GAS What was your best purchase of 2022?

mike3996

mike3996

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Time to review the year of 2022. Out of the various camera gear purchases, what worked best for you? What was the highlight?

The previous year's thread is here for pointers.
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GAS - What was your best purchase of 2021?

A mixture of acquisition/gear review! I scanned a topic of this sort on a photo forum somewhere, but I can't now remember what forum and where. So, looking back to 2021. What single piece of gear that you bought was the highlight purchase of the year for you? To me it was the 175 € Fuji...
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For me, I didn't splurge on much this year.

I collected a small Pentax system in the spring and then it was already early Fall when I decided to buy an Olympus E-M1.2 which'd been on my "bucket list" to experience some time.

Choosing between my Pentax system as a whole (Pentax KP, a grab bag of past-their-prime lenses and a pristine used lens sourced from 3 different vendors in total) vs Olympus E-M1.2 body (which was introduced to, and welcomed by, a mountain of existing good-quality lenses, not to mention adapters and speedboosters) is seriously a 51-49 type of vote. Demand a recount and I wouldn't be one bit surprised if I chose the Olympus the next time around. :)

Functionally, the Olympus is the clear winner of the two. It's dependable, solid, rugged and has massive amounts of horse power under its hood (best AF-C of my stable, 60 fps, Pro Capture, the list goes on). But it also means it's kind of boring to know it does the job. And the viewfinder just sucks all the joy out of everything.
Meanwhile, I have developed a deep love/hate relationship with the Pentax KP. But the optical viewfinder is quite something. It's a tough one for me, and by slim margin maybe the Pentax KP is the highlight camera for me for 2022, if not for other reason other than the system encourages me to explore a bit further.
 
Thank you for reviving this annual tradition, Mike.
For me, this was a no-brainer... the Fujifilm X-T3.
Which has the nicest viewfinder (EVF) of any digital camera I've ever used.
It's also a better size and fit for my hands than the camera it replaced, an X-Pro 3.

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Easy question to answer. I only bought one lens this year and one photo bag. The bag is a bigger brother of one I already use a lot, so it's not a huge upgrade.

And that makes the Sony FE 4-5.6/28-60 the winner. I hoped to have a small and light street lens and it delivered excellently on that purpose; moreover, it appeared to be very good optically so it's even suitable for more general photography. In other words, a good purchase.
 
With swapping systems this year, there were quite a few purchases. I will go with what justified the switch and enabled me to get images that I couldn't have with my m43 kit. The Nikon Z6 + FTZ ($1000) & Nikkor AF-S 80-200mm f/2.8 D ($284). There are better 70-200 2.8 class optics, but bang for buck this is fantastic.

My main reason for the switch was my kids planning indoor sports / activities for fall and winter, which turned out to be gymnastics in a poorly lit converted warehouse / gym. I'm regularly shooting at ISO ranges 10,000 - 20,000 and up to 25,600 f2.8 and 1/800 or 1/640 to freeze action. DXO PL5 has been great on these images for my purposes. My Oly EM1.3 + 40-150 2.8 would have given me the same ISO, but from experience I know it falls apart over ISO 6400 especially regarding color and I would have been really upset. I've also done my 7 YO nephew's basketball game which was more evenly lit, but still ISO 10,000 and it was great in there too.

My family has loved seeing these type of action shots of the kids. The gymnastics place only has outdoor viewing area and it's standing only. Grandparents have made it a couple of times, but it's not a place where great grandparents can come and be comfortable. Getting a batch of photos every couple of weeks makes them light up.
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Amedeo Contax RF to Leica M adapter. They're not cheap even though I got one used one at a record beating price of $100, but I never knew till only this year what a wonderful thing it is to be able to not only adapt but also align for rangefinder focusing, all pre/ post war Contax rangefinder mount lenses exactly as one would using a Contax mount RF camera. No need for EVF use, just using these lenses as they were built to be used, through the optical rangefinder. Also great that I can adapt in the same way Nikon S rangefinder mount lenses too. I've seen for myself that both the CZJ/Nikon RF lenses are as good as their Leitz counterparts of the same era but often at a tenth of the price. I was on the verge of sending at least one of these lenses to the wonderful folks at Skyllaney to adapt to M mount; no need now.
 
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I made no photographic purchases this year. Money's tight.

The closest I came is when I ordered a free sample pack of several fine art paper types that's now undergoing real-world aging testing for about a year before I make a decision (I plan to frame my future prints without glass for protection, so need a paper that'll hold up to the UV light, temperature and humidity fluctuations, airborne cooking fat, insects etcetera occurring in my living room).
 
My best purchase wasn't photo related. I have a hard time spending money on my photo hobby for some reason. My wife may disagree with that but it is what it is. I didn't realize it but buying this locomotive off the Goodwill auction site in February is the best thing I did. It needed repairs but is working pretty good now. It helped me feel better about myself and gave me the confidence to fix my sister-in-law's husband's locomotive too. He really appreciated being able to use it on Christmas day. That made me feel good. I still want a Sony A7RiiiA but it will have to wait a while, until I feel I deserve it. I'm not that good a photographer yet.
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A bit counterintuitive, but here goes... repurchasing a gently-used E-M5 II and offloading a mint E-PL7 and a couple of lenses to simplify. In terms of best 2022 purchase, this move "back to basics" has been worth far more than the cost in terms of shedding at least 50% of the agony over what to use and when resulting from more kit than I really need. For myself, I can't believe the # of corner cases that have compelled me to spend unnecessarily (unless it's arguably justified through experimentation and curiosity).
 
tonyturley said:
The Olympus 12-45 f4 Pro. One of the best lenses I have ever used, perhaps matched only by the Pentax DA 20-40 I once rented. I still every now and then think about a KP and a 20-40. Maybe on next year's "2023 best". :D
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Just to second your thought, Tony - I also think that a KP + a DA 20-40 would be a remarkable - satisfying - and surprisingly powerful camera + lens combination. I've actually thought about that exact same combination as well... ;)
 
MiguelATF said:
Thank you for reviving this annual tradition, Mike.
For me, this was a no-brainer... the Fujifilm X-T3.
Which has the nicest viewfinder (EVF) of any digital camera I've ever used.
It's also a better size and fit for my hands than the camera it replaced, an X-Pro 3.

View attachment 355335
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I bought this very combo (except in silver) this year and it didn't quite catch on. I've been on the fence about grabbing a used X-H1 or X-T2 and trying Fuji again. They are getting pretty cheap for the really good cameras that they are. The XF 35mm f2 is a fantastic lens. Runs right up there with the PL25 1.4, IMO. I guess if I try again, it won't make the 2022 list!
 

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