curious pairs

I've found that my 𝛍43 gear is not being used evenly. Often times when I take out a camera either the 20mm or 60mm is attached, and the other lens is in hand just in case. That's surprising to me, as it leaves quite a gap; I feel like a 35-45mm lens in between would make sense, but I can't be sure. I have a Sigma 30 but that too is feeling abandoned like the Lumix 14mm. Both are great primes but just don't have the usefulness of the 20+60 for what I shoot.

I see now that Yongnuo has added a 42.5mm micro4:3 prime with autofocus. Perhaps if reviews are decent I could try that lens to fill in the gap - or perhaps not. If 20+60 works for me, why change it?

Curiously enough, I now have a similar pairing with the Nikon: a 35mm (Yongnuo in fact) and 90mm. Since the 𝛍43 setup is 40+120mm in equivalent field of view, it's a slightly wider setup with the D600. Light gathering is similar also, discounting equivalence: f/1.7 vs 2.0 wide, both f/2.8 telephoto. All small lenses for what they do, and the 90mm has the added benefit of 1:2 closeups (1:1 with screw-on multiplier).

I find the 𝛍43 has no real competition for a wide-standard zoom in my kit; the 14-42ii is talented and tiny but rarely gets use, while the 45-150 does come along with the 20 much of the time instead of the 60mm. In Nikon however I really like the 28-105D zoom; it also can do 1:2 closeups, is fairly fast at f/3.5-4.5 and its sharpness and OOF 'bokeh' are really good. It fights the two primes to a draw, so neither gets a wide margin for most-common use with the D600. That's changing for a while though, as shots of comet NEOWISE favor the f/2 and 2.8 primes!

Curious times in the prime-acquisition business.

I have yet to do the battle of the Superwides (17/3.5 Sigma vs Tamron 20-40 2.7-3.5) to determine which gets to come along most often. First impressions are decent for both, with flare being an old-school issue for both of them. Hopefully soon I'll pick a winner there, and let the other go.. for a 𝛍43 YN 42.5mm lens, praps! Hm, 40+90 is closer to 35+90mm..

comet photos, and Issues therewith

After two nights going to bed after midnight, getting up 3h later to look at clouds and returning to bed, I finally did it the third time only to see no clouds! Yes, the comet was visible - and with no practice in about ten years, it was time to take pictures with unfamiliar gear at a well-sloped location (our yard). Would I be alone? Well it seemed that way on my first attempt, but it would be visible for quite some time..

So.. 

I wandered outside with the Oly ePL8 on a seldom-used tripod, with the massive 4Thirds digital Zuiko 70-300mm. It's a fine lens made before Micro was appended to the 4:3 sensor system, so it was made to fit the throat of a DSLR-size body. The bargain adapter to make it Micro only makes it larger - and my tripod can handle it but it feels a bit stressed about it. The ePL8 has several nice features including sensor stabilization, tilting rear screen and the valuable LiveTime setting to make long exposure almost easy!

Around my neck was the Nikon D600 and Tamron's 2nd-generation 70-300mm with Vibration Correction. Similarly massive and with stabilized optics, it could use a tripod too, but the other one is buried in the garage somewhere. 

Next comet I'll definitely know where that tripod is - absolutely for sure!

Camera III, the Lumix GX7, stayed indoors with a 45-150mm lens and a Sigma 60/2.8; their turn would come soon enough. I tried for a second time to awaken my bride, she murmured politely and resumed her sleep - drat.

So out I stumbled into a last-quarter moonlit corner of our yard, ready for action. I pretended to level the tripod, turned on the camera and began to shoot. Issue #1: strong blue power-on LED atop the ePL8 is extremely non-astronomer friendly, and will be covered up for the next comet. Issue #2 is the bulky 70-300mm lens, which is just too nose-heavy for the tripod mount to be used vertically. Shots are fine horizontally though so I let it slide. Really though, given the bulk of that lens I need to devise a tripod collar that holds the lens not the camera body.

Using LiveTime on Olympus bodies is really cool, as it allows the image to build up on the LED screen as photons accumulate. After a few seconds though my shots stop doing that, revealing Issue #3. Next time, use a longer refresh time on the LiveTime update so it doesn't use all the updates so quickly. Shots looked good and I dared to zoom in quite a bit for more detailed images. That's Issue #4: wear your best glasses to check on the 3-inch screen, images may in fact not be very well focused. Issue 4a would be to ensure that focus peaking is in fact activated so you rest assured that your focus is on the stars not the foreground branches. And Issue 5 is to remember that more telephoto = more apparent star motion, so that even two seconds of shooting will lead to blurry stars and cometary nuclei, and even blurrier blurry tails.

