sorting out the 2026 kit

 So now I have a decent setup with plenty of coverage. Some things aren't ideal, but it will do for as long as it must.

The most recent lens is an older Tamron Di 28-300 VC. It's not the newest and it's used, but the AF speed is a bit better than the Canon lenses. Its close-focus skills are very good, about 3/8 life size. The nose does spin when focusing.

Here are a few simple kit options, and some clarity on specific lenses.

• The 20-60 has weather seals so it's a clear option when the weather could make a difference, the Meike 35mm has a seal at the mount but no others. This suggests I can bring primes for the lower end and zoom after 70 or 100mm, whichever seems appropriate. 
• I cannot imagine enough times when 20mm isn't wide enough - and I can stack my own panorama in those rare cases. Also, 20mm f/3.5 seems sufficient for astronomy compared to an f/2.8 lens, so the 20-60 plus 35/2 and 70/2.4 should suffice for sky images.
• As to zooms, I have a few more than I need. The Vivitar 70-150/3.8 works very well and its push-pull makes for nice video zooming. It's not worth much on the used market so its place is safe for now, along with the Nikon-F to L adapter. The 100-300 isn't top notch at its long end, but for now it can stay. The 70-210 is a definite keeper until someone brings out an L-mount model with superior AF, some weather protection and hopefully OIS. The Tamron claims to have VC but my tests showed very little benefit, so perhaps its implementation isn't happy with S5 and adapter. With it turned off it's not a low light champ either, so that might turn off the S5 internal stabilizing; the 70-210usm definitely shows better shake reduction overall.

It's nice to have more functional options! The EF-L is greatly superior to SA-L that I tried earlier, since my old SA lenses were not sufficiently compatible for autofocus. 

EF first (and 2nd) tests

 I'm satisfied by my initial tests with the Viltrox EF-L adapter and Canon 100-300/4.5-5.6 USM lens.

Tests show nice color contrast and sharpness, and - so it's a typical sample that verifies what reviewers have said. It focuses at a decent pace but definitely not to L-native standards - but that's OK for now, and better than my no-AF adaptations of Minolta AF, Sigma SA and Pentax K lenses. Manual override is straightforward, and the S5 internal stabilization provides four stops with acceptable results (1/10s at 200mm is consistently decent, 1/8 or less would be a crapshoot). Focus is sufficiently silent if somewhat pokey, and AFc is not available at the USM grade - I'd have to check online to see if newer, higher-grade lenses can manage it. Weight isn't an issue for me, which is quite nice and sadly rare for L-mount telephoto lenses at any price. The new Sigma 20-200 and Lumix 28-200 lenses are lighter, but both stop at 200mm and are slower than this lens!

Viltrox EF-L adapter summary: 

• Viltrox EF-L (first edition, not Pro)
• adapter weight is 134 grams
• AFc is not available with USM sample lens
• camera screen shows "use AF-S" when set to AFc
• O-A switch - needs to be A with 100-300!

Canon EF 100-300 f/4.5-5.6 USM summary:

• Tests show nice color, contrast and sharpness (noted in reviews)
•  some chromatism away from center at longer focal lengths (also noted)
• manual override is straightforward - just rotate ring at base of lens
• 640 grams with adapter; weight is very nice
• no IS within, but S5 internal stabilization provides four stops
• f/4 only to about 120mm but f/5 to 180mm!

Curious bonus coverage!!

The lens does not focus accurately with my polarizing filter! It took me a dozen shots or so to remember that I'd put the filter on (a K&F nano cPL). It wasn't just shake either, as the first shots were outdoors. Focus didn't look right in the viewfinder, nor could I get a sharp image with manual focus. Once the filter was removed I felt a bunch better about what was happening. 

Still.. what's going on, we wonders?

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More news!

A poorly-focusing copy of the EF 70-210/3.5-4.5 is coming. Possibly its problem is front or back focusing on a dSLR, and it will do fine with the S5 contrast detect AF - but possibly not. In any case, I picked it up for a great price! Another experiment is also coming: a 28-300mm Tamron with VC stabilizer. This would be quite wonderful if it can work without issues, but it can be returned after a thorough exploration. It takes the same filters as the 20-60 and could be great or not-so; we shall see!

