GAS GAS: Please Share your Latest Acquisitions Big and Small

You know, I had the same sentiment toward the Oly 9mm BCL. Cheap, tiny, very fun. Something like DxO viewpoint is handy to defish, if so desired. Fisheyes do well for landscapes, IMO, as you can produce a good sense of the forest closing in on you, or pulling you into the scene. I think the human eye can more easily accept a curved tree versus a curved wall!
Not to be contrarian, but the Samyang lenses are in a totally different ballpark performance-wise. That said, I owned the 15mm f/8 back in the, and while that lens was a weaker performer than its 9mm stablemate, it was still fun to use ...

M.
 
Just bought the lens in this picture - the Sigma 35mm f2 i-series. I like it a lot. There's something about a compact 35mm f2.

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It renders beautifully too - great sharpness, micro-contrast, colours, and general "pop":

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Merton College Chapel, Oxford by Paul Kaye, on Flickr
 
The lenses aren't related in terms of their optical formula - the 8mm (the f/2.8 II version we're looking at here) appears to be much more ambitious.

I'm using my Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 for :mu43: too rarely already - so I can't justify another lens that'll sit mostly in some cupboard. But I do love what the lens delivers - and should I ever have to let go of :mu43: as a system (I've never had a reason for that up to now), the 8mm f/2.8 II, to me, would be the lens to fill this specific niche.

M.

A minor addendum about the :mu43: and the APS-C lenses which Rokinon made.
The 7.5mm micro four thirds lens came out in around 2011 and, to the best of my knowledge, was never updated.
The APS-C 8mm lens came out in 2013 but was updated to v.II in 2014 with a new and improved optical design over v.I
All versions of the lens were approximately the same length (just under 6cm long); not unsurprisingly, the newer APS-C version is both a bit wider and a bit heavier. All versions of both lenses have a field-of-view of approx. 180 degrees.
I have to concur with you, Matt - v.II of the 8mm f/2.8 is the one to get :2thumbs:
 
You know, I had the same sentiment toward the Oly 9mm BCL. Cheap, tiny, very fun. Something like DxO viewpoint is handy to defish, if so desired. Fisheyes do well for landscapes, IMO, as you can produce a good sense of the forest closing in on you, or pulling you into the scene. I think the human eye can more easily accept a curved tree versus a curved wall!

Randy, I share your sentiments towards the Oly 9mm BCL. I've got one myself and it has become one of my favorite weird tiny lenses, especially for smaller mu-4/3 bodies. Cheap, tiny and very fun - exactly my sentiments as well. But I also have to concur with Matt regarding the optical and IQ differences between the tiny 9mm fixed f/8 plastic Oly wonder, and the Rokinon which, optically, is almost jaw-droopingly good. Not to mention its superb build quality, and the versatility of having a relatively fast (or at least fast-er) aperture to play around with. Both are great lenses, however :)
 
I haven't bought anything specifically but I took my Small Rig bracket off my Sony a7 Mark IV for the first time in 5 months since I got it and I forgot how much smaller and lighter my camera feels. Yus, the shortness now leaves my pinky a bit lonely now BUT somehow I am not bothered by this as much as I thought and it lets me slip the camera (with Tamy 28-75mm f 2.8 G2 or Sony FE 85mm f 1.8) so much easier in my hoodie front pocket.

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To my surprise, the Sony a7 Mark IV is smaller than the Olympus OM-1 (if not for the taller EVF hump, the top plate is shorter on Sony). (To get the actual 1:1 size to the real camera I had to enlarge the browser page rendering to 220%, where it now fits perfectly with my camera's size to be able to fit on my 15.6-inch laptop screen, yours might be different).

I may be thinking of going without the bracket when I used all my lenses except for Tamy 150-500mm f 5-6.7 (and that lens makes me wish for the proper battery grip).

Another experiment that has been suggested to me is to try and shoot exclusively in Black & White for a month to try something different, I shoot only RAW so I would have to edit the pictures with the B&W filter in Lightroom.
 
