So I finally pulled the trigger on a Sony A7CII last month and man I love the autofocus but I am struggling hard with picking a zoom lens. I’m currently just using a cheap 35mm prime but I’m leaving for a two week trip to Japan in like three weeks and I really don’t want to be swapping lenses in the middle of crowded Tokyo streets while my wife gets annoyed waiting for me. I’ve been looking at the standard zooms but honestly that Sony 24-70mm GM II is way out of my budget and I’m seeing people say the older version is just way too heavy for the smaller C series bodies anyway.

I spent all night reading reviews and i’m still torn. I saw the Tamron 28-75mm G2 gets called the best value lens like everywhere but then I see people complaining that 28mm isn't wide enough for city shots or landscapes and now I’m second guessing everything. Is the 4mm difference between 24 and 28 really that big of a deal? I also looked at the Sigma 24-70 Art because the price is right but I heard it’s a total dust magnet and basically a brick weight-wise which would suck for travel.

Here is what I’m looking for:

• Budget: Trying to stay under $1,200 max, totally fine with used stuff if it saves me money for the trip.
• Use case: Travel, street photography, and some portraits of the family.
• Weight: It cant be massive because I’ll be walking like 15 miles a day.
• Aperture: Kinda leaning towards f/2.8 for the low light stuff but maybe f/4 is okay if the ISO handles it?

I’m just feeling a bit overwhelmed because E-mount has way too many choices compared to what I’m used to. Should I just get the Sony 20-70mm f4 and forget about the bokeh or is there a third party lens I’m totally missing that hits the sweet spot? Honestly just want something versatile that I can leave on the camera 90% of the time...