This was what I carried in my Lowepro Passport Sling for a week of street- and travel-photography in Seville. Besides my Leica SL2-S and the Vario-Elmarit-SL 1:2.8/24-70 ASPH standard zoom I brought two additional primes: The TTArtisan 50mm .95 M-Mount (with a Novoflex M to L adapter) “Nifty Fifty” and as telephoto lens a vintage (Made in the GDR) Pentacon auto 2.8 / 135mm MC (with Novoflex M42 to L adapter). Add a spare battery, my cleaning kit and a few of my Street Photographer’s Business Cards. To find out which lens never made it onto the camera and why I didn’t carry a backup-body im my Seville camera bag, continue after the jump….
In the past, I always brought back-up bodies when going on vacation. For the eventuality that the principal camera fails. Which happened to me only once, when the just purchased Leica SL2-S failed me on the second day of my Israel vacation last year. Back then, I had my 11 year old Leica M (Type 240) as a backup camera, but ended up shooting most of the trip with my iPhone 12 Pro, as the vintage digital rangefinder with its “prehistoric”low-res back screen is (still) a great tool for street photography. But is has (for me) its limitations shooting all-round travel images.
But the iPhone 14 Pro’s camera has made yet another significant jump in capabilities (3x optical zoom, super wide angle, awesome low-light shots) up from the iPhone 12. And the image quality has yet again improved a lot with the 48MP raw files. So it was a no brainer to solely rely on the 14 Pro as backup. This time, the Leica held up fine. I very much enjoyed using it, but mixed it with plenty of iPhone snapshots.
The majority of the Leica images were taken with the versatile 24-70mm. A focal range that works perfect for travel photography, especially in a city. Especially after dark I was using the TTartisan 50mm .05, my night vision lens. Awesome for night time street photography. The lens I brought but never used, was the 135mm. During the week I never felt the need to attach the telephoto-lens. So after day two it stayed in the hotel safe, and will stay home for future city trips.
So that’s what I carried in my Seville camera bag. If you want to share your city travel setup, please comment below.
Wish you a great Sunday
Marcus
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Though I have used Leica Ms for years, these days for travel I use an Olympus Pen-F. I carry the 12, 14, and the 75 – 150 Zuiko lenses (24-300 full frame equivalents), with 2-3. spare batteries, cards, and a charger. All fits in a nice compact bag. Sometimes I also include my Ricoh GR2 or 3. I find the color and dynamic range of the Olympus to be superb.
Thanks for sharing our setup, Keith! I also have a PEN-F in my arsenal, haven’t taken it for a spin in a long time. Thanks for the inspiration to pick it up again! Marcus
Cool kit
Thanks, much appreciated!
Looks very handy 🙂
Thanks, so much appreciated! Marcus
That’s a great lineup, Marcus! Yay for the iPhone 14, I have the 12 which still has a good camera.
Thanks, John, appreciate your kind words. I upgraded from the Xs and enjoy it very much!
I recently came to realize myself that an iPhone camera, especially the newer ones, can serve as a good backup. I have been exploring its many features and it comes up with photographs comparable to dslr.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, highly appreciated! Marcus
I have an older Canon Rebel that I’ve had for over a decade now… As I slowly work my way back into photography, what smaller cameras would you recommend? I love the larger ones but want something easier to carry around ☺️
It really depends of what you want to do with the camera. If you like Canon, a good entry level camera with possibility to change lenses is the Canon R10 with the 18-150mm kit lens. Check out some videos that are out there about the cam. Then maybe you get an idea if this goes in the direction you are looking for or you want something different / smaller / cheaper…then we take it from there 😉
Thank you so much, Marcus! I really appreciate it! I’ll definitely check out some videos 🤗