Is just the X70 + WCL enough?

davidzvi

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Name
David
I have a one week vacation planned next month to the Seattle WA / Portland OR area and am actually thinking about just taking my X70 and WCL with me and leaving the reset home. I'm trying to figure out if I'm crazy.:coco:

The rest that I would take:
Panasonic GX85
Oly 9-18
Pan 12-32
Pan 35-100 and / or Pan 45-175 or Pan 14-140 vII
Pan 20 f/1.7
Pan 42.5 f/1.7
 
Will you be visiting cities, or mostly the outdoors?

Something with more tele reach could be useful - from your list, I'd get the body with either 1 (long) zoom or the 42.5/1.7.
 
Will you be visiting cities, or mostly the outdoors?

Something with more tele reach could be useful - from your list, I'd get the body with either 1 (long) zoom or the 42.5/1.7.
Both. We are flying into Seattle, spending the weekend with our son. Taking a road trip during the work week to Portland. And returning at the end of the week to Seattle before flying home.

I already own everything listed well I own everything but the 14-140. Debating about picking another one up.
 
If you can bend the Fuji to your will completely, then just take it... don't even bother with the WCL


I've been on plenty of trips with just my GF1/P20 and never felt restricted. Then I migrated to the E-M1/PL15 for light and fast trips and since the start of the year it's been almost exclusively a tiny little Oly TG-870...

I'm seriously thinking about selling all my crap and just getting a high quality compact camera like the GRII, X100F or the RX1. :daz:
 
If you can bend the Fuji to your will completely, then just take it... don't even bother with the WCL


I've been on plenty of trips with just my GF1/P20 and never felt restricted. Then I migrated to the E-M1/PL15 for light and fast trips and since the start of the year it's been almost exclusively a tiny little Oly TG-870...

I'm seriously thinking about selling all my crap and just getting a high quality compact camera like the GRII, X100F or the RX1. :daz:
I've considered it as well. Sell all my m4/3 stuff, buy an X100F + TCL to go with my X70 and WCL; 21mm, 28mm, 35mm, & 50mm. But the X70 already has the digital TC for 35mm & 50mm. So what I really need is something for say 90mm and 120mm.
 
Well, if the digital teleconverters are good enough for you (I'd personally rather trust the X100f's 24mp sensor for cropping, than the X70's 16mp), you could put the TCL on the X100f and use 2x digital teleconverter to get you out to 100mm.
 
The is not perfect, but not bad either IMHO.
1/30, f/2.8, ISO 3200, 35mm TC
 

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I am going to San Fransisco in September and plan to leave camera bodies and lenses behind here in New Zealand. Going to either purchase a Fuji X70 or a Ricoh GRii. At this stage it looks like the Ricoh will get the nod, but in saying that, I have heard a rumour that there could be a new model comming out shortly, so will probaly just hang fire at the moment.
Actually if you you think one is better than the other, I would be interested to know.
I do not want to go away and be bogged down by gear, so the minimum would suit me fine
 
I am going to San Fransisco in September and plan to leave camera bodies and lenses behind here in New Zealand. Going to either purchase a Fuji X70 or a Ricoh GRii. At this stage it looks like the Ricoh will get the nod, but in saying that, I have heard a rumour that there could be a new model comming out shortly, so will probaly just hang fire at the moment.
Actually if you you think one is better than the other, I would be interested to know.
I do not want to go away and be bogged down by gear, so the minimum would suit me fine
Tilt and touch screen were the main reasons I picked the X70 over the GR or Nikon A. For me the Nikon A was actually me second pick, but that's because I'm also a Nikon shooter for events.

So far no regrets and I enjoy the physical / visual controls a lot.
 
Like someone else said, if the digital tcon of the X70 is acceptable to you, it could conceivably replace at 21, 28, 35 and 50. I shoot this way with the Ricoh GR and it's perfectly fine for a go-anywhere pocket camera. I have to admit that I complement the GR with the Panasonic GM1 with 25/1.8 and 45/1.8 for the extra depth of field control and reach. But if you're primarily a wide shooter and can get by without tele lenses, the X70 with W-CON would probably work very well for you.
 
Well I leave Saturday morning. I'm going to just take the X70 & WCL, I even went out and picked up a Domke Next Gen Trekker for the trip. It should be big enough for both with a few filters and batteries.

