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One lens for M9 travel to Italy - which one?


acavill

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From experience if you are going to go with a two lens setup, 35 & 50 FL's are tad too close together. 35 + 70, or 35 + 90 would IMO work better.

 

But 35/1.4 is a very versatile lens for a one lens kit.

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acavill, welcome to the forum! Unfortunately you do not give us a clue about your travel interests. Each one of us is different. On full-frame the 50 would be my choice for more interesting intimate shots of Roman people and architectural details. The wider lens always includes too much. The 50 makes you think and act more selectively.

 

The grand wider scenes have been done to death. Your pictures can be unique with a 50mm.

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If you really have to ask the question, I wonder if you will ever make sense of the replies here anyway.

 

Your photography is simply the way you dream. Not anyone else's.

 

If you have the tools to make the dream, use them.

 

My opinion, FWIW: One lens in either of those destinations will be pure frustration!

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I often carry only my M9 with a single lens, but that is not the same as traveling with more than one. A 35 Summilux in the hotel room safe is easily retrieved, while the same lens 8000 miles away, at home on a shelf, is not.

 

Maybe it's 8000 miles for you, but perhaps it's only 7000 miles for the OP. I agree with your premise. Why not cut down on clothing so you can take more Leica gear. I traveled Europe for 3 months last year with one carry-on and another back pack crammed with Leica gear. I used every lens-135/3+, 90/2, 50/1.0, 35/1.4, 21/1.4,18/3+. In the end I could have taken a WATE and MATE plus a 90, but (it's just me) I prefer fixed focal length lenses even though Leica Tri-Elmars are better than most realize.

 

To go a step further, I like to save weight too, but not at the expense of missing that 90mm shot that I often want and find I use my 90mm at least 25% of the time (any where in the world) and often it's my 90 shots that make my final cut so that more than 25% of my total shots in the end are taken with the 90. Many times, less is more.

 

As far as wide angles, I too find that the narrow passages and streets in Europe afford me the opportunity to use wider lenses where, more is more.

 

OK, OP let's hear from you.

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If, your style is to shoot a little further back or isolate a subject from further back then, the 50 is nice. If, your style is to shoot closer and isolate the subject from the background and show the space around the subject then, I'd take the 35. The 35 works well for architecture and landscape as well and there is LOT of that in that country. Which is why I like the 28 and the WATE.

 

One lens choice would easily be the 35 if, those were my two lenses (50 and 35).

 

5 weeks all over Italy and took 95% of shots with the 35mm. Some with the WATE(love that lens) and a few with the 50mm and a few with the 28 cron (love that lens).

 

I have about 10% of them up on my Flickr site... I need to work on that.

 

Rick.

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Hi everybody,

 

I just come back from Rome and I have used a Tri Elmar 28/35/50 with my M9-P, a perfect choice.

The only problem, F4 it's very limited for a minimal aperture.

 

I'm going to travel in the States next week and I'll take a Summilux 35 and an Elmarit 21, a different choice for a different use ( landscapes ).

 

Have a nice travel

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Well, as someone who has traveled to Rome and Florence on multiple occasions, and as someone who owns the same lenses as the OP (current versions of the 35 and 50 Summlux), I disagree. I have yet to find one lens that works in all situations.

 

 

 

I sometimes compare questions like the above with very expensive bikes I see. People buy bikes which are sometimes two kilograms lighter than the cheaper ones and then take two liters of water with them???? Why do they do that.

 

The two lenses you have are so small, they fit into a bottle of 0,5 liter water and weigh about the same.

 

But if you want to sell one of them just to keep one lens. I would advice to keep the 50mm. sell the 35 and buy a 21mm.;)

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