Non UK Going to Tokyo…

Tulipone

Tulipone

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Chris
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Hi,

We are off to Tokyo for a few days in March and would be very grateful for advice on what equipment you'd advise I take. There are lots of opportunities for different (at least to my very western eyes).

I have a Panasonic S5 full frame, currently 20-60, 50mm, 85mm and flash. I have never been completely happy with the 20-60 and have dithered about buying a 24-105 or 24-70 but wonder if this'd be a good opportunity to replace the 20-60. I definitely find the 85mm too long for most uses, the 50mm I prefer, but have always hankered after a 35mm. All of that mute as I have no idea what I am going to need.

Grateful for thoughts, advice, Japanese adapters and anything else I'm going to need.
 
Japan has 100VAC, so you need plug adapters and Voltage convertors compatible with that. Getting around Tokyo via subway is quite simple, the lines are color coded...however at the Shinjuku train station (which is where you get off to walk to the camera stores in Akihabara), the subway line maps were NOT color coded like at all other subway stations..that was true 20 years ago, and I do not know if that changed at all. I spent half an hour simply trying to match Kanji symbols on the map, to figure out which line went back to my hotel!
 
I’d recommend Citymapper app for getting round. Photo wise If you’re not travelling out the city think 20-60 would be ideal
 
Depends on where in Tokyo you are going and what you are doing.

I'd personally want at least 200mm range for going up the world trade centre and taking some cityscapes from there.
On a clear day and long lens you can even get some nice shots with Mt Fuji at the back and city in the foreground.
Even in Odaiba you can get some really nice landscapes with a longer lens.

But for walking in city alone 20-60mm will be nice
 
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wiltw said:
Japan has 100VAC, so you need plug adapters and Voltage convertors compatible with that.
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Good to know. Everything we'll need to USB as just Apple Watches, iphones and camera batteries and I assumed USB would be fine?
ancient_mariner said:
I'd have thought 20-60 would be an ideal walkabout in the city, paired with a fast 35 or 50 for low light.

Calling @Raymond Lin who has, I think, been there before.
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The 20-60 is light so possibly the best option. Will think on.

Thank you both. Still not too sure how scared to be!
 
nandbytes said:
Depends on where in Tokyo you are going and what you are doing.

I'd personally want at least 200mm range for going up the world trade centre and taking some cityscapes from there.
On a clear day and long lens you can even get some nice shots with Mt Fuji at the back and city in the foreground.
Even in Odaiba you can get some really nice landscapes with a longer lens.

But for walking in city alone 20-60mm will be nice
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I have a 150-400 but not going to take that, a bit too weighty - unless consensus disagrees. We will have a trip out to Hakone and Fuji stage 5 so hoping to be close enough for whatever lens either 20-60 or 105.
 
Tulipone said:
I have a 150-400 but not going to take that, a bit too weighty - unless consensus disagrees. We will have a trip out to Hakone and Fuji stage 5 so hoping to be close enough for whatever lens either 20-60 or 105.
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would definitely take a telephoto in that case.
The shots and compression you can get with telephoto is not the same as shooting with a (U)WA.

find a smaller lens ;)
I believe there is a 70-300mm available for l-mount. would nicely compliment your 20-60mm.

Plus from Fuji you can get some amazing shots of the landscape around it with a tele lens.
 
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Tulipone said:
Good to know. Everything we'll need to USB as just Apple Watches, iphones and camera batteries and I assumed USB would be fine?
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Most USB Voltage output convertors are rated for 100VAC-240VAC 50-60Hz. Verify by reading the raised lettering on the plastic case, or the label.
 
My preferred lens....if i had to take just 1 is the 35/1.4. Tokyo is great at night, and 1.4 really helps. In the day, 24-70/2.8 for Japan works really well. Those are the 2 lenses I would take.

I have taken 50mm, 85mm, 70-200 and even 17-28mm. Although I've used them all, the 35 and 24-70 are the lenses I would take with me when I go back.

Tip, if you haven't been before....do not take photos directly at people close by. They value their privacy a lot. Certain districts, like love hotel districts, try not to take photos there, because people go there to erm...do couples things, and often, not with their marital other half so as you would expect, would not be pleased if caught on camera. There was this video (I forgot whether it was a news channel or online video), where someone was caught cheating when his wife saw said video, he sued the company that filmed it, even though he was outside in public space, he won.

It is not illegal to take photos of people per say, not at all, but be mindful of where you are, and just generally be respectful of them. Of course, near malls and tourists spots are generally fine, and you will know when you are near love hotels. The entrance lists their rates by the hour. Which is why if you see vlogs posted by Japanese residents on YouTube, their faces are almost always blurred out. Even when it's in cafe, or in day time.
 
