15mm As A Travel Lens?

[ktmrider2]

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I am heading to Vietnam for a month and planning on traveling with an M4 with 35/90 which is my standard travel kit.  I am wondering if it is worth taking a 15 Nokton for use in Saigon and Hanoi.  I recently purchased the version 3 of the lens after giving the original to a young photographer several years ago.  I like traveling with a super light kit and if push came to shove I would leave the 90 at home.  And everything will be going in a carry on for thirty days in Vietnam and another twenty one days in Texas.

Opinions wanted

[Viv]

Too wide.

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[jankap]

Very useful. 

[jaeger]

a 24-70 zoom is being called standard zoom for reasons.  Get anything between these range will not go wrong.

Edited November 8, 2022 by jaeger

[wda]

Having managed without a superwide lens for many years, you should know how much you are likely to use it in a month away. It is a specialized lens, which needs much use to master it. I would not take it, based on your facts.

[pippy]

No.

P.

[Jeff S]

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If you need to ask, probably not; a very specific and intentional focal length.

Jeff

[earleygallery]

I wouldn't leave the 90 to take the 15, but given its relatively compact size why not just take it as well?

[g2van]

I'm reminded of that youtube episode series on Leicas and their use of the phrase, "it depends."

It depends on:

- what you are trying to achieve on this trip: is it to enjoy a vacation first, and to capture memories second?

- how you travel and shoot - seems like you like light - but light in tropical heat and humidity is usually very different from cool temperate climate

- how comfortable are you leaving kit in hotel/room where you travel?  If comfortable, then bringing 3 lenses on trip but just taking 2 out each time depending on that day is viable

- what is your main shooting style and how much have you used this 15mm focal length before?

 

Also, you are shooting film with an M4 so I assume heavy cropping is not a real option - that means you should be very comfortable with a 15mm field of view (as well as requiring a 15mm viewfinder)

 

So, "it depends"

Edited November 8, 2022 by g2van

[Huss]

I have the 15mm CV version 1 (LTM) and IMO it is too wide as to be part of a limited kit.  If I was really going to carry two lenses, then 35/90 or 28/90, or 28/50.  You'll find that you will only use one lens for the majority of your shots.

[rcusick]

I tried taking a 15mm on a trip to ziom and bryce canyon.  I found it very difficult to use and almost always preferred a pano.  

[ktmrider2]

I have traveled in the past with just one lens, a 50.  I am very tempted to just pack a 35 and leave everything else at home.  Then the question becomes, a small light 35f2.8 or a fast, heavy 35f1.2.  Or perhaps leave everything at home!

[erl]

These sort of threads are sooo frustrating.

Did Picasso ask Van Gogh which brush to use??

Lens choice is PERSONAL. Are you prepared to discover a new experience? Of course you are. That's why you are travelling. In your case a 15mm for tavel will also be a new experience. IMO, worthwhile. I bought a Voigtlander 15mm on the way to the airport on a recent trip. It turned out to be a most useful lens. 'Welded' to my Sony A7S whilst my M10 sported a plethora of Leica lenses. Unlike the OP I take a 'swag' of lenses, but my point is that I would have missed sooo many shots without such a wide lens. That is my style. You must define your own. I wish you luck and enjoy Vietnam. The 90mm will also do well there, especially  if you get out of the cities.

[Huss]

1 hour ago, ktmrider2 said:

I have traveled in the past with just one lens, a 50.  I am very tempted to just pack a 35 and leave everything else at home.  Then the question becomes, a small light 35f2.8 or a fast, heavy 35f1.2.  Or perhaps leave everything at home!

Taking just one lens is a great idea.  It’s weird how freeing it feels!  I recommend a small, light, but fast lens!  Yeah I’m gonna be that guy who recommends a lens that you don’t have…. I have the Zeiss Distagon 35 1.4, the Leica 35 1.4 FLE, Light Lens Lab 8Elements replica 35 f2.  But the one I use the most is the CV 35 1.4 v2.  Tiny, sharp and fast!  Would be the perfect travel lens.  The only flaw I see with it is at night at 1.4 it makes out of focus points of light all long/smeary, while the huge Zeiss does not do that nor the Leica.

As I basically never use it like that it does not matter to me.

Some pics I took w it on my M5

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[Fotoklaus]

15mm is too wide and the effect wears out too fast if used as the only lens. I like to use a 21 but also just for a roll or two on a day walking through the city.

My 15 is hardly used, anyway.

Options would be 21/50 or stay at 35/90. 15 is too wide.

Edited November 9, 2022 by Fotoklaus

[Ouroboros]

You can do a lot with a 15mm but the key is not to do the same thing with it all the time, which goes for any single lens choice.

Only one way to find out; take it and try it, but if it were me I’d also slip a 35mm summicron into my backpack and not tell anyone.

[rramesh]

With a 35/90 taking a 15 as well, is fine.

Any lens is a good lens. You just need to figure out how to use it to best effect.

 

Edited November 9, 2022 by rramesh

[RexGig0]

I know nothing of traveling in Vietnam, but here in Texas, a 15mm lens would be far too wide for most of my shooting, if people would be prominent subjects in the images. Texans tend to like plenty of personal space, even in the cities. It is not that a 15mm lens would not be nice to have, but I would almost never use a 15mm lens for general walking-about, in Texas and the USA’s South. I have used a 14-24mm f/2.8 SLR zoom lens, for urban night-time walks, but the wide end has mostly been useful for night-scapes, and for being able to shoot an occasional statue or monument at very close range. 21mm has been plenty wide enough, on Leica M cameras, though the Zeiss ZM and Voigtlander VM 15mm lens options have had my attention, for a while, as potential additions.

Edited to add: My most-favored lens is the Summilux-M 50mm ASPH, with which I started Leica M system shooting, but, my most-used M-mount lens, whether or not traveling, is a Zeiss Distagon 35mm f/1.4 ZM.

Edited November 9, 2022 by RexGig0

[Ouroboros]

Knowing the Texan appetite for scoffing cattle, I’d have thought. a 15mm would make a useful portrait lens! 😇😁

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[charlesphoto99]

15mm could be good in Hanoi, or other tight spaces with lots of people and activity (I've been five times, though not since 2005). But one needs to be careful with that lens, as the final images will look a lot wider than they do through the viewfinder. A 24/35/90 combo would be a lot more useful imo and has been for me. My current widest is the 18mm Elmar and though I sometimes take it on trips with me, it rarely gets used vs a 28 or 24.