the perfect travel kit

[algrove]

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This thread is now approaching the point where every possible combination of the ten focal lengths and the (current) twenty-one lenses in the M system have been declared 'perfect' by at least one contributor.

 

It is my contention that the information content of this thread has consequently been dropping all the time and is now approaching zero: if all alternatives are declared equally good, then we have not become any wiser in the process.

 

Somebody, in desperation, will soon apply Bayesian logic to the thread.

 

The old man from the Kodachrome Age

 

I forgot to add my perfect setup:

 

21 super angulon

280mm with Visoflex III

When Leica comes out with a 9000mm M lens I will get one of those too, but first I have to decide which 18 wheeler I will get to haul it.

Edited April 4, 2012 by algrove

[SeanJ]

My kit for work is now:

 

M9-p

21mm 2.8 Elmarit ASPH

35mm 1.4 Summilux ASPH

75mm 1.4 Summilux

 

D4

17-35 2.8

80-200 2.8

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[Fotograph]

My kit for work is now:

 

M9-p

21mm 2.8 Elmarit ASPH

35mm 1.4 Summilux ASPH

75mm 1.4 Summilux

 

D4

17-35 2.8

80-200 2.8

 

For what kind of work you need it and for what kind of pictures you need D4?

[graphlex]

For a short trip:

 

Leica CL

40mm Summicron

90mm Elmar-C

2.8cm W-Nikkor C with 28mm finder

 

Works for many situations and less than half the weight of my M6 plus 35/50/90 Summicrons. Tiny 1956 W-Nikkor as adjusted by DAG is amazingly sharp.

[Joachim123]

Like to travel light. Billingham Leica bag with M6 50mm,28mm,90mm Fuji Velvia 50 Kodak 100G now to be replaced by Fuji Velvia 100 or Provia 100. I put the film in my photographer's vest and I am ready to roll.

[robert blu]

A few hours walk, with no specific goal: leica x1

 

Daily use: Leica m7 with 35 and 50 mm lenses (cron). Sometimes 35 cron and 75 cv

 

Short journey (a few days): Leica m7 (35-50-75 lenses) and iso 100 film + x1 for interiors when higher iso are needed. And as back up.

 

Long journey (more than one week): as short journey + Nikon M2 (20mm and 50 mm1,4lenses). But in this case usually the m7 or the FM2 stay (depending on mood on what I plan to shoot) stays in the safe in the hotel room: I do not like to walk with too heavy gear (I know, I'm getting old...). Mac Book pro + external hard disk and usual parafernalia of cables, chargers ...

 

robert

[SeanJ]

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For what kind of work you need it and for what kind of pictures you need D4?

 

Reportage in challenging environments. The D4 is for video and fast moving situations. For most scenarios I use the M9 for stills. The setup is new though, up until recently I have been using film (black and white) with an M6 and an M7 and a DSLR for colour (only because I have to shoot some colour and sometimes the stories I am working on have news value so I have to file from the field) and video. I have yet to use the D4 in the field but have used the D2 and D3 over for many years. My ideal scenario would be to use 2 M9s with those three lenses but I have to shoot video as well. It was a tough call between the D4 and D800 but the lower resolution, tough build, low light capabilities, 11 fps as well as great video were deciding factors.

[FlashGordonPhotography]

Reportage in challenging environments. The D4 is for video and fast moving situations. For most scenarios I use the M9 for stills. The setup is new though, up until recently I have been using film (black and white) with an M6 and an M7 and a DSLR for colour (only because I have to shoot some colour and sometimes the stories I am working on have news value so I have to file from the field) and video. I have yet to use the D4 in the field but have used the D2 and D3 over for many years. My ideal scenario would be to use 2 M9s with those three lenses but I have to shoot video as well. It was a tough call between the D4 and D800 but the lower resolution, tough build, low light capabilities, 11 fps as well as great video were deciding factors.

 

Would a smaller mirrorless like the NEX7, OMD or XPro1 work for you as a video/AF camera? Easier to tote around and you can use your M lenses on them. I'm finding th IQ out of my NEX7 with M lenses to be very very good.

 

Gordon

[jlindstrom]

I don't know about OM-D, but as for nex-7 and x-pro1 the af won't be fast enough. It's been said the x-pro af is close to what x100 is, which is slow. As for nex, well nex-5 is ok if you conpare to p&s but any dslr will smoke it. Nex-7 has improved from nex-5 but not by that much..

 

Just yesterday was trying to take a pic f my daughter voming towards me with nex-5 and it was a totally lost cause.. mind you, she's 11 months old snd on all four still.

 

I certainly wish om-d will be better, as then I'd be interested in that one.. if not, I'll just propably get a used D60 + 18-200 vr II to use along my M9. And let wife keep the nex for walkaround camera + for video.

 

--Juha

[SeanJ]

The D4 certainly is a beast but it does have great video controls. Sound levels and earphone out are essential in my opinion and in the past have used a dedicated video camera partly for those reasons. Using my three leica lenses on two platforms would be difficult as I would need to keep swapping them and that is just not practical. This set up will work for me and the environments I work in. I don't tend to lug the 80-200 around with me much and usually have someone with me that can help with that and a tripod if I am doing a lot of filming. The other issue is the look of the D4 and for that reason perhaps I should have gone for the D800 - it was a tough decision! It looks like an expensive pro camera which is another reason why the M9 will get more use. In some scenarios I will still use one M9 and a small HD video camera attached to a small beachbox. It really depends on how sensitive the environment is.

[philipus]

That is interesting Philip. Destination?

 

It would be even more interesting to me if you gave approx. use of each lens. (Easier with metadata, but recourse to memory for film. Unless you kept notes of your trials) I guess the two Hektor lenses gave a rendering uniquely different to the more modern lenses.

