Road Trip Wrap Up; What Worked, What Didn't; Gear Talk

Route 62 west of Ridgway, Colorado. (click to enlarge)
Fujifilm X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 33mm; 1/400th sec. @ f/11; ISO 200

It always feels good to be back home once again.  The colds have run their course, the road trip was a good one and now it is time to a) upload and edit my images and b), take stock of the trip and figure out what worked well, what didn't work so well, what I would do a bit differently, what gear I used for what types of images, etc.  For the next road trip, I find it valuable to assess the last one.  Lessons can always be learned.

First, the system I employed, both with our clothes and my photo gear, worked well.  I used the same concept for both.  For our clothes, we took two larger suitcases (one for each of us) and used them as we would a wardrobe or dresser.  When checking into our hotel each evening, we would take out what we would wear the next day and place that into a small (airline carry-on size) bag and only take that in with us.  The rest of our clothes remained in our vehicle.  In the morning, we would place our dirty clothing into the small bag and then transfer it into a laundry bag we kept in the back of the van.

The same concept worked well for my photography gear.  Since, in the end, I couldn't decide which gear to take, I took both my Fujifilm gear as well as my Olympus gear.  At the last minute, I decided to take our Honda Odyssey minivan (which I had specifically purchased several years ago just for road trips), I had the extra room.  I had all of my Olympus gear in the Mind Shift Gear Backlight 26L and all of my Fujifilm gear in the LowePro Flipside 300 AW II.  

There were two scenarios I encountered when needed to use my gear.  If I anticipated just needing a camera and a lens or two, I quickly transferred that gear into my old lightweight Ape Case shoulder bag and carried that.  If I anticipated needing more gear or didn't really know what I would encounter, I just picked up the entire backpack and slung it on my back and walked away with that.  The system worked well for me.  Much of the time, however, I would just pick up my E-M1 Mark II with the 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens and carry that with a wrist strap.

Looking back, I took way too much gear, as is usual.  I wanted to ensure I had my Olympus 300mm f/4 PRO lens with me as I thought we would see some wildlife at a distance.  But the only wildlife we saw were a half dozen mule deer, one live coyote, one dead coyote and an awful lot of ravens!  Oh!  A squirrel or two as well.  A bit disappointing.  If I would have known that wildlife would have been so scarce, I could have left home the long lens or even just taken one system and left the other behind.  But one never knows.

We drove exactly 5700 miles (9173 km).  We also traveled in 16 states.  In my opinion, a minivan makes a perfect road trip vehicle.  It is comfortable, quiet, rides smoothly, solidly built, handles pretty well in all conditions (it is not a sports car!), and my best tank of gasoline averaged 31.2 mpg.  We can easily transport 8 people comfortably it when needed.  If necessary, my wife and I could sleep in it quite comfortably.  It holds all of our clothes and paraphernalia.  I can carry all of my gear with tripods, a folding chair and a ladder if necessary (sometimes I'll carry a ladder to get over others if I'm going to photograph something where there is a crowd).  Heck, if I remove the seats, I can carry a 4 ft. x 8 ft. sheet of plywood flat on the floor.  What is not to like, except for the stigma of being a "soccer (football) mom" vehicle.  But I don't care, it works perfectly for our purposes.  

As far as photography is concerned, I made just under 2000 exposures.  Many of those are multiples of the same images, various exposures for HDR conversion if necessary or for later merging for a potential panorama.  I made abut 1100 exposures with the Olympus E-M1 Mark II and about 850 with the Fujifilm X-T2.  

Wall to wall gold! (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 100mm; 1/1000th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200

The vast majority (about 1000) of my images with the Olympus were made with the 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens.  Less than 7% were made with the Panasonic/Leica 8-18mm f/2.8-4 lens.  About 3.5% were made with the 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens.  When analyzing the actual focal lengths I used, there were only 5 images made with the 40-150mm lens that were a longer focal length than 100mm.  I could have used the 12-100mm lens and made the images with that.  Additionally, there were only 60 images made wider than the 12mm focal length on the 12-100mm lens.  Theoretically, I could have taken only the 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens and pretty much made all of my images.  I could have cropped slightly to achieve the longer focal lengths I used and stitched a couple of images together for wider shots than the 12mm focal length would have provided.  All in all, I found the 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens to be a superb performer.  It is so versatile in every way.  This has been and is a winner of a lens.

As far as the Fujifilm gear, I made the majority of my images (775 out of 850) using the 16-55mm f/2.8 lens, which is also a superb performer.  I used the 10-24mm f/4 lens for only 11 images and the 50-140mm f/2.8, with focal lengths longer than 55mm for only abut 20 images.  Again, I probably could have used only the 16-55mm lens and captured the vast majority of my images.  My only wish with the Fujifilm gear is that Fujifilm would make a lens comparable in focal length, aperture and quality as the Olympus 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens.  A Fujifilm 16-140mm f/4 lens of superb optical quality would just about do it for me!  I know the 16-80mm f/4 IS lens is coming, but I wish it were just a little longer focal length at the long end.

When I examine which focal lengths I used most, it tells me a bit about my photographic vision and how I see the world.  Looking back makes for interesting analysis of your work.

