Kit #7: Big Zoom, Fast Prime
Total cost: £1,827
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV (£649)
The Micro Four Thirds system is an excellent place to start looking for travel cameras. Lightweight and fully featured, these mirrorless models are designed for those who prize versatility over a big sensor, and the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV has versatility in spades.
This tidy little camera is designed to help beginners get to grips with camera settings, with helpful guided auto modes and scene modes that can be accessed via the touchscreen interface. If you’d like to give your images a little pop, there are also Olympus’s Art Filters available.
This isn’t to say that the E-M10 IV is a simplistic or frivolous camera – with 15fps burst shooting, 4.5-stop in-body stabilisation, and strong image quality up to ISO 1600, it puts a fair amount of power at the user’s fingertips.
We’ve paired the E-M10 Mark IV with a couple of Olympus-made lenses, including one of the broadest all-in-one zooms on the market. Remember – the 2x crop factor of MFT means a lens’s stated focal length is effectively doubled.
Lens: M.Zuiko ED 12-200mm F3.5-6.3 (£879)
Could a 24-400mm equivalent zoom lens really be any good? Yes, it turns out, it absolutely could, and is. This tidy M.Zuiko optic delivers impressive performance throughout its massive zoom range (24-400mm equivalent), and in doing so stakes its claim as being one of the most compelling and versatile travel lenses out there. It’s not pixel-peeping sharp, but it’s better than it has any right to be, with welcome extra features like comprehensive weather-sealing, and highly capable close focusing. At the wide end, you can get as close as 22cm from your subject. It’s not one for low light, but as a daytime walk-around lens, it’s absolutely superb.
Lens: M.Zuiko 45mm F1.8 (£299)
Once the sun starts to set, you simply swap out your superzoom for this gorgeous little fast-aperture prime lens. With an equivalent focal length of 90mm, this is quite a tight lens for generalpurpose shooting, but will work great for street portraits and picking out details. Its internal autofocus system is reliably speedy, while the seven-blade aperture does a good job of creating lovely, smooth bokeh.