What camera for general photography.

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Fordsabroad

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Gordon
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I am off to Vietnam for a 10 day fully escorted group holiday in March. It is not a photographic group but for me it will be the opportunity to get a varied set of pictures including landscape, street, inside temples and general photographic opportunities. I have Canon full frame and crop sensor cameras plus a range of lenses but do not think it wise to have these on display in the streets and do not really wish to carry around a full set of lenses all day.
My question is what would be a good all round camera/lens for this trip, I think IS will be important and while i would like to get good street photography my main interest is landscape. it may be that i need to take two cameras, one for landscapes and one for general photography.
If you were planning this trip what camera/lenses would you take? I will have a tripod with me.
 
Take whatever you’re comfortable with and don’t worry about having camera gear on show, Vietnam is very safe.

Me, I took a D610 a 28-300mm superzoom and a 50mm prime, didn’t need anything more.
 
I would take my Olympus EM5 ii and three or four lenses.They all fit in a small bag and weigh about the same as a FF DSLR + 1 lens. The body with pancake lens is great for walk-about and fits in a jacket pocket
 
I would bring my current travel setup:
  • 2 * Olympus E-M10II bodies
  • Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 9‑18mm 1:4.0‑5.6 (52mm filter)
  • Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS (52mm filter)
  • Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-150mm f/4.0-5.6 OIS (52mm filter)
  • 52mm circular polariser
  • Olympus 17 f/1.8
  • Olympus 45 f/1.8
All of the above bodies and lenses are incredibly compact and lightweight. I usually walk around with the 9-18 and the 45-150 mounted when I'm outdoors and swap to primes when I'm indoors.

However Olympus have now come out with the (pricey) 12-100 f/4 PRO lens which could be a viable high-quality all-in-one option when paired with an E-M1 MkI or II. It would probably be a bit unbalanced on an E-M10II.
 
With the humidity and weather I'd take something with good weather sealing.
 
I made the mistake more than once of bringing all my gear on holiday with me. I had that "what if I see this?" and "But ... but I need!" panic when packing. In the end I almost always end up only using 2 lenses. And if I look through my ol' holiday snaps it was 35mm and 85mm primes I used 99% of the time with one body. Keep it light and simple, you don't want to be that guy, the one who holds everyone up because you're faffing about changing lenses all the time
 
I also found Vietnam to be surprisingly safe. We were walking around with our cameras at night in little towns.

Bringing a light and relatively small kit is your best bet. Carrying heavy gear will actually get in the way of creating photographs.
 
I never once felt in danger of being mugged in Vietnam and had a DSLR over my shoulder the whole time we were there and that wasn't on an escorted tour.

I'd take your best crop sensor body, a 15-85mm as walk about, a fast prime like the 23mm f2.8 pancake and possibly a short light weight telephoto like the tamron 70-300mm.

This will cover almost any photography opportunity and won't break your back. The last thing I'd be doing is investing in another system just for holiday stick with what you know.
 
I took a Sony RX100 (which did, very well) but I wish I took my Canon 6d and my 35/50/85 combo or just my 24-105... As above, I found Vietnam very safe.
 
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