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Spain in September. My turn to ask advice on travel kit.


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Hello, everyone is asking about lens options for travel, so, it's my turn now.

 

I'm going to Spain in September.  I'll be travelling to Barcelona, and driving from there to Pamplona, Bilbao, Burgos, Zaragoza, Valencia and places in between.

 

So, here is my current idea.

 

X-E2, Samyang 12mm, XF 35mm, XF 18-55mm and the XC 50-230.

 

Now, I've also been thinking of a reduce option.  I'm taking the 18-55 in order not to change so much between lens.  Now, when I walk around my city, sometimes I only take the XF 35mm.  So, maybe the 35mm is enough for most of the time when walking about.  So, I'd leave the 18-55mm at home and take:

 

Samyang 12mm, XF 35mm nd the XC 50-230. (maybe fit in the 27mm..it's so small, but, let's not count on it)

 

So, with the first configuration I'd think I would leave the 18-55 most of the time in the camera.  So the wife does not complain so much.  And use the 35 indoors or at night.  Keep the 12mm there for the churches and larger monuments I'd want to capture, and use the 50-230 eventually.

 

Is the 50-230 essencial?  Maybe not?

 

On the second configuration..I'd walk around with the 35mm on the camera.  Zoom with my feet.  Put the 12mm on it when shooting wider and the 50-230 if I need that range.

 

I also own the 60mm.  So, maybe I could also have a third option of the 12, 35 and the 60mm and take only primes.

 

Please give me some help!  This decision will also influence the need of getting another camera bag or not.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

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12mm for certain, Spain has too many places where going wide is much wanted.

 

I would take the 35mm only if you plan visiting places with low light or during late night time, considering it's summer, the sky would stay relatively well light up to around 9PM, thus the 18-55 might be more versatile here.

 

As for the last one, it's fully optional, but I personnally hate not having enough reach, so I would pack for the 50-230, not in the everyday bag but at least in the suitcase so you can grab it when you feel like you would need it.

 

On a regular days, the 12mm and the 18-55 would be versatile enough for most cities, I would use the 50-230 for places like inside buildings, chapels and other places you want to take specific things out and swap it out with the 18-55 on the carry on bag.

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I'd say it all depends if you mind changing lenses a lot or not. Do you have any past experiences with that ?

 

I know that I hate having to do it because it takes time, the moment might go away, the people I'm making portraits of get bored, my hands are not always clean/free to manipulate glass, dust can go on the sensor, etc.

 

I went to Iceland with just 2 lenses for my X-T1, an ultrawide and a zoom and even then it bugged me having to switch. I was all too happy to have my X100 with me as well for seamless focal length juggling.

 

If you go with a single camera and all 4 lenses, you're going to have to segment your shooting

  • 12mm for architecture and landscape
  • 35mm for portrait and very low light
  • 18-55 for street
  • 50-230 for architectural details, widlife (if any) and when you can't get closer on foot

If you're like me and don't like changing lenses often, this may have an impact on your agenda where you'll want to spend a good amount of time shooting such type of subject in such place with such lens before switching to the next one. It's fine if you're travelling alone but any family/friends will soon hate you.

 

Overall, just the 18-55mm or just the 35mm would be my choice, but 1/ I'm a bit extreme, 2/ I would take a second camera and 3/ and I would mostly shoot street / "postcard" portraits in the locations you mentioned ;)

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You need to keep yours things well controlled and secured on busy Barcelona's streets, so lens swapping may be a bit problematic sometimes. Then versatile 18-55 will be good option for most of time. With 12 and 50-230 in the bag when you are really need it. Probably 12mm will be more frequently used than long lens. I had big problems when visited Sagrada Familia and had only 24mm on wide end.

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You know I've tried to not carry my 18-55 and I swear it's my most used lens.  I also have the Ziess 12, 55-200, and the 35.

I won't leave home without the 35 bt here are my stats just based on the 3,817 images I've shot on this 7 day stock trip:

 

Zeiss 12mm:  571 images

18-55:  769 Images

35mm 1.4:  97 images

55-200:  2380 images (but this is weighed heavily because I use it to shoot in high-speed mode)

 

So if I were traveling anywhere, the 18-55, the 55-200, and my 35 are in my bag.  I could leave the Zeiss 12 at home and not really miss it.

 

 

 

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I'd say it all depends if you mind changing lenses a lot or not. Do you have any past experiences with that ?

