Japan Near, What To Take?
After the same enforced break from travel we have all had, Japan is back on.
The previous seven trips felt like a now closed loop, a series of connected trips that came to a natural close, a turning point reached, a full stop penned.
This has left me with an odd feeling of where to now?
I toyed with the idea of a mainly video recorded trip?
Maybe black and white only with the Pen F?
Same as before?
Better than before?
For gear, something I will likely stress over all the way to the airport, then realise I always know I can make anything work. I am looking first at the Pen F (never gets used for anything else), my last reliable EM5 Mk1 for old times sake or maybe the Pen Mini and an EM10 mk2 as backup.
Lenses are easy.
I hate changing lenses on the go, rather change cameras.
9mm f1.8 Leica. The very nice to use, eminently handy and creative-wide macro.
40-150 Oly kit. Optically reliable, fast focussing and light as a feather. The 12-60 Pana kit is in the same class, but with several wide options, I don’t think it would be used.
17mm f1.8. The “one lens” for travel/street/low light.
15mm f1.7. The other “one lens” option. Either-or, but also a little different.
45mm f1.8. The “second” lens. I have a whole spare one of these reserved just for personal use.
Coverage, speed, depth, optical reliability, easily replaced, even while there and often under utilised in my busy kit.
All you ever really need is a lens to suit each of your “eyes”.
What “eyes” do you have? Only you and your meta data know what you use a lot, or more to the point, what the minimum range you need is.
For me I need a semi wide “street grab” lens the 17mm Oly is the one, a focal length I am very comfortable with and one that just seems to work, but the 15mm Leica can fill the same role. Spoilt for choice.
Waist high grab shot, manually focussed to about 5ft-as marked on the barrel, at f2.8 using the 17’s unique Bokeh (deep, smooth transition, but still with some in-focus snap).
Next is the compression and detail lens. The 45mm Oly fits this well enough, but a zoom is an option. The kit 40-150 is my good light choice, with the 45 for low light and shallow depth. Weight and form factor are different but they are so light that even when combined, why choose?
Compression and clean separation.
More semi-wide quick and reactive.
Back to reach and compression.
Much less important is the super wide, but having a 9mm that weighs less than a spare battery, it is a no-brainer.
I can work this to death, but at the end of the day I know this kit will work, has worked and has been reserved over the last few year to do just this.
The 15mm on the Pen F. Manual focus, old school.
Delightful colours, gentle rendering, sublime sharpness.
The Pen mini and 17. Small, slightly comical and the opposite of threatening, this one is the shoulder strap-go anywhere camera.
The EM10 and either the 45 or the 40-150. Fast, accurate AF and balanced.
No complaints about the little kit tele zoom.
The 9mm as an option for wide indoors, more width if length is pointless and weird macro.
About 600-700g in lenses total. About the Pen F’s body weight.
The kit 40-150 at the back, extended so you can see it (so light it does not even creep), Pen Mini MkII with 17mm, EM10 MkII with 45, Pen F with 15 and the 9mm super wide. The bag is the Tokyo Porter satchel we bought about four trips ago in Kyoto, with the Tenba insert I use in the Domke F802. The bag is a TARDIS, taking the insert with room. I will take four batteries of each type, my wife also using a Pen Mini II I picked up cheap from the local camera shop.
There is depth to burn, a huge front pocket, room either side and an internal weatherproof pocket for documents (clever, a semi weather-proof bag but a truly weather-proof pocket). The Pen mini sits on top of the 9mm with my lucky hankie as cushioning, but I will only take two cameras on any given day. Mini and EM10 for street walks, Pen F and EM10 for more serious expeditions.
The bag.
The most important element of a travel bag is comfort.
The second most important is ease of access.
Security, often a major consideration is not a big deal in Japan.
The Tokyo Porter bag is top loading with plenty of room. It is not super weather proof, but being body hugging and slim-line, it goes under a coat easily. This may become the Filson Field Camera bag, more of a summer weather bag, but rain proof and it sports a few more compartments.
Other things that may go are the Zoom H1 and OSMO Pocket. Both would provide good video and sound capture, if I feel the urge, and neither get much use.
To get there, the much maligned Pro Tactic 350aw is my choice. Zero preciousness, good padding, rigid enough to put feet onto, or to use as an airport pillow and it has plenty of padded compartments for breakables on the way back. The day bag goes flat in my case.