It's been a few months since I started this thread, so I figured I owe you fine folk an update!
M9 - Bathing in the Sun by
Archiver, on Flickr
in the months leading up to the trip, I laboured over multiple gear combinations and lens choices. Ricoh GR + 21mm and Panasonic GM1 + 25 and 45? Or would I go whole hog and bring the M9 and GH4 with me? I even vaguely tossed around the idea of bring a Leica M7 film camera, a bag of film, and my Panasonic LX7 for digital images. Or resurrect my Fuji Natura Black film compact, which accompanied me to Hong Kong 10 years ago.
Looking back through my trips and thinking about what I planned to do, my wants boiled down to:
- high quality stills and shallow depth of field
- stabilized video for capturing travel
- convenient snapshots
So I ended up going half-hog. The Leica M9 with 21/2.8, 35/1.4 and TWO 50mm, the Zeiss Sonnar and Leica Summicron. The secondary camera was the Olympus E-M5 with Olympus 17/1.8, 25/1.8 and 45/1.8, and the compact camera was my Panasonic LX7.
LX7 - Before the shopping storm by
Archiver, on Flickr
The M9 got the most use. Work is so hectic that I don't give myself much time to shoot stills, which I lapped up in Hong Kong. The E-M5 came out more to shoot video than anything else, and I found it a bit cumbersome to switch out from a backpack too often, so it didn't get as much use as the HK trip four years ago. In fact, the LX7 sat in my pocket and shot a lot more than the E-M5, which follows my current practices of camera-around-my-neck and compact-in-my-pocket.
M9 - Texture in the Streets by
Archiver, on Flickr
My dear friend and guide in HK let me use his Minolta M-Rokkor 40mm f2 for an afternoon, and it is a super little lens. It's even smaller and lighter than the Voigtlander Nokton 35/1.4, and quite low contrast when wide open, but still sharp.
M9 - Tin Hau Temple 1 by
Archiver, on Flickr
Even though I brought two 50mm lenses, I ended up using only the Zeiss C Sonnar, which gave a really lovely look and enabled me to shoot in very dark environments.
M9 - Lin Fa Kung Lantern by
Archiver, on Flickr
M9 - Plumcot Baker by
Archiver, on Flickr
What would I do differently?
There were times when I was frustrated with manual focus on the M9, particularly in dark environments where I was unable to stop down and go hyperfocal. The E-M5 and LX7 were great in these situations. But they don't have the image quality of the M9, so that's a trade off. The only solution would be to get a Sony A7 type camera and deal with either new lenses, or a Techart Pro autofocus adapter. Or lower my IQ standards a bit and use a 20mp m43 camera like the GH5 or G9, as I still really like the fast m43 lenses.
I wish I had been able to shoot a lot more video conveniently, preferably with a camera that has M9 stills quality. This would necessitate either a M240 (which has video) a Leica Q (which has a 28mm f1.7 lens and video) or get a Sony A7r or A7s variant. But I stumbled across another possible solution.
At a Sony Centre, there were all the Sony cameras and lenses on long tables for customers to try (PARADISE!) and that included the Sony RX0, a matchbox sized stills/video camera with a 24mm f4 lens and the 1" sensor of the RX100 series. With a small hotshoe adapter, I was able to mount the RX0 to the hotshoe of the M9, and it was like an oversized EVF. An arrangement like this would allow me to shoot video with the M9, or at least, shoot video without having to put down the M9. I had a 21mm optical VF in the hotshoe of the M9 most of the time anyway, so a RX0 wouldn't be much different.
With a Sony RX0 on the M9 and a compact for pocket snapshots, this would cover almost all my travel photography needs. The RX0 would be easy to activate without having to switch or pick up another camera. It could even taken 24mm stills with RX100 quality. The Panasonic LX7 continues to be an excellent pocket camera, but a LX10 certainly wouldn't go astray!
It was a super trip and I aim to go back to that amazingly photogenic country again. Thank you to everyone for your experiences and thoughts about traveling light.