Wow, great write up Matt. I think one of these might possibly replace my summicron.
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GAS GAS: Please Share your Latest Acquisitions Big and Small
- Thread starter BillN
- Start date
- Location
- Switzerland
- Name
- Matt
It certainly could - however, the Summicron's size and built-in hood are still very useful ... Optically, though, you'd not lose a thing - on the contrary!
I'll keep my Summicron for the time being, though - it's a classic, and after its latest CLA, my lens is in perfect working order again. Not something to let go in a hurry ...
But it looks as if the APO-Lanthar is going to be my main lens on the M10 - it's that good, and it's an absolute joy to shoot.
Which means that for the first time, both the M10 and M 262 are probably at 50mm whenever I pick them up. Quite unusual for me ... but also interesting.
M.
Picked up a used GH3 to experiment with as a web-cam
P9190003 by Walter Kernow, on Flickr
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- Name
- Miguel Tejada-Flores
Partially influenced by some of the remarkable photos which Milan (aka @pictogramax) has taken with this lens - and partially influenced by the fact that I found a photographer who was selling a lightly used copy of it at an even more affordable price (it's 'only' $98 new), I have acquired a TTArtisan manual-focus-only 50mm f/1.2 lens for my Fuji camera.
The lens is surprisingly compact, feels very solid in hand (I would almost go so far as to say that it's beautifully built), and in addition to a smooth focusing ring actually has a nicely damped aperture ring with real click-stops. It's also quite compact---
Haven't had time to do any shooting with it yet except for one quick available light shot of the photographer himself, taken at wide-open max aperture. Some people seem to think that the lens has that indefinable quality of 'character' and, though only one photo hardly represents a statistical sample, the initial result is encouraging.
Thanks again, Milan, for inspiring me (for some time now) with your work with this lens.
The lens is surprisingly compact, feels very solid in hand (I would almost go so far as to say that it's beautifully built), and in addition to a smooth focusing ring actually has a nicely damped aperture ring with real click-stops. It's also quite compact---
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Haven't had time to do any shooting with it yet except for one quick available light shot of the photographer himself, taken at wide-open max aperture. Some people seem to think that the lens has that indefinable quality of 'character' and, though only one photo hardly represents a statistical sample, the initial result is encouraging.
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Thanks again, Milan, for inspiring me (for some time now) with your work with this lens.
- Location
- Seattle
- Name
- Andrew
That is an encouraging result indeed, Miguel. It's a fantastic looking image!
pictogramax
All-Pro
- Location
- Zemun, Serbia
Glad you are liking it, Miguel - seems like a beginning of a beautiful friendship!
Influenced by some great write ups include the one here by Matt, I picked up the Voigtlander 50mm F2 APO Lanthar.
Thanks to Stephen Gandy it was shipped free overnight and included the hood. (the hood for an additional $109)
Heading out for a business trip tomorrow and this lens and the Monochrom are going with me.
Thanks to Stephen Gandy it was shipped free overnight and included the hood. (the hood for an additional $109)
Heading out for a business trip tomorrow and this lens and the Monochrom are going with me.
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mnhoj
gee aahrr
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Name
- John
I picked up the Sigma i35 and i65 but the A7Riii I had planned on never materialized. Thank goodness.
Picked up an Riv instead. Holy moly!
Picked up an Riv instead. Holy moly!
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Iron
Hall of Famer
- Location
- New Zealand
- Name
- Tímo
I just got a GX1. The only MIJ sort of flagship missing is the GX7 but I will pause at the GX1 for now. The lens mounted here is my 12-32mm from the GM5. I am going to maybe place the 7Artisans 25mm f/1.8 here as the lens base is flush with the camera's mount bezel.
It's build is also very solid like the GF1 but the size is really tiny for a flagship.
It's build is also very solid like the GF1 but the size is really tiny for a flagship.
