UKH

Hi,

I've had an Olympus OMD EM 5 MK2 for about a year. I followed some advice from another thread on this forum pointing to this link. https://alpineexposures.com/phototips/tips-from-the-pros-which-camera-gear.

I bought the M Zuiko 9-18 F4-5.6 as recommended. and I like it, its a good lens. However, I tend to struggle more with framing up shots due to how wide the lens is (still quite new to photography). I then bought the 40-150 "plastic fantastic" I think its a great quality lens and found it really enjoyable, found it much easier to frame shots with this and got some really good photos.

I used this combination in the dolomites and got some great pics but changing lenses was a right pain. I've got a trip coming in nepal and would like one lens that does it all. From my research, looks like the following are my options:

12-100 pro

12-200 (i believe this is weather sealed like the one above)

14-150.

Any thoughts on these lenses and what would work for this trip?

Cheers

If you use library software like Lightroom I believe you can look up the focal lengths of your shots and work out where you do most of your shooting. Might even be able to sort them in windows if there's a focal length field in the file description? That should guide you to where you should be looking to buy in order to reduce lens changes.

Can't advise on the lenses you list as I've never used them. My 'mountain lens' is the 12-40 f2.8pro - wide enough for summit selfies & landscapes, narrow enough for most other stuff. Not fast enough for shallow d.o.f. portraits. Too bulky for use on VFS (I use the 17mm f1.8 for that). Weathersealing works.  I also have the 'plastic fantastic' and the quality of both the lens and the images produced is far higher on the 12-40.

This list might be helpful:- https://amateurphotographer.com/buying-advice/best-zoom-lenses-micro-four-t...

I've had an EM 5 MK2 and a Zuiko 14-150 for about 8 years. I've got various primes and a Leica/Lumix 8-18. The Zuiko 14-50 ihas been rarely off the camera when I'm travelling. It's a great lens when you're in "tourist" mode. It's a light combination that's easy to use. If I'm concentrating on taking proper photos - I tend to use the 8-18 for landscapes & interiors and a Zuiko 17mm f1.8 or 45mm 1.8mm for everything else.

On a side note, I have an iPhone 15 pro that has turned into my travel camera in the last 3 months!

I have Pansonic MFT lenses going all the way from 7.5mm to 400mm.

Would you consider Panasonic glass?

I would, I stuck to olympus so far cause its the same eco system, but as long as there are no disadvantages, I'd consider pana glass

I'm in the same boat as you, having stuck with glass specific for my Panasonic camera.

I want to buy an Olympus 300mm prime but I'm worried how it will interact with my Panasonic camera.

With Panasonic cameras and glass, there is Image Stabilisation in both the camera and glass. However with Olympus the Image Stabilisation is mainly in their cameras. Only the high end glass has Image Stabilisation and sadly from what I've read the glass Image Stabilisation is not compatible with Panasonic cameras.

This isn't a problem, I'm guessing here, with Olympus cameras because the Image Stabilisation is in the cameras and they don't get much glass with Stabilisation to begin with.

As for a One-size-fits-all, I think you are looking for Unicorn Poo, which you'll never find. From what I've read, and again with no facts to back this up, Olympus make better glass. But this is only based on reviews and no first hand experience.

To counter the problem of continuously swapping lenses, have you thought about using two camera bodies with lenses to cover most situations?

One body with a lens for landscapes, and another with a Tele lens on it?

They'd most likely come to roughly the same weight as a reputable Full Frame camera and equivalent zoom lens.

That's what I ended up doing: G9 for the 'main' body and a GX8 for the 'other' one. Works well, but one thing I found an unexpected annoyance was that my muscle memory for the physical control gets confused when I swap between the two. Both have lots of programable controls (great!) but all in different places (doh!). On balance though, it works. And a used GX8 wasn't too expensive.

I did this for the first time recently when a friend asked me to shoot her daughter's Pre Prom Party.

I used  two cameras with 25mm and 42.5mm lenses. This concept was a godsend when trying to herd cats and photograph them all too giddy, including the parents. Thankfully my Panasonic cameras were very similar in their button layout and how I set those buttons up.

I now love Prime lenses.