Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara) with the GM5

I spent last week in the Kansai region of Japan, which gave me the opportunity to try out my compact camera kit for travel. This is as follows;

Panasonic GM5

Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6

Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 II

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7

I carry this all in a Lowepro Format 110 (Link Here). This snugly fits the GM5 and all 3 lenses, and its great because I can put it into any particular bag that I've taken with me.

I like all these lenses, but I particularly wanted to highlight the 42.5mm f/1.7. I noticed there are quite a few posts on the f/1.2 Noctilux, but comparatively fewer for the f/1.7. I love this lense. Its super compact on the GM5, very sharp even wide open, and produces excellent results. There is a little purple fringing wide open, but this is easily corrected in post.

I've always preferred the 40mm focal length on FF cameras, so I tend to keep the 20mm on the camera by default, but I find myself reaching for the 42.5mm ALOT.

Hope you enjoy some examples below. All are shot in RAW, and have had some fairly minimal processing done in Lightroom. I hope this demonstrates that you can travel with an extremely light kit, but still get some great results. I have a Sony A7 which I also regularly use, but sometimes its nice to just take the GM5 along instead.

Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 II (f/5.6)

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 (wide open)

Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 II (wide open)

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 (wide open)

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 (wide open)

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 (wide open)

Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 II (wide open)

Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 (12mm, f/3.5)

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 (wide open)

Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 (12mm, f/3.5)

Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 II (wide open)

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 (wide open)

Lovely selection of images! Visited Japan in 2014, and these really take me back.

Thanks,
Paul

Great images. I was in Japan for a month in 2010 including Kyoto and Nara. Those deer are cute until they start trying to eat through your backpack!

Very nice photos.

Thanks for sharing.

Lena

Very nice!

I was there in July - Kyoto/Osaka/Nara/Tokyo - smacked in the middle of summer tourist season. The Fushimi Inari and Arashiyama bamboo grove was as packed as the JR train that took us there

I like your pics especially those with 42.5/1.7.  My mainstay was GM1 + 15/1.7

As if I didn't want to visit Japan enough already! Lovely shots.

jsdmorrison wrote:

I spent last week in the Kansai region of Japan, which gave me the opportunity to try out my compact camera kit for travel. This is as follows;

Panasonic GM5

Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6

Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 II

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7

I carry this all in a Lowepro Format 110 (Link Here). This snugly fits the GM5 and all 3 lenses, and its great because I can put it into any particular bag that I've taken with me.

I like all these lenses, but I particularly wanted to highlight the 42.5mm f/1.7. I noticed there are quite a few posts on the f/1.2 Noctilux, but comparatively fewer for the f/1.7. I love this lense. Its super compact on the GM5, very sharp even wide open, and produces excellent results. There is a little purple fringing wide open, but this is easily corrected in post.

I've always preferred the 40mm focal length on FF cameras, so I tend to keep the 20mm on the camera by default, but I find myself reaching for the 42.5mm ALOT.

Hope you enjoy some examples below. All are shot in RAW, and have had some fairly minimal processing done in Lightroom. I hope this demonstrates that you can travel with an extremely light kit, but still get some great results. I have a Sony A7 which I also regularly use, but sometimes its nice to just take the GM5 along instead.

Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 II (f/5.6)

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 (wide open)

Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 II (wide open)

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 (wide open)

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 (wide open)

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 (wide open)

Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 II (wide open)

Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 (12mm, f/3.5)

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 (wide open)

Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 (12mm, f/3.5)

Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 II (wide open)

Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 (wide open)

Hi, I like some of these photos, especially the deer, the bamboo, and the sake containers. But I think your interest in the concrete lanterns is misplaced. These are neither old, nor interesting, nor valuable. They represent the cheap, nasty, practical side of modern Japanese bureaucratic decisions: maintaining much of the ancient temples with cheap, ugly concrete bases and objects and steel railings, etc., and placing a massive "Hitachi" sponsor sign at every temple and shrine in Japan (yes, you read correctly, every temple in Japan ).

In my opinion, to see and promote what is good about the remains of old Japan, you need to try and cut out the nasty stuff. I try to do that in my photos, but as you can see I'm not always successful: http://japantraveldiary.tumblr.com

Those are very nice indeed. GM5 + 20mm f1.7 pancake is my "goes everywhere with me" camera.

If you want a bit more reach, the tiny 35-100mm is an excellent lens and ideal for use with the GM5.