I agree that 50mm is an excellent focal length for Japan, but I own the RF 50/1.8 and it's not a good lens. The bokeh is very busy with hard rings around specular highlights. Sure, it's sharp enough to get the job done, but I don't like its rendering at all... which is why I recommended the 35/1.8 instead. I haven't tried that one, but reviews have suggested it's a little better than the 50. Ideally OP would have the 50/1.4 VCM. Sell all the cheap RF and EF lenses and buy one, lol.
marsguy wrote:
I agree that 50mm is an excellent focal length for Japan, but I own the RF 50/1.8 and it's not a good lens. The bokeh is very busy with hard rings around specular highlights. Sure, it's sharp enough to get the job done, but I don't like its rendering at all... which is why I recommended the 35/1.8 instead. I haven't tried that one, but reviews have suggested it's a little better than the 50. Ideally OP would have the 50/1.4 VCM. Sell all the cheap RF and EF lenses and buy one, lol.
I actually have the EF 35mm f1.8 Macro! It is better than the RF 50mm f1.8 STM, but I prefer the 24mm focal length of my EF 24mm f1.8 Macro.
BTW.. I wasn’t suggesting that you spend more money, but rather liquidate unused equipment and put the money towards more appropriate gear. By all means spend money on your trip. Whatever you take with you, you will adapt your style to accommodate the gear. This includes picking one camera and one lens from your current stock. There are a number of cultural events worth seeing. We, by chance, arrived in May during one of the large Shinto celebrations held at the shrine next to our hotel. Three million people attended over the three day event. Thousands were in traditional dress. Quite the event. Make sure that you are current with the etiquette regarding public photography and privacy in Japan.
snegron7 wrote:
I actually have the EF 35mm f1.8 Macro! It is better than the RF 50mm f1.8 STM, but I prefer the 24mm focal length of my EF 24mm f1.8 Macro.
My youngest daughter was on a soccer team that toured France playing against French academy teams. It was also the 2019 Women’s World Cup. I took the Sony GM 24mm f/1.4 and 85mm Loxia for the two weeks. This 24mm is absolutely spectacular and is a great choice for traveling. Unlike my favorite, the 21mm, the 24mm handles subjects in the peripheral areas of the image without much distortion. So, your 24mm might just be a good choice for your trip.
I’ll be in Tokyo from about July 5-10. I’ll have other gear with me as this visit will follow Vietnam (including Hanoi and Ninh Binh, but my core kit for the city is likely to be my ZR + 35/1.2, with maybe my 85/1.2 in a bag. I’ll try it out first in Hanoi. That said, my RX100vii is still in play — it may make the cut over the ZR, in which case I’ll take two Z8s instead of one on the trip.
After reading all the feedback here and on other forums (and lots of overthinking), I decided to buy a Canon RF 24-105mm f4.0L.
So, my main camera outfit will be an R6II, RF 24-105mm f4.0L, RF 35mm f1.8 Macro, and RF 16mm f2.8 STM. My kid will be taking the OM-5 with Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 G2, and an Olympus 45-150mm f4 Pro.
My reasons for choosing this setup:
1. The focal range I'm probably going to be using the most falls between 24mm and 105mm.
2. After a (very) lengthy research, it came down to picking between either a Sony 24-105mm f4.0 or a Canon RF 24-105mm f4.0L. Most online reviews place the Canon version slightly above the Sony version. I've had negative experiences with Sony lenses (decentering issues), having to return them until I got a good copy. Ironically, I actually owned a Canon RF 24-105mm f4.0L a few years ago but ended up returning it because it was deffective. I decided to try again.
3. The 24-105mm f4.0 covers most of my shooting, but I still need a wider lens. While my Tamron 17-28mm f2.8 is an amazing lens, my Canon RF 16mm f2.8 STM is way lighter and performs fairly well.
4. While my Sony A7iv captures better images than my Canon R6II, I really love using my R6II.
5. My kid would be complaining constantly having to carry the "heavy" A7c, so the OM-5 it is.
I just came back from my one week trip to Tokyo...since I mostly waffled on deciding what to bring I brought probably too many for a normal trip but photography was more or less my actual vacationing activities so I used pretty much all of them...
A7IV
FE16G
FE40G
FE70-200GII
CV28APO
Sigma 85 Art
Tripod
I think if someone makes a 24-50 F2 I can probably be pretty happy with that. I have no real issue lugging 3 lenses with me on the day of and with a tripod if I have a specific shots in mine(I pretty much brought it for 3 specific shots I have in mind I wanted to shoot)
Have fun with your trip, I am already wishing I am back there...lol
