What accessories would you purchase?

[RickVaughn]

Hello all,

I'm looking at buying some accessories while I wait for the E-P5 announcement and was wondering what others would consider purchasing. My current gear:

E-PL1
P 14 (received today as Xmas gift :smile
P 25
O 45
O 40-150

For those looking for a bag to carry their gear, this will all fit inside the ThinkTank Hubba Hubba Hiney along with two extra memory cards and a spare battery with charger and still leave a bit of room to spare. A pretty good bag for the price.

As to the accessories, I've been looking at polarizers and lens hoods, but don't know where to begin. Any suggestions? I'm hoping to get some decent additions for around the $200 range...

Thanks and Happy Holidays!

 

[elavon]

Hello all,

I'm looking at buying some accessories while I wait for the E-P5 announcement and was wondering what others would consider purchasing. My current gear:

E-PL1
P 14 (received today as Xmas gift :smile
P 25
O 45
O 40-150

For those looking for a bag to carry their gear, this will all fit inside the ThinkTank Hubba Hubba Hiney along with two extra memory cards and a spare battery with charger and still leave a bit of room to spare. A pretty good bag for the price.

As to the accessories, I've been looking at polarizers and lens hoods, but don't know where to begin. Any suggestions? I'm hoping to get some decent additions for around the $200 range...

Thanks and Happy Holidays!

Regarding accessories it depends on what you shot.
The most common one would be a tripod and spare batteries and remote shutter release.
If you shot landscape a set of filters (ND, Polarizer, Graduate) would also help.
The most important is a good RAW editing and management such as Lightroom.
Ebay, Bhphoto and Amazon would be a good sources.

 

[RickVaughn]

Brands?

Regarding accessories it depends on what you shot.
The most common one would be a tripod and spare batteries and remote shutter release.
If you shot landscape a set of filters (ND, Polarizer, Graduate) would also help.
The most important is a good RAW editing and management such as Lightroom.
Ebay, Bhphoto and Amazon would be a good sources.

Any particular brand of filters/polarizers to look at? I do shoot mostly outdoors - street shots of people and architecture - as well as lanscapes. The 45 for portraits is great and the 25 is getting quite a bit of use as my daily lens now. I'll be trying out the 14 as soon as I leave work on Friday...

 

[David A]

Depending upon lighting conditions outside where you live plus how you like to shoot, one accessory you may wish to consider is either the VF-2 or VF-3 viewfinder. The VF-2 made a huge difference for me when shooting outside in a sub-tropical climate with a lot of often very harsh sunlight. It genuinely made the difference between pointing the camera in the direction of the subject while crossing my fingers and actually being able to see and frame what I was shooting. I'd go so far as to say that I'd personally regard a viewfinder as more important than a polariser, even when it comes to image quality, simply because composition is that important and if you find yourself unable to see the screen clearly because of the light a lot of the time you'll appreciate the benefits of the viewfinder. It makes shooting so much easier and pleasant.

I also have lens hoods for most of my lenses and use them all the time.

 

[Janders]

As David suggests, an EVF makes a huge difference. Another option to consider is a descent flash with FP mode. FL600R would make a huge difference to your portrait shots with the 25 & 45mm lenses.

With FP you an shoot wide open in bright light and manage bright lighting conditions. This would negate the need for ND filters to compensate for bright conditions when attempting to shoot wide open.

I have never owned an EPL1 and therefore am not sure of the flash RC functionality of this body. Irregardless of that, a FP mode flash on camera can boost portrait quality significantly.

 

[Gurin]

The VF-2, I got two of them.

The Epl1 with its little internal flash is works like a charm with the VF-2 and RC flash units like the Fl50r. On Christmas Eve I happily snapped away with one of my Epl1s, a VF-2 and my Fl50r, primarily with the Pen F Zuiko 38 1.8 and mZD 75 1.8.

 

[elavon]

Any particular brand of filters/polarizers to look at? I do shoot mostly outdoors - street shots of people and architecture - as well as lanscapes. The 45 for portraits is great and the 25 is getting quite a bit of use as my daily lens now. I'll be trying out the 14 as soon as I leave work on Friday...

It depends on your budget and needs. If you shot for fun the 10$ to 15$ made in Japan will probably do the work. I got mine on Ebay and they re descend enough. If you get ND filter you must buy a tripod. I got a Slik traveler it cost about 80$ to 100$. There are two version I got the shorter one and I think It would better if I get the longer. In any case in my last trip to Rome I have used it allot.

 

[janneman]

I would say lens hoods are a rather important start. You don't need them always, but you usually only find out afterwards when you needed it... Besides, a nice sturdy lens hood is, as far as I am concerned a better crumple zone than any filter (if you want protection).

As a next step I would certainly go for a viewfinder. I find it easier to hold a camera steady when pressed against nose, with tucked in arms. I have an OM-D, but with the PL1 you actually have a choice between going small without viewfinder, or going accurate with it.

 

[usayit]

Need or intention should drive purchases... not the other way around.

Personally, I use the EVF viewfinder about 75% of the time with my E-PL1.

 

[RickVaughn]

Thanks for the input everyone! It looks as if there is a deal on the VF-2 right now, so that's really worth considering as is a polarizer as a way to cut reflections. Several family members wear glasses which can sometimes be a pain. I also tend to shoot around bodies of water and other times at car shows where reflections can be a real hassle.

 

[RevBob]

A tripod, a small tripod such as a Gorilla pod, a Nissin flash, the Rokinon fisheye (a bit more than $200 but worth it!). Also, the funky little Olympus body cap lens. :smile:

 

[RogerAdams]

Hi Rick,

Make sure you jump on that electronic viewfinder (VF-2 or VF-3) soon. The rebate offer expires Jan 1, I believe.

I bought the VF-3 last week and I really love it!

Roger

 

[sammykhalifa]

Thanks for the input everyone! It looks as if there is a deal on the VF-2 right now, so that's really worth considering as is a polarizer as a way to cut reflections. Several family members wear glasses which can sometimes be a pain. I also tend to shoot around bodies of water and other times at car shows where reflections can be a real hassle.

You might want to look at the Marumi polarizers. They're not that expensive, and from what I hear are pretty good quality (I wouldn't know because it's the only one I've ever had).