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- Name
- Miguel Tejada-Flores
Beautiful looking little camera, Iron - and I have to agree with you, it's a fine small tool. (I've had mine for a number of years now and it's still ticking, metaphorically speaking.) The 12-32 lens looks just right on yours.
Congrats on what I know will be a worthy acquisition.
Iron
Hall of Famer
- Location
- New Zealand
- Name
- Tímo
Thank you.
- Location
- Switzerland
- Name
- Matt
Just got word from Lomography: The Atoll 17mm f/2.8 lens for M mount (with Z mount helicoid adapter!) has shipped. Looks like I'll have some wide fun in October after all (even though I'm shooting a 105mm macro lens for Single in October).
M.
M.
- Location
- Central Ohio, USA
- Name
- Andrew
Well, I don't have it yet, but I do know what I am going to get next. I think this will be my last and final Olympus purchase.
Many have told me that I need to give the Olympus 12-100/4 a run....and will be doing just that. I think I am going to settle on the EM1 Mark II and the 12-100/4.
Do some selling, bartering/trading.
If the 12-100 is everything that those I trust on this forum have said, should be some fun times ahead!
Many have told me that I need to give the Olympus 12-100/4 a run....and will be doing just that. I think I am going to settle on the EM1 Mark II and the 12-100/4.
Do some selling, bartering/trading.
If the 12-100 is everything that those I trust on this forum have said, should be some fun times ahead!
- Location
- Switzerland
- Name
- Matt
Okay, so ... the Lomography Atoll 17mm f/2.8 lens has landed.
For those who don't know, this is a rangefinder-coupled M mount super-wide with its own (though plasticky-trashy) viewfinder in the box.
It's really nicely made, though the aperture ring is declicked (I knew that, it's not a huge deal). It's coupled between the usual 0.7m and infinity and feels very well put together; first results are promising, but like every super-wide, it needs some exploring before results are fully passable and ready to be shown here. One reason for this is that rangefinder blockage is of course massive, so focusing and reframing can be challenging. On the plus side, the lens has the expected huge depth of field, so missing focus isn't a major issue.
The lens focuses down to 0.25m - which makes it an attractive choice for adapting. I'll do just that soon - but first, I want to explore it on its native mount.
Of course, using the external viewfinder has all the disadvantages it usually has - plus one weird and hilarious quirk: The small size of the viewfinder and the hilariously wide angle it covers make you feel as if you were playing a first-person shooter when using it:
The lens is explicitly made to be adapter-friendly - which made me make a mistake: I also ordered the (wait for it, wait for it) *close-up* adapter for Nikon Z. Huge mistake (and entirely my own): It just allows you do focus between 0.1 and 0.25 meters - it's not the expected helicoid at all. They never said it was, I just assumed that was the case. Which freaked me out at first - but since I got it wrong myself, I can't blame them. So ... I just ordered the Voigtländer helicoid Leica M to Nikon Z adapter ... end of silly story.
And because I was at it, on a completely unrelated note, I also pre-ordered the Nikon Z 40mm - I'm not optimistic about getting an early delivery this time (like I did with the Z fc/28mm SE kit), but we shall see ...
My list of "things to get" is now essentially empty, though the GR IIIx might appear on it if first results from production samples pop up online and are as good as they promise to be. However, the Nikon Z 40mm may actually put an end to that kind of speculation. And it may even cause me to put some items on the "things to sell" list ...
It's a nice spot to be in, to be sure. And I'm very grateful that I'm actually able to reach it.
M.
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For those who don't know, this is a rangefinder-coupled M mount super-wide with its own (though plasticky-trashy) viewfinder in the box.
It's really nicely made, though the aperture ring is declicked (I knew that, it's not a huge deal). It's coupled between the usual 0.7m and infinity and feels very well put together; first results are promising, but like every super-wide, it needs some exploring before results are fully passable and ready to be shown here. One reason for this is that rangefinder blockage is of course massive, so focusing and reframing can be challenging. On the plus side, the lens has the expected huge depth of field, so missing focus isn't a major issue.
