What is wrong with me

[agentlossing]

To put it in perspective, it’s a period of almost 6 years that I switched to Panasonic, and bought one new camera G80 in jul-2017, while trading in the G6 with zooms and X100. But kept my primes.

Last year I changed the 20/1.7 for 15/1.7 because the 20/1.7 and 25/1.4 where to close in focal length.

GX80 with 12-32 was/is for my wife, because she wanted to try photography, but it’s not something she likes. So it’s gathering dust/losing value.

So I don’t like the current zooms I have because of the everything is in focus look. That is my opinion, not something wrong with the lenses or blame them.

My reasoning was, if I trade in or sell of the GX80 and the zooms, I can either get a better zoom PL12-60, or sell everything off and buy a Fuji with a zoom I probably like more and with aps-c is more in line with what I had in the now distant past.

The other issue:
At the same time I switched to Panasonic I started to loose my love for photography, not doing any special picture-taking trips anymore, sticking just to the standard occasions, birthdays, vacations, zoo. Sometimes I take it with me on a hike with the family.

Maybe because the of zooms not working for me and annoyed by constant switching of the primes which I bought for the smaller dof. They give about the same as the zoom I had on aps-c.

Buy maybe it has nothing to do with it and just lost interest in photography for a while. That is what I am trying to find out. Anyway, I would like to pick up photography again.

I do like my G80, no intention to switch it for another m43. The body itself is better then the D7000. AF, Video, Ibis etc.

So, what has really rekindled things for me (aside from when I get a chance to go somewhere with good street opportunities, because I never tire of doing street photography) does in fact have to do with a gear purchase, in part. For me it was getting a truly pocketable, tiny camera with high image quality (Ricoh GR) that I can take everywhere with me without inconvenience or fear of damaging the camera. But that was only a part of it - the other part was getting fired up on the type of photography that the GR series is frequently paired with (and what a lot of Ricoh's marketing around the cameras is, as well). No, not street photography. Snapshot photography. Snapping insignificant things and everyday things in interesting ways. Obviously you don't need a specific camera to do that, but you do need one that you don't mind bringing to things other than specifically photography-related outings. I even bring it to work a lot of the time. This has refueled my interest a lot, as has writing about it.

 

[Peter75]

Tijd om de grachten te raken! I'm already missing the bitterballen and Zatte. My avatar was snapped in Muiden last summer, actually.

We hebben hier in het dorp maar 1 gracht, de vaart... Ook in Muiderslot geweest?

 

[Peter75]

Obviously you don't need a specific camera to do that, but you do need one that you don't mind bringing to things other than specifically photography-related outings. I even bring it to work a lot of the time. This has refueled my interest a lot, as has writing about it.

Sounds fun! I would just use the iPhone I guess... although he XR is “just” pocketable. It takes great looking images in the right lighting conditions. The X100 I had was just a tad to big for that.

 

[Bif]

Peter, before you do anything consider this: The G80/85 is a truly amazing camera itself, sharper than it's predecessors (due partly to no anti aliasing filter in front of the sensor) and that 12-60mm Lumix "kit" lens is one of the best general purpose "kit" lenses I've seen.

I'm a retired professional photographer, in my time I've run my own studio, run the official studio as a civilian staff photographer at an air force base, operated gear from 4x5 view camera to electric advance 70mm production cameras, 120 rollfilm (medium format) gear, and more. Now my involvelment is mostly personal level image making and photography club challenges. As I aged some I had to simplify and "lighten the load", M4/3 was the way to go (I'm 80 now).

The G85 with that Lumix 12-60 is literally made to order for anyone who wants to avoid Nikon (and Canon full frame) weight. Lightweight, compact, and capable of better than most of us can shoot! My advice: Take that combo and "wring it out", learn fully what it can do for you and that will put the fun back in image making for you. The 12mm end will handle some of your most confined space situations and get you (almost) everything in focus when wanted, the 60mm end will get you selective focus and varying degrees of blurred background if you manage distances properly. If you want more selective focus that that gives you, then have a 25mm f1.7 or a 42.5mm f1.7 prime (both are small) in a corner of the bag.

And the advice to join a club (and PARTICIPATE!) is worth money in the bank (what you don't spend changing gear again). If your local club is anything like local club is, you'll meet some fine people.

Have fun!

 

[Drdave944]

Loss of interest due to lack of technical perfection in low weight device,combined with laziness in doing what it takes to obtain results. It is more of a mental than technical issue.

 

[Christop82]

I think you have way over complicated the whole idea. Buy an old XE1 and a fully manual 7artisans 35mm f1.2. Stop thinking about the hardware and maybe you'll enjoy it more.

 

[Bif]

The 12mm end will handle some of your most confined space situations and get you (almost) everything in focus when wanted, the 60mm end will get you selective focus and varying degrees of blurred background if you manage distances properly.

Peter: Thought I'd expand on this a little. Your complaint on zooms is that "everything is in focus". This is one characteristic of Depth Of Field, a label for the Zone Of Acceptable Sharpness. I think the term "Depth Of Focus" is a better label for this.

