Personal gear review

[Ad Dieleman]

.. this may actually cure a bit of my GAS for a while.

Keywords in bold.

 

[tonyturley]

Unfortunately GAS comes in many forms. Cameras are just one of the wallet drainers that have afflicted me. As a woodworker, I am constantly plied with catalogs from woodworker supply houses with whom I have done business. Photography has Leica; woodworking has its equivalent in Festool. On a ukulele forum where I participate, UAS is frequently discussed. And during the pandemic, I had lots of parcels coming to our house as I built four different bicycles to stay busy. Ended up selling them for cheap and even donating a couple to just get them out of the house.

Back to photography, weather is supposed to be very spring-like tomorrow, so I'm planning a long bike ride with my new E-P7.

 

[bastibe]

In my experience, GAS does have a top end. In the beginning, I wanted to try all the things. And did, in fact, do so over a period of some five years. I tried small cameras, big cameras, super zooms, primes, compact lenses, professional lenses. With each purchase, I crossed off that category from my GAS chart. Not for me. (Bought and sold used, with no significant losses)

This whittled down my wants quite considerably. I now know what I like, and am much quicker in dismissing things. My last big infatuation was window finders. A year with the X-Pro2 and an analog rangefinder cured me of that. Not worth the added size and weight, and not a large benefit to me. Thankfully, something about the Leica design is terribly ugly to me. I even considered a Pixii for a while, until I learned of the slow startup and realized that a flexible screen is part of my requirements. I have since sold the X-Pro.

IBIS and AI tracking still held an allure, which is now satisfied with the X-T5. We'll see how it goes, but my GAS has waned considerably over the years, to the point where I'm getting bored with new releases. Here's to hoping...

 

[BruceRH]

My newish E-P7 + 14-42 EZ are scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Looking forward to putting them to use. I want to keep my MFT kit as light and unobtrusive as possible this go-around. I've never had a digital Pen series camera other than the Pen F, so this will be a learning experience. I've had both the O 25/1.8 and 45/1.8 in the past, but I'm thinking hard about the Lumix 35-100 f4-5.6. Not much mention of it on this forum, but samples on flickr look good, and I've watched several YT videos where the presenter sang the praises of the little 35-100.

I have the little Lumix 35-100 and it is a really nice lens that pairs very nicely with the E-P7. Have fun with your new to you kit, the E-P7 has become one of my favorite cameras.

 

[tonyturley]

I have the little Lumix 35-100 and it is a really nice lens that pairs very nicely with the E-P7. Have fun with your new to you kit, the E-P7 has become one of my favorite cameras.

I have a 35-100 on the way now, as well. My impression is that the E-P7 would not be a camera suited to large lenses.

 

[BruceRH]

I have a 35-100 on the way now, as well. My impression is that the E-P7 would not be a camera suited to large lenses.

I use the 14-42EZ, 35-100, the Panasonic 14/2.5 and the Laowa 10/2 mainly on mine, with the 14 getting the most use followed by the 14-42. It is a powerhouse of a little camera, I really don't understand why they don't sell it new in the US.

 

[John King]

I use the 14-42EZ, 35-100, the Panasonic 14/2.5 and the Laowa 10/2 mainly on mine, with the 14 getting the most use followed by the 14-42. It is a powerhouse of a little camera, I really don't understand why they don't sell it new in the US.

Same with the E-PM2. Fantastic little beastie.
Not that it couldn't have done with some improvements - EFCS and respectable IBIS, for example - but a real little powerhouse, nonetheless.