Update: the 70-210 has arrived, and it's all true. AF is fast - and wrong! It's backfocusing by a large amount, even with the supposedly more exact contrast AF of the S5. Weird! Early tests at 200mm ± show it doing well for overall IQ wide open f/5 vs the 100-300 at 5.6. I'll do some research on the back focusing; could shims help it out?

retooling

 After many thoughts in several directions, my kit is settling into place.

I had promised that if the S5 system didn't work sufficiently well enough I'd consider retooling the micro43 kit instead. Looking that over it doesn't make enough sense, as used S5 and eM1.2 or .3 is nearly a price match now - so I gave myself a week off, and considered other kit mutations.

Once I settled on the Lumix-S as my best choice, I evaluated my sorry lack of AF telephoto. It's clear that SA to L adaptation is not of value. So what about EF lenses using the Viltrox EF-L adapter? It's  cheaper than the Sigma SA-L, and much less than Sigma's EF-L option - so we're giving it a try. 

Reviews suggest that 3rd party EF is less consistent with adapters from all brands, so the reverse-zoom Canon options were explored - well those in my miniscule budget zone at least. Too bad, as the Tamron 28-300 vc would be handy and it zooms the "correct" direction!

Of course I'm also wishing to keep weight down also! The table below (almost) sorts some options by grams, with adapter included. The bulk factor eliminates a few - but many more are in play with EF. Canon actually made a 36x24 compatible 55-200mm.. bummer that it's old and reviewed rather poorly. They have a couple of 70-300 types, and an early 70-210/4 with push-pull zoom. Wow: Tamron has a modern 70-210.. but ugh 990g when adapter is added, nearly 300g heavier than the Canon.

I finally decided on a bargain 100-300 f/4.5-5.6 with USM drive but no IS. The S5 can stabilize it internally,  so hopefully that will serve. That 70-210 might catch me yet though* - it's closer to my S5 dream lens (a 50-200ish telezoom that's faster than f/5.6 at max FL). 

Also, the 100-300 leaves a sizable kit gap from 60-100mm; that isn't ideal. The vivitar 70-150/3.8 is a good manual option, and I expect a Meike 85mm or TTArt 75mm will plug the gap at some point. Or maybe that Pentax 85/2 that I own will resurface! 😃 

But another option would also serve: the EF 28-105 usm is small and light, faster than many at f/3.5-4.5, and it takes the same 58mm filters as the 100-300. And it's quite cheap! So I dumped most of the SA mount lenses and adapter to a reseller for a copy of the 28-105. 

The Lumix 20-60 will serve me well much of the time, and the two Canons can fight over the long end of my focal-length needs. For now.

I did search for the 75/85 primes online but didn't see any deals.. but of course Winter is Coming! No red wedding, but a black friday might be nice.

However..
I did stumble upon an open-box Meike 35/2 in L mount, for $50 off! The TTArtisan 40/2 was nice and tiny, but the Meike has a moisture gasket; that isn't proof of much, but feels comforting. I won't test it much in bad weather though: that's the 20-60's place to shine! For clear nights and other low light, though, a fast 35 will be great.

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* an EF 70-210/3.5-4.5 usm has turned up: that's news to me! The f/4 push-pull model is a bit lighter but has no USM motor, so this sounds appealing. A pinch heavier than the 100-300, but a smidge more capable when lights are low. We'll consider this option once the previous announcements have arrived and given their chance to impress. It definitely gets added to the wish-list and threatens the 100-300! After all, I have a 300/5.6 mirror lens when long shots are important. And with that I get free donuts! :^)
Also, I see the TTArtisan 75/2 is $50 down for the holiday. Must hold for a bit though.. and/or offer a few swaps?

A few too many

options! But how to choose 

which telezoom to carry??  

What I'd like is an L mount answer to this question. Sadly the two listed below are not available on my current budget. Plus they are heavy - not by current standards, but definitely so compared to most of my other acquisitions shown here!

So for mow I can choose from the manual-focus options below. 

Ideally I'd prefer to get to 200mm and brighter than f/5.6, which suggests the pleasantly light 100-200mm .. but its minimum focus is quite disappointing* . I also have that Focal 80-200, which is nearly a stop faster - but it makes modern lenses seem light!

The most convenient are the SA mount 70-300 and 28-300 lenses as they share focal length and aperture data with the camera.

