Button reset!

 I've tried a few changes to my button settings, and made a mess of things. My big screen wouldn't display anything no matter how many times I pressed the evf|screen swap button.. which I had set to Raw image shooting. Autofocus was acting up as well; apparently I had pushed a button that was now set to AF limiter! 

Oops..

So I sat outside and reprogrammed the buttons back to default, and then tried a few changes or relocations. Some suited me well enough to keep, despite them now being mislabeled on the body!

• Back-button focus is now lower-front-button AF. I like that position a lot better, but the upper front button did not show AF as an option - so that upper-front is now for custom WB. No AF on shutter.
• The labeled AF:AE lock button is now my Video on:off. My videos always ended poorly as the button is poorly located for my finger. This solves the issue nicely!
• I reset the screen button to its usual function, and use F1 for multifunction options.  
• I'm still thinking about F2 and red button possibilities, for now. The lever is for iso/wb while I think about it also. 
• I did reverse the control panel dials, as I was constantly spinning away from the setting I wanted to change!

One of the problems I got into with buttons is that some options show no feedback* in the viewfinder! Maybe something lights up & tells me when Raw or AF limiter are set, but I don't recognize the lights? 

Clearly it's time to read the manual again!!   🤯

 * none that I recognize, at least!

a small adjustment

 I've traded in the Oly 17 and Sigma 60 (both f:2.8) for a Pentax 40 Limited. That makes the μ43 native primes = 10- 17* -30 and PK adapted = 40-50macro-70-85-135. 

The k•S1 will love having the 40+70mm Limited lenses, but that means it's time to make the aperture-block problem go away!

* The Yongnuo 17:1.7 is staying

End times

 I've decided that my web time is wildly unproductive. 

I have kept at granitix and g² for a decade & more (don't make me look!), documenting camera gear i shall never see again and receiving maybe three comments. To say I have a following online is an insult to followings as only my shadow follows me anywhere. 

I have documented a dozen years of weather in the yard, and who would consider that valuable? True records are interesting, but daily stats are tedious.

I say this after a weekend of router problems (self induced), when I reset the router to factory specs and detached tv tablets phones and weather station from the world and each other. The station now works but ive lost the w.underground password. I'm also in a decent place with camera gear, but very little of it is cutting edge or interesting to the masses. Olympus/OM Systems and Pentax are doing well enough, but I am unable to use them in exciting times.

My faceplant account is riddled with ads, polarizing topics and cute animal pics. Friends seldom post to me and I need to stop seeking them after theee scrolls. 

And so I shall:

• cease and desist posting here, and attend to my Visions blog which has been neglected for quite some time.
• keep some records for weather but only post huge events.. somewhere. Probably just at longviewers.one for now. 
• I will get to digitizing my slides and negatives and miniDV backpack and other trips. Many old jpegs have corrupted badly over the years and need help.
• RELAX and let the WorldWide Weird exist with less participation by me 😳

Choosing one's compromises

 I have a great lens set now, offering the best lenses tuned to the 4:3 sensor. Most people rave about the Olympus 12-40:2.8, 12-45:4 and both 40-150mm f:2.8 and f:4 lenses. Actually, their cheapest 40-150 has a rabid following, too! ;)

I prefer lighter lenses over brighter ones, so the 40-150:4 is my choice for telephoto. 

The current wide-normal zoom choice is the 12-60, f/2.8-4, 4thirds lens from Olympus! That comes up at ~685 grams (including the 43-μ adapter)! Does that make sense?

Let's find out!

The 12-60swm is nearly as well regarded as the two m.Zuiko options above, and its 2.8-4 aperture splits the difference between them. It's a high grade lens from the brief Olympus dSLR era, with weather seals and sturdy construction.

More importantly to me though, it's from the days before μ43 - and its inclusion of in-camera compensation for lens distortions. Since these happen before the image is displayed, it is a non-factor to many imagers. These people would probably perform these same tweaks in their computer once they are home .

I seldom do such things. I prefer lenses that are built to perform well without need of stretching the original to fix distortion, or selective brightening to fix corner shading. It's the easy way out, as software is far cheaper than designing great optics that work to the very corners.

It would appear that I'm a hypocrite, since the 40-150:4 does this very thing.. but the largest digital corrections are most common at wide focal lengths. Nearly all μ43 12-xx zooms struggle with this (especially wide open).

The ZD 12-60mm swm is a premium optic from the dSLR era, despite being introduced in the 21st century. It received high marks for its handling of distortion, color fringing and vignette. This has value to me, and so, for now at least, the extra 300g is worth carrying. That's 200g more than the 40-150mm! Since it's a 12-60mm it isn't a long lens, so unlike something like the Oly/OM 40-150/2.8 it isn't front-heavy. It even cost less than the Lumix 12-60 when I bought it, and so extra frugal compared to the 12-40 and 12-45mm offerings.

So I shall deal with the extra grams - for now. I may switch to the 12-45 some day, but not this year. I own a 14-42ez and also 10+17+30mm primes, so in many cases the 12-60mm will stay at home.

What did we do?!?

 So the kit changed in big ways in the last two months.

 Specifically what gear came and went?

• S5 and Gx7: gone
• L-mount lenses: gone
• E-M1² : in (again)
• Swm 12-60 + OM 40-150 f/4 Pro: in
• Pentax kit: restored*

In functional terms? 

