what photography related item did you buy this week?

[Erich_H]

^^^^^^
not even against Olympus cameras that refuse to work as advertised....?

 

[itisasitis]

1. My first ever photo book, a book in Swedish on wildlife photography: https://symposionbokforlag.se/version2punkt0/
2. The first ever print of one of my own pictures I used the SOOC jpeg, meaning no "serious" noise reduction etc. as I'm really interested to see what the end result will look like on print. 40x30 cm.

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[Armoured]

Bit the bullet and clicked on 'buy' for an Olympus 30mm macro lens when it came in at the right price (not expensive).

Part of an idea that a small, light macro that I can keep in my carry-around kit will encourage me to up my (rubbish) macro game. I have toyed with macro from time to time but the size and fiddliness of what I've tried never quite worked for me. Certainly wasn't going to shell out for expensive and large macro gear - but for about $125, I'll give it a try. Now can't wait for it to arrive, hopefully tomorrow.

 

[doady]

Is IBIS failure common in older cameras? Aside from dead pixels and batteries, my C-7070 was still working fine when I got my E-M1 II a couple years ago. I was hoping E-M1 II would last a long time too, especially considering it is marketed as being durable, but since it is a much more complex camera than C-7070, maybe more things can go wrong.

 

[Erich_H]

^^^^^^
First time it's happened to me... ?

 

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

Is IBIS failure common in older cameras? Aside from dead pixels and batteries, my C-7070 was still working fine when I got my E-M1 II a couple years ago. I was hoping E-M1 II would last a long time too, especially considering it is marketed as being durable, but since it is a much more complex camera than C-7070, maybe more things can go wrong.

I can't say I have seen or heard many failures of IBIS on the Four Thirds DSLRs given they are the oldest ones with IBIS implementation. Some first generation mirroless may be more susceptible as it was a different way of making cameras or I could be components quality issue.
I would say no matter the brand or the type of camera the risk of failure due to old age is pretty much the same, where mirroless have an advantage of fewer mechanical moving parts and less violent mechanism (like no mirror moving). With IBIS mechanism there's not much one can do and it's all up to luck and quality from Olympus.

I am hoping as well for very long lifetime of my Big Oly (E-M1 Mark III), of at least 8 years maybe 10 ... One down, nine more to go.

 

[Erich_H]

I've never had a Pentax IBIS fail - except the one Pentax Q (mirrorless) which I "repaired" by smacking it on the palm of my hand. The rest of them (DSLRs dating back to 2006) has performed flawlessly, despite being dropped on rocks (which by the way was what happened to the Q too...), and so forth. On one, I busted the outer shell (K100D Super - glass fiber strengthened plastic), and super glued it together. Still working...

That being said, this was the first Olympus IBIS that failed me. I'm personally acquainted with two E-PL1's (2010) which still works fine, IBIS-wise. One of them has started dropping pixels from the screen. But they are not the same. They kind of move around between boot ups. And not many. Just enough to notice them...

But as the IBIS's on both Pentax and Olympus are of the sensor shift type, it might be possible, if they are just "stuck" by powering down unexpectedly, to move the sensor into the correct boot up position. Maybe...

 

[agentlossing]

My new-old EM5 has produced a few dark frames, I guess this is a common enough problem for these shutters to do this at higher shutter speeds. I haven't noticed any after the first couple days of purchase, though. Maybe it just needed exercise.

 

[John King]

Thanks very much for the offer, Don, but I have lots of black ones. They live in the camera's original box.

I, too, bought a bag of them. Red and pink ones! When you drop one, or put it somewhere for safekeeping, you can find the bloody thing again!!

Like my OTG cable that's here somewhere. I bought another one this morning ... this one will live attached to my SD card reader, in the pocket of my tablet case.

I also bought some micro USB to USB-C connectors, ditto.

Other buys this morning were 2x 128GB micro SD cards and 2x 32GB SD cards.

Today or tomorrow I will prepare the 128GB cards for our phones. Existing 2x 32GB microSD will be prepped as overflow cards for my E-M1 MkI and MkII. The two new 32GB SD cards will be used with my E-M1 MkII and the two existing 16GB cards I use in it will be used in my E-PM2.

Lots of stuffing about. All my cards are named, both on the card and with a couple of text files. I never play mix-n-match with cards between devices.

So every card will be physically labelled, then formatted using SDFormatter, then in the device it will be used in, then back into the card reader to be labelled and have text files copied to them. Quite a performance!

Well, while searching for the remote control for my CD player this afternoon (my SWMBO had "tidied it up", somewhere ... ), I finally found my other OTG cable in much the same place. Black on black really helps ...

 

[Macroramphosis]

I bought one of the little Sony RX100 series stick-on grips for the newly-purchased GM5, which did indeed prove to be basically brand new when it arrived.

However since then developments in the household mean the GM5 will not be staying long as it is about to be put up for sale, along with the unopened box containing aforementioned Sony grip. Circumstances ago-go in western France, sigh

 

[Panolyman]

My new-old EM5 has produced a few dark frames, I guess this is a common enough problem for these shutters to do this at higher shutter speeds. I haven't noticed any after the first couple days of purchase, though. Maybe it just needed exercise.

I had a similar problem with my E-M5 too, but couldn't work out what the problem was.
Hopefully it won't happen on my Mk 2.