So we then move to the other options. The relatively light 100-300 is f/5.6 at 200mm, as is the more versatile 35-200mm with its nice range & close focus. The 28-300mm uses the same filters as the 20-60mm, but it's bulky and uses the reverse zoom direction from the rest of my collection. 

The vivitar 70-150 f/3.8 is light and fast, and it doesn't leave the gap that the 100-x00 lenses create. But of course this stops 50mm short on the long end! But I do have the 1.5x multiplier - but then the lens becomes 105-225mm f/5.3 and the 60-100mm gap returns. Taking off and putting on the multiplier fixes the gap but is twice the work of swapping a single lens, so that's a new problem. So this option has a few too many 'but's.. but when I want a little tele in low light, it's the right choice!

So each lens has its good and difficult points. 

Clearly that means I have everything covered! 😉

* I do have a Minolta 50/2.8 macro for when that's a problem!

A new way to work

 I spent part of the day with my S5, changing button- and Q-menu settings. After recording the current settings on a spreadsheet, I looked closer at this:

.. and there were pretty much all the settings I use in one place! And even a couple more, like HLG and flash adjustments. Better still, the control panel and EVF are separate - so having it on the big screen doesn't limit my shooting through the eyepiece! 

Maybe I don't need to program the joystick to control additional Fn buttons after all .. 

I spent some time attempting to shoot birds with the S 70-300mm. Nearly all were grounded for no particular reason, but I shot in af-c anyway. I tried disconnecting AF from the shutter button but that didn't go well today. I'm still learning the camera and stumbling over whether ISO or white balance is in the middle position, and where that video button is hiding.

Practice, and practice more:  that's what I need to do!!

My First Sensor Bath

Until now I've been able to dislodge dust with a squeeze blower. Last week I took many images at the local park/lake and after further review, I saw spots! 

When I saw the images I knew just what to do - until I saw the spots. These were not dusty bits holding on to the sensor glass by electrostatic magic, they were once-liquid blobs. Like rain on a windshield. I dabbed at them gently but they were not persuaded to leave, and once I applied a touch more pressure I had a smear. 

It was clearly time for a wet cleaning!

I was not afraid of the process, but it hadn't been necessary until now. I learned that newer designs like rakes are common now, and my kit arrived in a short time.

The kit was simple, just a cleaning solution and a dozen or so long-handled rake/trowel thingies each wrapped individually. Two drops on each side, a swipe back and forth at a rather shallow angle (no poking!), and .. done!

I'm not sure if the camera came to me that way; I should think I looked at the sensor last month when the S⁵ first arrived but I'm not certain. And I don't know what the firm liquid was: I remember the Nikon D600 and its oil issues, but I'd expect the odds of oil spatter is much greater on an SLR than a mirror-free design.

But what do I know about it? Can't believe everything I read in the virtual world. Not even my own work, especially when I claim to own the perfect kit and will shop no more. Oopz.

I shall be watching my sensor more closely now!

Finding S users..

It's amazing how gear choices affect one's online presence. As a Pentax user I had a few very friendly groups where I could contribute chat or just blurt things out. 

When I branched out to μ43 I found more people, and learned more about diversity. Lumix/Oly, stills/video, feature sets and more - each forum sliced the topics in different ways! In some I had things to say, in many others not much.

Moving into Sony brought me into contact with really tech-minded folks, most of  whom clearly had larger disposable incomes than I could imagine. I could still give and take information,, but many times the easy answer (upgrade!) was nothing I could manage. 

When I shoveled nearly all my gear into one pile and shipped them away, I joined the Lumix-S crowd. Since it's a subset of the L crowd, it's been .. well, familiar and strange, both at once. 

• One L-mount site I visit is mostly Leica users; if any group can make my income look worse than Sony users it's Leicaphiles. Therefore I'm pretty quiet there.
• Another puts Panasonic mirrorless users together, so S users and G users are intermixed. I think I'm reading about a surprising S9 feature them realize it's a G9 being discussed. Oops.

So no group of S-centric users really exists. It would not be a large group: compared to other "full frame" marketers Lumix is probably a pinch above Pentax with its K-1 bodies keeping the spirit of DSLR alive. SoNiCan has its masses; Lumix-S does not.

