Next week's kit

 So once everything is assembled, this will be my setup - sorta.

'pixco' 8 fish-eye -- Lumix 20/1.7 -- Σ DN 60/2.8

Lumix 12-60 -- Lumix 45-150 -- Zd 70-300 (4T)

Pentax da40xs (PK) -- Qtaray 90 2.8 (NF)

I say 'sorta' because I still have a few tests to crank out. I have several Nikon lenses that could be adapted with a 0.71x 'speed booster' (magification reduced by 0.71 leading to 1 stop more light concentrated). Tossing that into the mix makes things.. messy.

YN 35/2 = 25/1.4 -- YN 50/1.8 = 36/1.2 -- Sigma 18/3.5=13.8/2.5

A few other Nikon-F mount zooms could be used too.

This all comes down to usability: can such manual-only beasts be used comfortably on the GX8 with its larger grip? With µ43 it's the common problem, where the reduced depth of field is overcome with faster lenses, which add bulk, which (to most users) defeats the entire purpose of the smaller sensor that brings more compact lenses. Why carry a full35-scale Sigma 18mm And a focal reducer to match the Lumix 14/2.5 autofocus pancake lens?

Why indeed. All three will have work to do, to justify hanging around. I could use them as straight adapted lens without the added weight of speedboosting, which is what put the Quantaray 90 macro in the top list; that however leaves me with 35, 40 and 50mm primes of which only one would get used. 

(ah but which of the three? again, who knows..)

The Pentax 40 is in a unique place. I know its imaging characteristics and really like them, so its place in the lineup is pretty comfortable - meaning the two Yongnuo NF-mount primes are probably off to market. That 90 macro might fit as well as the Pentax, though bulkier - and it speedboosts to a 65mm f/2, putting the Sigma f/2.8 at risk! And the old Sigma 100-300 speedboosts to a faster 70-210, which tries (and likely fails) to bump the 4Thirds Olympus 70-300 from its weighty perch on the longer end.

Clearly the house of optical cards has not settled just yet. A few slow tests and some honest evaluation of how things feel in hand are in the works.

Nooo.. not again..

Confronted with the clear evidence, I was forced to accept defeat and plead no contest to the dreadful charge. My gear problem is not a Pentax thing: I can just as easily overspend on Nikon gear. No surprise - but very disappointing.

The punishment really isn't punitive: my 𝛍43 kit is in nice shape, in fact it's a bit bloated as well. The three bodies in hand is at least one too many, and yet the setup is incomplete in ways that allow other systems to appeal.

Here's my spontaneous list for what a kit should have to suffice as my single setup:

• Stabilized sensor
• Reasonably weather-protected
• Tilt screen for look-down shooting 
• Good viewfinder
• A body with many control switches/buttons but Not Dials (I don't "do" retro)
• And oh my yes, a great sensor and a cool feature or three.

Looking at my m4:3 options, it felt like my best two choices were Olympi, either eM5.iii or eM1.ii; both had the 20Mpx sensor, superb wx seals and IStab, and the Live features. The second camera should be a Lumix with 4k, but the gx85 and gx9 were not appealing to me. The gx1 was also an option, but prices have risen enough to justify keeping the gx7. That in turn was too good a camera to be my second option, leading to gear competition.

So it seems my choice was a higher end Lumix? Hey that's OK by me, since the ePL8 made for a Nice Camera In a Supporting Role.

Trouble is, which advanced Lumix? The G series was inexplicably not working for me (having tried g7 and g85) and the gx>7 failed to move my dials. A gh body wouldn't do either! Sad but true.

But not true?

The gx8 had pretty much everything on my list except the tilt screen. But it did have a tilt viewfinder, and an Excellent one by all accounts. Wx seals, dual iStab, 4k tricks, and the gx line that I enjoyed. Yes it also has an external EV± dial.. I expect I can manage just the one.

The online photographer can be accused of undue influence here. Mike was reviewing the gx9 and disparaging the gx7 from his perspective as a former gx8 user, and I realized how much the gx8 had damaged users'  later experience of newer bodies. Something about the oversize camera had stirred people - and I was ripe for stirring!

Also, an excellent copy could be had for less than the two Olympus 20Mpx bodies. Also also, the second body was already in hand, as was a recently reacquired 12-60 Lumix with weather seals.

I closed the deal this afternoon. Away goes the gx7, eM10ii, and most of the Nikon gear. Also I dismembered the µ43 prime setup, letting the rarely-used 14/2.5 and 30/2.8 slip away. Ironically, the 20-60 prime gap will be filled by a bizarre old friend, the Pentax DA40xs - an excellent lens, more crêpe than pancake though 'merely' f/2.8. 