Several factors affect Depth Of Focus:

Focal length of the lens - Shorter focal lengths, or wide angle lenses, tend to compact spatial relationships, details are closer together in the image and individual image elements are not much isolated. Focus will tend to look more inclusive. Longer focal length (telephoto) tends to magnify and concentrate on detail. Focus gets more critical. So for more selective focus you want to use the telephoto end of a zoom.

Aperture of the lens - Wide apertures will make focus more critical, more selective. Smaller apertures will make the Depth Of Focus deeper, causing more details in that zone to appear sharp.

Distance - The closer you are to your subject, the more critical focus becomes. And the greater the distance from your subject to background elements gets, the blurrier the background will be.

The Zone Of Acceptable sharpness does not have distinct boundaries. The change from foreground blurriness to sharpness is fairly gradual as is the change from subject sharpness to blurry background.

So what you do to manage Depth Of Focus depends on what you want. To get selective focus (shallow Depth Of Focus) use the long end of a zoom or a prime telephoto. Focus with the camera as close to the subject as your composition and environment will allow, at the same time try to have the background elements as far behind your subject as you can. Use a wider aperture. (If you're after portrait like photos of people, I highly recommend the Lumix 42.5mm f1.7 prime as a lightweight prime that is great for this purpose).

For the "everything in focus" look do just the opposite, use the wide end of the zoom (or a wide angle prime), smaller aperture, and maybe move back a tad.

Hope this helps!

 

[Bytesmiths]

You seem to have a lot of incompatible needs: shallow depth-of-field, not wanting to change lenses, lightweight and small.

If you can give up the latter, I recommend the Zuiko Digital 35-100mm ƒ/2.0. This is a simply awesome lens: I call it my "bag of primes." the EC-14 teleconverter is essentially invisible on it, extending your reach to ~140mm ƒ/2.8 with no loss of quality.

Downside: big and heavy. But that is a given for large aperture lenses, no matter what the sensor format is! You simply aren't going to get an ƒ/2 zoom that is small and light!

Also, not to be as harsh as others here, but you can decrease DoF simply by changing the reproduction ratio. If you can get half the distance to your subject, you'll have the same DoF as you would in Fool Frame! (And all you need is to get about 10% closer to equal the DoF of APS-C.)

Here, you can see the face is sharp, but the accordion is starting to get a bit fuzzy, and the background in the lower right is totally blurred.

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Same lens in an un-supported configuration (EC-25 extension tube with EC-14 tele-extender) shows that getting close really blurs the background!

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Finally, putting it all together by getting closer and shooting at ƒ/2 really makes the subject "pop:"

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All of these were with a µ4/3rds body with the 4/3rds 35-100/2, although some had the EC-14 teleconverter, as well.

 

[ac12]

You are looking at equipment as a solution to your head problem.
Look at what you wrote. To me it is a list of excuses why you don't shoot.
Buying new gear will NOT fix your problem. It might give you some satisfaction to play with new gear, but that is all. And you will still not be shooting.

YOU need to rekindle your interest in photography, or you will simply be back in this position again.
Sitting back and wanting your interest to be magically rekindled does not work.

You and your head, have to make the effort to get OUT of the rut you are in, or nothing will change.

Join a photo club, and be active in the club,
Find a photo buddy, and go out and shoot with him/her,
Seriously enter a photo competition,
Give yourself a photo challenge, and go out and work at it,
. . .
DO SOMETHING.
​

This is no different than me complaining that I am fat, but not doing anything about it, other than complain. I have to get off my butt and EXERCISE, to burn off the fat.

 

[Peter75]

You are looking at equipment as a solution to your head problem.
Look at what you wrote. To me it is a list of excuses why you don't shoot.
Buying new gear will NOT fix your problem. It might give you some satisfaction to play with new gear, but that is all. And you will still not be shooting.

YOU need to rekindle your interest in photography, or you will simply be back in this position again.
Sitting back and wanting your interest to be magically rekindled does not work.

You and your head, have to make the effort to get OUT of the rut you are in, or nothing will change.

Join a photo club, and be active in the club,
Find a photo buddy, and go out and shoot with him/her,
Seriously enter a photo competition,
Give yourself a photo challenge, and go out and work at it,
. . .
DO SOMETHING.
​

This is no different than me complaining that I am fat, but not doing anything about it, other than complain. I have to get off my butt and EXERCISE, to burn off the fat.

I already decided to keep most of my stuff and believe me I take this advise at heart
because a lot of what you wrote is true and I’m going to work on it! But it is of course a little more to it.

And my sincere apologies and thank you to all you guys/girls for pointing out to me that putting the emphasis too much as the gear being the culprit of my decreasing lack of interest in photography is wrong. So let’s move on and see this as settled and again thanks to all polite/less-polite/or rude comments that pointed that out. No hard feelings for the rude liners because I do need my lazy ass kicked sometimes.