This is not a bad thing, and does not correlate to the S5 capability and impressive feature set. It's just different, and not a surprise. If I found no one to speak with online, my photos would speak for me! : √)

A few S5 night tests

Why have a great camera on one's shelf when Aurora is showing off and a bright comet is doing its thing? 

I've picked up a G100 μ43 body since it also uses the Lumix Sync app to download images. It does a fine job and I'm more familiar with its workings. The S5 is similar in its Lumix-ness but massively more complex, and I haven't read every corner of the user manual yet. Still, I often learn the hard way - so off I went into the darkness to shoot the sky. 

Early images were uninspired but a bank of higher clouds left around midnight PDT on 10/11th October - and things got interesting in a hurry! I test-drove many ISO and shutter options with the 20-60mm zoom at 20mm f/3.5, and captured plenty of red and green glow in the wide field. I switched to my Pentax 28/2.8 for a while but skies were bright enough for f3.5 so the zoom got most of the action. I even tried a few videos which haven't been reviewed yet(!).

 Jpeg and Raw images compared 

Then I remembered time lapse. I'd wanted to try that in May's auroral storm but 1230am isn't my sharpest for memory. I set up about 100 shots with 10 seconds between them and off it went. Now and then I adjusted the shutter speed as the glow pulsed. When finished it asked if I wanted a video, Yes I Do!! I chose 3fps so it lasts about 33 seconds, and it's excellent!

Not bad for guessing at some features that I didn't fully know how to work yet.

Ten days later I was out seeking comet Tsuchinshan/Atlas as it receded from the neighborhood. I'd seen it a few days prior, but the G100 took that job. It did nice work, but again: why not use the Max camera for these few faint photons? 

Skies were again striped with high clouds, but after 15min things improved. I took many nice shots (oops, jpeg only!) as it dropped near the trees. The clouds returned after 20 minutes of decent clarity, so we returned home. I only brought the DA70 lens since it's bright at f/2.4.. but for a second time I missed my 85/2 lens for a night of sky records. It's around here someplace!!

A few preliminary tests

 While assembling a bare-bones S5 team, I did a few indoor tests to check on adapted lens image quality and ImgStab usefulness. I shot a calendar and some labeled jars. First shots with the Minolta 100-200 were sharp and contrast was great, and the Rikenon 70-150 had a few blurs before I became more serious about posture and technique. At that point images were quite similar to the 100-200 for color and clarity. 

Today I shot a spider-web under construction on our porch. The 20-60mm can reach 0.4x closeup images, but I stayed further back to keep the spider from worrying. Those came out nicely too, and had much more light to work with. 

I went to town at midday and tried out the fall colors at our city-central lake. It's too early for pervasive fall color but it's getting underway! I've set the S5 on 4:3 so the 21.5Mpx images were framed best around 35mm. I shot at both extremes to get a feel for the lens' great range; it's really impressive to get the lake and the entirety of the coloring tree just to its left! In landscape mode!! 

As to the camera? It feels like my old K5 reborn as a mirrorless, which is very comfortable. The heft and grip, and the upper left playback button, feel familiar. Exposure and color are about what I recall from my Pentax era. When I finally try some video, I'm sure to notice I am not in Pentax-land any more!

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The following day I wandered about with the Pentax DA40 xs attached. It was fun -- but I did shoot two black images, both times just after powering up the camera. I'll need to watch for more of those! I already deleted them, so I can't check the EXIF to see whether any particular parameter was out of whack.. oops.

kit adjustments

After an evening of failed connections between my GX7 and its Lumix phone app, I tried the Lumix Sync app. The S5 uses that, but the GX7 cannot; only the G9 and G100 can manage that since it accesses bluetooth to facilitate connection.  That sucks!

So once again I shall let the GX7 depart, and likely find a g100. Much as I've enjoyed that camera over the years, the few frustrations aren't worth the bonus hassles.

With the G100 I lose about fifty shots per charge* from the GX7, the tilt screen and inbuilt IStab :^(  - but I do gain a few things:

• the new and improved 20Mpx sensor
• 4k imaging /video features
• a higher-resolution viewfinder
• in-body charging via USB, and 
• my spare battery will still work!

Wish it came in silver though!

* probably better battery life with rear screen than with hi-res evf..

