Kit #10: The Hybrid
Total cost: £3,477
Camera: Panasonic Lumix S5 (£1,599)
We’ve been focusing on travel photography so far, and haven’t really touched on video. If you want a hybrid set-up for your travels that will allow you to shoot both stills and videos in exemplary quality, look no further – this kit built around the full-frame Panasonic Lumix S5 is the solution.
While the newer Lumix S5 II is grabbing headlines, we reckon most travel shooters will be content to save £400 and pick up the previous iteration, which is a sublime camera in its own right. At 714g, it’s one of the heavier cameras on our list (though a good deal lighter than the decidedly chunky Lumix S1H and S1R), but it’s also one of the best low-light performers, with -6EV luminance detection. Video-wise, you’ve got 4K 60p to play with, as well as a variety of codecs and bit rates.
The battery life of the Lumix S5 is also very impressive, with the option of USB charging, and additionally, it was an early adopter of subject-detect autofocus technology, meaning it’ll recognise and lock onto people, animals and other popular subjects with impressive tenacity. The real-time tracking can keep hold of a human subject even if they turn away from the camera.
We’ve come up with a unique lens combination for this kit, taking you from an ultra-wide perspective to telephoto with just two optics.
Lens: Lumix S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 (£619)
Having an ultra-wide 20mm focal length at your disposal opens up all sorts of creative opportunities, both in photography and video, especially if you’re going to be doing a lot of indoor shooting. One thing that’s particularly impressive about this lens is its close-up focusing capability, with a minimum focusing distance of just 15cm.
Lens: Lumix S 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 Macro OIS (£1,259)
This lens is lots of things at once, spanning a professional workhorse focal range and also sporting macro close-up capabilities. It’s not an f/2.8 lens like the pro lenses (a necessary sacrifice to keep the cost down), but it does have an 11-blade circular aperture diaphragm, meaning you can inject some character into your defocused backgrounds even without a super-wide aperture.