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

Oops: it's a Pentax!
It simply isn't possible to deal for a choice µ43 body ($600+) without spending the same amount of cash that the S gear provides. 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. 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'm sure I have seen a spare Li190 battery too.

HD only for video - but it's Pentax so the video-greedy won't bother. 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 site-searching I found an acceptable price for a copy. This will be the weather resistant and usb-c charge body, and the 4k video option. Almost everything, actually.

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

Update: it will be a 12-60mm f/2.8-3.5 Zuiko Digital SWM. It will zoom 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..

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Update II: it will also be a 40-150mm f/4 - much to my surprise! I found a really nice deal on a used copy. Not many of these show up used, so the owner must have stepped up to 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 decide to 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 though! 

The new era begins next week.

Is the Pentax kit now superfluous? Hmm.