GAS GAS: Please Share your Latest Acquisitions Big and Small

Thanks Matt. I keep reading people complaining about the use of plastic instead of metal for the top plate, and the feel of the dials and buttons compared to the mkII. I'll most likely have to get one in hand one of these days.
 
Thanks Matt. I keep reading people complaining about the use of plastic instead of metal for the top plate, and the feel of the dials and buttons compared to the mkII. I'll most likely have to get one in hand one of these days.
I've never shot with the E-M5 II sufficiently to be able to comment, but yes, the plastic feel is there when handling the E-M5 III. It doesn't bother me much, if at all - mostly because the overall build is very solid and reassuring, everything sits firmly in place and is very well thought out (except for the infamous on-off switch, but its function can be duplicated elsewhere on the body). I guess I would have liked the camera even better with metal top and bottom plates, but I have had various cameras with plastic or metal casing, and I really couldn't say with any degree of certainty which type held up better (most are composite constructions anyway). It may come down to the question if you prefer dents to scuffs - though heavy dents may be preferrable to cracks, I have to admit. However, once you've mishandled your camera in such a major way, I think the surface damage is the least of your potential problems ...

By all means, go hands-on - what's perfectly satisfying for me might not please you at all.

M.
 
I agonized over it, and finally said "Bleep it, I really want an upgrade." Ugh. One of my X-T10s is going on the market. I got the Charcoal top finish so I can tell at a glance which it is, the other X-T is all black.

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I've never shot with the E-M5 II sufficiently to be able to comment, but yes, the plastic feel is there when handling the E-M5 III. It doesn't bother me much, if at all - mostly because the overall build is very solid and reassuring, everything sits firmly in place and is very well thought out (except for the infamous on-off switch, but its function can be duplicated elsewhere on the body). I guess I would have liked the camera even better with metal top and bottom plates, but I have had various cameras with plastic or metal casing, and I really couldn't say with any degree of certainty which type held up better (most are composite constructions anyway). It may come down to the question if you prefer dents to scuffs - though heavy dents may be preferrable to cracks, I have to admit. However, once you've mishandled your camera in such a major way, I think the surface damage is the least of your potential problems ...

By all means, go hands-on - what's perfectly satisfying for me might not please you at all.

M.
There. In four posts, we have summarized about 80 pages of arguments over on the mu43 forum. 🤣 The main difference is that here the discussion was about what the camera is as opposed to what everyone thought it should have been.
 
Lenses like these are why I still won't dump my Nikon DSLRs! I'm very particular about my equipment and base my purchases on price, performance and how they'll apply in real world usage. I'm particularly attracted to old Nikon screw driven lenses due to a few reasons: screw driven lenses don't have in-lens motors which will eventually fail; they're somewhat forgotten and sold for cheap; all Nikon screw drive AF-D lenses have aperture rings, essentially making them manual focus lenses and universally compatible on any mirrorless camera!

I've cherrypicked these two lenses, due to several factors. The Sigma 15-30mm EX is the widest and sharpest AF ultra wide angle zoom and the Tokina 20-35mm f/2.8 is the fastest filter useable, wide angle zoom you can acquire for between $100-200 USD. In fact, all current lenses on the market right now compromise in certain areas. The perk of owning both these lenses, is that you can have the best of both worlds for far less you'd get from one modern compromised lens! :D I'll probably do a write-up on these two lenses soon, but here are some pictures of each!

