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Personal gear review
- Thread starter Bobby T
- Start date
- Location
- Jersey Shore
- Name
- Steve
No worries. At least some of us got it.I probably should have left the obscure lyrics out of my post above (#635), I have a feeling I'm a party of one on the reference.
Don't mind me, I'm going nowhere fast tonight.
I was wondering if anyone would, not exactly a new tune.
- Location
- Vancouver BC
- Name
- Graham
Considered by some to be one of the first rap songs.
I think it was the first rap song to make it as a mainstream hit on the charts. Rap had been around, just not as wide an audience IIRC.
Been taking stock of gear. Not really much I can do to downsize more right now without decreasing ability to shoot what I like. Definitely not buying anything until I figure out what direction Fuji is headed with the X-H2 models.
Not sure what I'll do if they change the bodies into things that won't work well for me.
- Location
- Jersey Shore
- Name
- Steve
Yeah, I'm sitting right where I am until after the X-H2 is unveiled and a few serious reviews are posted. The thing is, at this point in my life I would have to sell off two Fuji cameras to pay for one new one. The X-H2 will have to be very, very good in order for me to sell off my X-T4, X-S10 or X-Pro 3. The X-E4 and X100V stay no matter what.
I'm hoping Fuji seriously ups their game wrt AF tracking, acquisition speed and stickiness. Without seriously changing the size, ergonomics, or decreasing EVF specs (viewport size, eyepoint...). With Fuji's current design trends of removing control points, decreasing size, etc... I'm hoping for the best.
I don't want to be forced into a choice of keeping existing stuff and being aggravated with problems, spending a large amount of cash changing to Canon or Nikon, or stopping my shooting of mil aviation/ airshow. It's one of the photo things I enjoy most, and can still do.
edit - fumble fingers on a new mech keyboard.
Let's review my Nikon F system.
The sole body: Nikon Df that was bought used in summer 2020, was serviced in the spring of 2021. Shooting it on and off. Currently experiencing a little "on" period.
In the order of acquisition, covering the first one from March 2020 to the last one, bought in May 2021.
The sole body: Nikon Df that was bought used in summer 2020, was serviced in the spring of 2021. Shooting it on and off. Currently experiencing a little "on" period.
In the order of acquisition, covering the first one from March 2020 to the last one, bought in May 2021.
Nikkor 24-85 VR G. [Returned] Probably okay but was soft towards tele and was feel-less zoom.- Nikkor AF-D 85/1.8. Great lens. No need to do anything about it, except to shoot it.
- Nikkor AF-D 28-70 f/3.5-5.6. Beautiful bokeh and compact zoom, but the focus accuracy (or maybe just general lens performance) drifts at longer distances. Best results got when I mount this lens on my Leica M. Also works a treat on the Panasonic S1, as one would expect.
Samyang 20mm f/1.8. [Sold] Great perf up close but again seems to suffer greatly if you try to shoot a landscape with the lens. Focusing this on the optical is a total bitch. Also big and heavy.- Nikkor-Q 135mm f/2.8 pre-Ai. Fantastic impulse buy and I really loved the prime focal length from the get-go. Four elements, builtin retractable hood. Sonnar-like rendition. Its only sin is size and weight. I should shoot it more often because it's practically sharper and the bokeh equally nice to the Sonnar f/3.5 version. But due to small size&weight savings, I tend to pick the Sonnar instead.
Micro-Nikkor-P.C 55/3.5 Ai. [Returned] Ai? In my notes here I have marked this down as Ai lens but I recall this was pre-Ai. It was good but difficult to shoot due to very short focus throw. If you could nail the focus it matched Leica + 50/3.5 Heliar easily, but I rarely nailed it. Also suffered at long distances.
--
Now there was a long period where things cooled down until next spring thing heated up and I bought new lenses:
- Nikon 75-150 f/3.5 Series E. Wonderful zoom with sharp construction, decent minimum focusing distance as well. Its bokeh and build quality leave to desire, but basically one could replace the 105/135 primes easily with this one, IQ wise.