S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S

Almost simultaneously, I found a deal on a curiously rare lens. Sigma made thousands of 70-300mm Apo zoom lenses over the decades, but finding a red-ring DG Apo in their own SA mount was tough! This Apo lens will not be a featherweight by any means (550g plus adapter weight), but it should do the job for now. Oh yes, I found a discounted MC-21 SA->L adapter also. Wow, over 200 grams?! 😕

Inevitably someone will introduce a small and light 50-200ish L-mount lens. I've no evidence for this, but it's a rather big lineup gap that some company will fill and make easy money. Every company made 70-210s and 80-200s in the film days (even more than 70-300s!) though the formulae  need to be tweaked to work with mirrorless cams' reduced lens-to-sensor distances.

S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S5S

Another update. A lightly fogged Sigma DG Macro 28-300/4-6.3 was available for cheap, so I shall give it a try. It won't compare with the Lumix-S model - but using it as a 28-200 proxy will lead to less issues and better light gathering. It is also an SA-mount lens. The choice is between a sub-$100 superzoom or none at all, as I cannot afford the Lumix-S any time soon.. so something may beat nothing, but if not I'm out very little!

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Welcome to my L-mount era.

The price of Lumix S-series bodies has now reached a level that I can make a change. This brings me 

• every feature I can imagine using, 
• plus a few that I can't (mostly video), 
• Better battery life than the α7r², a 
• far more complete choice of aspect ratios for stills, 
• file sizes that I am less uncomfortable creating (well maybe not the S1 r),
• a touchscreen.. 
• and a menu system that vaguely resembles the GX7 screens that I know pretty well.

But how to choose a new body from the Lumix 24x36 choices?

I thought of the S1 and its 2xtilt screen, but the size and weight were too much to bear.. so  it appears that the original S5 is the right one for me. Used ones are available at nice prices since the S5ii arrived. And who really needs the new stuff, anyway? 

Well, video people will: internal fan, exotic 4k and even 6k options (available as photo modes on the s5.i), a better viewfinder which = lower battery life. Real-time USB power.. well that would be nice. No thanks, I'm good with the S5!

Err - open gate (aka full-sensor) video does what, exactly? Oops, I read about it.

I'm the guy who carried a film camera with a decently large lens and a Mini-DV camcorder in the mid-90s - while backpacking! I even tried taking stills with the camcorder, which saved truly awful 2k stills onto an SD card; man those were the days.

It has always surprised me that I do so little video with my large-sensor cameras. The main reason I dislike current hybrid-cam video is that ratio: I really dislike the 16x9 ratio for video! For a while I kept the Pentax K-7 which actually did shoot 3:2 video, but that was before .mp4 and good video compression; the .mov files were Huge. Not ideal at all. I searched many brands for my kind of video format, and even bought the α7ii in part because it shot 3:2 - turned out it was a compressed /anamorphic setting that still played back at16:9. Ugh.

And now I understand the 'open gate' setting. Not merely a cute moniker for video geeks, it's  actually what I have sought for years!  Everything from the sensor but in a ~6k video. A 4:3 ratio in µ43 Videographers use the full dataset to recompose in 1:1 or 9:16 phone format, but I just want to shoot what I see and not drag in extraneous info that lurks on the far edges. I also like to see the sky in my videos!

S1 and S5 users have informed me about the 6k Photo mode, which has apparently changed beginning with the S5ii. It can go up to 10 minutes as a video format in the older bodies. The 4k Photo can also be used this way. Yay!!

I had a long look at the S5² and the new S9 too. These have some advantages but also the disadvantage of being newer and so more expensive. I can afford an S5 and 20-60, or something newer and no native lens. No thanks.

OK, so a used s5 plus a lens.. hm. The easy choice is the 20-60, but do I want that first? I have Pentax 28-40-50-70-85²-135 primes, so I can use the x-wide zoom and three primes. I can also make do with the Rikenon /PK 70-150 f/4 (once the K-L adapter arrives!). I'd been considering the Lumix 28-200 or 70-300, or even the 70-200/4 - but even used those are still spendy. Adding a few hundred $$ for the s5ß would empty the lens fund for now.

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¹ The 85/2 is missing in action. Well, just missing actually; 

I can perform no action with it while I'm without it.