Man I really should have practiced..

On to the Nikon, which I tried using hand-held at iso1600. Whoa, closed way to fast, revealing Issue -hm, #6 I think: set camera to manual and boost the ISO before stepping outside. I really liked that I could turn the power-on collar to light the top data screen though.  After a couple more shots I took the ePL8 off the tripod and set it in the grass (Issue x+1: have a dry landing place for a non-weather-sealed camera next time!) and leaned the D600 on the tripod for a few shots. 

The sky was quite a bit brighter now, so I decided to swap for the GX7 and give my wife another chance to see the comet. Another failure. I decided more light beat more reach and attached the 60mm f/2.8 lens, then stepped out again. I snapped the Venus/Aldebaran conjunction and felt that took too long to snap - so back to the Issue #whatever with ISO settings and shutter speeds. I then shot the comet again, without tripod assistance (since the attachment piece was still on the ePL8 - sounds like an issue) and for good documentation shot the moon/Mars near-conjunction too. Note the GX7 has a stabilized sensor; note also it was the first Lumix body to have any, so it was admittedly rudimentary compared to Olympus (and the ePL8 is a few years newer at it too).

And so it ended, for a while. I went in and had a cocoa/mocha to warm up, looked on the 3-inch screens at my efforts, and felt really good about things.

Much later in the day I used the fancy WiFi features on the ePL8 to transfer a couple images to my  smartphone, picked my fave and sent it out to the world. Very handy - but Issue XLII (check images on a screen over 5 inches before deciding what a 'good' image looks like) definitely caught me out here. In fact nearly every shot 100mm or longer looked.. not its best. Especially if a tripod wasn't used - and for the GX7 even the 60/2.8 was being a bit ambitious.

Next time, for sure!

covid-19 4.July update

Clearly numbers aren't under control right now. 

Reopening led to crowding, which led to viral wildfires all over; Cal/Arz/Tex/Fla are big win/loss leaders right now. Eastern OR/WA are leading the way in the PacNW - but Cowlitz county is now over 100, up about 40 since Memorial Day reopenings. NY/NJ have things under control for now, but imports from elsewhere are trying to restart the spread.

Here's the Guardian map posted one month ago-

In local news, folks decided to have a July 4th event at the local picnic grounds. They planned for 10k people and a country musician, they ended up with 350 plus a few political candidates, fun for kids, three food carts and no portable toilets. Both state and city told the organizers that no semblance of support would be coming under phase-2 rules. 

Hopefully those revelers will be wearing masks when they food-shop next week; I know I will.

SP 20-40mm, Postscript

My gamble paid off nicely.

The 20-40mm Tamron was priced to sell in part due to its inability to autofocus. The test that failed was not described, so I took a chance - even if AF did not work it would be a useful lens, and its Minolta-mount version rated highly on dyxum.com (for everything except flare, hence my joy about an included hood!). 

AF issues are another Nikon special feature, as some cameras in their digital lineup do not have AF motors in the camera body. All Pentax bodies retain that motor so it's a new thing for me to factor in while shopping. Since the seller would not accept returns, it's a risk - and the price reflected that.

When the lens arrived a quick AF test told me that all was well on my D600, and the test used a body with no motor. Yay! A night test in a nearby parking lot produced simply amazing flare.. oh well. Flare is now a feature that modern images usually get with AI-enhanced software, but I get it free! It's less of an issue when with sources are far enough out of the scene.

Nikon adaptations

I feel the Nikon setup is in a pretty good spot. Not great, but pretty good - but I've discovered that making it more suitable for me is a bizarre challenge.

Having slid across from Pentax, I believed I had a feel for the used lens market. Both N. and P. have several series of bayonet mount lenses going back to 1979 more or less, with 3rd parties adding both prime and zoom lenses. Since the K mount has been forsaken by most of those parties in recent years, it seemed clear that the F mount would have even more choices! 

AmIRite? 

Well? 

-er NotSoMuch.

A larger supply of gear is apparently overcome by demand from the much larger Nikon user base, so few options are available. And the most recent 3rd party items are aimed at hi-ticket buyers, so even 50 percent off is above my budget - worse yet, the f/1.4 primes and f/1.8 zooms are massive!