Since posting I have actually sold off both my Pan 35-100 f/4.-5.6 and Pan 45-175 f/4-5.6. So what to do when I get back? :hmmm: Torn between selling the rest off and making the switch to Fuji. Or saving up for the yet to be released Pan-Leica 50-200 f/2.8-4.0.
 
As much as I like the X-Pro1 with the compact 18/2 I would have missed some of my favorite shots of the last couple years without the flexibility of the 18-55mm kit zoom. Sometimes you just can't zoom with your feet or don't have time to switch lenses. When it comes to a walkaround combo I clearly favor flexibility over the last bit of IQ and would pick the GX85 with the 12-32 (and the 20/1.7 for low-light stuff) over the X70. YMMV.
 
As much as I like the X-Pro1 with the compact 18/2 I would have missed some of my favorite shots of the last couple years without the flexibility of the 18-55mm kit zoom. Sometimes you just can't zoom with your feet or don't have time to switch lenses. When it comes to a walkaround combo I clearly favor flexibility over the last bit of IQ and would pick the GX85 with the 12-32 (and the 20/1.7 for low-light stuff) over the X70. YMMV.
That's a thought. But the WCL gives me 21mm on the wide side that I think I'll miss more than the 50-64mm on the telephoto end since the X70 has the digital converter.
 
Well back from vacation. In general it wasn't bad.

Minor annoyances, having to change back and forth from RAW to JPeg for the TC and manually setting the WCL on and off. It would be nice if you could have those settings in a custom setting. There was only once that I forgot to set the WCL, but a few when I was shooting JPegs when I would have preferred to be in RAW.

Bigger issue, no IBIS/OIS and speed. There were several times it would have been really handy. We took two Segway tours and even while stopped some form of OIS would have been nice. I also tried to do a couple of handheld Panoramas, something I've done with my m4/3 gear, didn't work so well. There were also times that AF and general speed were just a little too slow. It wasn't an issue in general, but every now and then it was slow enough to notice.

I was hoping this trip would convince me to sell off the rest of my m4/3 gear for an X-T20 or wait for the X-E3. Now I'm not sure. I found a nice deal on a Pan-Leica 15mm. With my Pan GX85 the aperture ring might give me a similar feel as the X70, we'll see.

But here are a few from the trip.
 

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Nice shots ... straight outa the box or pp'ed? I really dig the colors and the contrasty look.

Well back from vacation. In general it wasn't bad.

Minor annoyances, having to change back and forth from RAW to JPeg for the TC and manually setting the WCL on and off. It would be nice if you could have those settings in a custom setting. There was only once that I forgot to set the WCL, but a few when I was shooting JPegs when I would have preferred to be in RAW.

Bigger issue, no IBIS/OIS and speed. There were several times it would have been really handy. We took two Segway tours and even while stopped some form of OIS would have been nice. I also tried to do a couple of handheld Panoramas, something I've done with my m4/3 gear, didn't work so well. There were also times that AF and general speed were just a little too slow. It wasn't an issue in general, but every now and then it was slow enough to notice.

I was hoping this trip would convince me to sell off the rest of my m4/3 gear for an X-T20 or wait for the X-E3. Now I'm not sure. I found a nice deal on a Pan-Leica 15mm. With my Pan GX85 the aperture ring might give me a similar feel as the X70, we'll see.

But here are a few from the trip.
 
Indeed, love the colors here. Compositions, too. Well done!

But yeah, I can see where the IS would come in handy. My perfect travel set-up is probably made up of 3 cameras: a tiny waterproof camera for when the going gets really rough, a 1" or so zoom compact for everyday flexibility, and a larger sensor fast prime in a versatile focal length for your type of shooting, for ultimate IQ and low light shooting.
 
Great to see your update to this thread! And thanks for recounting your experiences with that combination.

The Ricoh GR can shoot in raw when using the digital Tcon function, so I'm surprised that the Fuji required you to switch back to jpeg. Lack of OIS would be something of a hassle, I agree. The GX85 with a wide prime would be my ideal compromise between a smaller camera but with faster performance and reliable IS. I move between the Ricoh GR, Panasonic LX7 and Panasonic GM1 for my everyday cameras: I could travel with the LX7 and GM1 if I had to, but I'd prefer to travel with the GX85 and a few primes.
 
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