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Traveling with a Leica


Adam Marelli

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Hey Michael,

 

Your clarity is refreshing and I was delighted to read such a thoughtful response.

 

Most of the time, it was easy to get into position with the 90mm. If anything, I was tempted to take a step back to include more background. The 75mm, which will probably be my next review, would allow me to be close to the subject and include a bit more in the frame. I am excited to give it a try.

 

It will be interesting to see if the 75mm feels too close to my 50mm or if it will be just right. The 35mm 75mm combo might be a good alternative to the 28mm and 50mm combo.

 

Here is a portrait I took with the 50mm. It is a fishmonger at the Mercato in Venice.

 

Enjoy-Adam

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Hey Holmes,

 

Thanks for including the specs on your kits. I too love the .58 viewer, especially for shooting the 28mm and 50mm. I like the extra breathing room.

 

Interesting to hear about your R cameras. I recently stumbled upon an archive of Kodachrome slides from the 60s, 70's, and 80's all shot with R gear. They are brilliant. I am interviewing his wife about the trips and the photographs over the next year. Its a long term side project for the time being, until I can hire an assistant to work on it.

 

Best-Adam

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Oh and I forgot, I saw Aida in Verona a few years back. Last year my girlfriend and I were back there after a wine tasting at Corte Sant'Alda. If you are back in the area and like Valpollicella and Amarone, go see Marinella. Its a wonderful time. She will let you take pictures all over the vineyard if you like.

 

Best-Adam

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Oh and I forgot, I saw Aida in Verona a few years back.

 

Good, wasn't it? As long as you had two cushions per cheek! :cool:

 

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Regards,

 

Bill

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On my last trip to Switzerland and Italy, I took the following:

 

5d plus 24-105, 450d as backup plus 70-300, 35mm f2 canon, G10 and mamiya zd with 50mm shift lens, manfrotto panoramic head(the big one) and a tripod plus small laptop with two hard drives, And this was on my holiday! All the camera stuff fitted in a billingham rucksack. I took the tripod apart and put it in my suit case. Carried the laptop in a separate bag with me. My rucksack weighed more than 12kg's!!!

 

What I used most was the 5d with 24-105. 70-300 was a waste of time. Never used the g10 and panoramic head very little. Wished I had used the zd with shift lens more.

 

What will I take next time?

 

X1, 5d and zd with shift lens and tripod. Wish I could afford a 24 T/S lens then I can travel lighter. In any case I find it works better to use only one camera at a time or per day, sort of focuses ones vision more...

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Its the number one/two consideration when hauling kit around mountains and wilderness until you want wildlife shots - for that I have the opposite end of the spectrum a 1D4 and 600mm. It's no use owning it unless you are willing to take it there.

 

T

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No question travel with Leica M9 beats a DSLR. One thing that almost never fails to happen: that most everyone thinks I'm carrying around some antiquated film camera. Most have not seen anything like it in years, accustomed as they have become to P&S and big DSLR's. I really enjoy the notion of carrying around maybe the best glass and camera on the market today and have people think I'm just shooting film with an antique!

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We (all of us) need to keep focused on what each of us means by 'travel photography.' It is different for some. Commonly, it would appear that it is assumed travel involves flying in to a hotel or similar somewhere and subsequently scoping the locale and the locals with our compact and lightweight Leicas. This is probably true in the main, but it does ignore mountaineers, safari adventurers and other off centre pundits. For them, long dslr's have a very real place that cannot be matched easily by Leicas.

 

This was illustrated to me earlier this year when I ventured to Antarctica with only Leicas. When shooting from the deck of the ship (eg. whales, penguins, seals etc) my Leicas were disadvantaged. The longest lens I had was 135mm. However, once ashore, or cruising in a Zodiac, my Leicas had an enormous edge over the relatively cumbersome DSLR's. I was freer to climb mountains, traverse awkward escarpments, encumbered only with a simple billingham bag. Same kit I used in Venice. The DSLR brigade simply could not cover the territory that I was able to. Back on board, people photography was almost exclusively my domain with the Leicas.

 

Careful assessment of one's travel destination and your intention should always dictate which tools you take, assuming you actually have a choice of course.

Edited by erl
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Also selling all my canon Gear due to size matter..and wow factor.. even in my country, in the most pitoresc "barrios" everyone seems unconfortable with a griped 5D Mark II and a 135L attached....or even a 35L..

 

Leica gear is very stealth..:cool:

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  • 7 years later...

Adam:

 

IMHO, I definitely feel a (Leica) rangefinder is the right camera for travelling, and for my own part, will never go back to a reflex system. I want a "feel" to the camera, be it the color saturation, bokeh, clarity or whatever, I guess a unique point of view.

 

I disagree with the post about the single zoom Canon scenario. I started with a 24 to 105 L f4 on a 5d. I found the optics good, not great, and there was no getting around the minimum f4 aperature. In the end, my 24 to 105 gave excellent, but not unique optics, and you still end up carrying around other lenses as attested to by other folk's posts.

