le boecere

You did not ask this, but your post caused me to go and weigh my a6000 carry-on kit: camera + 4 lenses + the assorted other stuff = not quite 5 lbs.

billwassmann Loc: Emerson, NJ

I don't use either Canon or Nikon but a Sony a55. When I want to be light, I use a zoom that starts at 28 and extends to something over 100 (I don't use telephotos much) and my battery charger. In short, one versatile lens and maybe a second camera "in case". I have a film camera for which I bought a 24-105 lens; for me it was ideal (I also have a 100-300 but rarely use it and a macro, also not used extensively anymore. THINK about your pictures instead of shooting endlessly;you'll get better pics. Enjoy your trip.

Hip Coyote

Dear Friends...I wanted to follow up on this post. After all the outstanding comments and recommendations on this topic, I did the following: I wanted to see what focal lengths I use the most whilst traveling. I downloaded Jeffrey Friedl's Data Plot Program which is a plug in for Lightroom. The plug-in plots various data sets such as how frequently a photog uses a particular focal length, aperture, etc. I had the program look at my various travel adventures to US and foreign spots such as Israel and China. The program indicated that 86 percent of my usage was at very wide or wide zoom focal lengths. Based on that, I determined that I can probably use one lens which has wide to about 80 mm focal lengths. Also, although not in the data, I like taking photos inside various dining places to personalize our travel pics...so I need a wide aperture lens capable of low light hand-held shooting. (For instance, we were in a pub on an Ireland island when school children came in and started playing Irish music...not to be missed once-in-a-lifetime opportunity).

Next...I went back and looked at how I really used the pics I did take...I don't typically blow many up...almost all are placed into a self-published book such as Mixbook for memorialization. Not much is ever over 8X10. So, I used my purchased a color card and shot some pics using my typical settings (low ISO's, mid-range apertures, A-priority, hand-held) and compared my Canon 60d with the Olympus OMD- em5Mark ii using a few zooms and primes. Frankly, when blown up to 8X10, I can't really tell the difference in color or clarity. I can edit the saturation as I see fit and often use HDR. So, what does all this mean? I will used the em5 for travel and light weight purposes. I will keep the Canon for more localized events when I can carry more weight.

You could certainly use this methodology to determine what camera and lens you would like to carry for travel. Or you could follow my wife's advice who said, "uh...dont you complain a lot about the weight of that camera and lenses and don't you usually just come home and put the pics on a book? Just carry something small and quite thinking about this. Aren't you doing this for fun? Go cut the grass!"

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

Are you referring to the original em5 or the em5ii?

If it's the latter, then I seriously doubt that you'd see much of a a difference between it and the 60d, especially with good glass like a 12-40 f2.8.

Hip Coyote

em5ii...

You are right on the good glass...I have a junky telephoto that is going back to the store. But I also have a 17 mm prime which is quite fast and crisp. With 5 way stabilization I can hand hold shots pretty well and keep ISO down. So, after I get a 12-40 pro lens, it will be about 85% in my range of use. My good friend, and excellent photographer, uses Olympus when traveling. He recently purchased the pro wide zoom (to the tune of about $1k) and is happy with it.
Best regards,

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

Sell the Canon. Buy m4/3 glass. Don't look 👀 back. Add a 75mm to your stable with the 12-40...it's an awesome 1-2 combo.

Hip Coyote

I may just follow your lead!

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

I've got an em1ii on order...so my lead might be an expensive one ;-)

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

If its between Fuji and Olympus, I would go with Olympus. Reason: I use DXO Optics Pro 11 to process my raw files and do some initial noise reduction. DXO cannot process Fuji raw files due to the unique bayer pattern on the Fuji sensor.