Light traveling - wide zooms or 2/3 f2 primes

Marek Kac wrote:

Hi, It will by me and my wife only. We are a bit like those Japanese tourist. We do 10-15 km per day trying to pack as much as we can in a day. See every ''must see'' places that a given city have. In 2 weeks we fly for a weekend to Vienna, in 4 weeks it will be London. Both quite crowded places so taking a portrate would be tricky anyway.

At the moment am thinking I will buy 10-24mm to be attached to camera. And taking 18-55 f2.8-4 for that little bit of extra reach, 23mm f1.4 for portrait or when it gets dark. I think I will skip 50 or 56 mm primes this time.

So it looks like I haven't really reduced the weight or size of the kit

LOL. While I sit at home, I'm imagining the sort of photography I want to do on a vacation trip --- that leads me to think about street photography with primes or awesome landscapes with a tripod.

Usually, by the 2nd day of the trip, I realize I'm running around with family and photography is not so important I'm going to slow down the itinerary.

So in the end, most of my vacations are about snapshots to be enjoyed and so my standard zoom and ultra-wide zoom get the most use. For the times I want to use a prime, I usually go with my favorite focal length of 23mm.

I did a two-week trip to Japan back in 2018. Based on that experience when I go back to Japan, I'm going with:

• X-H1 (or X-T4 if it has IBIS)
• X-T30
• 10-24
• 16-80 (don't think I need the reach of the 55-200, so the 55-200 and 16-55 stays home)
• 23/1.4 or 23/2 (23/2 on an X-T30 is an awesome combo)
• Godox TT350F (for fill flash, indoor bounce) w/ compact USB-C charger

For lens usage, I expect the 16-80 would be used the most, followed by the 10-24. The 23 would be used the least and the Godox flash would be for maybe 30 shots max.

Gear selection for me is about what I can fit my day bag. Last time I went with a Peak Design Sling 10L that was just for my camera gear. I attached my fleece jacket to that bag. I could see going with a camera insert in a light backpack to also bring water, food, etc.

On the flight, my camera gear and personal electronics were in a 40L backpack with the Peak Design back in the small rollerboard.

One more thing about Japan: there are big camera stores in all major cities (e.g., BIC Camera, Yodobashi) where the self-service displays let you play with most of the Fujifilm lenses and camera bodies without a sales clerk present. So if you find yourself going too light, you have the option of buying something during the trip. On that 2018 trip, I broke the rubber eyepiece of my X-H1 and lost a lens hood. --- both were easily replaced at one of those camera stores. That's very difficult to do where I live.