- Nikkor 35~200 f/3.5-4.5. Monster zoom for sports and action but I found a great landscape zoom in this. Has some of that zoom look (ie. visible aberrations) but oftentimes offers two lenses in one: wide open you get a soft nice atmospheric picture and stopped down a serious down-to-business lens. Hard stop at infinity is great.
- Nikkor-P 105/2.5 pre-Ai. Silver-nose variant of the legendary Sonnar. It's okay. Next to my 135mm primes it doesn't make all the sense but sometimes I do opt for the wider and sometimes the longer. Not going to sell it.
- Nikkor-QC 135/3.5 pre-Ai. You say Sonnar, I say buy it. I got the lenses #7-10 in one batch and the availability of Sonnars in Camerastore was the reason I splurged on these. Now that I've spent time with the 135/3.5 and 135/2.8 I deem them both equally bokehlicious but I don't really gain by selling either of them so I keep them.
By this time there was no 50mm for my system. This was strictly because I had (too) many fifties for my primary system and there was no need to start duplicating FLs in other systems. But I guess it was inevitable when exactly a year ago I bought my first 50mm prime for Nikon and shortly afterwards, another one:
- Nikkor AF-D 50mm f/1.4. I learned to prefer the older pre-Ai lenses to these screwdrive lenses but a plastic 50 that would match the plastic autofocus 85 made some sort of sense? To this day I think this lens has seen the least use!
- Nikkor-S.C 50mm f/1.4 pre-Ai. Once you go fifty... It was inevitable that a pre-Ai fifty find its way to me. These two fifties share a lot in optical qualities, with maybe this 50 years old lens correcting itself better once stopped down. I always considered this a soft and largely useless lens but very recently, within the last two weeks I discovered that this lens actually does a very good job if you stop down to f/2.8. The bokeh can be very pleasant indeed.
- Nikkor 28 f/2 Ai. After the Samyang ultrawide I swore all wide angle lenses off. But I wanted a 28. Sadly this lens is equally pain to focus manually. I am thinking about selling this and maybe entertain getting the "bad" 28mm f/2.8 AF lens instead.
- Sigma APO D 70-300 f/4-5.6 Macro. Not a very good zoom. It's lightweight though. Works as a character lens and frankly it does 95% IQ of what a landscaper actually needs of a lens.
A second installment in the saga of the Etsumi Lens Hood, first part is HERE.
I have tried the lens hood on the Panasonic 20mm which it is made for, the PL15 and the Pana 14mm, with the intention of trying it on my PL25mm. All of these shares the 46mm filter tread.
Why the obsession with it? Because it is tiny, and makes for a rather nice compact set-up, when changing to it over the Panansonic made ones. The PLs have rather massive lens-hood as the OEM standard and that will not do, especially as they are of the none reversible kind.
No further dwelling, onto the hoods:
First picture shows the OEM hood, the two latter the Etsumi
Just illustrative photos of the Etsumi working, SOOC, the last one is just to "show" the working condition and is about 45 dgrs off my left shoulder in the first of the SOOC pics.
I have tried the lens hood on the Panasonic 20mm which it is made for, the PL15 and the Pana 14mm, with the intention of trying it on my PL25mm. All of these shares the 46mm filter tread.
Why the obsession with it? Because it is tiny, and makes for a rather nice compact set-up, when changing to it over the Panansonic made ones. The PLs have rather massive lens-hood as the OEM standard and that will not do, especially as they are of the none reversible kind.
No further dwelling, onto the hoods:
First picture shows the OEM hood, the two latter the Etsumi
Just illustrative photos of the Etsumi working, SOOC, the last one is just to "show" the working condition and is about 45 dgrs off my left shoulder in the first of the SOOC pics.
OldRex
Regular
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
- Name
- Mark
I think now he only eats guitars.I probably should have left the obscure lyrics out of my post above (#635), I have a feeling I'm a party of one on the reference.
Don't mind me, I'm going nowhere fast tonight.
Haven't heard from him in a while, he might have returned to Mars.
On the review front... Been working through options. Changing systems is probably a non-starter. Even just getting a kit for mil aviation/ airshow will be quite a bit more costly than making a partial move to Leica (Q2M).
Problem is availability. Usual eBay Japanese sellers have zero stock since last year. Is there another source for the "Etsumi 6309" which is black version?