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I usually leave the telephoto lens at home, and take a standard zoom and a fast prime.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Tip, if you haven't been before....do not take photos directly at people close by. They value their privacy a lot. Certain districts, like love hotel districts, try not to take photos there, because people go there to erm...do couples things, and often, not with their marital other half so as you would expect, would not be pleased if caught on camera. There was this video (I forgot whether it was a news channel or online video), where someone was caught cheating when his wife saw said video, he sued the company that filmed it, even though he was outside in public space, he won.
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That's because defamation is punishable in Japanese law. You can't willingly or unwilling defame people regardless of the facts being true or not.

Having worked with and for Japanese companies, sometimes you need to be mindful of their laws or expectations because they don't always align with what we are used to here.
 
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There are LOADS of etiquette that i could mention but the number 1 rule is - Be Considerate.

Follow the crowd if you are unsure, if you think what you are doing might trouble someone, then you shouldn't do it. Things that isn't obvious....blowing your nose...that is bad etiquette. Talking on trains, eating and walking (you might bump into people), tipping (it's an insult), standing on the wrong side of an escalator, Pointing with your finger (do it with an open palm instead),

Anyway....back to photography ! do you know where you want to visit?
 
Although I like some aspects of street photography I would never try to take a picture that I would be uncomfortable being taken of me. Hopefully no problems but best to be aware, thank you for the heads up.

We have 8 full days and intend to take a slow meander around as much as we can and be a proper tourist - have been advised to go to places early before the tourists arrive and then again later to see them lit up. I am interested in Ukeyo-e block printing and excited to have the opportunity of visiting at least two venues for this.

I have a million pictures in my head that I am hoping to transfer to digital and then seeing how many of them I actually managed to get and I’m pleased with!
 
Take the least amount of equipment possible, and some comfortable shoes. You'll find there aren't many places to sit and rest, so you'll be on your feet unless you're eating or travelling (and even then, you might still be standing).

When walking for 8-9 hours a day, the smallest amount of weight adds up. Adding/removing one lens from my bag was the difference between being in agony one day, and breezing through the next.

Google maps is your friend. It will tell you which trains to catch, which platform to go to, and even which cars to get on for the most efficient exit at the other end. Don't worry if you miss one, another will be along in a few minutes (except at night - The "last train home" is usually pretty early by western standards, which is why so many people pass out drunk in the streets or grab a cheap capsule hotel etc).

As for focal lengths, you could use anything. I had anything from 12mm to 300mm with me and used them all, but equally could have just taken a standard prime and been fine with it - There are so many photo opportunities that you'll never have that feeling of missing out. Literally every street is a scene, especially if you're into street photography. Light just hits different in Japan, and combined with the architecture, the people, the clean streets etc, it's hard to go wrong.

Enjoy your trip!

Oh, and don't try Mitsuya Cider - You'll fall in love and then have your heart broken when you return home and can't find it anywhere. :crying:
 
good luck if your using the main tokyo railway station
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It is a madhouse . I think it is so closely related to an ants nest but in human terms. It gets crowded with people rushing about in all directions, let alone finding out which line to go to. date 2019

Nikon d810 lens- nikon 50mm f1.4G - iso1800-1/50sec, as we were rushed through by the tour guide. The other lens I took to Japan was the Nikon 24-70mm G f2.8
 
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Ha, yes, their subway network in Tokyo is a beast. Not just Tokyo Station but the city's. Pay attention to what Google maps says, it will say enter via "entrance 2A or 3B" etc. Weirdly, not all entrances or exits are linked to the core station underground.

So imagine if google maps says, Enter 2B for platform 6. You see entrance 2A thinking you will find the platform underground, you could be wrong. That entrance sometimes are linked to just 2 platforms, and you just had to tap through the gate. So now you have to go back.

Which btw, attracts a fee, you can actually buy tickets to see trains in japan for all the train otakus. Allow you to cross the gates but not allowed to get on the trains. So there could be a fee incurred if you go back out. If could, and I have, played the Stupid foreigner card and ask the staff to let you back out and wave the fee. But just be aware that is at their discretion, by the rules, strictly speaking, you should be charged for going through the gates, regardless whether you get on a train or not.

btw, if you have an iPhone, you can download the Suica card, which is like Oyster Card in London. You can't tap with your debit card, but need to top up the Suica Card. I believe they have still paused the sale of the physical one (chip shortage), so the best thing to do is use the digital one.

Unfortunately, the same feature does not work on Android phones sold outside Japan, and the alternative is cash...or you can get an IC card at another part of the country, they are all compatible with each other.
 
