Light traveling - wide zooms or 2/3 f2 primes

Marek Kac wrote:

Hi all,

as I'm planning to travel quite a bit this year I'm thinking about best combo for my Fuji xt-20. It's an age old question, what is more practical. A set of small f2 primes. 50mm f2, 23mm f1.4 (IQ of 23mm f2 is disapointing to me), and something even wider like 14 f2.8/ rokinon 12mm f2. Or a slow zoom 10-24 f4 and 18-55 f2.8-4, that you don't need to change that often. What is your expirience? I will be visiting cities, that's why I need wide angles lens for architecture.

I currently own 23mm f1.4, 56 f1.2 and 18-55 f2.8-4, for context.

Are you playing tourist?  Need to move around with family or trying to see a lot of different things on the same day?  If you are, I would go with the 10-24.  I usually have no issues cranking up the ISO to compensate for the slower f/4 --- I frequently like to stop down a bit to make sure my subjects are in focus, so the faster aperture doesn't always come in handy.

If vacationing with family is a higher priority than photography, the flexibility of the zoom is very nice.  In crowds, where you have to stand closer to your subject to avoid people in between you and your subject, the ultra-wide focal length is nice.  It's also nice when taking pictures of large interior or external spaces where photo stitching is impractical.

It has OIS and is so convenient to be able to go 10mm ultra-wide as well as zoom in closer, which can reduce the need to swap lenses.  I really do appreciate OIS when I want to hold the camera level above my head or below my waist without a tripod.

When things slow down during a trip, I like the idea of using my 23/1.4 on my X-T30 and 56/1.2 on my X-H1.  Those two focal lengths really work for me.  If I need to go lighter, the 23/2 and 50/2 are very compact and easy to bring all the time.