murphle Loc: Wisconsin

Hi Hogs,
I’m going to be traveling to France with my French school and am on the fence as to which of my cameras I should take.

Choices are: Z7 with 24-70 2.8 S OR Olympus M1 Mkiii with 12-40 2.8 pro. I don’t want to bog down with multiple lenses and some of the people on the trip may want their pics taken. I won’t have lighting but will have a peak design travel tripod and my Kase filter set.

I’m curious to see what you have to say. This is my first time going overseas, so I thought traveling on the Club Med tour to Vittel le Parc would be a good trip to get my feet wet.

I’m primarily a landscape photographer and want to do my best to photo document the trip.

Thanks in advance for your input!
Polly

ELNikkor

The Nikon is the obvious choice for awesome landscapes. If you don't take it, you'll be wishing you had. With just that one lens, you'll have more options for crop-ability in post for those subjects which needed more reach than the 70mm afforded in the field. The only caveat would be its extra weight, which I'm sure you can handle.

jim quist Loc: Missouri

I'm going to Germany next year and will be leaving my current camera equipment home. Going to buy a pocket camera to take with me. Just don't want to be bogged down with a camera hanging over my shoulder every where we go.

Hip Coyote

I only have Oly and like the idea of a very good ibis. The pro lens is great..and you will get good shots. I cannot imagine the Nikon being worse..and probably better IQ. What I can say is that I travel quite a bit. Having a camera with robust ibis makes tripods unnecessary in most instances. In Europe you will be on the move quite a bit...possibly in groups. Groups have no time for tripods. And many places, such as churches, etc, do not allow them. If you are going off to do landscapes or have a lot of alone time, maybe a tripod would work. I also wonder why you are limiting yourself to one lens? With ibis, you can certainly take longer exposure photos inside various places, but a small, m43 lens, such as the 17 mm or something like that comes in handy once in a while. Certainly Europe has great landscapes, but there is a lot more to photograph than the countryside...people, cities, etc. All where tripods are of no value or not allowed. If your school stay is a long time, then it is possible that you will have time to get somewhere to take landscapes...but if it is a short period, with a lot of activities, you are going to be limited. Suggest you look at the itinerary to see how much free time you might have.

I know this is not in direct response to your question, but as fellow hogger, I want you to have the best trip possible!

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

"The Nikon is the obvious choice for awesome landscapes."

Have you ever used an Olympus with the 12-40 f2.8 Pro for landscapes? I bet you have not. Olympus optics are well known for their quality and this come from a long time Nikon user. My images of landscape photography using the 12-40 are simply awesome.
My personal opinion is that the OP will do fine taking any of those two cameras. Olympus also has a Zuiko 40-150 f4-5.6 kit lens that is small and sharp, fits anywhere and it could be a great addition to the 12-40.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Either is a fine choice for single camera & lens. I'd go with the Nikon personally, but you might look at the two and consider if one is smaller / more discrete than the other, and see if that is the one to choose.

murphle Loc: Wisconsin

I forgot to add that I do have the 24-70 f4 S, also have the Oly 40-150. A friend of mine swears by the 12-100 f4 Oly pro which would cover most everything except very wide end.

The Olympus is an outstanding piece of kit, no doubt about it, but the IQ from the Z7 is superior. I have to work in post processing to get the Oly close to the Z, whereas the Z needs next to nothing unless I wish to play.

No doubt, the ibis on the Olympus is insane. I have images in Milwaukee hand held to 8 seconds with the 12-40 2.8. I can maybe get to 1/5s with the Nikon hand held. So there’s that. But it’s so good with ISO, it makes up for it. I would love to take multiple lenses, but I also wish to enjoy the trip. We get two free days where we don’t have planned excursions (Verdun, Gerardmere, Toul, Strasbourg and another I forgot)..... and since we’re all adults we may wander as we please.

How will I know if there are no tripods allowed? Hoping there will be signs.

Hip Coyote

There will usually be signs about flash photography and sometimes about tripods. You can be assured there will be few museums, churches etc that allow either. I also suggest that you check the various web sites ahead of time....
Verdun cries out for landscape photography...WWI battle site.

murphle Loc: Wisconsin

Thanks guys!

IDguy Loc: Idaho

Trade in your 24-70 for 24-200. It is all you need and about the same size, weight, and image quality.

Of course for landscape the Z 14-30 might be useful too.

murphle Loc: Wisconsin

The 24-70 F4 isn't going anywhere. I have the 14-30 S series and it's wonderful. I bought the 24-200 and returned it after one shot. I thought the IQ was rubbish compared to the 24-70 F4 and the 24-70 2.8. It's the worst lens I've put on the Z to date and I don't know how it's getting good reviews. I like to view my images at 100% and this lens was awful - not even in the same ball park. I think I'm spoiled by the 24-70 2.8, 70-200 2.8. They're so good it's difficult to go backwards. The 24-200 is not an 'S' lens and it definitely showed that. I was so excited about it too, until I shot with it. I expected it to at least give me what the 24-120F4 gave (which I sold when I went to Z). It did not.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

They are close in framing (I think the M1 is 4/3 is it not?) So I would go with the Z7 for all the other advantages of a FF camera.

murphle Loc: Wisconsin

Yes, the M1 is 4/3 @ 20.1 mp. The advantage of cropping in on the Z is a huge plus for the Nikon. The Oly has a lot of bells and whistles but I’m fairly certain those won’t be features I’ll be looking for whilst touring with the group.

User ID

I have similar gear so I can put myself in your galoshes. No doubt in my mind, and especially not having any lighting, I want all that extra DoF from the m4/3. EM1-II with 12-35 for me. Has big batteries for travel and 2.8 at any FL. I might double the size of my cards, depending on the type of travel.

User ID

My Z is new to me and I have zero plans to replace my 24-120 SLR lens ... world’s best blatantly nonperfect midi zoom. (My main Z optic set is tiny manual lenses.)