27mm lens really needed?

Hi - recently traded in "heavy" Nikon gear for Fuji x-t2. Started with 35mm, added 60mm and recently purchased 14mm. Will be taking Egypt trip with family to tour the major cites including going down the Nile. I expect that approximately 75% of usage will be from the 35mm and 60mm, while the 14mm will come in handy when wider is needed. I'm now wondering if the gap between the 14mm and 35mm isn't too big. While a 27mm Fuji pancake lens (pre-owned) can be purchased a few hundred dollars, I don't want to always rely on more gear to possibly substitute for using the 14mm and 35mm lenses more wisely (such as taking steps in or out, etc.) I also don't know whether it's worth the effort while on vacation to keep switching lenses because a slightly wider view may be more advantageous than the 35mm. In terms of alternate lens sizes, the Fuji 23mm is too expense for me to justify - that's why I'm limiting to the 27mm which is much more affordable. Any practical advise is appreciated...

I also don't know whether it's worth the effort while on vacation to keep switching lenses

 

Sometimes (usually) I bring along too much, and end up never using some of the lenses at all.

 

Other times, I trim to the bone, and thereby miss some really spectacular shots (the missed ones are always spectacular, by the way).

 

But it occurs to me, that your situation calls for just one wide-to-tele zoom lens.

 

If your religion doesn't allow zooms, then you can just go to heck.:eek:

Just my 2ct: The Fuji consumer kit zoom 16-50mm without aperture ring but with OIS surely isn't on par with a Canon 24-70/2.8L but floats my boat splendidly. - Its a lens that looks unaffordable on its own (351€) but together with a 2nd, consumer grade, body it can be had for an appropriate price. I got the pair of zooms in a kit for 500€ (looked like Fuji paying me, to give that camera a home). Maybe you are able to pick up something old with that zoom for little money? On the IQ side: I think the zoom holds up for 4K viewing. - Fuji's firmware does an amazing job straightening out it's distortion (Easily visible when you look at RAWs & JEPEGs side by side)

I also don't know whether it's worth the effort while on vacation to keep switching lenses

Tough question! -

• Yes, the images you might get should be worth it.
  
• No, the shots that you'll miss with wrong lens mounted will vex you.
  

My honest reply: I travelled with APS SLRs; 2 bodies, kit zoom, 12-24/4, 135/2.8 + 50/1.4. - Works for me. - Not too much gear, still portable sufficiently versatile. By day there is enough light to stop the kit zoom down for acceptable results. By night it ends bagged. A huge 24 /1.8 doesn't feel worth it's bulk and stays at home. I am fine with the 55-135mm gap. For quality obsession in close quarters I might bag the 135 and live with the 24-50mm gap.

Fujis: I have older ones, X-E1 & the cheapo, the pair of zooms and that's all (besides a system flash gun that doesn't make me happy Not it's own, more my cameras' fault). - My kit weighs about the same as Nikon & 18-140. Results hold up for 4K viewing. - The cameras do admittedly vex me. AF speed at the 230mm end or in dim light sucks. In broad daylight I am quite fine.

Serious photography with primes? - I tried. I know: I want at very least 1.5 bodies and guess I'd love to have 3 of the lighter ones (like Fujis). Yes, that is an old school press kit. - It costs too. Lens changing on vacation with others(!) is tricky, if you aren't the athlete around a flock of lazy gals staggering around in heels or the boy around well nourished retired chain smokers. - If you go mountain hiking with non photographers in impressive shape you are basically lost. Too slow anyhow. Just taking a picture already takes stolen time. Forget(!) lens changing on a nasty goats' path. - Even cameras out already earn critique & frowns, since people suspect worries about them to slow you down further at trickier parts.

 

You asked lenses & gaps: I pack 21,35, 90 FF as basic kit and add 15 (selfies!) 50 (single lens & low light compromise) 135 (sometimes nice to have) or not. 50 is usually welded on the 1.33x crop body.

There is no reasonable answer to decades old "50 & 35mm?!?" - I recall an LFI article about a guy toting 24 +60mm & sod it. During film days I shot my TLR with 135s & 55s heavily but added an odd frame on the also carried folder with 75mm, once in a while. Probably 3 TLR rolls per folder roll.

I guess if I had your expanded Fuji kit, I'd be tempted to drop the 35mm, considering it substituted by the 27mm.

Lens kit choices are always a compromise, frequently dictated by personal payload limits or lack of funds.

 

My lens shopping advice & policy: Reasonably fast primes and kit zooms. Average vacations don't feel worth the primes hassle. - Look, you'll show up at the wrong time, in not that great light anyhow.

If you want to do bokeh shots of family: Stage those at home! Take folks to the hairstylist, have them doll up, plan great light & location. That should be even worth bribing them with meals and or new clothes.

What do you get on vacation? Bad hair, convenience & comfort optimized clothing, probably even sunglasses! Since you don't pay travel cost to drown the background in bokeh, kit zooms will shine at f8 and even toss their OIS in, to give decent IQ. At the end of the day people will ask for a copy of your files to view them on their screens. - Will those be(come) 4K at all? - So why bother about the theoretically superior IQ of primes? (Who knows which percentage of that comes across once the light gets a little dim and shutter speeds become riskier?)

I like the 14mm's FOV but am not sure, if I'd carry it, if I had a zoom starting at 16mm, especially with sweeping panoramas being an option supported by the carried camera.

 

As long as I 'll have hope for my co-travellers getting distracted by something, I'll carry interchangeable lenses with me. Traveling on my own at my pace, I'd feel less pressure to bring zooms.

Rent a 16-55mm or 18-55mm.

. . . Fuji x-t2. Started with 35mm, added 60mm and recently purchased 14mm. Will be taking Egypt trip with family to tour the major cites including going down the Nile. Any practical advise is appreciated...

 

I expect that I use more Prime Lenses than many here and I have many Prime Lenses to use: However - for holidays and travel I find a Zoom Lens is invaluable.

 

***

 

BTW, the 'gap' between FL = 14mm and FL = 35mm is quite large.

 

Additionally FL = 35mm is not a W/A Lens on your Fuji.

 

If your aim is gathering a 'useful' set of Prime Lenses, as a general comment I'd ere toward adding a Prime closer to FL = 24mm (not 27) and then one more Prime Lens between the 24mm and 14mm. I am not familiar with all the FL offerings of Fuji.

 

WW

One good zoom will serve you much better. These days, primes really just add weight and inconvenience. If you're going to be doing portraits and want a bokeh-lens, then carry one prime and a good zoom.

 

On my last trip I was forced to work with one lens, a 24-105mm on full-frame Sony. Once in a while I longed for my 12-24mm and once or twice I wanted my 100-400mm, but I'm still happy with my overall results. See here:

 

Queen Mary 2 - 2018/2019

If you had not already started going down the road with primes a zoom could have been in order. I don't know what they have for primes but I may have been more careful about the spacing. You already know what each lens can do, so for me, I would stick with what you have.

 

 

My most used lenses for 30 years have been a 17mm and a 400mm. I am talking about 90% of images taken. In the old days on film, and now the wide on full frame and the long on crop. You would not believe me if I told you how many lenses I have gone through in those years because I thought I needed something in between. Thankfully I have settled on a few...but I know I will change my mind again!