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Pictures of the Sigma 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 EX DG Lens and the Tokina 20-35mm f2.8 AT-X Pro Lens by Jonathan Friolo, on Flickr

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Pictures of the Sigma 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 EX DG Lens and the Tokina 20-35mm f2.8 AT-X Pro Lens by Jonathan Friolo, on Flickr

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Pictures of the Sigma 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 EX DG Lens and the Tokina 20-35mm f2.8 AT-X Pro Lens by Jonathan Friolo, on Flickr
 
I've never shot with the E-M5 II sufficiently to be able to comment, but yes, the plastic feel is there when handling the E-M5 III. It doesn't bother me much, if at all - mostly because the overall build is very solid and reassuring, everything sits firmly in place and is very well thought out (except for the infamous on-off switch, but its function can be duplicated elsewhere on the body). I guess I would have liked the camera even better with metal top and bottom plates, but I have had various cameras with plastic or metal casing, and I really couldn't say with any degree of certainty which type held up better (most are composite constructions anyway). It may come down to the question if you prefer dents to scuffs - though heavy dents may be preferrable to cracks, I have to admit. However, once you've mishandled your camera in such a major way, I think the surface damage is the least of your potential problems ...

By all means, go hands-on - what's perfectly satisfying for me might not please you at all.

M.

Indeed. (y)

I generally read about gear and ask questions as part of the process. But it does come down to whether or not it works well enough for me.
 
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Sample images taken with the Sony NEX-5T + Olympus 9mm f/8 Body Cap Lens BCL + M43 to E-mount adapter by Jonathan Friolo, on Flickr

I just picked up this cheap minty used Sony NEX-5T body (had only 60 clicks) for my daughter mainly to use with my Olympus 9mm f/8 Body Cap Lens BCL and as an APS-C back-up to my A7III bodies. Also the other reason I went with the NEX-5T was due to picking up the OEM pink Sony case for like $3.50 USD on Amazon Prime! :p It gives it that extra cute factor!

It was a PITA to get the firmware upgraded from ver. 1.00 to ver. 1.01 which activates the OSPDAF to use with native lenses. Sony's backwards implemented Mac OS software updater is out-of-date with the latest OS, which required me to source a Windows 10 PC to do the update. Luckily I borrowed my wife's PC laptop! Amazingly enough OSPDAF in C-AF works great (for this era body) with all my Sony and Samyang AF lenses. Though in poor light it reverts back to CDAF.

Regarding the Olympus 9mm BCL, the image circle is a bit smaller than an APS-C sized sensor. If shooting JPEG, you can use the clear zoom and just shoot it at 1.2x crop which cuts away the corners, but still leaves a wider FOV than on an M43 sensor. Shooting raw, you can either just compose with vignetted corners or shoot in 16:9, either way the data will include the un-cropped image. Once using your raw editor of choice, I found a 117% image scale sufficient enough to crop out the corners. You loose some image data, but on the plus side I created a preset for de-fishing using the Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye de-fish lens profile correction. With the scale plus de-fish you have more leeway to straighten/compose the image than you would with an actual M43 4:3 raw file!

Give me any camera and I'll find a way to make it work for me! :roflmao: :D
 
So you found one. Did you give it to her yet or its it some flavor of holiday present?

She already knows! I got it to replace her Panasonic GF2. I figure there's no point using an M43 body when I have no native lenses (besides the BCL). I'll probably have it up for sale soon. I also replaced the lens mount with an all metal Tough-E-Mount I had laying around from my old A7 mk.I. Overall it's a good body, considering you can buy one anywhere from $80 to $115 USD. Plus it'll fit in her little purse and the LCD does a 3 second timer selfie mode when it's flipped facing forward! :roflmao:
 
Well, KEH had a sale and they had an EX+ copy of the FE mount Sigma 45 2.8 for $400 instead of 550. It's a beautifully made all metal (and glass) lens with an aperture ring and a very nice manual focus ring. I still get fooled by how narrow DoF can be at f8. I guess those last 10 years with mu43 has erased the expectations of the previous 45 years with 35 mm.
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Well, it took the whole of 10 days between expressing my desire for a Mindshift Rotation bag and actually buying one :), in no small part due to the encouraging remarks of @Bobby Tingle and @MoonMind. I wanted it now, for crying out loud, because I want to have my hands free when the scene calls for shooting hand-held, while I want to have a tripod with me for darker scenes (remember, it's winter here in Holland). I must say that the review on phillipreeve.net accurately matches the experience I have so far; I'm pretty sure my back will get sweaty in warmer weather, I even felt it a bit under my (admittedly very warm) winter coat. Very happy so far, works as advertised!

