Advise for China trip

alexkc wrote:

Hi,

Currently preparing/planning for a 3 week trip to China in spring and would much appreciate some advise regarding the gear to take. I own a Panasonic G7 and an Olympus OMD10 as well as a canon G7x. I use the G7 with the Panasonic 14-140 mk2 for most daylight shooting due to the versatility this combo offers. In low light I use the OMD10 with the Panasonic 20mm and Olympus 45mm due to smaller size and the Olympus image stabilization, while also carrying the Canon G7x for the convenience of the zoom.

Where in China are you going and what do you plan to shoot? These are important factors.

Given that the trip to China is a rear event and the fact that I really like the output of the primes but I much prefer the convenience of a quality zoom (not keen to change lenses while out and about) I am now considering buying the Panasonic 12-35 . I have hired and tested the Olympus 12-40 which is excellent and maybe slightly better than the Panasonic but also bigger so i feel the pana would be better.

Either is fine. The 12-35 has is for your g7 so if you want a zoom buy that.

The 12-35 is not a cheap lens so i wonder how much better this is in terms of sharpness comparing to the Panasonic 14-140 mKiI .

Don't know. Probably not enough to matter in the least.

If in this trip i just take the 12-35 lens and the primes (for night shooting) would I regret it given the maximum focal length is 70mm comparing to 280mm for the 14-140. Has anyone used this two lens pairing on a holiday? What was the lens you used most?

You probably won't miss it. I don't really see why you can't carry both though. Just get a sling bag. I could easily carry two bodies and 4 or 5 lenses if I felt like it. I don't, but I could.

I have been also struggling of whether I should take just one m43 camera (with the g7x as back up) , I really enjoy shooting with the OMD10 (maybe due to the shutter sound and build quality... ) than the G7 which is still a very good camera with more manual controls, a lot more futures including 4k photo video but more importantly better subject tracking where I find the OMD serious lacking , feels a bit plastic though.

Who cares if it feel plastic? Its a good camera. I don't see any point in the g7x. Just leave that thing at home.

G7 of course has no image stabilization so that is an issue for low light shooting with the non stabilized primes

only if you are shooting static subjects.if its moving this doesn't matter.

and the newer version G80/G85 too expensive to buy now although a possibility later next year when the price has come down but unlikely to be cheap enough by the time of this trip.

Any thoughts more than welcome.

Thanks

If you are shooting inside of the city the long end of the zoom won't be terribly useful. The fast primes are good for shooting at night. The cities are lit up with tons of lights and I find this to be a great time to shoot. If you are out in the villages or more natural areas the long end of the zoom will be a bit more useful