GAS GAS: Please Share your Latest Acquisitions Big and Small

First the new..
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and the current..which without a second body was never properly introduced.
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18, 35, and 85 and now 27, 52 and 127
 
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Lung disease and landscape photography doesn't always work well together. Sometimes the slightest (to normal people) exertion is more than I can handle for more than a few minutes. 'Course, I didn't think about this 5 years ago when I got my Nikon D810 and Tamron's version of the holy trinity of zoom lenses - heavy camera and heavy glass. Carrying that around in a bag is tough enough, but curling the camera and lens up to my eye a bunch of times on an outing trying to find a good composition can be quite a workout.

I didn't want to give up the D810, but there have been lots of times I would find it was too much to go out with that gear. So recently I decided to look for a smaller, lighter camera that I could attach one of my lenses to and take only that setup on an outing. If I found something worthy, I could always go back with the D810 and tripod at a later time.

The camera I sold to help get me the D810 was a Nikon D5300 and I liked that camera a lot. That's why I decided to get the D5600. It has been much easier to carry around. I usually attach my Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 (an equivalent of 36-105mm on the crop sensor) and have a SpiderLight hand strap attached to prevent accidental drops (I have the first gen SpiderPro hand strap on my D810 and love it). My tripod stays in the Jeep, so it's handy if I need it, but that tends to be far more exertion - walking back to the Jeep to get it, then set it up - than I can muster on the average day.

I've had the D5600 for only a short time, but it has allowed me to go out shooting more often. It was a good decision, I think. More info & pics: Adding Nikon D5600 To My Gear • 1 Foot In The Grave

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Lung disease and landscape photography doesn't always work well together. Sometimes the slightest (to normal people) exertion is more than I can handle for more than a few minutes. 'Course, I didn't think about this 5 years ago when I got my Nikon D810 and Tamron's version of the holy trinity of zoom lenses - heavy camera and heavy glass. Carrying that around in a bag is tough enough, but curling the camera and lens up to my eye a bunch of times on an outing trying to find a good composition can be quite a workout.

I didn't want to give up the D810, but there have been lots of times I would find it was too much to go out with that gear. So recently I decided to look for a smaller, lighter camera that I could attach one of my lenses to and take only that setup on an outing. If I found something worthy, I could always go back with the D810 and tripod at a later time.

The camera I sold to help get me the D810 was a Nikon D5300 and I liked that camera a lot. That's why I decided to get the D5600. It has been much easier to carry around. I usually attach my Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 (an equivalent of 36-105mm on the crop sensor) and have a SpiderLight hand strap attached to prevent accidental drops (I have the first gen SpiderPro hand strap on my D810 and love it). My tripod stays in the Jeep, so it's handy if I need it, but that tends to be far more exertion - walking back to the Jeep to get it, then set it up - than I can muster on the average day.

I've had the D5600 for only a short time, but it has allowed me to go out shooting more often. It was a good decision, I think.

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There is a hell of a difference in weight between the D5xx and D7xxx/D8xxx series cameras that's for sure.
 
After nine and a half years of living in Sony camp, yesterday I crossed to the dark side: I got me LA NIÑA NEGRA, a Fuji XE2 in black with 27mm f2.8 lens, to replace my dying Sony RX100 mk1 as a compact and lightweight all-around travelling camera. I'm awaiting a M39 adapter too, as I suspect that pairing it with my Jupiter 8 50mm f2 might also work very well, still keeping everything portable and sweet.
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La Niña Negra is one seriously cool looking piece of machinery.
I have a good friend who shoots with her twin and swears that this is the best camera he has ever taken pictures with.
Congrats!
 
Well, I finally broke down and bought one. Partly because I had just said farewell to an old photographic companion - my Lumix GM1 which I gave to a fellow photographer who likes small cameras - partly because a good friend, another fellow photographer, has been singing this camera's praises for years - and partly because the best smallish micro four thirds lens I've ever used, my DJI-branded-PanaLeica 15mm, has been orphaned and in search of a good camera body for awhile - and partly because, yes, I'll confess: the shape and design reminded me stupidly of the old Leica IIIc I used to shoot with -

A Pen F.
I found a lightly used copy at a reasonable price in what (so far) seems to be fine shape.

And so far at least, it's living up to all the (probably) overrated hype which its fanatic users used to chorus about - mainly the part about it is just truly fun to shoot with.

