What's Your Ultimate Travel Kit? (M/Q/SL/S/film/...)

[T25UFO]

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SL2 with SL 75mm plus Q2M.  Might also pack newly acquired 50mm f1.2 Noctilux with ML adaptor.  Still getting to know this lens.  Yellow and orange filters for the Q2M.

Lighter alternative: M10 Mono with M 50mm APO plus Q2.

Even lighter option: Q2 plus Q2M and the filters.

Bag: Fogg Bumble Bee . . . it's 25 years old, a bit scruffy, but I love it!

Edited July 12, 2021 by T25UFO

[SiggiGun]

2 options: 

M10

+

21SEM + Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50mm + (Macro-Elmar-M 90mm) 

Or 

28Cron + Apo50m

If the Apo35M will be available, I guess I will take only this lens, if no 21mm is needed 

[strohscw]

B&W:

M10M + SEM21 + SLX28 + APO50 + Macro90
+ 2 Spare Batteries
+ Filters: Yellow, Green, Orange and Grey
Crumpler Bag, Cleaning Tools
Gitzo 1540 Tripod

[pmendelson]

Light gear for urban and local use: M10R, 21mm SEM, 28mm Lux, 50 Lux ASPH (would eventually like a WATE or perhaps a prime in the 10-15mm range).  Carried in the Billingham Hadley Pro Small.

More serious photo-based trip: SL2, 16-35mm, 28mm SL, 50mm SL Lux, 90-280mm in a Peak Design 20L or 30L backpack (maybe I'd through in my 28mm Lux as well for a smaller, low-light option).

[setuporg]

7 hours ago, jankap said:

Your travel kit could be one single Lytro Illum? Do I remember well?

Great recall!  I need to charge the battery and give it a whirl.  By the way, the creator of Lytro, Ren Ng, is now a professor at Berkeley, working on computer vision and his students go to places like Adobe, adding new intelligence to Lightroom.

[setuporg]

41 minutes ago, pmendelson said:

More serious photo-based trip: SL2, 16-35mm, 28mm SL, 50mm SL Lux, 90-280mm in a Peak Design 20L or 30L backpack (maybe I'd through in my 28mm Lux as well for a smaller, low-light option).

I am always frustrated by the heft of all the SL gear.  I have the 16-35 as well as both the 35 and 50 crons, but feel like I can take only one of them if also taking a Sigma zoom, so the 16-35 often is left behind, although it's a great landscape lens.  Sigma 24/3.5 is so much lighter it feels better to take that and say Sigma 85.  When shooting locally and only SL, all of these could fit in a heavy bag...

[Alistairm]

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For me, it’s always a huge (and enjoyable) conundrum. 

I used to take an M and the XCD, but have found the focal range of my XCD lenses limiting at times, with a big bag full of glass that seems to overlap, yet somehow not work without carrying at least all of the 21, 30, 45 and 90. I thought the zoom would solve all that, but in reality find it replaces the 45 but is not quite wide enough or long enough to be truly versatile. And it’s enormous. 

These days, for a trip that isn’t wildlife focussed I’ll normally pack the SL2, 16-35 and 24-90 and M10R, 24 Lux (incredibly useful having a fast 24mm for inside on both M and SL) two of the 35/50/75 APO crons and 135 Telyt. 
 

I’ll usually lug the SL around for sightseeing and carry the M at night, or where a more discreet setup is preferred. 
 

If going lighter, just the SL2, 16-35, 24-90, 24 M Lux and 135 M Telyt make a good kit. Although I’ll usually slip the 35 M APO in too, for a small, light single lens walk around setup. 
 

The Telyt is a gem for travel, being so small and light for a 135. Indeed, it’s really hard to beat the M lenses when it comes to travel. And outstanding M compatibility is one reason why the SL system is so great. M glass just makes it so simple to “pack out” a kit without adding much bulk. To be honest, since IBIS on the SL2 I could probably be happy on most trips with just the SL2, 24-90, a fast 35mm M lens and the 135 Telyt. Don’t tell my family that though! 

