advice on top m43 glass... (Long Post) - Page 3

Chrisnmn · #21 August 13th, 2012, 10:32 PM

thanks for all your tips guys. the 12-35 is been making quite an appearance in the latest comments in this thread. I've also seen what Chris Sorensen did with it in this series chris sorensen - portrait & travel photographer - sri lanka and its awesome. but thats the case of "give crap to shoot to that guy and its gonna come back with gold" and under that concept i should keep my primes and just change em "while on the road" right?.

~tc~ · #22 August 13th, 2012, 10:47 PM

Depends - a lot of my "travel" photography is from moving cars, and a zoom with fast AF is just the ticket.

DHart · #23 August 13th, 2012, 10:57 PM

Yeah... I love primes, but there are a LOT of situations where I much prefer to have a high-grade zoom on the camera. An example: while playing tourist in a new town where I want to move around a lot and make a lot of images and have no idea what types of images I will want to make, but don't want to be carrying numerous lenses and juggling primes on and off and on and off again, which gets very old for me very quickly.

In such cases I'll carry two bodies, each with a sling strap, often putting the 7-14 on one body and 12-35 on the other... that will cover nearly all I would want to create right there, with about the best quality one can possibly squeeze out of a m4/3 body. No lens swapping, no fumbling around with lenses and such.

I save my primes for those photographic occasions where I have the time and the willingness to either be carrying and fumbling around with a lot of gear, or have a purpose mission which doesn't require a wide range of focal lengths. Example of this would be when setting up to create a portrait... for this I would probably just use one body and a portrait lens. Ideally (fast-forwarding in time a little bit) that would be either the 75/1.8 or, possibly, the 35-100/2.8.

Chrisnmn · #24 August 13th, 2012, 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DHart

Yeah... I love primes, but there are a LOT of situations where I much prefer to have a high-grade zoom on the camera. An example: while playing tourist in a new town where I want to move around a lot and make a lot of images and have no idea what types of images I will want to make, but don't want to be carrying numerous lenses and juggling primes on and off and on and off again, which gets very old for me very quickly.

In such cases I'll carry two bodies, each with a sling strap, often putting the 7-14 on one body and 12-35 on the other... that will cover nearly all I would want to create right there, with about the best quality one can possibly squeeze out of a m4/3 body. No lens swapping, no fumbling around with lenses and such.

I save my primes for those photographic occasions where I have the time and the willingness to either be carrying and fumbling around with a lot of gear, or have a purpose mission which doesn't require a wide range of focal lengths. Example of this would be when setting up to create a portrait... for this I would probably just use one body and a portrait lens. Ideally (fast-forwarding in time a little bit) that would be either the 75/1.8 or, possibly, the 35-100/2.8.

yes that would be my dream gear at this point i guess. two omds one with the "seven" and the other with the 12-35. or the other thing is, get the 12-35 plus the P20 or P25 or O45 for "bokehlicious" portraits and close snaps...right?

I remember Tobers post on the Faroe Island (http://slikimages.com/2012/06/everyt...faroe-islands/) testing the OMD he went with the O9-18 + P14 + P20 + O45 and half through the review he says that he ended up using the O9-18 and O45 most of the time and barely using the P14 and P20

DHart · #25 August 13th, 2012, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrisnmn

yes that would be my dream gear at this point i guess. two omds one with the "seven" and the other with the 12-35. or the other thing is, get the 12-35 plus the P20 or P25 or O45 for "bokehlicious" portraits and close snaps...right?

You bet... there are always various different lens combinations which can work great at different times and different circumstances... we're fortunate to have a fairly nice range of good lenses for m4/3 at this point and that's a VERY significant factor for what is becoming a respectable format and system.

BTW, your Tom Hogan quote is wonderful and really gets to the heart of true image creation... it's about the image making and has very little, if anything, to do with the latest, greatest body, lens or whatever.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrisnmn

Every photograph you've ever admired was taken with past equipment, not the thing you're waiting for someone to announce. - Thom Hogan

Chrisnmn · #26 August 14th, 2012, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DHart

You bet... there are always various different lens combinations which can work great at different times and different circumstances... we're fortunate to have a fairly nice range of good lenses for m4/3 at this point and that's a VERY significant factor for what is becoming a respectable format and system.

BTW, your Tom Hogan quote is wonderful and really gets to the heart of true image creation... it's about the image making and has very little, if anything, to do with the latest, greatest body, lens or whatever.

It is indeed a nice quote Don!. thats why i created this thread, since im going all in, into m43 and i want to get the best i can afford to carry on with my photo work-fun-hobby-etc. im not looking for the new, but looking for the best, which is not necessarily the "new".

Chrisnmn · #27 August 14th, 2012, 03:15 AM

hey guys i just checked on the panasonic 100-300mm on bh and costs $499 (out of stock though) so i jumped on ebay and the lens starts at $850 ??!?!?! am i missing something here? whats the deal with that lens?.

Sanpaku · #28 August 14th, 2012, 04:45 AM

That's just price gouging due to scarcity of new product. Zoolert shows NO US internet retailers with the 100-300 in stock.

I think Panasonic was unprepared for the influx of μ 4/3 converts, mostly new E-M5 owners looking for higher end glass. There are also no 12-35s or PanaLeica 45s at the major US retailers, only one retailer has the 7-14, and 2 retailers have the 25. These are all backordered at Panasonic's own storefront.

Click on completed listings and you'll see a handful of used 100-300s sold between $393 and the "NY price" of $499 in the past month. On the bright side, there's a lot of reasonably priced kit glass (slow zooms & fast pancakes) on the Bay from upgraders and those migrating on to other systems. Its a time for patience.

mattia · #29 August 14th, 2012, 06:54 AM

Weird...no major supply issues with any of those lenses in Europe. Prices are (obviously) quite a bit higher, but still...

meyerweb · #30 August 14th, 2012, 09:27 AM

Unless you absolutely NEED the lens right. this. minute. why not wait a couple of weeks. Then you can at least make a more informed decision.

As far as the 20 vs. 25, these are quite different on FOV. while the 25 is a great lens, I much prefer the 20 mm focal length. The 25% longer PL 25 just always seems a bit too long for what I want to do indoors.