Sistine Chapel to Tuscany, what would be your 2 lens line up?

[Eric]

My current travel setup is the XT1 with 18-135, 14, 35, and I just picked up the 27. On my last trip (Belgium & Netherlands) I mostly used the 18-135 and the 35 was my go to in museums and at night as well as the occasional portrait. I make a point of using the 14 a few times when I travel..great lens but I'm glad it's small as I couldn't justify lugging something larger around all day.

 

I'm looking forward to using the 27 on my next trip as my go to for street photos as I've found the 18-135 is just too big and the 35 (for me) a touch too tight for those situations.

 

Good luck with your choices and enjoy the trip! You're going to love Italy. The people, the sights, the landscape, the art, the food..all fantastic.

[Sluw]

My current travel setup is the XT1 with 18-135, 14, 35, and I just picked up the 27. On my last trip (Belgium & Netherlands) I mostly used the 18-135 and the 35 was my go to in museums and at night as well as the occasional portrait. I make a point of using the 14 a few times when I travel..great lens but I'm glad it's small as I couldn't justify lugging something larger around all day.

 

I'm looking forward to using the 27 on my next trip as my go to for street photos as I've found the 18-135 is just too big and the 35 (for me) a touch too tight for those situations.

 

Good luck with your choices and enjoy the trip! You're going to love Italy. The people, the sights, the landscape, the art, the food..all fantastic.

 

Have fun with the 27, you can shoot almost anything with that lens, it's very often on my camera and definitely a great travel lens. Sometimes when walking through a city you just want to take no or a small camera with you. The thing with this lens is that you just get the same awesome results. 

 

As for the sistine chapel I'd take a wide lens like the 10-24 and a mid tele lens like the 56 for details. The chapel is quite big so not a lot in between those focal lengths than air (and of course tourists). I personally bought the Samyang 12mm which is also amazing and which I'd recommend when buying a lens instead of renting (portable, not too expensive, sharp, bright).

[Nero]

You guys talked me into the 10-24, just ordered it new from Cameraland on Ebay for $719. Renting one from lensrentalonline was going to be $186 for 21 days. If I decide I don't want to keep it I can probably resell it for less loss than that. If I don't keep it, I probably would replace it with the 16mm Fuji and 12mm Samyang. Using the zoom should give me a better idea of exactly what focus lengths I prefer in wide or ultrawide primes. They have 3 more at that price.

 

I had a similar strategy when I bought my 10-24mm. I ended up keeping it and it's one of my favorite lenses. The quality is just so good for a zoom that I can't justify selling it and picking up the lenses I would need to replace it in my camera bag, even if it is slower and not WR. Also, it is stabilized. 

 

That being said, I'd recommend spending some time zooming to a desired focal length and leaving it there like a prime for short periods. Intentionally spend some time getting to know the focal lengths you like in that range and use that to inform your final decision. That lens makes it so easy to fall into the trap of always shooting at 10mm or 24mm and forgetting everything in the middle. I'm guilty of this quite often when I have that lens on my X-T1. If you find that you love the focal lengths somewhere in the middle, then the 16mm could be better for you over the long term.

[Rod]

Sounds like great advice Nero. The widest lens I have owned previously was a 24mm on a 35mm film camera.  I received the lens yesterday and realized the lower end of the range is a whole new photographic world to explore. Going to be fun! My initial impressions of the size and weight is that it really isn't bad on the X-E2.

[anedar]

You need three lenses: 10-24, 18-55 and 35 1.4. In tuscany you will miss a longer lens.

From Rome, Andrea

[Antoine B]

I was in Tuscany + Rome last summer. I had the 18-55, 55-200 and 35 (I never travel with more than 3 lenses)

 

Zooms are indeed very hand for travels. The trinity I took covered pretty much everything, but I missed the 14 for some dramatic extra wide landscape shots.

 

My ideal travel combo would be the 10-24, 18-135 and 23mm. But sadly I don't own the two zooms.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking!

I haven't had the chance yet to try all the Fuji lenses, but I think I'm going to buy the X-T1 with 18-135 and 10-24 to complement my X100s. 

Only my bank (and my wife) might disapprove...