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx8McRHrK7I
what amazed me is how prompt to time the trains are, and how they exactly marry up the train doors to the station train access gates, can be seen in the video. Pity our railways arn't as good. Also no clickity clack from the rails as they have no joints, just one solid line.
The Japanese culture is so different as well, everything has to be precise, such as meal times in a hotel, woe betide you if you turn up half way into the time sheduled, you won't be served because your meal would finish well after the allotted meal time. That is what we found out where we stayed


Just one thing that struck me is how everyone who serves you in any way bows, by the time of the end of your stay you more than likely find yourself wanting to bow down to all and sundry you meet as well
 
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realspeed said:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx8McRHrK7I
what amazed me is how prompt to time the trains are, and how they exactly marry up the train doors to the station train access gates, can be seen in the video. Pity our railways arn't as good. Also no clickity clack from the rails as they have no joints, just one solid line.
The Japanese culture is so different as well, everything has to be precise, such as meal times in a hotel, woe betide you if you turn up half way into the time sheduled, you won't be served because your meal would finish well after the allotted meal time. That is what we found out where we stayed


Just one thing that struck me is how everyone who serves you in any way bows, by the time of the end of your stay you more than likely find yourself wanting to bow down to all and sundry you meet as well
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It took me a couple of weeks to stop bowing when I came back. I still do it without thinking sometimes.
 
I was there in November for 10 days and simply loved everything about my trip for the ease of getting about to the friendliness of the locals and the endless photography opportunities.

I bought a RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens specifically for the trip but dropped it two weeks before going. The zoom was broken but still worked at 24mm and I took my back up EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens which worked fine until I put it on my camera and the dreaded 01 error code appeared. So not the best start but having said that I had to work with what I had and actually the 24mm for street photography worked great. Whatever lens choices you make you will never get everything. I try not to build up my expectation too high and I came away with 6 or 7 bangers which I am more than happy with.

Google maps is your saviour and I would recommend renting either a wifi pocket router or install a Japanese SIM card. Your phone will be useless as the Japanese network is a different system. I used Ninja Wifi and order a router online and picked it up at the airport on arrival. It was roughly £80 for 3GB daily usage. When I went there was a shortage of chips for the Suica/Pasmo cards but you still should be able to get one. There was staff at the airport counter selling them instead of going straight to the machine to buy a card.

I am sure whatever you do you will have a wonderful experience.
 
Thank you all again for your advice. Looking into the train cards and sims. It looks like they are available at the airport (thankfully) and get sorted for the transit to hotel. We are there for 8 nights so hopefully plenty of time to do everything in a nice controlled way.

I hadn’t considered the possibility of an eSIM. Presumably that’d work with my iPhone? Sounds better than a replacement sim.
 
I'd consider a portable charger too - you'll be using your phone for navigation, suica card, google translate, and presumably hotspotting if you go with an esim when there are more than one of you...
 
Tulipone said:
Thank you all again for your advice. Looking into the train cards and sims. It looks like they are available at the airport (thankfully) and get sorted for the transit to hotel. We are there for 8 nights so hopefully plenty of time to do everything in a nice controlled way.

I hadn’t considered the possibility of an eSIM. Presumably that’d work with my iPhone? Sounds better than a replacement sim.
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Yes, I have an iPhone. It worked with the XR too which was my previous phone.

Go to your wallet app, go to travel cards, add Suica and link it to Apple Pay. You can now top up as you go. Tap phone at trains, no need to get tickets from machines. No news to work out how much each journey cost, no need to carry lots of change.

And yes, a 10,000 NHS battery is a must. I would not leave the hotel without it.
 
I use Airalo in Japan, currently 10G for £7.50. If you are low, top up on the go. I practically use the phone for everything in Japan, maps, suica card for travel and also paying for things (yes you can do that! In some shops, all convenience stores), translating, data etc.

YfV8A6O.png
 
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E sims are great, I installed Holafly Morocco eSIM today. Main reason is that Holafly do unlimited data, Airalo do not, however the prices vary region to region and depending how much data you need, one can work out cheaper than the other. I have a bunched installed in my phone. You can have up to 128 esims installed.

MNxJYHh.png
 
Raymond Lin said:
E sims are great, I installed Holafly Morocco eSIM today. Main reason is that Holafly do unlimited data, Airalo do not, however the prices vary region to region and depending how much data you need, one can work out cheaper than the other. I have a bunched installed in my phone. You can have up to 128 esims installed.

MNxJYHh.png
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so you can have as many e-sims on your phone a you want and just activate the one you need when you need it?
do you know if all e-sim compatible phones do this?
 
nandbytes said:
so you can have as many e-sims on your phone a you want and just activate the one you need when you need it?
do you know if all e-sim compatible phones do this?
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Yup, you can buy it per country or region, the latter cost more.

