GAS GAS: Please Share your Latest Acquisitions Big and Small

Received this Jupiter-12 a few days ago. Rangefinder coupling matches the focus, but the scale on the lens itself appears to be off.

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I don't gravitate naturally to telephoto zooms, but lately I have had a hankering for one which might combine some seemingly contradictory characteristics: light weight, small size and relatively high (it is a zoom and not a prime, after all) optical quality. I've finally rolled the dice and purchased one of Panasonic's X Vario series - the 45-175mm zoom. It's nowhere near as common as the much more popular and omnipresent 45-150's - but since it has internal zooming, it always stays on the small side. The other motivating factor for me is I bought its sibling lens last year - the Lumix Vario 12-35mm - and so far have been not merely pleased but generally stunned by its quality - so I figured it's worth a shot.

Here it is---

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The lens hood adds another few inches but should be useful for those sunny days--

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And all things considered, it's surprisingly compact for a zoom of this reach.

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The lens itself feels very solid - much more so than the inexpensive-but-surprisingly-good though-rather-plasticky Olympus 40-150mm I used a century or two ago; I'm hoping it lives up to its reputation.
 
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Re-bought the Sony FE 2.8/35 for my Sony A7Rm4. My previous sample was unsharp at the right edge, this one doesn't have any obvious symmetry flaws in sharpness across the frame, but wide-open it's a bit less crisp than its predecessor. I quickly found out that I didn't want to be without this lens because it's ideal for street photography: it's small, light and sharp and the AF is snappy. The Zeiss Batis 2/40 is the better lens in terms of image quality but it's relatively big so it draws too much attention.

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Re-bought the Sony FE 2.8/35 for my Sony A7Rm4. My previous sample was unsharp at the right edge, this one doesn't have any obvious symmetry flaws in sharpness across the frame, but wide-open it's a bit less crisp than its predecessor. I quickly found out that I didn't want to be without this lens because it's ideal for street photography: it's small, light and sharp and the AF is snappy. The Zeiss Batis 2/40 is the better lens in terms of image quality but it's relatively big so it draws too much attention.

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It is a great little lens Ad. It gets knocked for it price and “only” being f2.8, but if you can get one used for 60% of the new price its great to have in your bag. I really enjoy mine for the compact size, sharp optics, and fast AF.
 
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My new freshly built IKEA Billy and a freshly received Thinktank Urban Access 13.

Both purchased with camera gear storage in mind. Plus some various IKEA storage solutions inside. Empty currently, but I have time to sort things out...

My Leica gear fits in a smaller setup -- this new setup is partly motivated by the possible Nikon acquisitions. Only I still hope I could talk myself out of it! :D
 
After some serious deliberation, I've decided to extend my Fuji kit; I already have the 18-55mm, the 23mm f/2 and the 27mm - all really enjoyable. I have just ordered the 35mm f/1.4 (a lens with which I see great done time and again ... on this board, no less!) and ... the 90mm f/2. The latter fills a real gap in my collection (I don't own a good 135mm-e lens!) and is more desirable for me than the 50mm f/2 (I own the Summarit-M 75mm f/2.4 - a great lens) or even the 56mm f/1.2 (my Nikon 85mm f/1.8G is still going strong). Since the 90mm is a bit big for the small body, I also ordered a Meike grip for the X-E3 ...

Over the last couple of weeks, whatever I tried, I always came back to the X-E3 as a real gem - small, enjoyable and competent; on the whole, the images I get from this little camera constantly rival or surpass whatever comes from any of the two Sony cameras (yes, the A7 II as well as the A6000!) - this in spite of the fact that the Sony system acts as a base for two of my favourite Sigma lenses, the 45mm f/2.8 C and the 30mm f/1.4 C (FF and APS-C, repectively); I actually bought the A6000 *only* to be able to shoot the Sigma 30mm ... Heck, if the A7 II wasn't also my "adapt whatever you want to it" camera, I'd seriously consider trading the whole Sony stuff for another Fuji body ... But that'd need to be the X-T4 (I.B.I.S. - and the newer sensor) - and I'm not quite there yet. Besides, using adapted wide-angle lenses for their intended purpose *is* useful ...

The three Fujifilm lenses I initially bought for three distinct use cases (a well-performing zoom - the 18-55mm; pocketability, EDC - the 27mm; documentary, walkabout, street - the 23mm) all work beautifully and better than I expected, maybe with the exception of the zoom that "just" meets my expectations (which is quite a feat in itself - though let me just state here that the Olympus 12-45mm f/4 outdoes it; the same goes, of course, for the 12-40mm f/2.8). Anyhow, enough reasons to explore things further, especially since I'll not expand the :mu43: setup any further (on the contrary, I may do some "streamlining" there) and have to wait for Nikon to provide the Z lenses I desire.

All in all: Should be useful, should be fun :)

M.
 
I really liked the image processing from this generation of M43 sensors. Nice "classic" setup John! 👍

I did a little kit shifting.
Sold the M1.2 and added a M5.2. I think that was a favorite of yours once.
I love the M1.2 but the M5.2 is 90% of the camera so far. And at 40% of the price.
And I've never owned one before(odd to me). Mki or Mkii.

Luckily I recouped almost all of my $ on the M1.2 flip. Phew! Prices are plummeting.
 
I don't know if I should confess this out loud, but the Canon RP + 24-240. Battery is charging now. I think I am finally (maybe, possibly) going to leave m43 (or actually, it's leaving me). I'd like more MP for cropping, and with the 35/2, 85/2, supplemented with likely an M100 + M22 and M55-200, I might be headed back to Canon, but no good forum home now for gear-talk :(
 
I don't know if I should confess this out loud, but the Canon RP + 24-240. Battery is charging now. I think I am finally (maybe, possibly) going to leave m43 (or actually, it's leaving me). I'd like more MP for cropping, and with the 35/2, 85/2, supplemented with likely an M100 + M22 and M55-200, I might be headed back to Canon, but no good forum home now for gear-talk :(
Dude, you could have had the R5 for only $3000 more! :D
 
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