The lens focuses down to 0.25m - which makes it an attractive choice for adapting. I'll do just that soon - but first, I want to explore it on its native mount.
Of course, using the external viewfinder has all the disadvantages it usually has - plus one weird and hilarious quirk: The small size of the viewfinder and the hilariously wide angle it covers make you feel as if you were playing a first-person shooter when using it:
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
The lens is explicitly made to be adapter-friendly - which made me make a mistake: I also ordered the (wait for it, wait for it) *close-up* adapter for Nikon Z. Huge mistake (and entirely my own): It just allows you do focus between 0.1 and 0.25 meters - it's not the expected helicoid at all. They never said it was, I just assumed that was the case. Which freaked me out at first - but since I got it wrong myself, I can't blame them. So ... I just ordered the Voigtländer helicoid Leica M to Nikon Z adapter ... end of silly story.
And because I was at it, on a completely unrelated note, I also pre-ordered the Nikon Z 40mm - I'm not optimistic about getting an early delivery this time (like I did with the Z fc/28mm SE kit), but we shall see ...
My list of "things to get" is now essentially empty, though the GR IIIx might appear on it if first results from production samples pop up online and are as good as they promise to be. However, the Nikon Z 40mm may actually put an end to that kind of speculation. And it may even cause me to put some items on the "things to sell" list ...
It's a nice spot to be in, to be sure. And I'm very grateful that I'm actually able to reach it.
M.
- Location
- Switzerland
- Name
- Matt
A couple of additional observations about the Lomography Atoll:
This is a seriously nice lens with only minor quirks - that goes both for optical and mechanical quality. Optically, I'm really impressed - this lens delivers; sure, it's not top-notch, but it also doesn't cost top-notch money; for its price, it's a strong performer. It displays a good amount of sharpness with great contrast even wide open, and it's also quite well-behaved if you point it towards the light (which will happen very often - this thing's *wide*) - it can flare and show ghosting, but you have to make it do that. Rangefinder-coupling works as expected and is accurate (to the point that inaccuracies, if they existed, would be completely irrelevant). It's also more or less rectilinear - you can make it show some distortion by choosing super-extreme angles, but it's mild and unobstrusive and, at times, can even help a shot's effect. Sunstars are possible and very well-defined - cool!
The overall praise doesn't entirely extend to the finder - it's clearly optimised for close distances; you have to learn to heavily correct your framing (i.e. tilt the camera *down*) for greater distances, especially infinity. Obviously, this also impacts portrait orientation - it's a bit of a gamble to get it right first time, but of course, with a digital body, you can always re-shot a lot of scenes. For street shooting, it's certainly accurate enough, btw.
The lens' biggest downside may be that it's actually rather big for what it is - not only are there smaller equivalent lenses for other systems (I'll get to that in minute), there are also smaller and very desirable lenses for M mount. Overall though, this is a really well designed and manifactured lens - and its f/2.8 maximum aperture is a real asset because it's actually perfectly usable wide open across most of the frame, and OOF backgrounds aren't overly nervous or murky (to reiterate, they are both, but not excessively so).
I discovered another little issue, but that's probably as much down to my way of handling manual lenses than the lens itself: I'm prone to knocking the aperture ring; while it's well dampened, it's still clickless, and I found myself at something like f/"3.2" more often than I liked. I just have to train myself to keep my fingers strictly on the focus ring, but the fact that both focus and aperture ring are rather narrow and somewhat similar, I may not always succeed. Again, this is far from being a deal-breaker, just something that people have to be aware of.
For me, all this begs the interesting question how this compares to another super-wide gem, the Laowa 7.5mm f/2 for
. I know it seems like a crazy comparison, but both lenses are fast super-wides and can essentially serve the same purpose; and thanks to their convincing optical qualities, they are surprisingly versatile. While the jury is still out on that one because it's early days for me when it comes to the Atoll, I'd say it's a real contest, and while the Laowa has a clear size advantage, the fact that Atoll is a full-frame lens counts for a lot, and it did really nicely on the M 262 (no LiveView!). Price-wise, they're more or less equal, at least around here. I'll look into this further as soon as time allows.