But it looks kinda cool too --

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And the 15mm lens (real field-of-view approx 30mm, halfway between two of my favorite FOV's, 28mm and 35mm) seems to be right at home on it ---

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The part that is really surprising me, though, is - so far I've only been shooting in-camera-processed jpeg's (via Olympus's irritatingly clever Color Profile system complete with that fake-old-Leica-look front dial) and (I never, ever thought I would admit this, but) it's kind of fun to have a camera to just shoot jpeg's with.

Here's a sample jpeg from a modified colour profile I set up (copied shamelessly from its brilliant author, the English photographer R. Cleveland Aaron, a current Olympus 'Visionary' who has used his own Pen F rather inventively)--

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And, did I mention .... I find the shooting experience rather fun, in a playful way. So much so that I also parted with another truly fine camera, my R1xR which, in spite of an arguably superior Zeiss lens and brilliant image-making capabilities, didn't (for me at least) have the same addictive-want-to-reach-for-it-and-go-out-shooting qualities that this little Pen does.
 
My humble collection of Red Dot Cameras. As I've mentioned previously, the little Pen F 38mm 1.8 is the only item I kept from the great purge. I only kept my GX9 a few months, but I very much liked the way the Pen F 38 rendered on that camera, and I expect it will be equally nice on the digital Pen F, a camera I rented once about 4 years ago. Mine arrived yesterday, along with the Oly 17mm 1.8. The camera only has 400 shutter snaps. The X30 arrived last week. The gloom and chill that has gripped us for a couple of weeks has finally eased, and I'm looking forward to getting back out in the woods with my gear.

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My humble collection of Red Dot Cameras. As I've mentioned previously, the little Pen F 38mm 1.8 is the only item I kept from the great purge. I only kept my GX9 a few months, but I very much liked the way the Pen F 38 rendered on that camera, and I expect it will be equally nice on the digital Pen F, a camera I rented once about 4 years ago. Mine arrived yesterday, along with the Oly 17mm 1.8. The camera only has 400 shutter snaps. The X30 arrived last week. The gloom and chill that has gripped us for a couple of weeks has finally eased, and I'm looking forward to getting back out in the woods with my gear.

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A truly sweet-looking pair, Tony!

I can't help but remember that several years ago, Kirk Tuck was singing the praises of the exact same lens you have - the 38mm lens from his original half-frame Olympus Pen F - which he swore was equally fine on a number of his micro four-thirds cameras - it's a lens with a fine reputation. And - speaking of reviews from bygone years ... I also remember reading a very cool review of the X30 by Jonas Rask who, if I remember correctly, raved about it not merely for its compact versatility - but also because he said it was a great stealth camera to bring to rock concerts :)

Congrats on both of them!
 
......Here's a sample jpeg from a modified colour profile I set up (copied shamelessly from its brilliant author, the English photographer R. Cleveland Aaron, a current Olympus 'Visionary' who has used his own Pen F rather inventively)--........
Have a link to his profiles?

......And, did I mention .... I find the shooting experience rather fun, in a playful way. So much so that I also parted with another truly fine camera, my R1xR which, in spite of an arguably superior Zeiss lens and brilliant image-making capabilities, didn't (for me at least) have the same addictive-want-to-reach-for-it-and-go-out-shooting qualities that this little Pen does.
The Pen is fun. So far I have found very little use for the Art and CRT positions on the dial. But I use the Mono and have been working on / trying to find a Classic Chrome color setting.
 
.....The part that is really surprising me, though, is - so far I've only been shooting in-camera-processed jpeg's (via Olympus's irritatingly clever Color Profile system complete with that fake-old-Leica-look front dial) and (I never, ever thought I would admit this, but) it's kind of fun to have a camera to just shoot jpeg's with.......
I'm still shooting RAW + JPeg. The only real problem I've had with using the creative dial is I mainly use LR for processing. With the creative / mono modes I end up taking the RAWs into Olympus Workspace and saving off the RAWs as TIFs to bring them into LR. It has the advantage of allowing me all the same options I have in camera, the downside is it adds another step and file.
 
Have a link to his profiles?

Here is a link to some of R. Cleveland Aaron's images -
- which also includes several of the specific 'formulas' (for both color and monochrome photos) which he used for certain photos. The one I particularly loved was taken of a London street, from inside a window, and is partially framed by a row of books in the right lower corner.

The Pen is fun. So far I have found very little use for the Art and CRT positions on the dial. But I use the Mono and have been working on / trying to find a Classic Chrome color setting.

If you find one which you really like, please let me know.
 
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