 

[PeeBee]

In the words of arguably one of the most influential lyricists of a generation - CeCe Peniston, my Oly 100-400 has arrived, "Finally"

I'm looking forwards to trying this bad boy out over the weekend

 

[PeeBee]

^ Following on from above, as I thought, the Oly 100-400 doesn't fit in any of my camera bags when attached to a body, so I popped out to Currys today (a UK consumer electrical store) to look for a dedicated bag. In store they a Canon MS10 messenger bag, on clearance for £27.00. Out of curiosity, I've just searched online and most retailers are charging between £60 to £74 for the bag and Currys doesn't even have it listed, so it may have been a local store clearance. Anyho, with the internal dividers removed, it can snugly accommodate an EM1.2 with Oly 100-400 and one of the TC's attached. There are 2 front pockets, each can store one of the TCs when not being used, or alternative accessories of course. It seems very well made, so if anyone is looking for a bag that can take the Oly 100-400 mounted, it's one to check out, though you may not find the same deal I did.

https://www.canon.co.uk/cameras/messenger-bag-ms10/

 

[Armoured]

Bit the bullet and clicked on 'buy' for an Olympus 30mm macro lens when it came in at the right price (not expensive).

Part of an idea that a small, light macro that I can keep in my carry-around kit will encourage me to up my (rubbish) macro game. I have toyed with macro from time to time but the size and fiddliness of what I've tried never quite worked for me. Certainly wasn't going to shell out for expensive and large macro gear - but for about $125, I'll give it a try. Now can't wait for it to arrive, hopefully tomorrow.

I've only had this thing for a half day and not much chance to really try it out, but first impressions are that this is a winner and just what I was looking for - a small, light, capable macro I can use as a quasi-normal (so that I'll keep it on the camera and experiment more).

It's part of the reason I use MFT - bigger gear just puts an extra barrier in the way of trying new things.

As far as the lens: internal focussing on a macro lens that gets this close (and magnification) is seriously impressive. And extremely reasonably priced (esp used).

 

[Michael Meissner]

Well for me it was small things:

• A JJC Z-TGS Lens Cap Cover for my TG-5
• A Watson BLS clone battery for my E-m5 mark III, Stylus-1, and a few older cameras
• A Watson BLN clone battery for my E-m1 mark I and E-m5 mark I
• A flash diffuser for me to cut up and put into my steampunk camera box as a diffuser

I bought an HP printer (ENVY 6055), but that is more because our main printer keeps disappearing from the network, and I wanted a backup to print receipts, etc.

 

[BruceRH]

I've only had this thing for a half day and not much chance to really try it out, but first impressions are that this is a winner and just what I was looking for - a small, light, capable macro I can use as a quasi-normal (so that I'll keep it on the camera and experiment more).

It's part of the reason I use MFT - bigger gear just puts an extra barrier in the way of trying new things.

As far as the lens: internal focussing on a macro lens that gets this close (and magnification) is seriously impressive. And extremely reasonably priced (esp used).

The 30mm macro is a very nice lens, even more so for what they sell for. I picked up a used one to use for converting a bunch of old slides to digital. It worked perfectly for that.

 

[Armoured]

I picked up a used one to use for converting a bunch of old slides to digital. It worked perfectly for that.

A huge thank you! Although I hypothetically knew that, it wasn't actually part of my reason for purchasing it. But I have a zillion slides to digitize and have tried with a different set of gear and found it very fiddly and tedious, so should try with this set-up.

Really I should blame my lack of patience and gear aspects, but all of that makes it look like I'm the problem.

Therefore, I blame having children.

All joking aside, this is a very helpful tip and I'm embarrassed I didn't think of it.

 

[PeteS]

Not all that exciting, but a Hoya 58mm Close-up +3 (HMC) Multi-Coated Lens ordered and due to arrive Thursday. I plan to use it on my 75-300mm f4.8-6.7 II if that ever ships. It will also fit on a couple other lenses that I have, but was bought mainly for the 75-300 (which is and has been on backorder for over a month).

I will probably play with it on my 12-45mm F4.0 Pro and 40-150 f4-5.6 in the mean time, assuming it arrives Thursday as promised and Olympus doesn't suddenly get on the ball and ship the 75-300mm f4.8-6.7 II.

I debated between the Hoya and a cheap set of uncoated Vivitars. I also looked at and considered a Marumi Achromat and may yet go that route in the future if I decide I want a 5 or 10 X, but right now I think the coated 3x looks like a good answer for what I want to do at this time.

 

[BruceRH]

A huge thank you! Although I hypothetically knew that, it wasn't actually part of my reason for purchasing it. But I have a zillion slides to digitize and have tried with a different set of gear and found it very fiddly and tedious, so should try with this set-up.

Really I should blame my lack of patience and gear aspects, but all of that makes it look like I'm the problem.

Therefore, I blame having children.

All joking aside, this is a very helpful tip and I'm embarrassed I didn't think of it.

I got a Nikon NS-1 and an LED panel as a light source. The biggest problem is the dust. I tried to clean the slides as much as I could and I fixed some in LR. I wasn’t overly picky though, the dust and scratches add some character ? I saw a Medium Format image on DPR where the poster added scratches so I am way ahead of him ?

 

[Glevum Owl]

A used Oly 60mm macro popped up suddenly on Carmarthen Cameras’ site here in the UK and I resisted for all of five minutes. I’m now shopping around for the rest of the kit and software needed to start digitising all the old 35mm and 120 negs. One purchase leads to another….