What lens would you take travelling?

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David Meardon

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Hi all first time for me,

So I bought a lumix gx1 this summer super cheap and I've loved taking photos with it, at the moment I have the original 14-42mm lens it came with but I'm looking to go travelling next year and was wandering what sort of lens I should take, I'm backpacking so would only want 2 at most preferably just one. I want it more for sightseeing rather than artsy photos so I guess that means I want a big depth of field? I do also want ones which are better in low light for trips into caves etc., I'm still very much an amateur. So I've looked around at some lenses which I'll link below which have good reviews and if you could tell me which ones are better for my purpose and why and put them in order of ones you'd take travelling with you. I'm also open to suggestions. I would also consider getting an slr with a lens but not sure about the extra weight.

http://www.digitalrev.com/product/pa...MTAwMjY2MA_A_A

http://www.digitalrev.com/product/pa...25mm/MTIxNDg_A

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-H-...0675178&sr=1-1

Which lenses do you guys take if your packing light?
 
Personally I'd take the 14-42mm and a 20mm f1.7, because that's what I own :D

In your place I'd take the 14-42mm and add either a 20mm f1.7 or 25mm f1.4 (I went for the Voigtlander 25mm f0.95 rather than the latter lens.)

Another option...

When travelling abroad in the past I've taken a good camera with wide aperture prime lens and my LX5. I used the LX5 for wide angle and zoom in good light and for taking to places I didn't want to take a larger camera and I used the larger camera + wide aperture prime for low light use and for when I wanted the best quality.
 
Thanks for the quick reply.

So you don't think I'll need the zoom of the 14-140mm lens if I don't have another camera?

I was only looking at the pancake lens to make it easier to carry round, so maybe I can find a small 20mm lens. Also as much as I'd love it I don't think I can justify the price of the Voigtlander 25mm.
 
Giving links and not typing out the lenses you're considering will severely limit the number of responses, most people won't follow links.. ;)

When I'm travelling light, the one lens that's first in the bag is a fast prime around the "normal" view, i.e. the equivalent field of view that a 50mm would have on a full-frame sensor (or slightly wider rather than longer) - on APS-C that's a 30/35mm, with the GX1 I guess that would be around 20/25mm? I could, and somertmes have, travelled with just body and that one fast lens and I've never felt that I missed a shot. But your style may vary.
 
My favorite is in the 24-120mm range, wide enough for street scenes yet good for middle distance shots as well
 
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Alastair said:
Giving links and not typing out the lenses you're considering will severely limit the number of responses, most people won't follow links.. ;)

When I'm travelling light, the one lens that's first in the bag is a fast prime around the "normal" view, i.e. the equivalent field of view that a 50mm would have on a full-frame sensor (or slightly wider rather than longer) - on APS-C that's a 30/35mm, with the GX1 I guess that would be around 20/25mm? I could, and somertmes have, travelled with just body and that one fast lens and I've never felt that I missed a shot. But your style may vary.
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Thanks for the advice, I was thinking of just getting a 25mm, but was a bit worried about needing a zoom if I'm not close to the action. Would you say that a 14mm to 140mm wouldn't have a wide enough aperture to be useful?

Thanks for you opinions guys, got much better response here than another photography forum.
 
I persoaaly would go for a zoom lens as I suggested , it means you don't have to carry several lenses ,get dust in lens change
my Nikon 24-120 mm lens has served me well on the River Nile and Egypt - In Brazil twice - in China and 3 trips to the USA and including a couple of Med cruises
 
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David Meardon said:
Thanks for the advice, I was thinking of just getting a 25mm, but was a bit worried about needing a zoom if I'm not close to the action. Would you say that a 14mm to 140mm wouldn't have a wide enough aperture to be useful?
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There is no right lens choice, there's just what's right for you on that trip - balancing what you're likely to be doing, what you might see and any limitations on what you can take with you. Ask twelve photographers and you'll get thirteen different suggestions as to what kit to carry. I know from experience that 80% of shots I take on holiday or at home are with the same prime lens (30mm on 40D), and when I deviate from that it's generally to something in the 80-100mm range. So if packing a travelling bag I know that two primes (30mm and 85/105mm) can cover 99% of shots I'm likely to take. Or I used to, I've just changed system and the available focal lengths are slightly different, but near enough the same.

You need to look at your own shots and see if you have your own predictable habits. Not everyone will have the same pattern of shooting, you might use a random spread of focal lengths between 10mm and 500mm, in which case your travelling bag would look very different to mine.
 
David Meardon said:
So you don't think I'll need the zoom of the 14-140mm lens if I don't have another camera?