I upgraded the μ43 sensor, removed the AA filter and restored 4k video specs. I regained weather seals (with eM1² and 40-150), and USB in-camera charging. I lost my tilt screen :√( but added autofocus limiter and live time + composite. I picked up a superior telephoto lens for light gathering, build quality and compactness. I also gained light in the wide end with the zd swm 12-60 f/2.8-4 but added bulk to the system (heavier, and uses an adapter). 

I retained the zd 70-300 (and its adapter!), Laowa 10/2, Olympus 30/3.5 macro and Yongnuo 17/1.7 for more compact and/or lower-light wide options.

I also gained back some money to pay bills, and prioritized more useful features above sensor size. Yes, that was hard - but I'm nearly over it already!

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A Small Update

The GX7 and 14-42 have departed, in exchange for cash and an Olympus 14-42ez. That allows for a flexible 'small kit' (even smaller when used with the gf9!!) - so now all my zooms rotate in the same direction, which minimizes headaches. I owned it before and felt bad about letting it go - so let's try again!

* The Pentax Restoration is likely quite temporary, as the eM1² matches or beats the k-S1 in nearly every way. It was a stop-gap plan and the gap is filled now.

 

winter?

 

We are at 50% of normal already for February. 

We're in a dry spell for now, but change is coming. 

Sorta looks like winter - at last!

This is the forecast for next week at the valley floor. Whether we will be warmer or cooler, or if snow will drop to 800 feet, only time will tell at this point. 

January '26 = dry

We got off to a wet start, but since the 12th we've had just 0.02" - and that had to be fog condensation as we had no storms. We did finally reach freezing though! December's low was 31.1° which barely qualifies as freezing, but 27.6 this month is decently chilly.

We're at 2/3 of average precipitation for the month, and that's about where we shall end; the storm for this weekend has fizzled out and we might see another after the 28th. That breaks the string of above average months at three, but those three are the wet ones so we're in decent shape. As to snowpack, it's pretty  bad - the volcanoes are purely white, but roads through the mountains are frosty not snow-packed.

Update! The last storm of the month brought January to ~80 percent of normal. Better than expected, but it was another warm storm that did nothing good to snowpack.

We'll see what February will bring!

Solar smash relents

 

The timing this week's solar storm was good and bad. Skies were clear, but conditions were slick and frosty for our sloped viewing area. Worse was the time zone: europe and the eastern us hit peak time for two nights, but the west us was declining both nights. One could stay up and be rewarded, but the cold was most unappealing.

This 4-second shot at iso2000 is far fainter than last year's events. The timing was vital; clearly many folks got very bright flareups but the chill did not bring me patience!

Happy New Gear: 2026 edition

The Lumix-S era is over. For now.

As I noted before, if S didn't work out I would just revert to the µ43 kit and enhance it.  Well, as is often the case, I was half right. 

I gave the L mount my best shot, but it couldn't be comfortably managed on my budget. I'm getting back nearly all my S investment. And in exchange I spent $220 on a new body.

Oops: it's a Pentax!
It isn't possible to deal for a choice µ43 body ($600+) without spending the same amount of cash that the S sale provided. And in effect my PK lens set is fully fleshed out - but it lacked a body. My K-01 shutter may repair itself (as many people report after it sits a while)  - but I won't bet on it. 

I found a low-shot black K-s1 body, with its nice 20Mpx sensor and odd but very small body. I've owned it before and lamented its limitations, but for the time and price it will serve. 

 

(I immediately spent $40 more on a spare solenoid - in case it's needed. And yes, it's needed.) 

It has 'better' pixels (more, and larger) for duplicating my piles of slides and negatives compared to the GX7. Somewhere around here i've seen a spare Li190 battery .. maybe?

HD us nlythe limit for video - but it's a Pentax,  video specs are not their thing. In other ways it will do quite nicely. 

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The second bit.

An Oly eM1² will arrive soon, and the gx7 will depart. After a few days of fruitless site-searching I found a very nice price for a copy. This will be the weather resistant and 4k video option. Almost everything, actually.. perhaps the K gear will be moved, but its resale value is mighty small!

I shall pick up a wx resistant zoom in the near future.. oh!

Update: a 12-60mm f/2.8-3.5Zuiko Digital is coming!

 zoIt willom the same direction as the 70-300, which will be nice. It will be bulky but that's also a match. It was the same price as 'that' 12-60 but gains me pretty much a stop of extra light. I should use a wx sealed adapter though, at some point..

+++-----+++-----+++-----+++-----+++-----+++-----+++

Update II: and a 40-150mm f/4? 

This was a major surprise! I found a great deal on a used copy. Not many of these show up used, so the owner must have stepped up to the f/2.8 or a longer telephoto. 

This gives me a sealed option for long shots, and also provides great overlap with both 12-60 and 70-300 lenses. And if I switch to a 12-45/4 or 12-40/2.8 at some point, I'm in a good spot. Hopefully the 12-60 will prove worthy - but it's a beast, weighing almost as much as the 70-300.

The new era begins.

+++-----+++-----+++-----+++-----+++-----+++-----+++

Update III: Oly 14-42ez!

So farewell to the Lumix 14-42² - and perhaps the Sigma 60mm. 

This power zoom will be an excellent video assistant, and it pairs well with the 14-42!The 10mm f:2 can then cover the widest angles.