 

 

If you go with a single camera and all 4 lenses, you're going to have to segment your shooting

  • 12mm for architecture and landscape
  • 35mm for portrait and very low light
  • 18-55 for street
  • 50-230 for architectural details, widlife (if any) and when you can't get closer on foot

 

Thank you all for the wonderful replies.  Sorry it took me a while to respond. I was quite busy these last couple of days.

 

I guess it will come down to changing lenses.  I really did not use much primes when I had my Canon camera.  Last time I went to Europe I took a wonderful point and shoot, so, changing lenses a lot during a trip is something I have not had much experience with.

 

Also, the wife will come along (10 year anniversary trip) so taking the time to switch the lenses or too much time composing...might get me into some trouble. :-)

 

I was thinking of breaking down the lens usage just as you described.

 

I feel that some people think the 35mm HAS to go, and some think it can be left behind.  It is such a great lens for portraits, and also street shooting.  Maybe I could exchange the 35mm for the 27mm.  Not so bright a lens, but small, will make everything fit in my current lens bag, it would take a bit more environmental portraits and be good for street also.  So, maybe that is also an option.  And maybe I could end up walking around with the 27mm only, and leave the 18-55 in the bag.  Sometimes I do that here where I live, so, I don't know.

 

 

I am goingo to Spain in september too, and will bring along my xpro1 with 14mm attached and my brand new xt10 with 18-55, I think it will be enough. Do not forget to leave a flickr page or something like as we would like to see your photographies of the trip (thank you)

 

I'll definetily do that.  I already have all my photos in flickr. So, you can follow me there, I'll follow back.  Please also share your photos.

 

My flickr link is below.

 

 

Zeiss 12mm:  571 images

18-55:  769 Images

35mm 1.4:  97 images

55-200:  2380 images (but this is weighed heavily because I use it to shoot in high-speed mode)

 

 

By this lens breakdown, maybe leaving the 35 and taking the 27mm would make more sense.

 

So, use the 12mm for the big churches, use the 18-55 or the 27 to walk around, the 50-230 for the long reaches.

 

I don't know if I want to leave the 12mm behind as I bought it specially for this trip.  :-)

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You know I've tried to not carry my 18-55 and I swear it's my most used lens. I also have the Ziess 12, 55-200, and the 35.

I won't leave home without the 35 bt here are my stats just based on the 3,817 images I've shot on this 7 day stock trip:

 

Zeiss 12mm: 571 images

18-55: 769 Images

35mm 1.4: 97 images

55-200: 2380 images (but this is weighed heavily because I use it to shoot in high-speed mode)

 

So if I were traveling anywhere, the 18-55, the 55-200, and my 35 are in my bag. I could leave the Zeiss 12 at home and not really miss it.

Hi, is it possible to break down the usage of the 18-55 by focal length?

 

I'm thinking now that maybe I could take the 35mm only for most of the shots, since it's more or less in the middle of the 18-55 range. the 12 for going wide, and with the 50-230 I would replace the long end of the 18-55 and have the longer reach.

 

This might not be the ideal choise because of the versatility of the 18-55 but, the 35 is a fantastic lens. Rendering that I could also throw in the 27.

So..12, 27, 35 with primes an the 50-230.

 

Down side there would be changing lenses.

 

I'm so confused!! Why did I buy do many lenses?? I asked a guy in Flickr, who went to similar places, what lenses he took. He said, the 18 and 27, because they were the only ones he had. So..having too many lenses can be confusing.

 

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Usually one takes primes for speed and/or low light and zooms for praticallity.

 

A setup that I like is the 18-135 coupled with the 10-24, toss in any of the F1.4, maybe the 35 for low light and that's more than enough for pretty much 90% of the time.

 

Well, unfortunatelly I do not own any of those lenses.  The 18-135 would come in handy at this moment, hehe.  But it's not on my wishlist.

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Well, unfortunatelly I do not own any of those lenses.  The 18-135 would come in handy at this moment, hehe.  But it's not on my wishlist.

 

Perfectly understandable, most ppl wouldn't go get the 18-135 unless they really want a minimum of lens swap, which was my case.

 

Anyway, your setup will be sufficient for your travel. You can't really go wrong with the 12, 27 and 35, all 3 lenses will fight into a small carry-on bag and maybe take the 12mm out when you use the 50-230. The 27mm is still considered as a wide lens, just not utrawide.