Not all phones are eSIM compatible, but iPhones are in the past 5 years are, I think most of the top of the line andriods. Not sure exactly which one but just google it.

The steps to turn it on…

1 - go to primary sim and turn off data roaming. Also turn off automatic data switching. Leave the sim on.

2 - go to your eSIM for the new country and turn it on. Turn on data roaming.

Now all your data goes through the 2nd sim. Your phone calls goes through 1st sim. So you are still contactable on the phone.

WhatsApp works as normal, internet goes through eSIM for data. The eSIM functions like WiFi basically.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
Yup, you can buy it per country or region, the latter cost more.

Not all phones are eSIM compatible, but iPhones are in the past 5 years, I think most of the top of the line andriods. Not sure exactly which one but just google it.
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Thanks
My missus has latest iPhone.
I'll give it a go on that thanks

I know my android phone doesn't support e-sims but you have just converted me I think since I have to maintain physical sims across countries and it's painful. I'm assuming/hoping androids will let me add many e-sims because I assumed you'd be allowed to add only one.
 
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nandbytes said:
Thanks
My missus has latest iPhone.
I'll give it a go on that thanks

I know my android phone doesn't support e-sims but you have just converted me I think since I have to maintain physical sims across countries and it's painful. I'm assuming androids will let be add many e-sims because I assumed you'd be allowed to add only one.
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I’ve added more information above.

I also do not uninstall to eSIM, I leave it install. If I go back, I just use the app from that company to buy more data and then turn it on again.

It’s not a problem to accidentally turn on the eSIM either, as the data don’t get triggered until you are in that country, the exception would be the European wide eSIM…considering where we are.

So your 30 days for the data plan starts when you land. I installed the eSIM for Holafly today, as you do need to be online to install it. So do it before you leave. One nitpick for Holafly is they email me a QR code to install the eSIM…meaning I need to open the email from a computer so I can use my phone’s camera to scan the QR code. The email also came in Spanish some reason lol
 
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Raymond Lin said:
I’ve added more information above.

I also do not uninstall to eSIM, I leave it install. If I go back, I just use the app from that company to buy more data and then turn it on again.

It’s not a problem to accidentally turn on the eSIM either, as the data don’t get triggered until you are in that country, the exception would be the European wide eSIM…considering where we are.

So your 30 days for the data plan starts when you land. I installed the eSIM for Holafly today, as you do need to be online to install it. So do it before you leave. One nitpick for Holafly is they email me a QR code to install the eSIM…meaning I need to open the email from a computer so I can use my phone’s camera to scan the QR code. The email also came in Spanish some reason lol
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thank you for all the info (y)

now need to find a new phone :ROFLMAO:
 
Tulipone said:
Very Many thanks for all of this. Really helpful.
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As you can imagine, you will be just like a local. Internet working before your seatbelt light goes off on the tarmac. After immigration you can go straight to the train platform for the train and tap through because you already know where you are going via Google maps and your phone’s Suica card get you through.

No need to find the kiosk of where to get physical SIM card. No need to figure out how to get to the city if you land in Haneda, no need to figure out how to get a train ticket, those machines used to only take cash as well!!! And that was only like 2020…not sure now.

if you land at Narita then you need the Narita Express.
 
nandbytes said:
thank you for all the info (y)

now need to find a new phone :ROFLMAO:
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Honestly, I’ve only discovered it because I went to Japan. Most countries I went to I get free internet because of the 3 feel at home thing. Now they removed it I have to get eSIM now more and more.
 
We are going into Haneda. I have been reading about Suica card and not too sure that I like the idea of it being on a phone. My wife takes forever getting her phone out and think that we are going to get along far better with a physical card. The idea of an eSIM and off straight away really appeals.
 
Tulipone said:
We are going into Haneda. I have been reading about Suica card and not too sure that I like the idea of it being on a phone. My wife takes forever getting her phone out and think that we are going to get along far better with a physical card. The idea of an eSIM and off straight away really appeals.
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You can move the suica to an Apple Watch if you have one too.

Suica is good…if they sell it or can find it in stock. Or Pasmo, same thing.

But if things are the same still….suica can only be topped up via the machine at the station, with cash. Which was good in a way because I ended up with a LOT if change so it was my way of converting it back to digital money.

Max balance on the card btw is 20,000 yen, as you can see, I can top up anywhere lol

TmjdyTB.png
 
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Raymond Lin said:
Most countries I went to I get free internet because of the 3 feel at home thing. Now they removed it I have to get eSIM now more and more.
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3 feel at home thing is still in place according to their website. 71 destination supported apparently.....
 
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