Hi everyone,

Sadly my much anticipated trip to Canada for later in the year to visit my elderly Father and my Sister and her family has had to be cancelled which is a great pity as I’ve really been looking forward to it. So we’ve booked to go to Crete for a fortnight. I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what gear to take and, based mostly on my inability to carry very much weight nowadays which is getting progressively worse 😦 , I’ve decided on travelling ultra-light even by my standards!. So I’m just going to take three small ultra-lightweight Lumix pancake lenses, one of my tiny 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lenses and my equally compact 14mm f/2.5 and 20mm f/1.7 prime lenses as well as my all-time favourite travel camera my much-loved and much-travelled Olympus OM-D E-M5 II. Maybe I’ll occasionally miss having a bit more telephoto reach but, given my day to day shooting preferences, I’d rather have a bit more at the wide-angle to standard focal length range. I took just my 14mm lens out with me yesterday to remind myself how good this little lens really is, as a 28mm equivalent focal length it makes for a good walk-around lens whereas the 20mm (40mm) lens is another good all rounder and good for environmental portraits etc.. Another nice thing about small lenses like these is that one can leave them when not being taken out and about in the small room safes that one typically gets in hotel rooms alongside other valuables as they take up so little space especially with their hoods removed.

So as to use all of these with my 58mm filters I fitted 46-58mm step up rings and screw on metal lens hoods to the two prime lenses . It might seem strange to fit larger hoods to tiny lenses but they add next to no weight and bulk and of course they can always be removed when not required. I know from ample experience how the sunshine in that part of the world is incredibly strong and bright and I’ve found that the hoods do an excellent job of shielding the front elements of the lenses from stray light and knocks. Fitting these hoods also makes rotating a polarising filter much less fiddly as long as one remembers to turn the hood clockwise 🙂 . Although the lenses aren’t weather-sealed (the camera body is) their small size makes them easy to shield with one’s hand and having the hoods fitted helps to prevent rain from getting on the front elements of the lenses. I’m not anticipating much rainy weather at that time of year but I’ve been caught out a few times in the past with sudden heavy downpours. I also dug out and fitted my silicone lens covers as an alternative to using lens caps as they provide extra cushioning when stacking the lenses in the bag. As they’re a snug fit they could also help protect the lenses from condensation which I’ve had happen a few times when moving from an air-conditioned environment to very hot outside temperatures. All of this and the usual spare batteries, filter case and lens cleaning stuff fit into my Billingham Hadley Digital camera bag nicely which in turn fits comfortably under an aircraft seat and suchlike.

I’ve visited quite a few Greek islands in past years including many years ago to a different part of Crete and I know just how scorching hot it gets in Greece in the Summer, generous quantities of sunblock, water to keep hydrated and loose fitting natural-fibre clothing being the order of the day so another very good reason for travelling light with my camera gear. During the daytime I’ll probably just take the 12-32mm and maybe one of the primes and just one of the two faster primes in the evenings where I have the opportunity to experiment further with my diffusion filters. I also want to ensure that I have at least one lens, in this case two, with manual focusing for poor lighting situations. The picture below is deceptive as it makes the lenses look longer than they are, the longest of the two prime lenses with the lens hood fitted is only just over 2 inches or 6 cm long so still very compact.

Kind regards

Leigh