 

Hi David

 

I'm very sorry it took a while to see your question - I'm having problems with email notifications on my forum account.

 

I went to Australia for three weeks which I thought was a good opportunity to try the lenses out in different environments, such as beach, hiking/rainforest, city, wedding/party, day and night etc. I learnt quite a lot about them actually. I didn't make any extensive notes but it's quite easy to tell from each photo which has been used.

 

Here's the approx. break-down:

 

50 Summilux Asph - 35%

35mm Voigtländer - 20%

90 Elmarit-M - 20%

2,8cm/6.3 Hektor - 15%

13,5cm/4.5 Hektor - 10%

50 Summitar - 0.0001 (I took one photo!)

 

In terms of unexpected results, I was impressed by the 2,8cm Hektor, as strange as it may seem. Sure the max aperture isn't great and it tends to flare in direct sunlight but most images turned out really well. The incredibly small size was really useful in every situation, from city to landscapes. I found myself reaching for that lens quite often, certainly more than I had expected and in rather unusual situations, including people shots.

 

Before the trip I had decided to sell the 35 CV eventually in order to buy a 35 Summicron, which I've read a lot about. However from using the 2,8cm much I've realised that I ought to give the 28mm focal length serious consideration. This was news to me actually because in my 20+ years with the EOS system I never owned a 28mm lens.

 

The 50 asph is by far my favourite lens, though. I absolutely love it. It's so satisfying to be able to take photos in almost any lighting situation, including pretty much directly towards a light source or the sun. And it did rather well at for instance landscapes which I hadn't expected because I haven't used 50mm much for that type of photography.

 

I did a little hobby project about surfers for which I used the 13,5cm Hektor and, though much less, the 90 Elmarit-M. The 90 has great image quality, naturally, but the 13,5 really did quite well plus obviated the need for any major cropping.

 

I did bring my Summitar as well, which also is a favourit walk about lens for me (I even bring it on my Leica II or the m6 when going for a jog, holding the camera in my hand). But strangely enough I almost didn't use it. Still, I really like the way it renders on film so it's a lens I will keep.

 

Anyway all the above notwithstanding my perfect travel kit is how I described it in the previous post. I'm actually on a trip at the moment and only brought my 50 asph and the 90.

 

Cheers

philip

[brill64]

my travel kit varies from time to time with my m9 but it always remains small and i'm getting better at it as time goes on. i really agree with bill on that. you need to have confidence and especially when you have several choices. the lenses packed is very individual and more than once i've caught myself out. by the time i've reached the airport, i've dashed back home to retrieve something and just made it back in time for check-in, once not. proper packing is also important.on a heavy take off, i've had a filter smashed and a lens jammed, probably from too much compression and that was with the camera bag in the overhead locker. if you pack too much gear, you have to carry it around all day and that becomes really heavy as the day wears on. definitely keep things simple because if you are more relaxed, you're definitely going to end up taking better pictures.

[Graf Lomo]

My perfect travelkit in this days is a M4-P with a Heliar 50/2 and a lot of film. No batterys, no charger. Just this simple kit in a Terraclime 100.

[Paul Verrips]

I'm packing for 4 days Paris with a photofriend and this is my kit for the trip:

M9

21/2.8 + VF

35/1.4

50/1.4

Polafilter

NDfiter

3 batteries

2 cards 16 Gig

 

And maybe a batterycharger.

[MarkP]

I'm packing for 4 days Paris with a photofriend and this is my kit for the trip:

M9

21/2.8 + VF

35/1.4

50/1.4

Polafilter

NDfiter

3 batteries

2 cards 16 Gig

 

And maybe a batterycharger.

 

21, 35, 50 is a nice combination.

I often use this or 21, 28, 50

[algrove]

I just took an out and about trip today with the 35/1.4, 50/1.0 and 75/1.4 and never found myself wanting/wishing I had taken a 21. But in large cities and especially at night I use the 21/1/4, 35/1.4 and often times the 50/1.0 for dimly lit interiors day and night.

[IkarusJohn]

Having just gone through an entire packet of Sensor Swabs trying to get my M9 clean, I've become wary of changing lenses in anything less than sterile conditions - okay, in my office as the air conditioning seems to keep dust down.

 

While I might head off to Europe with a 21-35-50-75 combination, I find I am either taking the 28-50 or 35-75 with me when I'm out and about. Rarely do I take more than one lens and a spare.

[Ruhayat]

I have finally settled on my perfect dream travel kit. For now.

 

For general shooting: M7 body + 28mm Elmarit on a wrist-strap, and 50mm Summilux in cargo pants pocket

For backup and video: GF1 + m4/3 20mm/1.7 and 45mm/1.8 in the cargo pants' other pocket

 

I have a chrome M6TTL at the moment, but in my dreams the M7 is black and already brassing.

Edited April 15, 2012 by Ruhayat

[Bud Spencer]

My general purpose travel kit:

 

M9

CV 15mm 1:4.5

CV 35mm 1:1.2 (II)

CV 75mm 1:1.8

all with 52mm filter thread, very nice & good quality optics as well.

 

My dedicated landscape kit:

 

M9

ZM 25mm 1:2.8

ZM 35mm 1:2.8

ZM 50mm 1:2

polarizer Kasemann + warm tone 81A

2 grad ND filters

lightweight Gitzo 1026 tripod + Bogen ball head

 

never mix them up.

 

Cheers,

 

Bud :-)

 

really appreciate this thread

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[jsjxyz]

Want to share some photos from my last trip to Tokyo, which I brought 35lux fle and 75 apo cron. More than 70% was taken with the 35 mm.

 

http://Http://jsjxyz.zenfolio.com