So, on to the right-sized f/2.8 primes.* I want 'em small to avoid confusing a prime with the 28-105 (I truly believe that is possible now!), so small and relatively 'slow' is good, and zooms are low on my list. Since I know little about Nikon gear I browsed a few review sites for glowing praise of Nikkor 20/24/28mm primes.

Wow. Guess the DA Limiteds spoiled me, as reviews are pleasant rather than enthusiastic about many of these. And oh yes: demand v. supply means they aren't cheap,not even the elder D series whose 28-105 zoom is beloved. Well, strongly beliked at least.

I also did not prepare myself for dealing with owners of the 2nd largest camera brand. They strongly dislike things Pentaxians have long accepted, like loud focus motors ** or with primitive features like front elements that rotate & mess up polarizing filter settings. (Quick tip: focus first.) 

• All I wanted was a 20-24mm, a fast 35 and maybe a 50mm. Doing so would cost $500 on a lucky day, so plan A is out.
• How about a wide xx-35 zoom? They are either exotic monsters or 1980s relics made to be cheap and left out to die. Another plan bites the dust.
• No plan C came to mind. Well the Nikkor 24-50mm D reviews well from 24-35mm, shall I waste space carrying around the extra 15mm anyway?

Then i encountered a Tamron 166, or maybe 266. It's a 20-40mm f/2.7-3.5. A what?! Sounds like a pentax design with such strange numbers, but it's pretty compact (albeit dense!) and actually reviews.. pretty well? Stranger still, it's comfortably below $200 in a few cases. I found a copy of the later model 266, which has a gold ring like my 70-300 and distance scale on the nose unlike the window view on the 166. It also came with its hood, which helps with its main problem of flare. 

Be it so ordered.

And with that in hand, a 50/1.8 (FX) becomes a sensible item to seek!

model 266 on the left, 166 right

* Did I mention the DX/FX thing? Like Pentax' DA/FA labeling, but again for an audience 50x larger!! A good half dozen times I found a deal on a 35/1.8 for example, only to see the DX code at the penultimate period. Terminology matters!

** 

Give

us

a 

break, folks. Nikon AF motors sound like a vacuum cleaner compared to the high-speed drill that is Pentax.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Oh yes: the 17mm Sigma will be on the the block if the 20-40mm works out. That will defray the 50's expense. Unless the 17 wins, the 20-40 leaves and I get a 35 instead.. oh was that out loud?

covid.19 USA v. Europe

Wow.

Freedom (USA style) does not come without cost.

Is something missing in my 𝛍43 kit?

I took a few team photos recently (coming soon) of my 𝛍43 and Nikon kits. The small system is the most complete, with GX7, primes at 14-20-30-60mm (and that pixco 8mm fisheye) and zooms (14-42ii, 45-150 and 4Thirds 70-300). 

Hm, where's that EM10 that I picked up a few months ago?

Ah yes.. about that.

When browsing for a final piece of the Nikon puzzle I encountered something I'd been seeking for a while: a compact tan-and-silver camera body. I sought a tan GX85 in the past, but did not find one at a 'reasonable' price (by my miserly definition). Yet here was an EX condition ePL8, with all the features of the EM10 with fewer 'issues' and (apparently) a body style that I prefer. I dropped the EM10 as a trade option and the ePL8 is on its way.

Yes I lost the EVF, but the PL8 is the last Pen to accept clip-on VF, so it can be added later if needed. This camera should look great with the silver 20/1.7 or 14-42ii, and nice enough with the other lenses. It was not a straight-across trade, but it's a far more interesting camera to me than the OM∙D variant. I've learned the hard way (after 3-5 EM and G bodies) that compact rangefinder-types are more for me.

So how does it compare to the GX7, since its name is "one better" (according to Nigel Tufnel)? Well, it's a tradeoff: better stabilization that works with video, fewer video specs. Marginally better sensor, marginally inferior AF (perhaps) and no 'starlight AF' to EV-4 faintness. Still uses a touch screen, the Oly has live time/composite but lacks 1/8000 shutter speed and two control dials. No easy AF/MF switch that I like so much. So overall it will see less use, but it's a good camera in any case and will see some time in play!

Oh yeah, might as well finish our team introductions..

The Nikon set is also done to my satisfaction and beyond my needs - D600, 17/3.5 + 90/2.8 (1:1 capable) primes, 28-105 (no OpStab) and 70-300 VC zooms. Perhaps some day a wider stabilized zoom will happen, but the 28-105 with its 1:2 closeups and great image capabilities will do. 

Heck, once I get them out of the camera I'll just stick the team photos below this space. 

(insert Graham Chapman voice here): Wait for it -- !