For any photography enthusiasts or professionals reading, I use a Panasonic G5 (micro four-thirds), and used a 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 kit lens from 2013-2017 (full frame equivalent 28-84mm). In 2017, I replaced it with a much faster 20mm f1.7 prime allowing the capturing of much more light, as well as an increase in saturation, a reduction in size and a significant boost in sharpness. This 20mm was basically glued to my camera for a long time.

This pancake lens is the full-frame equivalent of a 40mm f1.7, so is a 'normal' lens in the traditional sense (providing a 'normal looking' perspective in terms of the natural distortion from variations in focal length). It's an unusual focal length but it's a nice balance between the wider 35mm which I like, and 50mm which I personally find too narrow. Perhaps surprisingly, it's also technically closer to a 'normal' perspective of the human eye than the classic 50mm given the full-frame's diagonal is in fact ~43mm (a nice little tidbit of information).

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It's a great lens and I would say an essential (or something similar) for the M43 system, I have even read several times that it 'made the system'. I find it extremely versatile given its incredibly small size for a good quality fast lens. This helps also for street photography as when the size is coupled with its 40mm equiv. field of view, most people do not even realise they are in the shot. For a while I missed having easy access to a portrait focal length that I had with the kit lens (at 84mm full-frame equiv.), but still enjoyed environmental portraits in any case where the 20mm performs well. 20mm (40mm full frame) doesn't do too badly at distorting when getting closer to to the subject too.

In 2018 however, I added the Panasonic 42.5mm f1.7 (85mm FF equiv.) which may be my favourite lens now. It is always fun to play with such a shallow depth of field - 0.6mm at its minimum focusing distance and widest aperture! Nice to be able to throw the background out of focus with a fairly creamy bokeh at a distance. The sharpness too, just wow, allowing for some freedom in cropping.

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I also used a telescopic 45-200mm f4-5.6 from 2013 to early 2018, it had great reach given the full-frame equivalent of 90-400mm, but at f5.6 at full zoom is not the fastest lens. After travelling for it for a while, I found it so bulky, slow and really not that sharp, so much so that I decided to store that with friends in Penang for a couple years. Although I eventually picked it back up in 2020, the vast majority of my photographs are taken with the 20mm f1.7 and 42.5mm f1.7 (40mm and 85mm FF equivalents). As for the camera, sometimes GAS takes over ('gear acquisition syndrome') and I go looking for other cameras and lenses, but in the end have not made any choices. I do have a lengthy list of specific functions that I would like in my next camera, but am always drawn back to micro four-thirds for the reasons of size. I have my eye on the Panasonic GX9 to gain the 20megapixel sensor, a better EVF, IBIS and a smaller rangefinder body style. Plus something to replace the ever-so-soft aforementioned telescopic.

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n 2018 I added the tiny 9mm prime fixed-F8 bodycap lens, far (faaaar) from sharp but fun to capture fish-eye wide shots for little money. It's poor in almost all regards(!) but at about 1cm thick for $100 I am very happy that it sits in a narrow pocket in the camera bag ready and waiting for fun distorting shot, capturing a scene we're in for posterity, or for environmental selfies.

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I am lucky to live in a time when it is just about impossible to buy a bad camera - the technology is simply excellent at this point. But ultimately, the best camera is the one you have with you, and for us on the road all the time, the bigger the camera, the less likely you'll have it when you want to take that incredible award-worthy National Geographic shot...at least in your mind anyway. 

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If you would like to discuss cameras or photography I would be very happy to hear from you, just use the email in the footer.