So, within only a couple of weeks, I'm again very, very happy with an acquisition (and a curveball one, all told!). This makes me a bit wary of the next couple of new arrivals; can all this actually continue to happen? Well ... Realistically, no, but I'll be d*mned if I were not to enjoy this!
M.
This is a seriously nice lens with only minor quirks - that goes both for optical and mechanical quality. Optically, I'm really impressed - this lens delivers; sure, it's not top-notch, but it also doesn't cost top-notch money; for its price, it's a strong performer. It displays a good amount of sharpness with great contrast even wide open, and it's also quite well-behaved if you point it towards the light (which will happen very often - this thing's *wide*) - it can flare and show ghosting, but you have to make it do that. Rangefinder-coupling works as expected and is accurate (to the point that inaccuracies, if they existed, would be completely irrelevant). It's also more or less rectilinear - you can make it show some distortion by choosing super-extreme angles, but it's mild and unobstrusive and, at times, can even help a shot's effect. Sunstars are possible and very well-defined - cool!
The overall praise doesn't entirely extend to the finder - it's clearly optimised for close distances; you have to learn to heavily correct your framing (i.e. tilt the camera *down*) for greater distances, especially infinity. Obviously, this also impacts portrait orientation - it's a bit of a gamble to get it right first time, but of course, with a digital body, you can always re-shot a lot of scenes. For street shooting, it's certainly accurate enough, btw.
The lens' biggest downside may be that it's actually rather big for what it is - not only are there smaller equivalent lenses for other systems (I'll get to that in minute), there are also smaller and very desirable lenses for M mount. Overall though, this is a really well designed and manifactured lens - and its f/2.8 maximum aperture is a real asset because it's actually perfectly usable wide open across most of the frame, and OOF backgrounds aren't overly nervous or murky (to reiterate, they are both, but not excessively so).
I discovered another little issue, but that's probably as much down to my way of handling manual lenses than the lens itself: I'm prone to knocking the aperture ring; while it's well dampened, it's still clickless, and I found myself at something like f/"3.2" more often than I liked. I just have to train myself to keep my fingers strictly on the focus ring, but the fact that both focus and aperture ring are rather narrow and somewhat similar, I may not always succeed. Again, this is far from being a deal-breaker, just something that people have to be aware of.
For me, all this begs the interesting question how this compares to another super-wide gem, the Laowa 7.5mm f/2 for
. I know it seems like a crazy comparison, but both lenses are fast super-wides and can essentially serve the same purpose; and thanks to their convincing optical qualities, they are surprisingly versatile. While the jury is still out on that one because it's early days for me when it comes to the Atoll, I'd say it's a real contest, and while the Laowa has a clear size advantage, the fact that Atoll is a full-frame lens counts for a lot, and it did really nicely on the M 262 (no LiveView!). Price-wise, they're more or less equal, at least around here. I'll look into this further as soon as time allows.So, within only a couple of weeks, I'm again very, very happy with an acquisition (and a curveball one, all told!). This makes me a bit wary of the next couple of new arrivals; can all this actually continue to happen? Well ... Realistically, no, but I'll be d*mned if I were not to enjoy this!
M.
Iron
Hall of Famer
- Location
- New Zealand
- Name
- Tímo
Well, after some searching, I have purchased a GX9 now. It felt like destiny as it was listed 2 hours before I first viewed it. It had ~1,500 shutter releases and got it from a videographer who wanted to do street photography but didn’t have the time. The body has some blemishes, though but that is fine as it came with 3 additional genuine Panasonic batteries!
I was supposed to go with the GX7 but I couldn’t find a good black coloured one. I don’t mind the grey/gunmetal/silver on the top of the GX85 but the properly-priced one on TradeMe is Cinelike D/V hacked and is in service mode. I was about to purchase a Mitakon 25mm f/0.95 so that I would have a prime lens that won’t protrude beneath the GM5 (Just GM5/GM1 things...) or even a PanaLeica 15mm f/1.7 then I thought that it would be funny to just do that to just satisfy the handling of the tiny camera.
