What Lens for Luggability?

Late in November I'll be taking a trip to several European locations.  I will need to pack fairly light.  By then I'll have acquired a Micro 4/3 camera.  Applications will include the typical tourist photography of scenery, architecture, wife and friends.  Far below pro-level in skill...

If you had only one lens for such a trip, what would it be?  I'm willing to invest in high quality glass.

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RalphM

If it is only one lens than its the Panasonic 12-35 2.8.

Panaleica 25mm. My arguments:

- in the leading pack lens IQ in the m43 world. Or close enough.

- normal FOV will alow easier framing and composition. Once you get a bit the hang of it, you will take pictures of what you see and worry less about zooming in or out

- single focal lens is useful for holidays and such because it gives all pictures the sense of a 'series'; if you use various focal lenghts, you need to be a lot better to create a similar feeling.

- a fast lens will allow you to  take also shot later in evenings, bars, in available light. In most holidays evenings are a significant part of the experience so it may be worth to have some low-light abilities.

Given all of the above, the 2nd choice would be Panny 20mm (I own it). Slower AF and slightly less light; respectable IQ for the lower price, and easier to carry around.

Any choice you make, enjoy it and have a great holiday!

I tend to travel with several primes. If you want only 1 lens, then I would go with the Panasonic 12-35mm. If you're not a pixel peeper, then I know plenty of people like the Olympus 12-50mm lens along with something for low light, like the Panasonic 25mm f1.4.

My travel kit is usually the 12mm, 20mm, and 45mm primes though. Occasionally dropping the 45mm for a kit zoom lens.

For best image quality both indoors and out the Panasonic 12-35mm F2.8 lens is the most versatile.  It also has onboard image stabilization (OIS).  This is a must for Panasonic cameras when shooting at slow shutter speeds.  Olympus supports in-body image stabilization (IBIS) so OIS is not important.

If you are looking for a lens that will give you both wide angle and super zoom capabilities, then I would go for the Olympus 14-150mm f4.0 - 5.6.  While it's not very fast, it covers 99% of the shots you are most likely to take.  It does not have on-board image stabilization so if that is important to you then you should look at the Panasonic 14-140.  It has similar optical characteristics and also supports OIS.

Enjoy your new camera and have a great vacation!

I'd want to bring more than one lens. I like a standard zoom, a telephoto zoom, a flash with a rotating/tilting head, and two fast primes (I have a manual focus 24mm f/1.4 and an FD 50mm f/1.8)) for my all-rounder kit. I can fit all that plus ND filters, a gorillapod, extra batteries, lenspens, small flash diffuser and a radio flash trigger in a shoulder bag about 11"x10"x8".

At some point I'll add the oly 9-18mm, 45 f/1.8 and 17 f/1.8 and get rid of my two MF prime lenses. It should still all fit in the same bag.

I don't think I'd want a smaller kit than that on any trip. If I was just out for an evening and didn't want to lug a bag around, I'd put either the standard zoom or the normal prime on the camera and take just that. (maybe put one more lens in a pocket.)

I personally would go with a three lens setup just to cover a wide range of shots. I would have one the standard kit zooms(more than likely Oly 12-50mm for the 12mm wide angle, and macro support), a fast-ish prim, either the Panasonic 14mm f2.5 or 20mm, and a longer reach zoom Panasonic 35-100mm if price wasn't a factor. But, if price was a factor or 100mm is to short of a reach for your taste, then Oly 40-150mm, or either the Panny 45-150mm or 45-200mm.

If the limitation was One lens, and size matters then I would take my 20mm.

If I were to take Two lens I would take my 9-18mm and my 45mm

The 20mm is great indoors, or in low light w/o flash.

The 9-18mm is an awesome lens to capture architecture, or groups of people. The 45mm has very fast AF, and is a wonderful for portraits, and at 90mm (35mm equivalent) is ok at shooting distant objects. This combo is very small and lightweight.

Enjoy your trip!

You have not indicated what range you want to cover...but if I were packing, it would probably the the Panasonic 20 1.7 for low light, 14-42GX for moderate wide to long normal and 45-175GX for short tele to mid long reach.  I would couple those with one of the GH series or the GX1 and expect to get pretty much whatever I encounted.

My reply would be the panny 14-140, as I like to travel with only one lens, or one lens and a pancake.  But, I think it depends on your camera.

