GAS What was your best purchase of 2021?

[agentlossing]

Sorry I missed this question. A number of things that make me prefer the E-P7 over the X100v or Pen F.

• The E-P7 is a simpler camera. I'm a pretty basic shooter. I shoot mainly in aperture with auto ISO and use exposure comp (and sometimes metering mode) to adjust exposure. On occasion I use shutter, manual, and rarely program or auto.
• On occasion I use some of the advanced features, but it's so infrequent that the additional guided support is helpful. If I need more options in those areas I also have the E-M1.2.
• I do use the mono/color profiles. The interface is (IMHO) MUCH more intuitive than the Pen F and I never used the art filters or color creator.
• IBIS, for a lot of what and how I shoot it makes a difference. Angles, shutter speeds, etc.
• Options. I use to have an X70 (28mme) with the WCL for 21mme and never hesitated to use the 35mme digital TC. I had the WCL with the X100v for 28mme and did try the 50mme TC. With the E-P7 I tend to use the O17mm f/1.8 with the 9mm BCL or the P12-32mm, so options.
• It feels more responsive in use, AF, controls, menus, etc. The X100v felt about the same as the Pen F, the E-P7 feels faster.
• It's smaller and lighter with my most often used lenses.
• Price, the nearly new E-P7 was about the same price as a Pen F and a good bit less than the X100v.

How do the color and mono profiles feel in comparison to the Pen-F?

 

[Tili]

LX100 mk1 (with the auto-cap).

If I knew about this camera, before I bought into m43 or Fuji, I would have had so much more money.

It's perfect for my needs. AF is blazingly fast. And it looks great.

 

[John King]

No such thing as a late answer in this thread.
After all, one may need months, maybe even years in some cases, to form a final opinion about importance of an acquisition.

It could even be something that you bought and then sold, and it would still be the best purchase of that year if it made you realize something or improve as a photographer or even as a human being.

Maybe a quick shopping trip to go replace a missing lens cap in next June will unearth your next missus? And it'll only be some time later that you realize she's the one. And a decade later you can come to the next thread, "What was your best purchase of 2022" to tell about your children and how the lens cap got missing in the first place.

The Butterfly Effect is a very real phenomenon, Mike.

 

[davidzvi]

How do the color and mono profiles feel in comparison to the Pen-F?

I'm probably not the person to ask about "how do they feel". I think they're pretty comparable and have the same configuration options. I like to play around with mono images, but I just go by what looks good to me. I tend to use the settings in camera to get a feel for the mono look and then confirm or adjust the look in Olympus / OM Workspace.

I do wish I could find a good Fuji Classic chrome formula.

What finally convinced me to try the E-P7? I stumbled across user Raist3d on DPReview, he's posted a lot more detailed information. Really surprised that I haven't seen him here or on mu-43 to be honest.

 

[PacNWMike]

12-100mm f/4 IS PRO Lens. No contest.

 

[Ghostbuggy]

I have to say that's quite a difficult question in regards of photographic gear and equipment. The most interesting one for sure would've been the Epson ET-8550 printer for a number of reasons:

1. My former Canon Pixma printer died earlier last year for good and I haven't been able to print anything, even the two years prior the prints always had several flaws which made me stay away from printing at home.
2. Printing large. My former Pixma was a standard A4 sized printer, the ET-8550 is A3+, I got a pack of high quality A3+ Epson Luster Paper right away and am very satisfied being able to print such a large format at home. The quality is amazing.
3. Printing without worries and experimenting. The ET-8550 doesn't use cartridges, but rather tanks, in addition the ink bottles are fairly affordable and long lasting. No need to worry about emptying a cartridge anymore, I just print, sometimes I do the same print on different paper or print different versions of a photo. I already have quite a number of those prints on my walls.

Printing at home on such a (rather) large format at any time is a nice experience and a completely different direction from just a new lens or a new camera.


If I would have to talk about actual camera gear only, the choice would be rather tough, as I've not only bought into Fujifilm's X-System last year, but also got two lenses for my trusty MFT kit. It would be a close call between the X100V and X-Pro3 and I am unsure which one would get the edge, but I am leaning to the X100V. Which really is a fairly compact, light, weather resistent camera, which also has some interesting features up it's sleeve.
There has been a lot of talk about the X100 series ever since the first version came out, funny enough I've never been interested in one and the X100V was more or less an impulsive GAS attack. However I can now understand why that line of cameras is being held so dearly by many people.

 

[mike3996]

I have to say that's quite a difficult question in regards of photographic gear and equipment. The most interesting one for sure would've been the Epson ET-8550 printer for a number of reasons:

I never heard of this concept before and now I'm pretty interested! A home printer that a cheapskate like me could also afford to use? Hmm.

 

[Ghostbuggy]

I never heard of this concept before and now I'm pretty interested! A home printer that a cheapskate like me could also afford to use? Hmm.

The printer itself isn't cheap, in fact it was quite a bit above my maximum budget. But I figured out by the time I would need to replace the initial cartridges, the higher price of the printer would almost be offset and on the long run, the EcoTank would be more economical. Of course there are also cons, those are dye-based ink instead of pigment-based inks which you'd find on photo printers at that price point.
But for my home use, the quality is more than enough.

The most major downside: As the ET-8550 isn't considered as a professional photo printer, it is a lot harder to get fitting color profiles. Especially from 3rd party brands, but in some cases also those from Epson's more premium papers, like the mentioned Luster Paper.