 

[agentlossing]

Using the Pentax K-3 mark III Monochrome has made me scrutinize the K-1 mark II some more, given my almost two years of experience with it. Whenever I have tried to use the K-1 as a run-and-gun, I come away mildly disappointed. This shouldn't come as a surprise. It's a hefty camera with not the fastest autofocus, and it benefits from a more deliberate shooting style. But it actually excels at that deliberate style more than any other camera I have used. Careful choice of exposure leads to exceptionally clean and "deep" files, but even high-ISO files clean up in DXO PhotoLab very nicely and that depth is still present. This tempts me to try to capture street shots with a fast shutter, and really it is good at that; it's just a little loud, a little big, and doesn't AF super fast. There is still room for me to hone my zone focus skills, but the size and shutter volume suggests using a longer lens instead of a wider lens, leading to less effective zone focus. Where the K-1 excels is landscapes and cityscapes (I want to start doing the latter more often), contemplative and everyday life, playing with light and shadow, etc.

The K-3 III Monochrome, by contrast, has that extra edge in speed and nimbleness. It's still a DSLR, so it's not the most unobtrusive, but with a small lens it's still pretty unassuming, and I think the grayed-out lettering on the front of the camera helps a bit. It has very fast AF (when I used the Pentax-F 35-70mm f3.5-4.5, the way the lens jerks into focus it almost sounds like it is in pain - but it focuses nice and quick!), the added DoF of APS-C makes it a little more useful for zone focus (except the crop means you have to search out wider lenses than the FF to get an equivalent field of view), and the high-ISO is crazy, as I and plenty of others have already mentioned. The shutter is a little quieter, though it's not really quiet. Live view works a lot better and faster than the K-1, which makes it a bit of a pity that the screen doesn't tilt at all, but I still much prefer the viewfinder.

My GRIIIx may still be the best unobtrusive street camera that I own. But I certainly find it easier to frame well, quickly, with the larger cameras. The handling of the GR does suit the 28mm version better than the 40mm. This is a bit unusual because 28mm lenses certainly benefit from careful framing, due to potential distortion or distracting peripheral elements. But the GR aesthetic takes those things into account.

 

[MoonMind]

I'll cut right to the chase: The arrival of the Z f led me down a rabbit hole in the search of compact lenses to use with it. I have, in short order, put together quite a collection of candidates for best match.

I'll try to make this brief: Here's the lot in front of Nikon's own offerings (though I've left out the Z 28mm f/2.8 - it's the exact same size and make as the Z 40mm f/2 in the image):

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Nikon's lenses from left to right: Z 26mm f/2.8, Z 40mm f/2, Z 35mm f/1.8 S, Z 50mm f/1.8 S
The alternatives: TTArtisan 50mm f/2, 7Artisans 35mm f/1.4 II, Voigtländer Nokton 40mm f/1.2, Yongnuo 35mm f/2, TTArtisan 50mm f/1.4

• The Z 26mm f/2.8 is indeed - and by some margin - the smallest of the bunch, but it's almost as well made as the S Line lenses, minus the full-metal body. It's optically solid, but not exceptional. Its size is its greatest asset, but its optics hold up to scrutiny, too.
• The Z 40mm f/2 is an all-plastic lens (safe for the optics); it's small, light, fast to focus and optically much, much better than you'd expect. It's a lens the grows on you - much better than a mere sum of its parts.
• The Z 35mm f/1.8 S, while better and even slightly more versatile than the little Z 40mm, is rather big and, while a very good lens, compared to its S Line siblings, it's actually not equally impressive. That said, I think it can compete with all other comparable offerings in the market.
• The best value in Nikon's S Line is represented by the Z 50mm f/1.8 S - a fantastic performer, though big for a lens of its type, but worth every gram and centimeter.

However, I think you can see that the S Line lenses are bulky, and while the Z 26mm is super-small, it's also quite expensive and has an old-fashioned, noisy AF mechanism (it's a typical pancake lens in that regard). It's fine for travel and street (except in quieter areas), but it doesn't feel like a modern lens. That said, it's my go-to AF lens on the Z f - simply because of its size and reliable optical performance. The Z 40mm f/2 looks like an ideal partner for the Z f, but its build quality clashes with the sturdiness of that body - it works fine, it's easy to carry, but it feels a little off to me, not trustworthy enough. Due to its much better weather resistance, the Z 26mm remains the more convincing option.

