GAS GAS: Please Share your Latest Acquisitions Big and Small

According to my wife, this week's GAS could prove fatal. Suffice to say, I'm officially back in the photo retail trade after a 20 year break :)
With the amount of stuff that comes and goes through my doors over here, I think I may be in the photo retail trade as well…it’s just unofficial. Thankfully I don’t have a murderous wife?
 
Nothing wrong with the Z 7 or the 14-30mm! However, I think you're onto something with wanting to run "all three" (Z 6 II, Z 7 and Z fc, I assume) ...

To put your decisions into perspective: I own a Z 7 II, a Z 6, a Z 50 and a Z fc. All of them have different use cases:
  • The Z 7 II could certainly do it all, but I really don't need 45MP files all of the time - it's a landscape and people photographer's dream, though, especially when paired with the 24-70mm f/2.8 or any of the wonderful Z primes; I own the Z 20mm S, Z 35mm S, Z 50mm S (both), Z 85 S and Z 105mm S Micro.
  • The Z 6 remains my most natural pick (see below, though), with either the Z 40mm, Z 35mm S or Z 24-120mm S - the camera excels at event photography and as a general purpose body, but I also especially love to travel with it (the Z 40mm and Z 24-200mm make a fun compact travel kit).
  • The Z 50 is the camera I use with APS-C zooms as well as longer, optically stabilised zooms, usually via the FTZ adapter - though at the moment, the Z 18-140mm DX lives on it because that combo punches *way* above its weight (the Z 6 with Z 24-200mm *is* better, but not significantly for day-to-day photography - and it's 40% heavier).
  • The Z fc is used with primes, sometimes adapted, but since I adore both the Z 28mm SE and the Voigtländer 23mm f/1.2, on of those two usually gets the nod.
On a regular work day, it's the Z fc I carry; if there's a chance of going out and shooting during the day, it's more likely I pick the Z 50 with Z 18-140mm DX. If I'm sure I can do an extended walk, I usually bring the Z 6 along - either with Z 40mm for strolling or with the Z 24-120mm S for exploring, though the latter necessitates the use of a different (usually additional) bag. The Z 7 II deserves dedication, so gets used on extended photo walks ...

As for the Z 14-30mm f/4 S, it's a very pleasing lens - compact and lightweight, and a good performer to boot. I think it's a lens every Z FX shooter should own (and it's a nice pick on the Z DX bodies as well - if you have enough light). Whenever I choose to travel by car, it joins the Z 24-120mm S and Z 35mm S in my enthusiast's travel kit ...

The Z 14-30mm S is also the reason I can keep my interest in the newly announced Laowa 10mm f/4 APS-C lens in check - though that one's a prime, and it's tiny ... I guess we're definitely *almost* back on topic now ... ;)

M.
I've settled on this plan.
  • The Z7 as a scape and stroll shooter. With the 14-30 for the more intent based shooting. The 28 and 40 were intended for use with the ZFc but I've found them to be an excellent small, lightweight combo for the more casual use. The 7 also serves as a studio back up to the Z6ii.
  • The Z6ii is the primary portrait shooter. I really like the 35, 50 and 85 for this purpose. They're a great balance of price, performance and size. One of the benefits that drew me back to the Nikon system.
  • I've been playing with an adapted Sigma 100-400. I'd wanted the 70-300P again but was surprised to find the 100-400 at the same price(used). The smaller size of the 70-300 is on my mind but for now, the reach, AF and image output with the 100-400 is quite nice.
Thanks for your thoughts Matt.
 
Do you care to expound on that? I would say I'm open to making changes in the job world, after many years spent doing the same thing.
I built and ran dedicated websites for two rival medical consumables (baby) manufacturers. To cut a long story short, one of them acquired a new MD who emailed a few weeks ago and said that they had 'decided to take retail in-house' without notice and that he was 'sorry'. It was a hefty chunk of my turnover.

We are living in uncertain times, it could take months to replace my baby goods supplier - so I had to do something quickly and have been able to acquire a good amount of stock from a photo retailer who ceased trading earlier in the year. I bought and sold liquidated goods for some years before the arrival of children meant that I wasn't as free to do regular overnight stops (there can be a lot of travel involved) hence the move into conventional retail.
 
I have my eyes set on this exact lens as my next purchase. Ideally one or two of my lenses up for sale will go before I buy this one. I have several saved on ebay. Let me know your thoughts, it looks like a gem. Congrats.
The lens arrived a few days ahead of schedule so I took it on a short walk along a canal and in the countryside.
My conclusion: I like it 😊

I have created a gallery on smugmug with the samples. You should be able to download the original jpg's if you want.
I did my very best to edit them as little as possible.
I also did some silly things like taking a landscape-like shot at f/2.0 :rolleyes:

In case something doesn't work, just let me know.

I also took some on film but these aren't available yet 😏

By the way, this is of course for anyone, not just for Chris.
 
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The lens arrived a few days ahead of schedule so I took it on a short walk along a canal and in the countryside.
My conclusion: I like it 😊

I have created a gallery on smugmug with the samples. You should be able to download the original jpg's if you want.
I did my very best not to edit them as little as possible.
I also did some silly things like taking a landscape-like shot at f/2.0 :rolleyes:

In case something doesn't work, just let me know.

I also took some on film but these aren't available yet 😏

By the way, this is of course for anyone, not just for Chris.
Thank you! These are great. That lens has a nice ‘pop’ to it. That’s getting my GAS going.
 