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On paper, the 12-50 is an extra-ordinary lens.
Macro?...Yes!
Weather sealed?...Of course!!
EZ?....Yeees!!
Internal Zoom?.....Yes,Yes,Yes!!
Sadly, and I'm a sucker for internal zooming, I was dissuaded by all the negative press!
Well...ya gotta move on....Just got my Pana 12-60 which looks like a winner!
A lot of the negatives for the 12-50 are because of its high retail, $499 - $599 ?

At the used prices they've been at for several years now, not bad.
 
I haven't bought anything specifically but I took my Small Rig bracket off my Sony a7 Mark IV for the first time in 5 months since I got it and I forgot how much smaller and lighter my camera feels. Yus, the shortness now leaves my pinky a bit lonely now BUT somehow I am not bothered by this as much as I thought and it lets me slip the camera (with Tamy 28-75mm f 2.8 G2 or Sony FE 85mm f 1.8) so much easier in my hoodie front pocket.

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To my surprise, the Sony a7 Mark IV is smaller than the Olympus OM-1 (if not for the taller EVF hump, the top plate is shorter on Sony). (To get the actual 1:1 size to the real camera I had to enlarge the browser page rendering to 220%, where it now fits perfectly with my camera's size to be able to fit on my 15.6-inch laptop screen, yours might be different).

I may be thinking of going without the bracket when I used all my lenses except for Tamy 150-500mm f 5-6.7 (and that lens makes me wish for the proper battery grip).

Another experiment that has been suggested to me is to try and shoot exclusively in Black & White for a month to try something different, I shoot only RAW so I would have to edit the pictures with the B&W filter in Lightroom.
With the latest mirrorless bodies it can be a bit surprising how close in size they are. But it's still the glass.
 
So I am still trying to find the perfect bag 😬 While perusing Amazon, they had a Domke F-5XB return in black for only $38.77, how could I possibly pass that up! It showed up today in brand new, sealed condition. It actually fills a need/want for a small carry bag. It fits my Leica M10-R perfectly with room for a MFT body, nice 😀 I looked at quite a few reviews on this bag before I clicked buy and the reviews seemed mixed but at this price I am very happy. View attachment 383608View attachment 383610
A wonderful little bag, pretty much the same size as the ONA Bowery and Think Tank Retrospective 4. One thing I liked about the 5XB is it has a zipper when you want extra security, but the Velco is pretty strong when not needed.
 
A wonderful little bag, pretty much the same size as the ONA Bowery and Think Tank Retrospective 4. One thing I liked about the 5XB is it has a zipper when you want extra security, but the Velco is pretty strong when not needed.
I agree on the velcro and after doing some searching, I found this modification. I ordered some Fidlock snaps and they should be here next week. Hopefully I don't screw the bag up too badly! And just for good measure, I ordered some Fidlock V-BUCKLE 25 Split Bar Flap with pull tab. Why you ask? Well I placed a low ball offer on a Domke F-6 "Little bit smaller" bag I saw on Ebay 😃 It is in decent but not great shape but for the price I paid, I'm happy, I hate the clips Domke uses so I figured I would replace those with the fidlocks. So what made me think of Fidlock buckles? Funny you should ask. I had ordered a Wontancraft Pilot 7L a while back and it finally showed up this week and it has a Fidlock buckle that is pretty slick. So yes, 3 new bags but in my defense, I sold 2 bags this week and I have another one listed on FM (an ONA Prince in leather) so my net will be zero once that one is sold.😁
 
Had to catchup on the thread before adding:

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The local camera store had a used one (~5200 on the shutter) and they were having a 15% off used so ended up being cheaper than I've seen them on FM. The body, cap, battery, and charger only is the only downside.
I wish there was a lens like this in L mount. The Lumix 24-105 is good, but it’s not quite as sharp as the Nikon 24-120, and that extra reach would be nice too.
 
With the latest mirrorless bodies it can be a bit surprising how close in size they are. But it's still the glass.
Some of this too is that you can only start getting so small on a camera body before you run out of places for buttons and knobs and wheels. Plus, gripped bodies are never intended to be as small as possible. The OM5 is nearer the lower limit of a camera body, IMO. What you say is definitely the biggest factor though, M43 has some pretty small glass options.
 
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