The alternatives are much more varied and different from each other:

• The TTArtisan 50mm f/2 is the cheapest and smallest of the bunch; it's well enough built (certainly good enough for its very low price), but its optics can only be called adequate: Not bad, usable in most situations, but you'll end up with less keepers than with other lenses because of the many small flaws and idiosyncrasies it displays. It's actually the only lens I'd only recommend conditionally: If you want a small and super-small lens, it's fine - but if you want a lens that'll allow for more than experimentation and the odd success, it probably shouldn't be your first choice.
• The 7Artisans 35mm f/1.4 II is one of two lenses I got only very recently (yesterday), but I'm already quite taken with it: It's optically better than the TTArtisan 50mm f/2 - far from flawless (spherical and chromatic aberrations are visible, and so's coma), but results are appealing and distinctive (some would call it "full of character"), and its OOF rendering, while far from completely smooth, is appealing to my eyes. Definitely a keeper - and best of all, I got it in a fire sale for half its usual price!
• The Voigtländer Nokton 40mm f/1.2 is by far the most expensive of the bunch; it's a really nice performer, too, much better corrected than any of the other manual options in this group; however, it's less highly corrected than Nikon's Z lenses, so you'll end up with the occasional "tainted" frame. But for what it is, a highly portable, super-fast prime with full electronic coupling (except obviously for AF), it is a really fantastic lens I have to highly recommend - if, that is, you don't mind its quite high price.
• The Yongnuo 35mm f/2 (the CSC version, not the previous one that was made for DSLRs) is the most surprising lens in the whole group: It's optically really good, almost on par with the S Line primes (and even sharper than the Z 35mm f/1.8 S - though not as well corrected overall, with more residual optical flaws), it's well made (though not fully sealed) and has good AF performance. It's basically a no-brainer for people who're looking for a good, inexpensive prime for Z mount - and even for me, in spite of the Z 35mm f/1.8 S still remaining one of the key lenses for the system, it's clearly a keeper.
• Finally, the TTArtisan 50mm f/1.4 had gathered quite a bit of fame over the years, so I had been intrigued by it for a long time. When it dropped to half-price in a recent fire sale, I couldn't resist any longer. And lo and behold, it's actually mostly living up to its good reputation: It's pretty sharp in the center wide open and very good across the frame when stopped down, and it's not much worse in terms of optical corrections than the (much more expensive!) Voigtländer Nokton. It is, however, slightly bigger and heavier than that lens, but for its (original) price, it's already recommendable, and when reduced, it's a no-brainer. Its rendering is actually pretty smooth - this might be a very good beginner's choice for portrait photography - to my knowledge, there isn't anything better on the market for this kind of price - though the Mr. Ding 50mm f/1.1 might be even more desirable, but that's not available for Z mount and costs almost twice as much, and the Z mount version of the same optics offered by Artralab has slightly worse coatings and is not a lot cheaper; obviously, neither lens offers any other advantages over the TTArtisan, like the Voigtländer with its electronic contacts.

To sum it all up: It was quite interesting to try out all these lenses, and there's not a single one among them I regret buying (but I wouldn't buy the TTArtisan 50mm f/2 again - not because it's horrible, but because it's not good enough to pick it over any of the Nikon lenses in any specific situation). And while the Voigtländer Nokton 40mm f/1.2 remains the overall most valuable choice out of all the alternatives, it's by no means the only worthy lens among them.

The recent acquistions (Yongnuo 35mm f/2, TTArtisan 50mm f/1.4, 7Artisans 35mm f/1.4 II) have all exceeded expectations in their own different way, so much so that I'll pick one of them for next month's "Single in" challenge.

N.B. I left out the TTArtisan 20mm f/2.8 - because it's not an everyday/walkaround lens. It's quite a nice option, though - it's mostly up there with the three lenses I mentioned in the previous paragaph.

