My last travel was in the Seychelles, really remote from anywhere, hot and humid but a lovely location. Walking some distance with a camera + 3 lenses + a few light accessories seemed somehow tough, as well as dangerous for the equipment when switching lenses with perspiration soaked hands. Many nice locations are that hot.
My camera is a X-E2, maybe the lightest EVF camera together with the x-T10, at 350gm. The lenses were the fujinon 18f2, 35f2 and 60f2.4, all around 200gm. The total weight of the camera + lens was a mere 1Kg. Quite light as compared to DSLR. Nevertheless, still to heavy for me and I do want to limit lens switching.
Then I re-read some reviews on Fuji lenses I own, and especially the 16-50 f3.5-5.6. Despite beeing a basic kit lens, its optical quality is consistenly reported almost as good as the 18-55, while beeing wider, much cheaper, much lighter at 220gm and much less bulky. At 16mm, it looks really good even wide open, OK at 35mm and good on the long end. The only real concern would be its build quality: all plastic, including the mount. As it is very cheap, this is less a problem than with a better build, but heavier and more bulky x lens.
Thus my next long travel kit will be the x-E2 + 35 f2 + 16-50 zoom, all in a think tank mirrorless mover 20 (300gm) I ave just ordered on Amazon. I own the mirrorless mover 30, but it is too large for this small set.
The 35 f2 will not be a spare lens. I like it much more than the 35 1.4 I owned before and IQ-wise, to my opinion, it is easily as good.
I will use it as my primary lens for about anything. The zoom will be wellcome when wider or larger angle of view would be required, but
I will switch lenses only in safe conditions.
Currently, this represents the best compromise for me, with a slight trade-off on IQ, but a sound level of versatility and the lightest travel kit I can think off to get the X-trans picture quality and a viewfinder camera. The range-finder type X-E2 can be swapped with the DSLR-shaped X-T10 for those who prefer that camera type. With the last firmware update, both cameras have almost identical features.
I join a image shot with the 16-50 zoom
