I am an obsessive idiot. After spending hours considering, and blogging about, the perfectly minimal (yet complete) camera and lens combination to take with me on a family holiday in the UK, I ended up doing something entirely different.
In my previous post I wrote about taking to the UK two camera bodies, the Fujifilm X-T1 and X-E1, and two lenses, the Fujinons XF 35mm and 18-55mm, in anticipation of every photographic possibility. I was proud of this perfect travel kit.
Before we left for the airport, I slid the XF 27mm f/2.8 pancake prime lens into my bag. "Why not?" I thought, "It is small enough."
This impulse decision proved to be a game changer.
In the UK I carried my two cameras and three lens bag with me wherever we went: Walking around Somerton. Walking around Glastonbury and up and down the Tor. Touring Caerphilly town and castle. However, it was during an extended walk in Devon, from Fingle's Bridge to Castle Drogo and back, that I really got tired of carrying the two cameras and three lens bag. It was heavy!
By Dartmoor I could not face carrying the bag anymore so, before I walked up to Grimspound, I left the bag in the car and put the X-T1 with 27mm lens in my coat pocket.
This (even more) minimal combination was truly liberating. From this point of the holiday, I ditched the bag and used only the XT-1 and 27mm carried in hand or slipped into a coat pocket. I enjoyed the walks with my family more and still pulled in decent results. Here are a few pics from the latter part of the holiday taken with the X-T1 and 27mm:
![]( "Port Isaac, Cornwall")
![]( "Port Isaac, Cornwall")
![]( "Port Isaac, Cornwall")
![]( "Port Isaac, Cornwall")
![Port Isaac, Cornwall]()
![]( "Port Isaac, Cornwall")
![]( "Port Isaac, Cornwall")
![]( "Tintagel Castle")
![]( "Burrow Mump")
While I was happy with the 27mm FOV for town and landscape use, I was also pleased with my people pictures using the 27mm.
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Kudos to the X100 series owning folks who realized the beauty and simplicity of a single body/prime lens combination from the beginning. This is a reminder to me with my fixation on gear acquisition and having a lens for every situation, that in reality it does not really take much to enjoy photography, capture memories, and still achieve results.
In my previous post I wrote about taking to the UK two camera bodies, the Fujifilm X-T1 and X-E1, and two lenses, the Fujinons XF 35mm and 18-55mm, in anticipation of every photographic possibility. I was proud of this perfect travel kit.
Before we left for the airport, I slid the XF 27mm f/2.8 pancake prime lens into my bag. "Why not?" I thought, "It is small enough."
This impulse decision proved to be a game changer.
In the UK I carried my two cameras and three lens bag with me wherever we went: Walking around Somerton. Walking around Glastonbury and up and down the Tor. Touring Caerphilly town and castle. However, it was during an extended walk in Devon, from Fingle's Bridge to Castle Drogo and back, that I really got tired of carrying the two cameras and three lens bag. It was heavy!
By Dartmoor I could not face carrying the bag anymore so, before I walked up to Grimspound, I left the bag in the car and put the X-T1 with 27mm lens in my coat pocket.
This (even more) minimal combination was truly liberating. From this point of the holiday, I ditched the bag and used only the XT-1 and 27mm carried in hand or slipped into a coat pocket. I enjoyed the walks with my family more and still pulled in decent results. Here are a few pics from the latter part of the holiday taken with the X-T1 and 27mm:
While I was happy with the 27mm FOV for town and landscape use, I was also pleased with my people pictures using the 27mm.
27mm father and daughter selfie!
Kudos to the X100 series owning folks who realized the beauty and simplicity of a single body/prime lens combination from the beginning. This is a reminder to me with my fixation on gear acquisition and having a lens for every situation, that in reality it does not really take much to enjoy photography, capture memories, and still achieve results.
 |
| The Holiday Hero Combo |