A great kit - ok Another great kit will gather here soon, and a few Nikon primes will get a test drive on the gx8 and its larger grip before possibly going to market.

Looking forward not back! Well not much, now that this has been written..

heat wave!

 After a few chilly nights of Perseid-watching, the weather turned on us. A blast from the east thanks to a thermal trough near the coast; 100° in Portland today and tomorrow. Sitting about 10 degrees cooler is small comfort.. but hey we'll take it!

Odd truth

In no case have I seen a 55-200mm lens made for a full 35mm (36x24) sensor. They are all DX/DC/DiII models designed for 18x24. All full35 bodies can use the smaller-sensor lenses, but auto-crop mode yields a reduced pixel count. For example, the D600 takes 24Mpx images with full35 lenses but just over 10Mpx images when cropped to the smaller projection. Not ideal.

I picked up a huge Tamron 70-300mm lens for its impressive range and (mostly) for its VC stabilization. At over 600g it's a lot more lens than I wish.. so I went looking for a light telephoto option. Something like a 50-200mm was ideal, but I wanted it to fill as much of the full35 frame so I would lose minimal pixels. Reviews chose to say nothing about lens coverage for models I examined (e.g. Nikon 55-200dx/vr or Tamron's Di-II).  I figured that old models might be more film compatible, so I looked into elderlenses.

A brief hunt revealed a Quantaray 55-200mm lens, a Ritz camera rebadge of a Sigma or (in this case, most likely) Tamron lens. The low price was worth a chance so I bought a copy complete with original caps and hood.

Results are confusingly good. I see images with 6000x4000 pixels, very low vignette and decent sharpness when wide open at 55and 200mm. Random shots at other values are nice too. If it's not a full35 lens it's an incredibly close facsimile!

I could test it against the 70-300VC, but what would I learn of value? Only that more cash and bulk will provide incrementally better images - and I already expect that answer. Or worse yet: what if the Quantaray is the better lens?? 

𝛍43 Grand Final

Man I miss Aussie Rules Football. It's hard to find in the USA but great entertainment - well for me at least. In the meanwhile I'm having a playoff of my own, with perhaps two winners but maybe just one?

I've recently learned in several areas of my life that I have cool stuff that I cannot use well. Much of it is due to rust - it worked great 18 months ago but I've forgotten the trick of it! In other cases, like cameras, it's that I have used too many interfaces and cannot recall how to make changes in a hurry, leading to missed shots and slapped foreheads (well, just my forehead - so far). Since I don't quite know how to use what I have, it is therefore an excellent time to learn something new. 

Yes that's how my mind works..

In the current-champion position is the Lumix GX7. So many great features that updates haven't fully overtaken without losing things that I like. However, many advantages of 4k 'video' shooting and other technical updates do make some sense - so yet again I'm bringing in a Mark II aka GX85 to compete for the spot. It loses the 1/8k max shutter and the AF/MF switch that I use constantly - but compensates with 4k still technology and video ability, dual IS, available-almost-anywhere microUSB charging (e.g. off my flashlight/battery bank) and a stutter-free shutter improvement plus electronic shutter for up to 1/16ksec. If I can set AF/MF as a dedicated button and live with that, I should be able to dethrone the champ - we'll see.

I also have the Olympus ePL8 in hand, a very stylish tan/silver instrument that can do a lot of things well that Lumix does not attempt (e.g. Live Time, great for astronomy shots!). However, I did notice a few things that I've noticed before but not found so confounding: the 1-wheel control left me bumbling during manual-exposure comet shoots, the lack of VF rendered a few other shots unshootable in bright light with the LCD screen, and who am I to be dealing with a 'stylish' camera?!? I'm therefore importing a VG copy of the eM10.ii to see if I can make it shoot just like the D600, which would be good for my learning curve everywhere.

Gear begins to arrive today - more gear departs next week. Who will stay and who will go?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Round One began and ended swiftly, as the GX85 is going back. Its rear control dial is behaving randomly for adjusting SS or aperture, depending on the setting; I tried both and it worked for a brief time then went south again. The dial is fine with image reviews and other settings, but the most important thing it does, it doesn't. Ah well.

I've set the EM10b to mimic the D600 and it seems to do the job, so far. I expect that if this camera does not fail in some way it will win over the ePL8, considering its price and the minimal gain in bulk that comes with two dials and an EVF. For now, the Olympus contest continues!

Round.. ah never mind. No reader here should feign surprise when, of my four choices for a main camera, I choose #5. The gx8 will arrive in a week or so, and the ePL8 will be the versatile backup.