From a technical point of view I know exactly how to create dof and I know what I like in a lens and what not. And my conclusion w
as that in lesser circumstances, where shooting with a slowish kitlens (aperture wise) wide open often yielded soft pictures beyond repair. Partly because it is soft, or it was in auto iso, or shutter was to slow and I did not bring the appropriate primes with me etc. Or for indoors where I don’t have the right (wide angle) prime and have to work with the kit’s lens 12mm because of working space constraints etc.

I know there ain’t no lightweight, smallish, cheap, max 1.4, 10-300 zoom and sharp across the frame at every aperture lens. So trade offs must be made.

And my resources are also limited. For example the 12-100 is too expensive. For comparison, it is 175% of the costs for a PL12-60 2.8-4.

12-35/2.8 II is at 115% of the PL.

Partly because Panasonic has cashbacks until 30/6. So maybe I should just wait and use my current stuff until the next cash back.

 

[Bif]

I already decided to keep most of my stuff

maybe I should just wait and use my current stuff until the next cash back.

This may do you more good in the long run. Given that you know DOF and what you like in lenses, use the 12-60mm "kit" lens to do 2 things:

1. Hone your skills, analyzing what you are trying to accomplish. For example if long end of zoom seems to result in soft pictures due to slow shutter speed due to lighting conditions, find a way to brace so camera movement is reduced.

2. Take note of focal lengths on that zoom you use most for awhile, this will begin to tell you what primes you may find useful.

Also: Pick up at least one affordable fast prime, either the Lumix 20mm f1.7 (better in confined space) or the Lumix 25mm f1.7. The former you can have in a small corner of a small bag. The 25mm takes up more space but is still compact. I have both and they are both good performers.

Again, the Lumix 12-60mm is better than most give it credit for. I got one with my G85, with the GH5 I of course wanted the Pan/Leica version for it's better lens quality, but instead found a used Lumix 12-60 for general use with it. Recently I found another one and it gets shared between a GH4 and GX8. All 3 are sharp from wide to tele when I pay attention to what I'm doing.

You've got good gear. Get out and enjoy it! Try not to "overthink" what you need.

 

[T N Args]

I already decided to keep most of my stuff and believe me I take this advise at heart
because a lot of what you wrote is true and I’m going to work on it! But it is of course a little more to it.

I agree, there is a little more to it.

And my sincere apologies and thank you to all you guys/girls for pointing out to me that putting the emphasis too much as the gear being the culprit of my decreasing lack of interest in photography is wrong. So let’s move on and see this as settled and again thanks to all polite/less-polite/or rude comments that pointed that out. No hard feelings for the rude liners because I do need my lazy ass kicked sometimes.

Look I totally understand your issue, as being partly about the gear. You were shooting with some gear, and loving your results, then you changed your gear, and don't like your results so much. That's pretty simple! "Work harder" is the advice you give to a prisoner, who has no choices, and who has to take the blame for everything. Sure, work harder! But what if you're in it for the fun? Isn't that what hobbies are for? You were having fun, and you're not any more, and the only thing that changed, was the gear. There is a certain obvious course of action that might bring the fun back!

From a technical point of view I know exactly how to create dof and I know what I like in a lens and what not. And my conclusion was that in lesser circumstances, where shooting with a slowish kitlens (aperture wise) wide open often yielded soft pictures beyond repair. Partly because it is soft, or it was in auto iso, or shutter was to slow and I did not bring the appropriate primes with me etc. Or for indoors where I don’t have the right (wide angle) prime and have to work with the kit’s lens 12mm because of working space constraints etc....

I got the impression that, with your fingers fixed, weight is no longer the barrier it was. A heavier camera could be back on the cards.
In the DPR m43 forum ("get back, evil spirit!"), there is a fellow who bought for cheap an older FF camera, IIRC a D700 and older 24-70/2.8 lens, and kept his m43 gear, and really appreciates having what the FF gives him, image-wise. Maybe that's a good option for you? These days there are Tamron and Sigma 24-70/2.8's for sensible money, and they have IS too.

cheers

 

[Peter75]

I read some (lot) of reviews of the PL12-60 and out of camera examples and recognised what in it what I like in my 15/1.7 and 25/1.4. So traded in everything I don’t care for and upgraded.

G80 (owned already)
PL12-60 (new), upgraded from Lumix 12-60
P100-300 II (new), upgraded from 45-200(soft>150)
PL15/1.7 (owned already)
PL25/1.4 (owned already)

Less stuff and choice is also better for me. And the feel alone of the PL12-60 is night and day difference.

Now let’s go out and use the damn stuff to fullest !

 

[speedy]

Hey, if buying new gear, swapping gear and systems around makes you happy, don't let us hold you back.
Seems to be a pretty popular pastime for a lot of forumtographers. If you can afford it, why not? Seems to work for my wife, going by what I see when I take a peek in her shoe closet.
Whatever works for you

 

[Peter75]

624€ for a brand new PL12-60 with 5 year warranty is a good discounted offer. So with the trade-ins I got a good deal.
Took a small hike already this morning.

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Near/in the pond to the right where Scotch Highland Cows.

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Typical Dutch canal

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