M.

 

[CraigC]

Thanks for sharing Matt @MoonMind. Always appreciate your detailed comments on real world experience with your gear. A great value to the forum.

 

[agentlossing]

I had more than the average amount of photography time today, I brought my K-1 with the A-series fifty in my small Domke bag on my commute, so I could bring it on a lunchtime walk. After work, my wife had dinner with her coworkers so I wandered back down to the market and shot some more and bought myself a chicken gyro for dinner (this place at Pike Market makes some of the best that I've had in the US) which I ate while I walked around. I followed it up with a double affogato (decaf) from a gelato shop.

It's really nice to just walk around with a 50mm lens. The Pentax-A isn't quite as good as my Pentax-M 50mm f1.7, at least the contrast and sharpness isn't quite on par with that (almost legendary) lens, but the colors are truer than the kind of cold M lens. It's still a sharp and capable lens, and easy to focus manually with a nice long throw between around 1.5-10 meters. Plus it's very small and light, lighter than the M.

The effortless way the K-1 handles high ISO also works really well with a manual 50mm because I can keep a safer depth of field to cover any focus inaccuracies. It got a bit rainy as the evening progressed, but that was fine, it just gave things some added atmosphere. A good way to unwind most of the way through this busy week, and I got a couple of decent images.

 

[Aviator]

My pancake Olympus 14-42 EZ that I acquired a few months ago suddenly died .

Today I took a picture without issues, then about 3 hours later I took the camera again to take another picture and oh surprise! I heard some noises inside the lens, but the screen remained black.
The lens does not extend anymore, it only makes some noises when powering the camera ON.

I tried swapping batteries and cleaning the lens contacts without luck. I also tested the camera with another lens just to discard any issues with it, but it operated normally.

My guess is that the famous ribbon cable is the responsible one. It is really a shame it died so early on our journey together, (I got in in January 14th), the lens gave me some really nice pictures when I took it to my layovers here and there.

Since I also own Panasonic cameras, I will probably look at some of the Panasonic offerings.
The obvious pancake candidate is the 12-32, but the 14-42 II and the old 14-45 are also on the table as I used the 42mm ending on my Olympus lens often.

The Olympus 14-42 IIR could be a possibility as well, I read that optically is the same lens than the EZ.

Any experience with the old Panasonic 14-45? I'm intrigued by it.

 

[Panolyman]

My pancake Olympus 14-42 EZ that I acquired a few months ago suddenly died .

Today I took a picture without issues, then about 3 hours later I took the camera again to take another picture and oh surprise! I heard some noises inside the lens, but the screen remained black.
The lens does not extend anymore, it only makes some noises when powering the camera ON.

I tried swapping batteries and cleaning the lens contacts without luck. I also tested the camera with another lens just to discard any issues with it, but it operated normally.

My guess is that the famous ribbon cable is the responsible one. It is really a shame it died so early on our journey together, (I got in in January 14th), the lens gave me some really nice pictures when I took it to my layovers here and there.

Since I also own Panasonic cameras, I will probably look at some of the Panasonic offerings.
The obvious pancake candidate is the 12-32, but the 14-42 II and the old 14-45 are also on the table as I used the 42mm ending on my Olympus lens often.

The Olympus 14-42 IIR could be a possibility as well, I read that optically is the same lens than the EZ.

Any experience with the old Panasonic 14-45? I'm intrigued by it.

Shame about your EZ; from reports here it seems a fairly common occurrence..... I'm keeping my fingers crossed about mine.
I had the Panasonic 14-45 when I bought my G7 some years ago.
It's a really fine lens and I've been tempted by a few I've seen recently.
I think there were three versions and I believe the first version with the metal mount is the one to look out for.
Good luck.

 

[bmhome1]

I've read consistently that the P14-42PZ performs optically the best of Panasonic offerings.