The lens arrived a few days ahead of schedule so I took it on a short walk along a canal and in the countryside.
My conclusion: I like it 😊

I have created a gallery on smugmug with the samples. You should be able to download the original jpg's if you want.
I did my very best not to edit them as little as possible.
I also did some silly things like taking a landscape-like shot at f/2.0 :rolleyes:

In case something doesn't work, just let me know.

I also took some on film but these aren't available yet 😏

By the way, this is of course for anyone, not just for Chris.
That is a nice lens!
 

After waiting 2 months for my Local Camera Store to come through, today I found a different LCS that had my "grail lens" in stock, a Fujifilm XF150-600. And then a doe came through at golden hour...in the shade...from 75 yards:

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Didnt expect it untill next week, but the K10D found its way here today.

Pentax K10D-2.jpgPentax K10D-3.jpgPentax K10D-4.jpg

Along with the OEM sling, a Lowepro Slingshot 100 AW, charger and an assortment of cables. It lacks the rubber seal for the battery grip-port, so I need to source one of those and the lens is not an AW variety, which I hadn't thought of, as those AW ones came with the K7 when I bought that upon release, so I may have a look around for something weathersealed.

It produces photographies like these ones:
Pentax K10D Erteblomster.jpgPentax K10D Kent Lillies.jpgPentax K10D  Frøya.jpg

So first impression on the output is good, all are SOOC, the dog one has gotten its colour temp balanced.

Body has 26,413 shutter actuations and was produced in 03-27- 2007 according to that Pentax Forums.

All in all, fifty bucks well spent, or spent on some sort of gateway drug - I am oogling some sort of AW glass for it at the moment and reading @MiguelATFs KP tread was truly a terrible, terrible idea. Especially as the impression when handling the K10D along with the G90 and GX9 was "By Jove, that Pentax is a chunky one, isnt it".... :drinks:
 
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Didnt expect it untill next week, but the K1D found its way here today.

View attachment 327523View attachment 327524View attachment 327525

Along with the OEM sling, a Lowepro Slingshot 100 AW, charger and an assortment of cables. It lacks the rubber seal for the battery grip-port, so I need to source one of those and the lens is not an AW variety, which I hadn't thought of, as those AW ones came with the K7 when I bought that upon release, so I may have a look around for something weathersealed.

It produces photographies like these ones:
View attachment 327526View attachment 327527View attachment 327528

So first impression on the output is good, all are SOOC, the dog one has gotten its colour temp balanced.

Body has 26,413 shutter actuations and was produced in 03-27- 2007 according to that Pentax Forums.

All in all, fifty bucks well spent, or spent on some sort of gateway drug - I am oogling some sort of AW glass for it at the moment and reading @MiguelATFs KP tread was truly a terrible, terrible idea. Especially as the impression when handling the K10D along with the G90 and GX9 was "By Jove, that Pentax is a chunky one, isnt it".... :drinks:

Among Pentaxians, the K10d still enjoys its (well-deserved, I believe) reputation for generating generally fantastic colours from its old-school CCD sensors, long regarded by those who know these things, as one of the best. Yours looks like it is very, very capable. Pentax also have a rich tradition of making fantastic, smallish, superb primes, especially in their multiple Ltd series.

Congrats on a fine purchase, Jens!
 
I pounced a nice deal; a Silver Olympus Pen-F.

first impressions: Metal build is really good. I love the flippy screen (so I can close it). Ergonomics are okay, EVF is really nice! Super sharp, bright and not as “muddy” as my VF-4 on the E-pl8. Peaking is working perfectly, oh and also in video. Speaking of video, the difference of 1080p video quality between E-pl8 and Pen-f is quite insane:

2022-08-06 14_07_25-vlc.gif


So in my eyes, it’s looking really good. I also discovered there is a way to put in exif data for manual lenses, so that’s neat as well! EVF is a little bit flickery somehow, not sure what is up with that, but it's not a deal breaker.
There are also some details that I really appreciate, like the eyelets for one of the straps is a little more to the front, so it can balance better with heavier lenses. Very clever stuff.
The shutter sound is ... different, but still satisfying!
 
I pounced a nice deal; a Silver Olympus Pen-F.

first impressions: Metal build is really good. I love the flippy screen (so I can close it). Ergonomics are okay, EVF is really nice! Super sharp, bright and not as “muddy” as my VF-4 on the E-pl8. Peaking is working perfectly, oh and also in video. Speaking of video, the difference of 1080p video quality between E-pl8 and Pen-f is quite insane:

View attachment 327594

So in my eyes, it’s looking really good. I also discovered there is a way to put in exif data for manual lenses, so that’s neat as well! EVF is a little bit flickery somehow, not sure what is up with that, but it's not a deal breaker.
There are also some details that I really appreciate, like the eyelets for one of the straps is a little more to the front, so it can balance better with heavier lenses. Very clever stuff.
The shutter sound is ... different, but still satisfying!
The Pen-F is a great camera, congratulations on getting one! I program the front button for magnification (I use a lot of manual lenses on my Pen-F). I also program the FN2 button for the lens info so that I can quickly change to the appropriate lens when I swap. I have the FN1 button set to ISO on top and WB across the bottom. There is lots of great info on customizing the color and mono settings for the Pen-F. A really enjoyable camera to use 👍🏻
 
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