GAS GAS: Please Share your Latest Acquisitions Big and Small

I've bypassed the ZFc for now.
Picked up Steve's old X100V. (y)
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This may appear like a strange sideshow, but I think I've made it clear that I'll stick with :mu43: alongside my Nikon Z gear: I just ordered the Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 II.

This marks the end of half a year of dithering between this lens and the marvellous, but less versatile Olympus 75mm f/1.8; I would have loved to own that lens, but it doesn't represent any real added value over other lenses I own and love (the Z mount 85mm and 105mm MC - on both DX and FX, and the Fujifilm 90mm as well). So I went with the "sensible" solution; this allows me to carry a truely compact two body/two lens combo that covers everything from 24mm-e to 200mm-e at f/2.8, supported by I.B.I.S. *and* allows me travel even lighter than with the Z 6 and the Z 24-200mm; and while the Z 6 is the better low light camera, it's not more than two stops better. Oh, and the travel kit is nicely weather sealed, too (in contrast to any Z 50 combo I could come up with).

I thought long and hard about this - because it seems pretty redundant in some ways. But I know I can trust :mu43: to fulfill *all* of my core compact kit needs. Now it certainly does again, after I moved on about ten lenses in the last couple of months/years. It's the right thing to do - and furthermore: case closed.

On a different note, I'm getting more and more serious in my considerations about moving on the Fujifilm system. I do like it, but I certainly don't prefer it over any other system - and it should be obvious that I don't *need* it. I hope we'll see some in-depth reviews of the Z 28mm SE soon - this lens could be the one to end all my pondering.

M.
 
I succumbed to the temptation called GAS :hiding:... for a used (like new) 4/12-100 mm with one year guarantee. It's the *egg-laying wooly pig* that saves me from carrying several lenses on week-end trips (the 2.8/12-40 mm proved a little too short at the log end). And 2/3 of the normal price seemed a fair-enough bargain.
 
Went and picked up the second hand TZ70 today, after a short evening of much menial photography on the long end at 720mm equivalent, and some on the short end at 24mm equivalent, I am somewhat facinated by it. Strange not having a touch screen and a rather different outlay of the menu, but it still is rather intuitive and very Panasonic after the intial screen, so I have done some very initial tweaks. Given that the aperture range is rather limited or so it seems (3,3-6,4 stopping at a minimum at F:8) I think it is somewhat given that it is slanted towards Program/IA use but that can most likely be ok for its intended purposes. Nice little package for what it offers, as far as I can tell, and all for $90. Only proper problem I forsee is my hand size leaves me blocking the flash, quite continously, if not proper care is taken.

Shutter count as far as I can tell is at 67 exposures after this evenings meddelings, relying on file numberings.

I think I will like this one, even though it is somewhat "promised" to the little Mrs for her gardening pictures... I will surely give it a proper spin.
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Mixed feelings - the 35-100mm f/2.8 II has arrived and works fabulously on the E-M5 III (I didn't even remember it was internal zoom - great!). Its shape isn't ideal for that body, though, because it's pretty wide at the base and gets in the way of my fingertips, but that's only an issue when carrying the camera in the hand without a strap; while shooting, the hand position is absolutely okay. IQ from my preliminary tests is all I hoped for, and the E-M5 III's I.B.I.S. makes shooting at very slow shutterspeeds possible - 1/8s at 200mm-e? Perfectly sharp - I'm happy (it's not something I'm to do often). It's exactly what I wanted, full stop.

However ... When testing the lens on my GX9 as well (remember that I considered a possible two body/two lens combo), I discovered that its I.B.I.S. (or I.S. system) must be broken; Dual I.S. should be almost on par with the E-M5 III, but I can't get sharp images at longer shutter speeds *at all*; it's not a problem with the lens - I tried a different lens without I.B.I.S. (the 12-45mm PRO, for the record), and I couldn't get a sharp image at 90mm-e at 1/30s with I.B.I.S. turned on (I double-checked); that's usually a breeze.

I guess that something actually broke when the camera slipped out of my grip a couple of weeks (or is it months now?) ago and feel to the floor from about 50cm height (only about chair level - I tried to rescue it), but because it continued to work "as normal" and I only used it with the 15mm f/1.7 in (mostly) good light, I simply didn't notice that the I.B.I.S. unit (or the electronics needed for I.S. in general) were gone ...

Off the camera goes to be serviced - I hope it can be repaired, or I'll have to seriously think of going without a second, even more compact body (of course I could - but do I want to?). With one thing or another, I'm not going to get another GX9 - at least not at full price ...

Not the best time for this (is it ever, though?); I thought I had things sorted for :mu43:. But since I can't help it and most probably have only myself to blame, I'll have to wait and see ...


I'm stumped - it's working again. Some weird failure or error? I don't know. But I'm very happy I decided to try again just for the heck of it. It works *most of the time*, and the GX9 certainly isn't as stable a platform as the E-M5 III, but I was able to hand-hold 1/10s of a second at 200mm-e now a couple of times in a row (with me being as calm as possible, but you all know that that's not going to help much at such a slow shutter speed).

All good :)

M.
 
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Bugger, but then again: GX9 at a discount...
Yes, I know ... I can actually get it even cheaper around here (it's actually almost ridiculous ... $400, including the 12-32mm (again ...)). So, it's not all bad. But I certainly didn't intend to buy another camera for quite some time, not with the Z fc in the wings. And I absolutely didn't bank on *replacing* the GX9, of all things ... However, at that price, it'd be a no-brainer if they charge too much for repairs. That's a relief. Anyhow, I'm going to weigh my options once I actually know them.

See above ... :D

M.
 
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I am not able to post or even do shutter therapy that much due to me being overworked recently but my first dSLR Pentax, a K200D, just arrived from Germany!
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It's in a mint condition.