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I have acquired another Fujicron 16mm 2.8. Due to the issue with Amazon I returned the first one I bought. In hindsight, I believe something was off with that lens. Most likely due to not being packaged combined with the common rough handling of packages in the shipping process. Adorama had one in the used dept. for $309. So I jumped on it. And now will transition from the 1.4 to the 2.8, putting my 1.4 up for sale soon.
 
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Um, I might have spent some money on something...

To be completely honest, I am probably not going to keep the lens, where a lot of the value of the kit is. If I sell it, it will make the body pretty affordable, and the viewfinder essentially thrown in for free. But what to do about a lens? I don't really want to agonize over GAS, I might just get a cheap 50mm screw mount lens and adapter and call it good - or might look for a cheaper 35mm and just use the Olympus VF-1 viewfinder that I already have (which is 4:3 ratio, but I can work around that).

I'm kind of happy to have something that, a) has a really easy to use rangefinder window, and b) was made in the 2000's, rather than twenty or thirty years earlier, with aging parts and electronics.
 
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Um, I might have spent some money on something...

To be completely honest, I am probably not going to keep the lens, where a lot of the value of the kit is. If I sell it, it will make the body pretty affordable, and the viewfinder essentially thrown in for free. But what to do about a lens? I don't really want to agonize over GAS, I might just get a cheap 50mm screw mount lens and adapter and call it good - or might look for a cheaper 35mm and just use the Olympus VF-1 viewfinder that I already have (which is 4:3 ratio, but I can work around that).

I'm kind of happy to have something that, a) has a really easy to use rangefinder window, and b) was made in the 2000's, rather than twenty or thirty years earlier, with aging parts and electronics.

Olive T. Nice acquisition.

I stupidly sold a Bessa R2 Olive, and have regretted it ever since. :dash2:

Haven't run across one in as nice of shape either.

As for lenses - the Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton ASPH and latest 50/3.5 Heliar are nice. The Heliar might be an acquired taste due to the click-less aperture, and the f/3.5 can be a hinderance with light gathering. The 35/1.4 are compact, and you can get single coat or multi-coat. Not sure if any of these are going to be outside the price range you want.
 
Olive T. Nice acquisition.

I stupidly sold a Bessa R2 Olive, and have regretted it ever since. :dash2:

Haven't run across one in as nice of shape either.

As for lenses - the Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton ASPH and latest 50/3.5 Heliar are nice. The Heliar might be an acquired taste due to the click-less aperture, and the f/3.5 can be a hinderance with light gathering. The 35/1.4 are compact, and you can get single coat or multi-coat. Not sure if any of these are going to be outside the price range you want.
I will probably go with something cheap, like a Canon 50mm screw mount, though I have also been noticing good prices for the Voigtlander Skopar 35mm f2.5, which seems to be well liked.
 
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Um, I might have spent some money on something...

To be completely honest, I am probably not going to keep the lens, where a lot of the value of the kit is. If I sell it, it will make the body pretty affordable, and the viewfinder essentially thrown in for free. But what to do about a lens? I don't really want to agonize over GAS, I might just get a cheap 50mm screw mount lens and adapter and call it good - or might look for a cheaper 35mm and just use the Olympus VF-1 viewfinder that I already have (which is 4:3 ratio, but I can work around that).

I'm kind of happy to have something that, a) has a really easy to use rangefinder window, and b) was made in the 2000's, rather than twenty or thirty years earlier, with aging parts and electronics.

Damn. What a truly lovely camera. Whatever it cost....it was money well spent. Congrats! and muchas gracias for sharing the cool photo.
 
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