. I had the 35mm Pancake Type II and 24mm, and now contemplating the 21mm. They make the M body pocketable. Very light, too. All are about the same size, similar to 40mm Summicron-C or older Leica 35mm lenses. The only thing I don't like about them is the images they make are a bit contrasty and clean looking. I don't mind the slower speeds, though.

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  • 4 years later...

Just plodded through this with increasing incredulity.....

 

Do some of you employ native bearers on your holidays ????

 

Whatever I take it is always too much .... even with a body and 3 lenses I come back wondering why on earth I bothered with the 3rd.... and often 2nd.

 

More lenses = more sensor crud.... you can guarantee it.....

 

The one thing I regret not taking recently was a bottle of eclipse and some swabs in addition to a blower........ hours of happy de-spotting when I got home :o

I don't and I have been scaling back severely. I am shooting in my new travel kit, and am feeling quite nostalgic. For the first itme since 1988  there is no Leica camera in the bag.  However,  usability has been vastly improved with easily handholdable 800 mm, image stabilization and a weight reduction from 12 to 4 KG. Panasonic GX8, GX7, Summiluxes 15 and 25, Vario-Elmar 100-400 and OM 75-150. That is it...

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My travel camera kit hasn't really changed since 1982:

 

Body

Wide lens (21 to 35 mm effective)

Normal lens, fast

Medium telephoto (75 to 135 mm effective)

Two spare batteries, two chargers

Enough media to store 4000 exposures

A light bag sufficient to carry the above plus travel papers and other incidentals

Light tripod (optional)

 

A late addition (about mid-1990s):

 

Laptop or tablet capable of communications and image processing

Charger for same

 

This kit, expressed in probably a dozen different camera systems over time, has been with me around the world on travel for several hundred 1 to 8 week trips. It's never been deficient in capability. All up weight: about 3-4 kg with Leica M excluding tripod (usually 1.5kg).

Edited by ramarren
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  • 3 months later...

Since I first posted in this thread in 2010, my kit has stayed half the same, and half has changed.  Previously, on Arrow:

 

- M9

- Zeiss Biogon 21/2.8 for general shooting, landscapes, interiors and architecture

- Voigtlander Nokton 35/1.4 for night shooting

- Summicron-M 50 for portraits, detail and to create a more intimate feeling than 21 or 35

- three M9 batteries

- Ricoh GRD III as complementary camera

 

In 2013, my travel kit included the same M9 and three lenses as above, but also included:

 

- Olympus E-M5 original

- Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8

- Panasonic 14mm f2.5

- Olympus 45mm f1.8

- Olympus 75mm f1.8

 

The Olympus creates much better image quality than the Ricoh GRD III, has five axis image stabilization, quite reasonable video and is much smaller and lighter than the M9.  The versatility of this kit is huge, as the Panasonic 14mm is a tiny pancake lens that turns the E-M5 into a compact camera.  Both Leica and Olympus kit fit in a Billingham Hadley insert which went into a standard backpack, no overt camera bags for me.

 

But to revisit the original intent of this thread, which was to pack a bag for a one year trip, I'd change a bit.  The Leica gear would remain, as I would regret not having the image quality and 'look' that I can get from that kit.  But the micro four thirds gear would change.  Over the years, video has become increasingly important to me on travels.  So for a one year trip, which I assume would be once in a lifetime, the m43 kit would be:

 

- Panasonic GH5

- Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8

- Panasonic 35-100mm f2.8

- Olympus 25mm f1.8

- four 64GB SDXC cards

- three batteries

 

This gives me maximum flexibility and stills/video quality in the smallest package.  Two zooms spanning 24mm-200mm, a fast 50 for lightweight shooting, and enough memory and batteries to last a day of shooting before offloading and recharging at night.

 

If I had to travel light for a one year trip, the gear list would be:

 

- Sony RX1r v1 or 2 for all the benefits of full frame shooting in a compact body

- Panasonic GX85 for most of the benefits of the GH5, including 5 axis stabilization and 4K video

- Olympus 12mm f2

- Olympus 25mm f1.8

- Olympus 45mm f1.8

- batteries and cards as appropriate

 

The Sony would cover 35mm as a general purpose camera.  With multiple panning exposures and Photoshop, the RX1r would create incredible panoramas.  The GX85's lens choices equate to 24, 50 and 90, which would suit me fine, and take up far less weight and space than the two Panasonic zooms.

 

Traveling even lighter on a one year trip would mean just the Sony RX1r II and a Panasonic LX15 (24-72 zoom with 4K video that fits in your pocket).

 

All images would be offloaded to two Western Digital portable harddrives with SD card readers.  I generally use a Nexto CF for offloading my data, but a hypothetical once in a lifetime one year trip would need two offloading platforms in case one dies.

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I spent 4 years backpacking around the globe (with about 18 months or so scattered through that time doing casual legal work in London to pay for my excursions).

 

My pack contained a Nikon FM2, wide-mid zoom and 180/2.8 tele.  I never really wanted more or less.

 

Now?  For  year?  I'd probably take more than I needed and regret it - with the gear I have, I'd probably just take the SL and two zooms, and maybe one fast prime (Noctilux).  Then I'd think, well if you're taking an M lens, also take an M camera, so I'd take an M-A.  Then I'd think I'd take an M mount 28 as well.  Then I'd leave the long SL zoom behind, and not miss it.

 

When I went  to Israel for 3 weeks, I took SL, 24-90 zoom, M-A, Noctilux and 28 Summilux and it was pretty good.  For a year's travel, I might add the 21 Summilux and leave the 28 behind ...  Or just take an M system - two bodies (M-A and Monnochrom) and 21-28-50-75 Summiluxes ... but that would be all black and white.

Edited by IkarusJohn
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