I was only looking at the pancake lens to make it easier to carry round, so maybe I can find a small 20mm lens.
Click to expand...

It depends what field of view you like and what you like to photograph.

Personally I don't tend to take pictures with long zooms and when taking scenic shots or shots about town I tend to shoot wide to at the most 100mm with the range around 24-80mm or so being my most used focal lengths. With Micro Four Thirds that would equate to something like 14-50mm.

It also depends on what light you're shooting in. Personally I wouldn't even think of taking a tripod and would only shoot hand held. I'd also probably be shooting in low light and so would want a wide aperture lens. So, personally I'd go for a 20 or 25mm on MFT.

For me a two camera solution seemed to work well :D with my LX5 and MFT or DSLR + just one good quality wide angle lens.
 
Ok great I think my instinct was to go with the 25mm lens so will probably just get that, and if I can save up might get a zoom lens for the versatility I'm interested to see how much I'd use it. What about a dslr does anyone own a csc and a dslr is it worth the extra bulk? I have also noticed a larger range of lenses which is something I dislike about micro four thirds.
 
David Meardon said:
What about a dslr does anyone own a csc and a dslr is it worth the extra bulk? I have also noticed a larger range of lenses which is something I dislike about micro four thirds.
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Until recently I owned a 5D and G1 and once I got the G1 I hardly used the 5D.

I only found my 5D to have an advantage at the highest ISO settings and when shooting in low light as the G1's EVF's light output hurt my eyes in low light. At low to mid ISO settings I found that my G1 produced images that once processed for best effect were easily lost amongst my 20D and 5D shots. So, unless you shoot at the very highest ISO's I wouldn't say that the bulk of a DSLR is worth it although another advantage DSLR's have that I never used is focus tracking.

These days I hardly use my G1 as I've now got a Sony A7 which gives FF DSLR quality in a very compact body which remains much more compact and lighter even when fitted with an adapter and an old manual focus prime than a DSLR and modern AF lens :D

I don't know what lenses you'd like that MFT lacks, MFT seems to me to have a good selection available.
 
Thanks for that, I'll stick with my gx1 then . and yes while they do have a good variety of lenses for mft there aren't many different price points whereas in the DSLR market there seems to b a cheap, average, and expensive version of each lens.

Thanks guys, so helpful, whilst we're here do you mind asking a couple more questions?

How long do you keep a camera as your main camera for? So how often do you upgrade basically?

Also will I find the super wide aperture of the voigtlander lens (don't know how to spell it) useful will I ever need f0.95 or will I be better off getting a couple of decent lenses for the same cost(ish) I know its up to me and my preferences, but as I'm new to photography I'm not exactly sure what my preferences are.
 
David Meardon said:
How long do you keep a camera as your main camera for? So how often do you upgrade basically?
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I bought my first DSLR in Autumn 2008, and I replaced it as my main camera this month (moving from a large-body APS-C DSLR to a small-body APS-C CSC). Maybe that's unusual, some people seem to change models like they're socks. I think it would be interesting to see whether "upgrades" are more frequent amongst those that buy cheaper entry-level DSLRs, it appears to me that those that buy D3100/550D type models are always more prominent in the "Which upgrade for me?" posts.

There's very little need to update, you can chase after a better high ISO response but for most people pretty much any camera will do. I'd guess that >80% of camera upgrades are for fashion/psychological motivations rather than any real technical difference or improvement.

Your GX1 is a decent camera, it will remain a decent camera for several years to come. There's no point upgrading until you know what it is that want to do that you can't do with it.
 
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David Meardon said:
Also will I find the super wide aperture of the voigtlander lens (don't know how to spell it) useful will I ever need f0.95 or will I be better off getting a couple of decent lenses for the same cost(ish) I know its up to me and my preferences, but as I'm new to photography I'm not exactly sure what my preferences are.
Click to expand...

I bought the Voigtlander for several reasons...

- It's wide aperture means that you can get the sort of shot you'd get, DoF wise, with a 50mm f2 lens on FF.
- The f0.95 helps with noise as it enables you to shoot at lower ISO's.
- The lens will focus quite close and you can use it for close up shots of flowers etc and fill the frame more than you could with a standard fast 50mm on FF.
- The build quality is great and it's a really nice lens to use, if you don't mind manual focus.

If the above things are important to you the lens may make sense.
 
Thanks for all the help, so many options... I think I might get the 25mm and the 14-140mm lenses and if I find myself rarely using the zoom lens I might sell them both for the voigtlander. So glad I found such a helpful forum thanks guys.
 
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