After deciding to place the kit 12-32mm on the GM5 for better handling, I browsed online and found the black GX9 listed at a much lower price than most of the GX85s and close to the price of the GX7. The seller was very easy to deal with and the trade was done contactlessly. I was browsing at the right place and at the right time.
Noticeable improvements:
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I was supposed to go with the GX7 but I couldn’t find a good black coloured one. I don’t mind the grey/gunmetal/silver on the top of the GX85 but the properly-priced one on TradeMe is Cinelike D/V hacked and is in service mode. I was about to purchase a Mitakon 25mm f/0.95 so that I would have a prime lens that won’t protrude beneath the GM5 (Just GM5/GM1 things...) or even a PanaLeica 15mm f/1.7 then I thought that it would be funny to just do that to just satisfy the handling of the tiny camera.
After deciding to place the kit 12-32mm on the GM5 for better handling, I browsed online and found the black GX9 listed at a much lower price than most of the GX85s and close to the price of the GX7. The seller was very easy to deal with and the trade was done contactlessly. I was browsing at the right place and at the right time.
Noticeable improvements:
- Handling - I believe manufacturers improve the overall handling of newer cameras in terms of the placement of dials, knobs and buttons, layout, etc. The extra weight of the camera, just like the GF1 and GX1, helps with the manual stabilisation. Also, the general size itself helps with handling larger lenses.
- IBIS - Wow. It's one of the strenghts of the system and now I can see why. Low light shots are a breeze. I get sharp shots all the time especially in low light especially with the additional use of manual stabilisation. With a lower minimum shutter speed, the camera would prioritise getting to that lower speed first before bumping up the ISO, so shots without movements at night are almost always taken at ISO 200! When I bump up the minimum shutter speed to 1/80 sec or 1/125sec, then the ISO starts to climb but not agressively. Video IBIS is also truly non-intrusive with so much less distortion with wide angle lenses. It seems that Dual IS prioritises OIS before IBIS in video to reduce distortion.
- L Monochrome D - This photo style is just something. They have a special recipe for this just like GF1's Dynamic Monochrome. I have this profile on C1 now.
- Location
- Seattle
- Name
- Andrew
That'll do! Great camera for sure.
- Name
- Miguel Tejada-Flores
Congrats, Iron! I hope you continue to enjoy the new GX9 and discover more cool bits and pieces about it, and things that it can do. I too have one - and for me it is a better camera than the GX7 which I previously owned, shot with for many years and truly loved. But the GX9 ticks more boxes for me, and does more things that I like.
Two quick recommendations, neither of which is essential, but both of which are interesting accessories: first, I recommend the rubber eyecup. For some reason, when using it - and putting my eye to the eyecup-equipped EVF - it feels like I can actually SEE the scene I am trying to composer more clearly, possibly also with less distractions. It can transform what is an adequate viewing experience - into a much better one.
The second accessory, which I'm not certain I would have gone out of my way to buy - but which the used GX9 I purchased happened to have attached to it already - is the factory grip. I like the feel of the GX9 without the grip - but with it, it feels a hundred times better in my hand. To be honest, I preferred the rounded soft grip which was built into the body of the GX7 to the GX9 - but after adding the grip, it has transformed the feel of the camera for me.
But regardless of accessories, it's a fine photographic tool - CONGRATS on getting it!
Iron
Hall of Famer
- Location
- New Zealand
- Name
- Tímo
Thanks, @MiguelATF. Feels like I will be enjoying this one too.
I am thinking of getting this one, actually. I have read about it improving the viewing experience by a huge margin.
I will look into this. A grip can be useful when handling much larger lenses.
Mr_Flibble
All-Pro
- Location
- The Lowlands
- Name
- Rick