I have already fiddled with it and will take some getting used to.
 
"The Eagle has landed!" - the Z fc has arrived, and the 28 SE, too :)

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And here it is surrounded by a merry band of brothers (not chosen accidentally ...):

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It's still early days - I haven't had a chance to really use it, weather's turned wet again, but I'll certainly put it through its paces in the next couple of days.

Super short first impresssions: It's much lighter than it looks; with the 28 SE, it's lighter than the Z 50 with the 16-50mm DX. Handling is interesting - actually, pretty close to the Z 50 in terms of settings (I set it up more or less the same way - it's not quite identical in terms of features, and of course, it doesn't have U modes (User Settings to save)), but definitely different in the hand. I like it, but I'll have to see how much. What I'm really chuffed with is the lens - it looks very nice in person and feels great, even though it is quite light - but not as light as I thought it would be; it feels nice, too; I'm looking forward to putting it on the FX bodies as well.

I'm certainly going to get into it much deeper over the next couple of days. But if the light returns (it looks like it might), I may even post a couple of shots today.

M.
 
Matt, it looks fantastic! I guess I was confused by Nikon's wording when they said the 28mm kits were "delayed indefinitely." Did they mean that further manufacturing, from the date at which they made the announcement, was delayed? I kind of assumed that it would be a while before we saw one of these kits in the flesh, but there it stands (well, sits?).
 
Matt, it looks fantastic! I guess I was confused by Nikon's wording when they said the 28mm kits were "delayed indefinitely." Did they mean that further manufacturing, from the date at which they made the announcement, was delayed? I kind of assumed that it would be a while before we saw one of these kits in the flesh, but there it stands (well, sits?).
Well, it's not as if there were a lot of them around - in fact, I got my hands on the only kit available here in Lucerne, and that was only the case because the guy in front of me in the cue didn't respond to any attempts to contact him. On holiday, most likely - so I got lucky. However, it's like I thought: There are kits, but they completely underestimated demand, so they're struggling to produce anywhere near enough - it's simply not clear when everyone will have their 28 SE in hand.

And yes, it looks good - and it feels good in the hand; so good in fact that I'm thinking about forgoing a strap (I don't use one on my Nikon FE - or on any of my Leicas) ... I'll find out tomorrow; I'll secure it with a wrist strap for the time being - to be on the safe side.

UPDATE: I've removed the strap rings; I tried my usual wrist strap, but hated the fact that there was *anything* dangling off the camera. It's "bare knuckles" from now on. I'll only use it with light lenses (I have the Z 50 for bigger glass on DX), so this won't be a problem.

M.
 
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"The Eagle has landed!" - the Z fc has arrived, and the 28 SE, too :)

View attachment 266214

And here it is surrounded by a merry band of brothers (not chosen accidentally ...):

View attachment 266215

It's still early days - I haven't had a chance to really use it, weather's turned wet again, but I'll certainly put it through its paces in the next couple of days.

Super short first impresssions: It's much lighter than it looks; with the 28 SE, it's lighter than the Z 50 with the 16-50mm DX. Handling is interesting - actually, pretty close to the Z 50 in terms of settings (I set it up more or less the same way - it's not quite identical in terms of features, and of course, it doesn't have U modes (User Settings to save)), but definitely different in the hand. I like it, but I'll have to see how much. What I'm really chuffed with is the lens - it looks very nice in person and feels great, even though it is quite light - but not as light as I thought it would be; it feels nice, too; I'm looking forward to putting it on the FX bodies as well.

I'm certainly going to get into it much deeper over the next couple of days. But if the light returns (it looks like it might), I may even post a couple of shots today.

M.

cannot wait to hear about your experiences and see some images.

I’m still waiting for my kit to arrive. Camera store said that they did get a few Zfc kits in, but were the 16-50 and they went out the door minutes after they arrived.
 
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On another note, while I’m still waiting on my Zfc kit, Fuji has delivered more 70-300 lenses and was able to snag one of those. Need to get out and play with it.

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first impression is that the size is manageable on an XT3. I have yet to shoot with it, been running around with my wife all day after getting it. By running around, I mean that we were basically having a date day and the camera gear stayed in the bag. All my attention was on her and us.
The lens can be “broken in” later.

And here it is next to the Nikon 70-300/4.5-5.5E AF-P VR

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the Nikon is noticeably heavier in the hand.
 
cannot wait to hear about your experiences and see some images.

mom still waiting for my kit to arrive. Camera store said that they did get a few Zfc kits in, but were the 16-50 and they went out the door minutes after they arrived.
I'll put a couple of observations in the Z fc Talk thread tomorrow (probably rather later in the day); I don't want to clog up this thread with follow-ups or review portions. What I can say in short is that it's a surprisingly unique camera - and a lot of fun to use; I can also comment on some aspects of the hype surrounding it (and being fueled by some Nikonites online and on YouTube); this is not a do-all, end-all camera, but definitely a good one with its very own merits.

As for images, all images I posted today (13 in all, I think) are from the Z fc and 28 SE - I really dig this lens!

M.
 
I've decided that I'll be using a camera to "scan" the occasional films I'm using from time to time rather than a dedicated scanner. Same for the "collection" of slides and negatives I have from 45 years.
The last part is for when I'll be retired :).
Since the camera with the highest resolution I have is a sony a7ii (really :D), I bought a macro lens for this system: Sigma 70mm F2.8 DG Macro Art. Should prove to have a good price/quality ratio.
This way, the main part of my scanning solution is the second native E-mount I have for the a7ii camera. Not that I needed another lens of course.
Just thought this would be a more reasonable purchase than a dedicated scanner, with which I have zero experience.
 
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