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 p.1 #3 · Upcoming trip to Paris: what am I bringing? | |
MatthewK wrote:
In less than 2 weeks, wife and I are traveling to Paris, France for our 10-yr wedding anniversary. Also have some day-trips to the country side. For the past few months leading up to the trip, I've been set on going minimal and taking just the X100VI, but as the trip gets closer I start getting that uncertain, "but what if I regret" feeling, and now I'm weighing taking some different kit load outs. So, making a poll:
A) X100VI
B) X-T5 + 16-50
C) X-T5 + 16-50, X100VI
D) X-T5 + 16-50, 35 f/1.4
E) X-T5 + 18 f/2, 35 1.4, 60 2.4
As it stands now I'm leaning towards Option C, the 16-50 and X100VI for a kind of do-everything setup, but my creative heart is all about the classic trio of primes in Option E, searching out light and compositions, having the most fun while shooting.
What/how do I shoot? Mostly memories of the wife and I, the food we eat, the places we see, but in a more creative sense. I avoid typical snapshots like the plague, I don't care about church interiors, I don't shoot museums, no one needs anymore shots of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, etc. Mostly, just capturing what strikes my creative eye as I come upon it.
Here's some wildcard considerations:
16-55 II instead of the 16-50: I had the new red-badge lens earlier in the year, but sold it in favor of keeping the 16-50, but now that it's go-time I'm back to thinking this could be a great 1-lens kit. I just need to make sure I get a great copy, because the first one was pretty awful.
14 2.8: another Fuji classic, one that I actually borrowed for for a Euro trip back in 2019. This is a lens that makes sense in theory and sounds a lot of fun, but not fully sure how much use I'd get out of it, and I know that after the trip it will most likely collect dust since I don't shoot super-wide all that often. Best part is that it's relatively affordable, so not losing too much if I decide it doesn't fit later.
So, let's discuss!...Show more →
We travel in Europe fairly frequently. We were last in Paris in early December.
If I recall correctly, on that trip I carried the XT5 and brought the 14mm f/2.8, 27mm f/2.8, and 60mm f/2.4. (I'd have to go back and look again to see if I tossed the 90mm f/2 in there as well.) (This was a six-week trip that took us to various areas of Germany, Alsace, Paris, Montpelier, Zaragoza, and Madrid, with a stop in NYC on the way home.)
We did another of similar length in May and early June this year. I again brought four lenses, but this time I replaced the 60mm f/2.4 with the 50mm f/2... and I think I liked the combination better. I did bring the 90mm f/2, but barely used it... and for similar tripos I'd leave it at home now. (This was Lisbon, Coimbra, Porto, a weeklong walk in the Douro Valley, Santiago de Campostela, Segovia, Bilbao, Bruges, Antwerp, Brussels and again a bit of NYC.)
Lens choices depend a lot on what and how you photograph. A lot of what I do while traveling is essentially street photography, which may explain why I lean toward primes. I probably have the 27mm on the camera 80-90% of the time while traveling.
On an earlier trip in 2024 we were in the UK for about the same amount of time, with the majority of it in Scotland, including another walk, this time the Great Glen Way. Given the landscape potential on that trip I did bring the 16-55 f/2.8 plus the 14mm 27mm, and 90mm.
I almost never actually ave all of these lenses on my person at the same time. I tend to take one or a couple that I think will be right for the day's work, and leave the others locked up in the hotel.
Good luck.
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Otherwise, I'm pretty good about knowing when to put the camera away and take in the experience. 