[sarkleshark]

Hi, great question.  I am curious if anyone has any experience using current equipment vs an xpan.  I had an xpan but sold it as I just could not travel with it--so much fun but too limiting in speed and extra weight.  I am curious as to anyone's impression as to xpan image quality vs a cropped panaramoic image from a Q2 (28mm or some say is really 24mm focal range  near the 25mm field of view of an xpan 45mm on a 65x24 film image) --cropped to 2.7:1 format would give about a 26megapixal image on a q2 or sl2 with a 24mm or 28mm lens.  On an M10-R would give a 22 mpx image.  I am not referring to the pano mode on the Q2 but instead just taking a normal image and cropping the file to pano dimensions.  The commercial scans I used to get from my xpan rolls were garbage so I found it hard to justify carring a additional camera system.  Would like to know anyone's thoughts.  

[Fgcm]

Depending on the kind of trip:

M10 Elmarit 28 asph + APO Summicron 50

or

SL2 + Elmarit 28 + SL 50 f2 + SL 90

[setuporg]

53 minutes ago, sarkleshark said:

  I am curious if anyone has any experience using current equipment vs an xpan.

I’ve had all the modern equipment when I learned about Xpan last year and now have two, Xpan II and Fujifilm TX-2, since they don’t make them anymore, with all 3 lenses.  My processor has a machine that automatically scans them into 165MB files, same cost as a regular 35mm roll.  The sharpness is of course less than the digital, as has been reported by XCD users with adaptors.  But it’s not the point.  Sure now you can stitch panoramas in a multitude of robust ways, starting with the iPhone excellent pano mode in 2.5x.  But it’s not the point.

For me the point is the incredibly satisfying elongated rangefinder view of field on the incredibly satisfying elongated body.  The panorama you see is what you get at once.  The film makes it looks entirely different from digital.  It’s soft.  It’s luminous.  The late founder of Luminous Landscape took the majority of his photos with the Xpan and 30mm.

The camera is very small and I now take it along on every long trip.  It’s the film camera of choice.  On a three week road trip I usually use about 1TB of digital media but only 20 rolls of Ektachrome for Xpan.  I also carry Fuji Venus 800 film for the low light as Xpan lenses are slow.  Every Xpan shot is special.  I eagerly await the scans a week or more later after the return to relive those moments.  It adds a completely new dimension to the views, vistas, and memories of those high times when you step on the edge and see the world unroll to the horizon.

Edited July 12, 2021 by setuporg

[fisheess]

Ideally I would take my

Leica M10-R + Summicron 35 IV + Summilux 50 ASPH

Hasselblad XPAN + 45

But often with two kids I don't have time to shoot the xpan. Last trip to the sea I took 

Leica M10R + Leica Sofort (kids love it) + GoPro Hero 7 (for on the beach, I am not taking my M10R to the beach!)

Edited July 12, 2021 by fisheess

[tom0511]

For me the SL2+24-105 Pana is a very flexible kit. I also have the 2490 (and like it), but for hiking etc I prefer a lighter lens. Add a fast prime(depending on subjects 35 or 50) and you have a very flexible kit. I am thinking about replacing the 24-105 with the new 24-70/2.8 Leica.

I also love the M10r+28+50 combo. Own much more M lenses but use them seldom.

And for bike trips there is the Canon gx1III.

In the end it really depends what you shoot and like. So others can not answer what works for you.

I had times when I felt its worth to carry the S system even on hikes. There are times where I feel I want the flexibility of the SL system. And then there are times when I love the simplicity of the M with 2 or max. 3 lenses.

For me at the moment it must not be too heavy, and I also rather concentrate on few lenses focal lengths. Ability to catch the moment over the last 3 percent of IQ. Even further: Ability to enjoy the moment over catching the moment in an image. But I still love it to take and have images of great moments. 