 

Richard

 

Richard,

On a 10 day cruise that started in Venice, Italy and terminated in Barcelona, Spain, I carried a back pack with a Canon 5K Mk3, Canon 24-105 and 75-300 L lenses and Zeiss 21. After carrying this in 100 degree weather in Italy, the had to find a lighter solution.

 

After doing my research, I purchased a Fuji X E2 with kit zoom. I liked it so much, I purchased the X-T1 and some more Fuji prime and zoom lenses. I then sold all of my Canon pro DSLR gear and put $25k into my bank account. Since then, I have upgraded to the X-T2 and X-H1 bodies. The IQ of Fuji glass is awesome.

 

In December, 2017, I satisfied a 45 year itch and purchased my first Leica, the M10. Since then, I purchased a few Leica primes and an 2nd M10 body, all in black. Leicas are heavier then the equivalent Fuji gear, but the shooting experience, simplicity and amazing image quality is worth the expanse and weight even though the gear is compact.

 

I will be going to New Zealand for 4 weeks later this year on vacation. I plan on only taking my Leicas and my Summilux 50, Summicron 35 and 75 and Super Elmar 18 lenses. It all fits in a Billingham Hadley Pro bag.

 

Since January, I have hardly used my Fuji gear and have sold a few of my rarely used Fuji lenses. I will keep the Fuji gear for zooms and long lenses, but the Leicas are my goto for everything else, especially travel photography.

 

Regards,

Bud James
 
Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/budjamesphoto.

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Edited by budjames
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  • 2 months later...

Before I used a Leica I used to travel with a Hasselblad, but my neck could not carry the weight all day. When I bought my first M6 (and now an M9), portability, size, and image quality were the most important features.

 

But I wonder, how many Leica users buy their equipment with travel in mind?

 

Thanks-Adam

 

Adam Marelli Photo

 

@Adam,

 

Same here.  The 500 series 'Blads and Zeiss T* lenses are wonderful image making tools, but are just too heavy for dragging around the countryside unless you take one body, one film back and an 80mm f/2.8 lens, which is the lightest of the 'Blad/Zeiss lenses.  A 3-4 lens kit with an extra film back is just hideously heavy.

 

 

I originally bought in to the M system because I enjoyed using rangefinder cameras; the thing with the M system is the image quality of the lenses and the lightness of the equipment makes it ideal for travel photography.

Edited by Herr Barnack
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  • 3 weeks later...

Travel with LEICA,

I wrote (in German, sorry!) a short blog about my considerations arout this subject. Here is the link. Sometimes I have an rational approach, means: what should be the best combo regarding the travel target, sometimes I consider just "technical" aspects like lens type etc

https://wordpress.com/post/siggigun.wordpress.com/2465

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

I now travel ith the Leica M10 (15, 28, 50 and 90 mm lenses) and Sony A7R with 16-35 mm, 55 and 55-210 zooms...

 an old post on the evolution of my travel cameras before I got the M10

https://tonyniev.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/the-evolution-of-my-travel-camera/

 

I like the M10 just hanging on my neck with the A7R hanging on a black rapid sling across the body:  My travels with the M10 and A7R

This year has been travel hectic:

 

Jan- Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Belgium, Ireland

March- Tokyo for the Cherry Blossoms

April- Guam, Manila, Ilokos

May- Manila, Lucban Quezon, Bataan

Jun- Manila up to June 15 back to Las Vegas

July- San Francisco, Yosemite, Mono Lake

August- San Francisco, Miami, Cuba- Havana, Bahamas- Stirrup Cay

Sept- Bahamas-The Atlantis Hotel,Spain- Barcelona, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Santiago Compostela, Lourdes, France, I drove from Barcelona to northern Spain and Lourdes.

Oct- France- Paris, Chamonix, Mount Blanc and Lyon for Leica One Challenge; Switzerland- Geneva; UK- London

Nov- Miami, Colombia- Cartagena,

Dec-  Panama- Panama Canal, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico- Acapulco, Cabo San Lucas, Los Angeles. leaving this week to Texas, back to Las Vegas on Saturday formorning Sunday flight to France- Paris for Christmas and New Year…back on January 4

 

I have most of the travel images on www.tonyniev.smugmug.com using Leica M10 and Sony A7R cameras.

 

Last year 2017 was a good travel year too:

 

April- Arizona- Grand Canyon and Route 66, California

 

August- Idaho- Rigby for the total solar eclipse

 

Oct to Rome for the Leica Challenge drove to Tuscany- Florence, Siena, Sam Giminiano, Umbria- Perugia, Todi, stayed at a castle inMontecastelo, Assisi to Rome, the Naples and Amalfi Coast

 

Nov- Rhodes, Crete, Malta, Greece- Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, Messina

 

 

Edited by tonyniev
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