We have been issued Z9’s at work (ok, not me yet as it goes being the new guy, or is it because I am already sorted?), a camera that I feel is the current top dog in the full frame world, well, best all rounder anyway. It is definitely the best thing Nikon has made putting them back on the map, just a shame the rest of the system is still a little behind the competition.

Looking at my own gear, I am still happily sticking with my own system for all the reasons previously stated, probably only taking a “Z” when damage or very poor light are likely, but maybe not even then*. I am job sharing now, so the other tog will be stoked to get an instant upgrade. The deal breaker is that even though it is mirrorless, it is still weighed down by monster lenses, especially the older glass we have.

Looking sideways at the near future of travel to Japan starting up again, my kit is pretty solid. I have a lot of pro gear, lots of options and combinations, but travel has special needs.

Weight is the big one. The single easiest way to rob myself of that holiday feeling is to weigh myself down like I do at work (relative to the other guys that is). M43 was designed to be smaller, but can still get heavy with pro end gear and a 300mm f4 is a 300mm f4 in any system.

Coverage is secondary and really comes down to where and what. For Japan street, temple details and landscapes, a little wildlife and some city scapes are the core, so semi wide and short tele are fine, more is a bonus, but rarely needed. Lens speed is more useful, because we go out at night (and it is the land “Bokeh” came from).

Here is the travel kit;

2 bodies (2x EM10.2’s, or EM5.1’s or a Pen F + EPM-2). This is a little unsettled, but no big deal. Any of these would do. Possibly the Pen Mini on a long strap with 17mm, and one EM10.2 with a spare in the hotel room. On big days, I can take the second EM10 to save lens changes. Even just the weighty Pen F on its own.

9mm f1.7 Leica.

The emergency super wide or fake semi wide. It also does time as a macro, second wide and wet weather lens (depending on camera).

No Japan travel images from this one yet.

17mm f1.8.

The work horse of the lot and the only metal lens (but not weather proof). My street paragon, landscape ring-in and desert island lens.

45mm f1.8.

The low light candid and Bokeh lens, foil to the excellent but slow (aperture) lens below. I have two of theses (once 3), tending to rely on them, but rarely appreciate them enough (the other anchors my work bag).

40-150 kit.

Hard to argue with a lens that weighs no more than the ones above, costs less and sometimes cannot be split from my two Pro 40-150 lenses.

The reality is, the 17 and 45 or 40-150 would do, but the backups are so light, it hardly matters.

I have no qualms that any of these will let me down, optically or even physically. Light weight gear travels well and safely, is easily replaced, has redundancies (the backup 9mm and 40-150 kit could do the job coming in at roughly 300g) and stays under the radar.

I have found semi padded Domke bags (or similar), a little internal padding with light weight gear avoids hard hits and lazy drop-downs better than heavy gear, only falling on top of the lot and crushing it is a potential problem.

Bags are many, something I will likely stress over, but short listed so far are the Turnstyle 10, PhotoCross 10, Tokyo Porter satchel, a nice leather satchel I have, the Filson Otter Green Field Bag (not the camera one) or the little Crumpler or Kata satchels (I forget the models). Comfort is the thing, so this will likely sort itself out. The Tokyo Porter, ironically as it is not a designed to purpose camera bag, has proven to be the most practical, has a low profile and holds a lot of shopping.

To get there I will use the Lowe Pro, Pro Tactic 350, which will be half empty to allow for some fragile items to come back and an emergency change of clothes on the way over. Don’t love the bag, but it is useful for travelling.

Other than that I will take a bunch of batteries and cards, but no hard drives or computer. No need.