ive been struggling with this for like three weeks now lol. so heres my deal im heading to tokyo in about two months for a ten day trip and all i wanna do is wander around Shinjuku and Shibuya at night just taking candid street shots. my main body is the Panasonic S5 which i love to death cause the colors are gorgeous and low light is pretty decent but holy crap the kit lens is an absolute brick. like seriously my neck hurts after an hour of walking around with it. i need something small. really small. pancake style if possible so i can actually shove the camera in a coat pocket or at least not look like a creepy tourist with a bazooka pointed at strangers.
i spent way too many hours reading forum threads and watching youtube reviews. saw a ton of people raving about the Sigma 45mm f2.8 cause its tiny and cheap used, but then other folks say the autofocus on the S5 hunts a lot in dim neon lighting and it gets super noisy. looked into the Panasonic 35mm f1.8 too since its part of that little compact series with the matching sizes, but im worried 35mm isnt quite tight enough for some of the stuff i wanna capture, or maybe it is and im just overthinking it because ive been staring at spec sheets for too long. my budget is around 400 to 500 bucks max since i already blew most of my savings on plane tickets. i just want something sharp enough, small enough not to draw attention, and fast enough for evening street stuff without killing my back. so like... which one of these actually sucks the least in real world use or is there some weird adapted manual vintage lens setup im completely sleeping on?
@Reply #1 - good point! Honestly drop the zoom lens right now and grab the Panasonic Lumix S 35mm F1.8. I know you were stressing about 35mm being too wide, but trust me, in Shinjuku alleys you need that extra breathing room anyway. That lens is shockingly tiny, balances on the S5 like a dream, and the autofocus actually keeps up when the sun goes down. Stay away from the Sigma 45mm if you hate hunting autofocus, especially under those crazy neon lights. The Panasonic 35mm f1.8 is right around your budget used, weather sealed, and turns your setup into a pocketable street machine. Have an epic trip to Tokyo!
@Reply #2 - good point! Though I would respectfully offer a different perspective regarding the budget constraint. Sticking strictly under five hundred dollars is safer for a trip. I am very satisfied with the TTartisan 35mm f1.4 Manual Lens for L-Mount since it costs way less and leaves money for food. TL;DR: Go manual to save cash safely.
man i totally feel your pain on this one. lugging a heavy kit lens around all day in places like shinjuku is brutal on your neck, and honestly you just end up looking way too intimidating when youre trying to grab quick candid shots of neon-lit alleys. i went through a very similar crisis right before a trip last year and stressed myself out way too much over spec sheets. ended up grabbing a tiny prime lens well within your budget and it completely changed everything for me. heres what i learned from actually walking around with a lightweight setup:
- ditching the heavy zoom forced me to move my feet more, which actually made my composition way better instead of just standing still and zooming in
- having a setup small enough to slip into a coat pocket saved my shoulders and kept me from feeling like a giant tourist target
- autofocus hunting in dim light is annoying, but learning to pre-focus or zone focus in neon-heavy areas completely solved the issue for me seriously dont overthink the focal length too much. whatever small prime you end up grabbing will feel like pure freedom compared to that brick of a kit lens. have an amazing time in tokyo man, youll love it!