rscheffler
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 p.3 #17 · Canon, Sony or Olympus for Japan Trip? | |
I'm currently in Taiwan and will be in Japan for about 10 days as of next week. For this trip I brought a few options but have mostly been using an R5II with 28-70/2 and 70-200/2.8Z (plus 1.4x TC). This is not a light kit, but the trip isn't just sightseeing. It's also visiting people along the way. For me the 28-70, while large, is multiple fast primes in one and currently my most used 'people' lens. The 70-200 is technically amazing and actually feels lighter to use than the 28-70. While this two-lens combo does get heavy when just moving from A to B without photographic intent, once the camera is out of the bag and I'm thinking about photography, the weight kind of fades away. For a while. 
I also brought a Leica M kit along, with a few lenses. So far I have not used it. Maybe in Japan. But not sure. While the M and lenses are small, combined it's about 2kg, which isn't that far off the Canon kit. I don't want to carry both at the same time and the Canon is more flexible, so it's gotten all the use.
If I didn't want the f/2 of the 28-70, the compactness and lightness of the RF 28-70/2.8 STM would be tempting for general stopped down street scenes. Probably also the 16-28/2.8. I'd pair these with the RF 70-200/4, which I was tempted to bring, but decided not to because I know I'd end up in situations where I'd rather have the Z when I instead left it behind for the day. After years of mostly exclusively using the M system for travel, this trip has been kind of an experiment to determine if I can deal with the weight and bulk of the Canon kit. It hasn't been perfect, but has actually gone better than I expected.
For Japan we're flying into Osaka and spending a few days in Kyoto because neither my wife nor I have been there before. We're taking the Shinkansen to Tokyo at the beginning of Golden Week and spending the rest of the trip there. We booked the train literally the minute ticketing opened for our desired travel day, in part to snag reserved luggage storage and because it's holiday travel time. We're lucky to be staying there with friends and will just do day outings around Tokyo. For both of us, it's also about shopping in Japan. I will definitely be visiting a camera store or two (probably Map Camera and/or Fujiya)!!! 
Definitely do some price shopping. For example, prices at Bic or Yodobashi tend to be ~10% higher than Map or Fujiya because I believe they instead offer customers points for future use. But as a tourist, the points likely have little or less appeal, so IMO it's better to shop for the best prices. The last time I was in Japan though, Yodobashi had additional discounts for purchasing with a VISA card, so if similar exists currently, it may reduce price differences. Certain lens brands are considerably lower price in Japan than in the US. Particularly Voigtlander and Zeiss, though you need to price shop specific lenses. I'm extremely tempted to pick up some Voigtlander VM glass for my M system. Otherwise I'll probably pick up a 20/1.4 and/or 85/1.4 VCM, given the prices there, tax-free, are about 15-20% better than at home.
Regarding weather sealing, etc. I think one of the biggest issues I've had in Taiwan/Japan in past trips is transitioning from cold indoor air-conditioned environments to outdoor high humidity, especially rainy days. Condensation will form on and potentially inside the equipment. For example, zoom lenses move a lot of internal element groups that in turn displace a lot of air. While shooting outside, zooming action will suck humid air into the lens that will condense on the cold internal elements. You should try to be vigilant about letting equipment dry out overnight rather than keeping it packed away in a bag or case as there can be risk of establishing fungus growth. Pumping a zoom lens many times to expel humid air, once inside an air-conditioned environment, would be good to do.
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