gdanmitchell
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 p.1 #7 · Best 1-lens, 2-lens, 3-les kits for a lightweight travel / adventure kit? | |
There is never a perfect answer, one that covers all possible situations, that doesn't require too many lenses or lenses that are two large, or which doesn't compromise something. In the end, all lens choices are compromises, and no matter what you use there will be some situations in which something else would have been better.
In particular, a one-lens system is going to necessarily leave you short in some way or ways. But one thing I've discovered over the years is that you can learn to "see with the lens you have" when it is the only one you carry. Back when I sometimes traveled with as many as nine (!) lenses for landscape photography I once spent a week in the Sierra Nevada backcountry with only one lens, a 24-105mm f/4 lens on a full frame body. Sure, there were situations where I might have used a longer or shorter focal length lens had one been available — but instead I found different ways to approach the subject and I didn't really feel constrained. Actually, I felt liberated. (Sort of like a recent trip where I shot a XPro2 with just the 27mm f/2.8 over a 12-day period in both urban and rural situations.)
Since no one-lens system can do everything, the more important question is what lens can do most everything and which lens aligns with what you shoot most.
So, my first recommendation for a one-lens system that will provide excellent image quality is either the 18-55mm "kit" lens (which is an excellent lens, by the way) or the larger, heavier, and more expensive 16-55mm f/2.8. I've used both and like them, and I've used just the 16-55 in the backcountry. If you don't think that they have enough range and you still want a one-lens system, you can consider one of those larger range zooms and give up some aperture and, arguable, some optical quality.
With a two-lens system there are a few good options. A high-end approach is to combine the 16-55mm f/2.8 with the 50-140mm f/2.8 and a 1.4x teleconverter. The latter addition gets you to 210mm at f/4 with excellent IQ, and that is angle-of-view equivalent to using a lens with a focal length of close to 300mm. On rare occasions when 16mm might not be enough, in at least some situations you can stitch.
And alternative two-lens system might use either the 55-200mm or the 70-300mm zooms in stead of the 50-150. The main plus of the first option are much smaller size and a focal length ranger close to what you get with the TC on the 50-140. (My experience with the 55-200mm lens was mixed. It can be quite good and its smaller size/weight are virtues for travel, though I felt that it didn't AF well at the long end with low contrast subjects and I did not fully trust its build quality.) The 70-300 gives you more reach (a LOT of reach, actually) at the expense of a small gap between 55mm and 70mm. Here you'll have to weigh the plus/minus of longer reach versus small gap.
A really small and light system with a lot of focal length versatility is the 18-55 plus the 55-200 (or possibly the 70-300). Using the 16-55 f/2.8 instead of the 18-55 gives you a bit more wide angle and a constant f/2.8 and the cost of size, weight, and... cost. Swapping in the 50-140 gives you two constant-aperture zooms at f/2.8...
There are a ton of three-lens options...
Dan
mjm6 wrote:
Folks,
I've been holding off for the much-awaited XH-2 camera to come out before I bought into an X body (I am using a GFX system only for my digital at the moment). Now that it is out (or at least the S version is, ansd thus, we can see what the XH-2 body looks like), I won't be buying that camera. Not as long as there is (presumably) an XT-5 coming that will have proper SS, ISO, and exposure compensation dials...
Anyway, as part of assembling an X kit, I was looking into making a very lightweight kit with a single lens, a pair of lenses, or a triplet of lenses, all zooms.
1-Lens Kit
My impression is that there really isn't a good option for a single lens kit, because for my shooting style, I find I tend to use a 24mm (35mm equivalent) lens a lot, and there isn't a single wide range zoom that covers it and then goes reasonably long. The new Tamron somewhat comes close, but I'd much have preferred they end it at 200mm and go a few mm wider on the wide end. Plus, no aperture ring... Tamron, no cookie.
Fujifilm doesn't have anything that covers nearly that range. The best they have for an all-around is probably the 18-135mm lens. It's still not very wide and it is a lot smaller, so that would be much preferred over the Tamron. Not nearly as good if you happen to be a birder (which Im not, so no problem). It is WR and has OIS and an aperture ring. Much better... but it still doesn't really cover that 24mm focal length that I want. As a single lens, it might be the best choice.
2-Lens Kit
This is where I feel the Fujifilm lineup has somewhat of a problem... I feel that Fuji doesn't really have any good 2-lens kits that don't have either a good bit of focal length overlap, or have a gap in the crucial "normal" focal length range. I'd be strongly considering the 10-24 as the shorter lens... but then there isn't a lens that picks up at about that focal length and goes into the short telephoto range. You either overlap with it using the same 18-135mm lens from above, or you jump to the 55-200mm lens. (I'm skipping all the f2.8 lenses for size/weight.) Or, you could go for the 70-300mm if you were more of a birder. But the gap from 24mm to 55mm or 70mm is massive and I probably shoot 60% of my images in that range. So this just isn't a good solution.
That leaves the 10-24 and 18-135 option as the only option...
3-Lens Kit
This approach becomes much easier and there are multiple different approaches to this, depending on what you like to shoot...
8-16 / 16-55 / 50-140 if you want the f2.8 lenses
10-24 / 16-80 / 70-300 as one option
10-24 / 16-55 / 70-300 as another
10-24 / 16-80 / 100-400 or similar for the long telephoto options if you are more of a birder or shoot animals.
I don't normally shoot longer than about 300mm (35mm equivalent) so I'd probably choose a fifth option:
10-24 / 18-55 / 55-200
That would be about the lightest 3-Lens package that you could put together. However, I'm really much more interested in trying to get a 2-Lens kit or 1-Lens kit that will do a sufficient job while being even smaller and lighter.
So, what would you be choosing for 1-Lens, 2-Lens, and 3-Lens kits for the Fujifilm X system and why?
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