Whenever we travel, one of the dilemmas I consistently face is what and how much camera gear to take with me. Usually I default to my three zoom lenses because they are convenient and cover just about any common focal length without a lot of lens changes. On most occasions I’ll toss my prime lenses into the mix with the best of intentions, but either because I’m lazy or I just want to have the most flexibility, the primes often don’t come out of the bag.
I love my Fuji prime lenses for several reasons. First and probably most important, they give me excellent results – sharp when I want sharp and good bokeh when I want bokeh. They are lightweight and small, so it isn’t hard to carry 2-3 along in a small bag or fanny pack.
But I’ve said for years that the more lenses I have with me the more likely I’ve got the “wrong” one on the camera. So I make a point to putting one lens on the camera and go out and “see” with that one lens. It’s especially useful with my prime lenses, because it really forces me to think about composition and framing, to “zoom with my feet” in order to establish what is in and out of the frame or to give me the relationship I want between near and far objects.
For our recent trip to the beach, I reversed my usual methodology and put the prime lenses into my “every day bag” and put the zoom lenses into my “just in case bag” (I use two bags because I like having a smaller, lighter bag to take on day trips and when walking around and don’t want to carry all my stuff at once). I never took the zoom lenses out, opting instead for using only my prime lenses. To be fair I didn’t shoot a lot (for me) with less than 400 photos over a 2 week period. Most of the time I went out with just one lens on the camera, although at sunrise I went out with all four of my prime lenses, and actually used all of them depending on what I was shooting.
We’re home now for a few weeks, resting up for our next adventure. I’m seriously considering leaving the zoom lenses at home this time, opting for a smaller, lighter kit and keeping things rather simple. We’ll see if I actually have the nerve to do it. I’m betting I will!
I originally bought my X100T (and then X100V) for a walk-around lens but, even just doing street photography, found I felt limited with a single 23mm focal length. I bought the XT-2 for added flexibility and now use both equally. My D800 is still used for more tripod oriented photography or dedicated landscape work. I do love the Fujis though and more lenses are no doubt in order.
I’m pretty happy with my current selection of lenses. If I were to add one it would likely be the 90mm. While touted as a “portrait lens” I often look for something a little longer than the 60mm for close-in details and feel like that might do the trick. But then, I’m not sure I want to carry 5 prime lenses with me. 😉 Maybe trade the 60 for the 80 macro and consider it to be close enough and a reasonable compromise? Hmmm….
Your comments are pretty consistent with my thoughts. I don’t like to be bogged down with lots of stuff but still want flexibility and the ability to get that long or wide shot when needed. I have a small kit (LUMIX GM5 with two zooms: 12-35 and 35-100… double the numbers for equivalent focal length) and it all can almost fit into my pockets, especially in a jacket pocket. The quality of the MFT systems is really good enough for me. When I am more serious I take my Olympus em1 MkII with the excellent kit lens (12-45mm Pro f4 constant aperture) and maybe a fast prime and a long zoom for wildlife (75-300mm f4.8-6.7). I do like the idea of primes, and I have 3 of them, but I don’t have the courage to just go with a 25mm (nifty fifty) although that would be a nice compact kit.
Nice collection of images from the beaches!
Thanks, John, and sorry your comment got hung up for moderation.
When I was evaluating cameras to replace the Canon gear I rented an Olympus body with the 12-45 and liked it a lot. I could have easily gone that route but had already pretty much decided on the Fuji so I had some pretty serious bias to overcome (which I obviously did not overcome 😉 ) I think the MFT and “APS-C” formats are close enough that the differences ultimately come down to preference.
Thanks, Tom. We agree in many ways here. I now have two zooms and one prime lens. When out in nature I like having the zooms but when in town the one prime makes it for me. I still have functioning feet to zoom in or out. I have so enjoyed using the smaller and lighter gear. However, I still lust for more gear, which is the consumer in me.
I’m with you on the gear thing, Monte! I’ve been trying to convince myself to make do with the lenses I have, but I keep coming back to wanting one more prime and another zoom. For now, maybe I’ll just try to find the next perfect camera bag. That should be easy! 😉