Ken Katz

I have used M43 for 3 years without issue. I currently have 6 lenses and 2 M43 bodies so I have done a reasonable amount of lens changing, again without incident.

Any Oly OMD model plus the 45mm f1.8 and/or 25mm f1.8 would deliver very good image quality with extremely fast AF and responsiveness.

There is no such thing as a perfect camera and there are more compromises with compact cameras than larger ones. Given that the new Sony RX 100 meets so many of your requirements, perhaps you should take another look and see if you can live with the handling issues. Panasonic is rumored to have a new compact coming out shortly with a 1 inch sensor which may be an interesting alternative

Since the new version of DPP doesn't support my ancient 5D, I assume that Canon hopes that in order for me to feel better about myself, I will need to upgrade to a new FF camera right away. This doesn't impact me much since I almost exclusively use Lightroom for my Canon and Olympus systems. While hopefully they will add support for all older Canon RAW enabled cameras, Adobe doesn't seem to have a technical problem maintaining compatibility with older cameras when they overhaul their software.

If I were in the market for a mid priced, stabilized, 70-300 zoom, I would consider the Canon 70-300 IS (as suggested above) or the Tamron SP 70-300 VC zoom, as Marcus suggested. (see review and comparison below) http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/reviews/tamron_70-300_vc_review.html Both these options are much sharper than any earlier 75-300 or 100-300 (non L) older Canon lens, especially at 300mm. I own both the 70-200 F4 L and 70-200 F4 IS L, but the IS version is significantly more expensive and the non-IS lens, is not stabilized.

Lets see, in the fast/wide/normal category: from Panasonic there is the 15mm f1.7 (newly released), 20mm f1.7, and 25mm 1.4. Olympus has the 17 f1.8 and 25 f1.8. I have the Oly 17 f1.8, but could certainly find happiness with many of the other options listed above (especially the Oly 25mm). There should be reviews on most of these lenses available on various web sites.

"Don't you think there could be a market if Canon would manufacture it again?" was the question. I don't think there would be a market for a $3,000 - $4,000 new Canon brand LTM lens (or certainly not a market that would interest Canon). It is extremely unlikely that Canon would manufacture a new lens for cameras that it has not manufactured in the last 45 - 50 years. Currently, the market seem to want super high quality 50mm f1.4 lenses, such as the Sigma ART described by Karim and the $4,000 55mm f1.4 Zeiss Otus.

Thanks for your responses. The suggestions I am receiving include: Dallas - Bush Library & JFK museum, Austin - LBJ Library, San Antonio - The Alamo. We would likely fly back from Austin to NYC. Assuming we go this route, I would appreciate any other suggestions as to what to see in these areas or along the route. Lupo, unfortunately, will need to head home after this trip to Texas, since while I love BBQ, I am not a fan of country music.

I will be visiting friends in Dallas around the 3rd week in July, and may consider extending the trip for a few days. I am willing to drive about 4 hours from Dallas, and hopefully be able to fly back (to NYC) from there. Any suggestions as to where to go or what there is to see in this region? I have traveled extensively in the US west but with respect to my trips to Texas, I typically fly into DFW on business and don't see much beyond the airport, hotel, or conference room. Not a great lover of heat, so an extensive outdoor excursion or hike in Texas in July is not something I would want to do.

When shooting JPEGs on Canon, I usually used the Neutral picture style and additionally lowered the contrast and sharpening settings in order to avoid blowing out highlights and over sharping the image. I found those files reacted well to post processing and it was easy to increase sharpness, contrast, and saturation when desired.

If you wanted a really wide angle lens for a crop sensor Canon, the EFS 10-22 would likely be the one to consider, assuming you also have a kit lens, like an 18-55, to take with you. If you wanted a single lens for landscapes and to also cover most everything else, the Canon 15-85 IS is well regarded and has a significantly wider angle view than a lens starting at 17 or 18mm. Of the 2 mentioned above, I would consider the 17-55 IS since it is has a longer range, IS, and is considered quite sharp. For rentals, I would stick with Canon. If you are going to purchase, then there are Sigma and Tamron alternative that may be less expensive and still quite good.

I believe the MK I and Mk II have the same optics, but the MK II has improvements in the barrel, so that there is much less wobble when extended and potentially alleviates some optical issues associated with that. The MK II has faster AF.

The lighting looks fine, so I don't think addition flash would be helpful. I would use a minimum of F2.8 @ 1/200th, adjusting the ISO to obtain a good exposure. With a Canon 6D, a well exposed 1200 ISO should not be a problem. I would agree that you should set the camera on M, and not be locking exposure. For Canon, activating focus using the back button as you described is fine, but I would shoot the image immediately once focused (to minimize movement of either camera or subject). At f2.8 with that lens, any slight movement by you or you subject can result in an OOF image, especially if you evaluate the image on screen at 100%. Also note that the AF point may be larger than what is indicated in your viewfinder, making more difficult to get precise focus on the eye. As suggested, using a tripod would be helpful, and would also allow an effective use of use of live view to obtain critical focus. It would also be helpful to test AF vs live view focus (on tripod) to check that the AF and lens are well calibrated. Shoot a bunch of images and choose the sharpest/best composed ones as your keepers. Don't sweet a few OOF images that will occur when shooting at wide apertures.

Don't use Leica, but a 1 minute Google search seems to indicate (much to my surprise), that the Oly VF-2 is identical to the Leica unit and compatible (see below). http://leicarumors.com/2012/05/31/leica-x2-evf2-viewfinder-is-made-by-olympus.aspx/ http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/41547697 Probably makes sense to do some additional research on this before buying the Olympus.

Price seems reasonable, which is a significant departure from more recent Canon "L" lens offerings. Potentially better image quality and IS is a major plus but the purported weight gain over the 17-40L, topping out at almost 22 oz, is going in the wrong direction for me.

The lens is completely compatible with that camera and with any EOS camera (digital or film) ever made.

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