I have a panny gf3, and i do not like how the panny 14-140 lens handles on it, and that lens is a little slowish (f 4.0-5.8) for the gf3, which produces not so great ISO 3200 low light shots.  so, i tend to bring that cam with me to barbecues or out to dinner, and use the panny 14 2.5 on it.

however, when i travel, i figure i have to toughen up a bit and bring a heavier cam, because i don't want to be preoccupied with changing lenses often.  in those cases, i use my gh1 (now replaced by a G5) and the 14-140, which i love for its versatility.  sometimes when travelling, you need to get closer to things, and this is why i prefer a superzoom to a prime, or a collection of primes.  if i need lower light capabilities, i use my 14 2.5, and an even better option would be to pair the 20mm 1.7 to the 14-140.  i think either lens is light and small enough that they are barely more cumbersome than using the 14-140 alone.

so, if you are going to purchase a panny gh or G series, or an oly OM-D E-5, then go with a superzoom like the 14-140.  if you are using a gf or an ep series cam, then i would advise against the bulkier and heavier superzooms.

I'm going to France in April. In preparation I decided to consolidate lenses. I sold my 14-45 kit lens, Olympus 9-18, and 14mm 2.5. I replaced them with a 12-35, which I'm finding to be just about perfect; sufficient range and fast enough for low light use.

I have a couple of longer lenses but probably will not be taking them. With a G5 I can always do a bit of cropping in lieu of a longer zoom. I do have a 20mm 1.7 and a 15mm lenscap lens. Since I have a GF3 as well I might mount the 20 on that and take it for evening walkabouts and dinners. The 15 is is tiny and fun gag lens so no problem pocketing it.

Short answer, the 12-35 will pretty much do all you want.

alan.

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www.MotoEuro.org

The 14-42mm IIR kit lens weighs only 3.95 ounces. A no-brainer.

If you need a second lens with a wider aperture, the 20mm f/1.7 weighs 3.53 oz and the 17mm f/1.8 weighs 4.2 oz. One of those two would not weigh you down.

Whilst the 12-35 is the better lens, it is 3 times the length and 3 times the weight of the 14-42X, so if luggability is important and taking in to account the OP's original needs, the 14-42X may well be more suitable. It is a great walking about lens. I use it a lot on my G3 when I want a pocketable camera.

Also remember that Ex Teleconverter lets you double the focal length for the odd longer shot if you don't mind dropping from 16Mb to 4Mb which again it sounds like the OP would be happy to do.

My choice as well.

tom

Considering the size and weight of mft lenses I hardly ever only take one lens.

I have a small neoprene lensbag (10 cm long, 7 cm wide, with a belt strap and an extra clip to secure it on the loop on my pants) to carry my 14-150 and a pancake lens and a spare battery in a coatpocket and put a small lens on the camera, like the 45 mm f/1.8 or the m.zuiko 9-18.
If I swap the small lens for the 14-150 the small one goes in the bag on my belt, if I swap it for the pancake it is small enought to fit in a coatpocket. Sometimes I have to do a lens shuffle but it works for me.

Don't limit yourself unless you really have to.

Thank you all for the generosity of your responses.  There's a lot to ponder, but fortunately, I have time to digest the suggestions and learn to use whatever camera/lens combo I end up with.

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RalphM

+1 for the Panasonic 12-35 2.8

It's not the smallest but it has great IQ (I find better contrast and a flatter field(?) than either the Panasonic pancake primes) and the Power OIS which I think is a bit better than the IBIS in my E-PL5.

With my GX1 and my OMD, I can get away with using the 14mm 2.5 lens indoors.  Both cameras do very nicely in high ISO situations, especially the OMD.    I would take that lens and the panasonic 14 - 140 and that would cover everything.  I use a BlackRapid sling strap that lets me carry an extra battery and an extra card.  I think it is called the cargo strap.  I do not even take a camera bag when the weather is nice.  I agree that the 12 -35 is a wonderful lens but it is very expensive.  The range of the 12 -35 would cover 80% of what you need, but it is not a tiny lens.  You should not overlook the 14mm lens it is tiny and very underrated.

Hal

I would take 2.

I'd take the 12-50mm because it covers a wide range of focal lengths, and, while not perfect, captures pretty good images. It can also be used in bad weather, if you have a weather proof camera.

I'd also take the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 because it's tiny and sharp as hell. I'd use that for anything where you do want really sharp images, or in low light. It's tiny so it can go in a shirt pocket.

So, general photos, castles, city streets, etc – 12-50.

Detail photos - artwork, city skylines, landscapes, etc – 20mm.

Taking only one lens, I would take either-

Panasonic 25mm 1.4

or

Olympus 17mm 1.8

50mm is probably more oriented towards pictures of people and 35mm is more oriented towards scenics, but either one will work well as a luggable prime lens.

A lot of people on this site seem to think that you need to have all focal lengths covered as a way to ensure that you will get all of the shots. In practice, this route seems to raise mroe questions than it answers when youa re otu there trying to get the shot.

You really need to think about what type of pictures you plan to take and bring the focal lengths that can take those pictures.