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  • 3 weeks later...

If I could only take one lens I would take the 35mm

 

My old travel kit when I had M4/3 was 14mm/25mm/45-200 which was okay but to be honest I rarely if ever used the 45-200 In fact about 80% of my shots were with the 25mm, that was partly because it was light years ahead of the other lens in IQ and partly because you really can live with just one focal length.

 

Now I take 10-24mm 18-135mm and 35mm

 

What I like about that combination is whicever lens is on the camera I can use it as a walkaround.

 

The 10-24 is great at 23mm which a lot of people use as there only focal length (X100 etc), the 18-135 is obviously the most versatile lens in the line up, or if I am feeling some prime action the 35mm can happily stay on my camera all day. I.e whatever is on my camera at any time will not limit me as a travel based lens, but at the same time I have a very wide overal focal range 10-135mm and I have low light options from teh conventional F1.4 of the 35mm to the 5 stops light advantage from the Stabilization of the 18-135. The only loss in that kit is the nice compression and portrait characteritics of the 55-230 but you can get that from the 60mm and its not really neccessary when travelling. you can get close with 18-135 at 90mm.

 

From your lens line up I would take

 

12mm

35mm

55-230

 

This will cover all your bases.

 

I would also seriously consider selling the 18-55 and 55-230 and replacing with the 18-135  then your travel kit could look like this.

 

12mm

35mm

18-135mm

 

and depending on the size of your bag you will be able to squeeze in the 27mm or even the 60mm

 

Personally I would go with 27mm as then if you want to go out with just your camera in a coat pocket and no bag for dinner etc then you have a very compact solution.

 

G

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If I could only take one lens I would take the 35mm

 

My old travel kit when I had M4/3 was 14mm/25mm/45-200 which was okay but to be honest I rarely if ever used the 45-200 In fact about 80% of my shots were with the 25mm, that was partly because it was light years ahead of the other lens in IQ and partly because you really can live with just one focal length.

 

Now I take 10-24mm 18-135mm and 35mm

 

What I like about that combination is whicever lens is on the camera I can use it as a walkaround.

 

The 10-24 is great at 23mm which a lot of people use as there only focal length (X100 etc), the 18-135 is obviously the most versatile lens in the line up, or if I am feeling some prime action the 35mm can happily stay on my camera all day. I.e whatever is on my camera at any time will not limit me as a travel based lens, but at the same time I have a very wide overal focal range 10-135mm and I have low light options from teh conventional F1.4 of the 35mm to the 5 stops light advantage from the Stabilization of the 18-135. The only loss in that kit is the nice compression and portrait characteritics of the 55-230 but you can get that from the 60mm and its not really neccessary when travelling. you can get close with 18-135 at 90mm.

 

From your lens line up I would take

 

12mm

35mm

55-230

 

This will cover all your bases.

 

I would also seriously consider selling the 18-55 and 55-230 and replacing with the 18-135 then your travel kit could look like this.

 

12mm

35mm

18-135mm

 

and depending on the size of your bag you will be able to squeeze in the 27mm or even the 60mm

Interesting. So you think I should leave the 18-55 at home? Won't it's versatility be missed? I do often go out only with the 35mm where I live, but I'm almost never shooting churches or large monuments. I'll travel with my wife so she might not be willing to wait around much for lens changing. I was in fact thinking of leaving the 50-230 behind and living with the fact that I would not shoot far away details.

 

So, 18-55, 35 and 12 would be my kit.

 

I'm just scared I might miss out on something. I never took a trip of this kind with my Fuji kit.

 

My bag is short on space at the moment. Leaving either the 18-55 or 50-230 behind would allow me to carry all in a small bag. So I'm seriously considering leaving one behind.

 

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Gordon's advise with this line up:

 

12mm
35mm
55-230

 

Does actually make some sense of you start zooming with your feet, but that would mean you would need to carry all 3 lenses with you at all time and be ready to swap them depending on the subject. Some composition would need some rethinking due to the prime limitations.

 

If you feel adventurous, take that line up, if you prefer more casual picture, take the 18-55 and leave the 55-230 at home and use the 12 mm and instead of capturing details, just capture the whole thing.

 

Quick note, I am posting this after a long day at work, so at this moment, this post make sense to me.

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Gordon's advise with this line up:

 

12mm

35mm

55-230

 

Does actually make some sense of you start zooming with your feet, but that would mean you would need to carry all 3 lenses with you at all time and be ready to swap them depending on the subject. Some composition would need some rethinking due to the prime limitations.