- Location
- Seattle
- Name
- Andrew
I think I know why I am thinking about Pentax again. Well, I think I know what reasons I have in addition to simple GAS.
When I got the Voigtlander Bessa-T it was an inexpensive entry into the Leica M-mount. My view of the M-mount is not so much the ability to buy astoundingly-good Leica lenses, because, well, I can't afford to put that kind of money into my hobby. I was more interested in a lens mount that has a vast amount of older lenses easily compatible, and less exorbitantly priced. I like to find quirky lenses, quirky rendering lenses, interesting looks that I can get from the optics themselves rather than from doing PP in front of a computer. Since getting the Voigtlander, however, I've more or less just settled on the lovely 35mm Color Skopar, because its images render so nicely. Quirky? No, not really, but they're sharp without being too sharp, with a kind of contrast that seems to take in the entire scene, and not fixate on individual parts of the scene. I really like this lens, but the system hasn't turned out to be a good one for experimenting, for me. One (large) reason is that I need accessory viewfinders for any new focal lengths - and they are expensive. Another reason is that it's a film camera, and exploring a lens's optics requires shooting (now very expensive) film and developing it and scanning it, just to get a look at it. These days I haven't found a lot of time to shoot and develop film.
So, what does Pentax have to offer? Only an expansive K-mount with a ton of lenses going way, way back, nearly all compatible to an extent, and on digital sensors that are within my price range, unlike Leica's prices. I mean, I could find a used, working K70 for under $400. And I already have a couple of manual K-mount lenses for my K1000. However, it's not APS-C that I really want. I want the sensor and capabilities of that hulking, weather-sealed, bombproof, solid chunk of metal known as the K-1. Part of me is telling myself I'm nuts, and I won't like how massive it is for simple walkaround photography. It almost needs a tripod. But at the same time, the other part of me is whispering how fun it could be to acquire cheap manual Pentax lenses and have a way to display them at their native field of view, with all their quirks and glories intact, without the hassle and wait of film. Not to mention the ongoing compatibility with my K1000, which I don't shoot super often but enjoy when I do.
I've got to think more about this.
When I got the Voigtlander Bessa-T it was an inexpensive entry into the Leica M-mount. My view of the M-mount is not so much the ability to buy astoundingly-good Leica lenses, because, well, I can't afford to put that kind of money into my hobby. I was more interested in a lens mount that has a vast amount of older lenses easily compatible, and less exorbitantly priced. I like to find quirky lenses, quirky rendering lenses, interesting looks that I can get from the optics themselves rather than from doing PP in front of a computer. Since getting the Voigtlander, however, I've more or less just settled on the lovely 35mm Color Skopar, because its images render so nicely. Quirky? No, not really, but they're sharp without being too sharp, with a kind of contrast that seems to take in the entire scene, and not fixate on individual parts of the scene. I really like this lens, but the system hasn't turned out to be a good one for experimenting, for me. One (large) reason is that I need accessory viewfinders for any new focal lengths - and they are expensive. Another reason is that it's a film camera, and exploring a lens's optics requires shooting (now very expensive) film and developing it and scanning it, just to get a look at it. These days I haven't found a lot of time to shoot and develop film.
So, what does Pentax have to offer? Only an expansive K-mount with a ton of lenses going way, way back, nearly all compatible to an extent, and on digital sensors that are within my price range, unlike Leica's prices. I mean, I could find a used, working K70 for under $400. And I already have a couple of manual K-mount lenses for my K1000. However, it's not APS-C that I really want. I want the sensor and capabilities of that hulking, weather-sealed, bombproof, solid chunk of metal known as the K-1. Part of me is telling myself I'm nuts, and I won't like how massive it is for simple walkaround photography. It almost needs a tripod. But at the same time, the other part of me is whispering how fun it could be to acquire cheap manual Pentax lenses and have a way to display them at their native field of view, with all their quirks and glories intact, without the hassle and wait of film. Not to mention the ongoing compatibility with my K1000, which I don't shoot super often but enjoy when I do.
I've got to think more about this.