 

[sarkleshark]

Thanks SETUPORG, I agree the xpan viewfinders are a sight to behold and the camera is a lot of fun.  Can I ask who you use to process and scan the film?

thanks

[setuporg]

1 hour ago, sarkleshark said:

Thanks SETUPORG, I agree the xpan viewfinders are a sight to behold and the camera is a lot of fun.  Can I ask who you use to process and scan the film?

thanks

Of course, my local film lab is Berkeley Photolab, and their scanners recognize Xpan.  I scan to "pro tiff", the highest resolution, which lends 165MB scans for Xpan frames.  The idea was to select best shots and send them in for a manual drum scan, but that was unnecessary for screens.  I guess if I ever want to print some I could to that.

[AZach]

On 7/12/2021 at 8:42 AM, helged said:

SL+SL24-90, or SL2+SL24-90. 

+1, or SL-2S+SL24-90 

[setuporg]

23 hours ago, pmendelson said:

More serious photo-based trip: SL2, 16-35mm, 28mm SL, 50mm SL Lux, 90-280mm in a Peak Design 20L or 30L backpack (maybe I'd through in my 28mm Lux as well for a smaller, low-light option).

I am always frustrated by the heft of all the SL gear.  I have the 16-35 as well as both the 35 and 50 crons, but feel like I can take only one of them if also taking a Sigma zoom, so the 16-35 often is left behind, although it's a great landscape lens.  Sigma 24/3.5 is so much lighter it feels better to take that and say Sigma 85.  When shooting locally and only SL, all of these could fit in a heavy bag...

Interesting how many folks here take really only one body and one or two lenses on a trip.  Is that true for a two-three week or more travel as well?  

[ocean2059]

For longer than one week trip, I tried with my M9/M240 with a WATE and Summilux-M 35mm ASPH plus my S2/S007 with 35/70/120 Summarit-S. I use my M for wide angle and evening low light and S for daylight and everything else. For shortly vacations trips, I also used a SL with 24-90 zoom plus a M with Summilux-M 35 ASPH. And for city travel, I use M system only with Summaron-M 28mm, Summilux-M 35mm ASPH, and APO-Summicron 75 in a small shoulder beg. 

[setuporg]

55 minutes ago, ocean2059 said:

For longer than one week trip, I tried with my M9/M240 with a WATE and Summilux-M 35mm ASPH plus my S2/S007 with 35/70/120 Summarit-S. I use my M for wide angle and evening low light and S for daylight and everything else. For shortly vacations trips, I also used a SL with 24-90 zoom plus a M with Summilux-M 35 ASPH. And for city travel, I use M system only with Summaron-M 28mm, Summilux-M 35mm ASPH, and APO-Summicron 75 in a small shoulder beg. 

Very similar to my setups.  I also tried Q2 for kids-only trip but it's too short for videos of kids playing afar or swimming in the ocean...  

What do you feel about the S gear taking a huge bulk?  I found that having a satellite bag fitting an M or one extra S lens with the S on the neck is a reasonable augmentation when you can leave the big bag behind.

I also wonder what do people do with the large bags.  Hadley Pro or large FOGG fits all the gear but is cutting into the shoulder and becomes unwieldy for walking.  I got the large Rotation backpack for S, was an early adopter of the very first Rotation model, now they made it perfect.  But lifting and wearing and belting it is much more hassle when getting out of a car and walking a bit and taking a few shots.  So the backpack remains a kind of a dream of a hike bag which is not really happening under normal roadtrip scenarios...

[setuporg]

21 hours ago, tom0511 said:

Ability to enjoy the moment over catching the moment in an image. But I still love it to take and have images of great moments. 

100%

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica L-Mount

[setuporg]

On 7/12/2021 at 11:03 AM, Alistairm said:

The Telyt is a gem for travel

Absolutely.  I took mine on a trip to Russia a few years ago, and when crossing Lake Baikal, it was instrumental with the Visoflex to shoot the remote shores.