 

If you feel adventurous, take that line up, if you prefer more casual picture, take the 18-55 and leave the 55-230 at home and use the 12 mm and instead of capturing details, just capture the whole thing.

 

Quick note, I am posting this after a long day at work, so at this moment, this post make sense to me.

Haha, thanks Darknj, it made sense to me too

 

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I would suggest to take the 12, 18-55 and 35 with you. Maybe the tiny 27mm if you want to have a small walkaround package for crowded citys.

I also own the 50-230 - but it's the least used of my lenses.

We did a 3 week US west-coast roundtrip last year, and I only used the 50-230 for a few shots.

But that may be a personal preference.

 

The 18-55 is the lens I use most of the time, because it's versatile and has a great IQ.

I use my 14mm and the 35mm for special scenes or in low light conditions.

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I would suggest to take the 12, 18-55 and 35 with you. Maybe the tiny 27mm if you want to have a small walkaround package for crowded citys.

I also own the 50-230 - but it's the least used of my lenses.

We did a 3 week US west-coast roundtrip last year, and I only used the 50-230 for a few shots.

But that may be a personal preference.

 

The 18-55 is the lens I use most of the time, because it's versatile and has a great IQ.

I use my 14mm and the 35mm for special scenes or in low light conditions.

Thank you!

 

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If I could only take one lens I would take the 35mm

 

My old travel kit when I had M4/3 was 14mm/25mm/45-200 which was okay but to be honest I rarely if ever used the 45-200 In fact about 80% of my shots were with the 25mm, that was partly because it was light years ahead of the other lens in IQ and partly because you really can live with just one focal length.

 

Now I take 10-24mm 18-135mm and 35mm

 

What I like about that combination is whicever lens is on the camera I can use it as a walkaround.

 

The 10-24 is great at 23mm which a lot of people use as there only focal length (X100 etc), the 18-135 is obviously the most versatile lens in the line up, or if I am feeling some prime action the 35mm can happily stay on my camera all day. I.e whatever is on my camera at any time will not limit me as a travel based lens, but at the same time I have a very wide overal focal range 10-135mm and I have low light options from teh conventional F1.4 of the 35mm to the 5 stops light advantage from the Stabilization of the 18-135. The only loss in that kit is the nice compression and portrait characteritics of the 55-230 but you can get that from the 60mm and its not really neccessary when travelling. you can get close with 18-135 at 90mm.

 

From your lens line up I would take

 

12mm

35mm

55-230

 

This will cover all your bases.

 

I would also seriously consider selling the 18-55 and 55-230 and replacing with the 18-135  then your travel kit could look like this.

 

12mm

35mm

18-135mm

 

and depending on the size of your bag you will be able to squeeze in the 27mm or even the 60mm

 

Personally I would go with 27mm as then if you want to go out with just your camera in a coat pocket and no bag for dinner etc then you have a very compact solution.

 

G

Darknj and gordonrussell76:

 

I am also interested in the 12-24, 18-135 and a 1.4 lens combo. The question I have is regarding the ability of the 35mm 1.4 to be useful inside a room. Would the 23 mm be better able to capture church interiors, for example? I am considering a 2 lens system for travel, with the 18-135 mm for daytime and the 23 or 35 mm for evenings/low light/interiors. Thoughts?

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Darknj and gordonrussell76:

 

I am also interested in the 12-24, 18-135 and a 1.4 lens combo. The question I have is regarding the ability of the 35mm 1.4 to be useful inside a room. Would the 23 mm be better able to capture church interiors, for example? I am considering a 2 lens system for travel, with the 18-135 mm for daytime and the 23 or 35 mm for evenings/low light/interiors. Thoughts?

I would rather judge on your personal preferences for either the 23 or 35.

 

The 18-135 is really nice as it can do a bit of everything, for interiors, if your subject is static you can easily use the 5 stops OIS and just shoot at lower speed like half a second @18mm.

 

As for the choice between the 23 and 35. Well I am fully biased toward the 35. If I need to shoot something wide with it, I would just make multiple shots and make it panoramic. It is like the brenizer method, just not as strict.

 

Worst case scenario I still have my android phone and I could shoot a photosphere with it.

 

So I usually find way to work around my issues than fix it with a new lens.

Also, since I never used the 23mm I really can not say much about it.

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