I found that when either when I anticipated that I would need a focal length longer than the 80mm full frame field of view I could get with my 16-55mm Fujifilm lens or I was unsure as to how long a focal length I needed, I would pick up the Olympus to give me that extra reach.  If I knew that I wouldn't need anything longer than the 80mm full frame field of view of my 16-55mm lens, I always picked up the X-T2.  It all has to do with how the camera feels in my hand, the controls and the menu system.  It is just a better camera to use.  First choice.

I did find one other situation in which I would always pick up my Fujifilm X-T2 before the Olympus and that was for images where I knew I wanted my final image to be black and white.  The black and white conversions, in my opinion, are superior in the Fujifilm camera than in the Olympus camera.  (the color is better as well but that is another post)

I didn't find any situation where I needed more dynamic range than I could get with a very quick 3-exposure 2-stop automatic bracket or that I was unhappy and wanted less noise with higher ISOs.  In other words, the APS-C and micro 4/3 sensors provided me with all of the image quality I wanted and/or needed.  This trip reinforced my notion that a full frame digital camera would not bring significant benefits or increase in image quality over what I am now using.  The trade-off in money, weight, size for a bit more dynamic range or a little less high ISO noise is certainly, to me, not worth it.

Not quite a speed demon! (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 15mm; 1/200th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200

There is another thing that I did differently this trip than in all of my other multi-time zone trips.  In the past, I always left my camera set for my "home" time zone.  I didn't bother changing zones as I traveled either east of west.  Using the date an image was made along with the time, I could easily calculate the "correct" time I actually made any particular image.  This trip, I changed time zones as we traveled.  I found that, in the X-T2, this was relatively easy and straightforward.  There is a "time shift" setting which allows you to alter the time by the hour without having to reset it.  For the Olympus, I had to reset the time each time.  I always try to keep the clocks in my various cameras set to exact time if possible as I often find myself using multiple cameras on the same outing and I try to keep the different cameras' files in order of capture.  If your clocks are off, then that can cause the images to be out of proper sequence.  That is the OCD in me, evidently!

One quick comment on image stabilization, whether in-camera or in-lens or a combination of the two.  I found a few of the images I made with the X-T2 and 16-55mm f/2.8 lens, neither of which have image stabilization, that were unsharp due to camera movement.  I'll chock this up to being my fault as I got caught up in the moment, was fully concentrating on the images I was making and didn't pay attention to what shutter speed the camera had selected (aperture priority is my most used setting).  Yep.  Even with 48+ years experience, I still can do stupid things and not pay attention to what I am doing.  Will I ever learn?  Luckily it was only three or four exposures but still I was disappointed in myself for not yet learning the lesson of "pay attention to what you are doing!"  I would like to have IBIS in the future in a Fujifilm body, but it is not yet necessary, if I pay attention!  Big "If."

Last year I bought an iPad Pro with the intention of trying to use it as an editing device so I could leave my laptop at home.  I'm still not comfortable with that methodology and there still are some significant drawbacks and limitations.  I did take my laptop, loaded with Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop and created a catalog just for this trip.  At the end of the day, I would create folders for each location I photographed (my catalog is set up by geographical locations by country/state/county/city.  As my photography is travel/landscape/nature/wildlife, I find it easiest for me to have it that way.), keyword each image and upload them into the laptop's SSD drive and into the LR catalog.  A backup copy was also simultaneously uploaded into a separate 1TB USB 3.0 SSD portable drive.  

For extra insurance, I brought along my Western Digital Wireless Pro 1TB portable drive which has a built-in SD card slot. After transferring my images to my laptop and backup hard drive, I plugged in my SD cards into the WD drive and my images were automatically transferred to that drive as well.  I was pleasantly surprised how quickly and how well this device worked.  It only transferred what had not previously been transferred so it made quick work of it.  It has a rechargeable battery, which lasted for a least a week and this little device can be a valuable form of backup if you can't travel with a laptop or other backup device.  

Patriot! (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 14mm; 1/1640th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

Finally, I didn't erase or format my memory cards from my cameras and had those originals as well.  I was covered.  Only after I had all my images successfully transferred to my home desktop, with associated backups in three places, did I reformat my cards and reformat the other hard drives.  I'm not taking any chances!

When I returned home, it was very easy to merge the travel catalog with my master Lightroom catalog on my desktop.  All the work had been done while on the road.  All images were also put into a collection so all were in one place sat which time I then set about the task of culling, selecting, making panoramas, merging HDRs and editing the images I thought worthy.

What would I do differently?  I wouldn't take both gear systems.  Too much.  Didn't use the vast majority of it.  But that is not untypical of most of us.  However, I found it a pain to have only one set of filters to share between two kits.  I may, sometime in the future, pick up another set of polarizing and neutral density filters so I don't have to transfer them back and forth, back and forth.  But if I only take one kit in the future, that won't be a problem next time.

All in all, our trip was a very successful one and one which was very satisfying, both in the places we visited and the images I made.  

I will be creating a gallery for the images I like from this road trip and posting that gallery to my website later this week.  So check back and see what other images I made.

Join me over at Instagram @dennisamook or my website, www.dennismook.com. 

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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