Had a thought the other night, one of those lying in bed late at night (early morning) thinking too hard about things that do not matter. I was distracting myself with better things, trips away and time off.
Japan, what to do?
When I last travelled and enjoyed the experience photographically, what did I do?
Melbourne, two years ago, Pen Mini, 17mm lens. Sooo many pictures, total freedom, light and fast, I remember only deciding to take anything at all at the last minute, but was so glad I did.
It was like the early Japan trips, an EM5, the 17 or the 45, simple.
I intend to take, and I am already packing then because I don't use these for anything else much, both Pen Mini 2’s and an EM10.2, four batteries, the 9, 15, 17, 45, 12-60 kit and 40-150 kit.
All three have quick release strap lugs and I have a selection of straps to use.
The first Pen Mini (the black one) will have the 17 on as my “from the hip” shooter. This will basically be there all the time, manually focussed to about 5ft, aperture set to 1.8~4 depending on light. I will take the 15mm also for a lighter and brighter rendering when needed on dull days.
The second Pen Mini (the red one) will have either the 12-60, 15 or 9mm on as needed. This will be the hand cam, the alternate and in some ways the spare. I will use central cluster with face detect AF with this one.
The EM10.2, ailing slightly with a screen that only works when slightly raised, will be the “eye” camera with a long lens, either the 45 for lower light, or the 40-150 kit for range.
This will have spot AF set, for fast and precise eye focus, my preferred way of shooting with longer lenses.
Love the sharp subject and coherent background of the 17mm.
The whole lot, three cameras and 6 lenses, will weigh about the same as an EM1x and 12-40.
Every image in this set was taken with an older and often “lesser” camera. I like the older 16mp sensor and trust the cameras to do what they respectively will be assigned to. The Pen Mini’s I have found are ideal for street, the custom options aligning perfectly with my needs.
Depth, speed, small and ignorable form factor, variety and clean application with low preciousness.
The reality is, many of my favourite Japan images were taken with just these cameras and lenses or similar.
The lot will go over in my least favourite, but useful to put your feet on bag the Lowe Pro ProTactic 350 (old model), also handy to bring back delicate pottery and takes a lap top. the M1 Mac Air laptop will weight more than the kit.
When there I will use a yellow canvas shoulder bag with camera insert that I bought in Himeji last trip.