I've gone through something similar and what I would say from my experience is that using the "hunk" will unavoidably be different to using the rangefinder, it is noticeably heavier in use. But at the same time when it comes to manual use, the thought process and satisfaction in usage and output can actually be quite similar.
Actually just thinking about this some more, a major difference will be the pre focusing on the go for instantaneous/ spontaneous shooting; that is something that happens a lot with a rangefinder camera but for a number of reasons be it haptics or weight, that just doesn’t happen with the bigger DSLR.
K1 is big and heavy. It may also be more of a computer than a camera, depending on what you want from your tools. KP vs K1, you know, was it a nice enough camera without hindrances to you?
Did you have other digital Pentax cameras in your past?
- Name
- Miguel Tejada-Flores
I'm assuming you have read Kirk Tuck's thoughtful (and rather glowing) blog posts on why he likes (thought it's past tense now, 'liked', as he is no longer using them) the K-1. He bought several of them and used them extensively a few years back.
Here is a very readable and interesting post he wrote, titled, "Just to add a little chaos to the beginning of the week, here's why I like the Pentax K-1J" -
Just to add a little chaos to the beginning of the week, here's why I like the Pentax K-1.
Texas Photographer's Blog about Photography, Art and Writing by Kirk Tuck.
visualsciencelab.blogspot.com
Another of Kirk's K-1 articles worth reading is, "My current, favorite street shooting camera and lens. Totally rational irrationality."
My current, favorite street shooting camera system and lens. Totally rational irrationality.
Texas Photographer's Blog about Photography, Art and Writing by Kirk Tuck.
visualsciencelab.blogspot.com
But be forewarned: he makes a compelling case on why the K-1 is such a great camera - and he doesn't even go into the many reasons why a serious number of dedicated landscape photographers think the K-1 is the best thing since buttered toast
I got it. I just didn't want to admit to it.
Initially it was familiar but I had to reach back to remember the song.
- Location
- Seattle
- Name
- Andrew
I went back through this thread to refresh my memory on what I said then about the KP. I still have my thoughts about it, but wanted to make sure I didn't totally flip-flop, especially considering what I know I've said about large/heavy cameras in the past. Luckily, my views on the KP are mostly the same now as they were then. I really liked the KP, but the thing I disliked was its APS-C-ness. By that I mean two things: one, the crop makes the K-mount less versatile, since my film lenses become more awkward focal lengths, and two, the optical viewfinder and mirror aren't very large on an APS-C DSLR, which makes it harder to see my subject and determine focus and things like that. I think I really just have to rent a K-1 mkII and see what I think of it.K1 is big and heavy. It may also be more of a computer than a camera, depending on what you want from your tools. KP vs K1, you know, was it a nice enough camera without hindrances to you?
I did read those, I can't say they helped me put the thoughts of the K-1 out of my mind - thanks Miguel. Hahah. I just really love the feature-set and experience that Pentax offers, and I can't stop thinking about my ideal world, where I could find cheap K-mount lenses at bargain prices and shoot them on a digital sensor and really appreciate the results. The K-1 wouldn't be my ideal way of doing that, because it's built to be a professional's warhammer for any and every circumstance, but it's probably the only option I would be able to get from Pentax for some time into the future at least.I'm assuming you have read Kirk Tuck's thoughtful (and rather glowing) blog posts on why he likes (thought it's past tense now, 'liked', as he is no longer using them) the K-1. He bought several of them and used them extensively a few years back.
Here is a very readable and interesting post he wrote, titled, "Just to add a little chaos to the beginning of the week, here's why I like the Pentax K-1J" -
Just to add a little chaos to the beginning of the week, here's why I like the Pentax K-1.
Texas Photographer's Blog about Photography, Art and Writing by Kirk Tuck.
Another of Kirk's K-1 articles worth reading is, "My current, favorite street shooting camera and lens. Totally rational irrationality."
My current, favorite street shooting camera system and lens. Totally rational irrationality.
Texas Photographer's Blog about Photography, Art and Writing by Kirk Tuck.
But be forewarned: he makes a compelling case on why the K-1 is such a great camera - and he doesn't even go into the many reasons why a serious number of dedicated landscape photographers think the K-1 is the best thing since buttered toast
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