douglas_green

<p>I agree with the prior post - the Olympus E-PL1 is an obsolete model. The E-PL5 or E-PM2 are much newer, and have much better sensors. If you need a viewfinder, the Panasonic G5 is a great value nowadays.</p>

<p>The Panasonic GH3 is known to be an exceptional video camera - many professional videographers use it as their portable video rig. It is also a highly competent still-image camera, in the class of many APS-C format DSLRs.</p>

<p>I would go with Micro 4/3. I agree that using two bodies that share the same battery is desirable:</p>

<p>That leaves the following options: OM-D E-M5, OM-D E-M1, and E-P5 share a battery. The E-P5 lacks a viewfinder, but can take several accessory viewfinders.</p>

<p>The OM-D E-M10, E-PL5, and E-PM2 also share a battery, and are smaller, cheaper and lighter - but these cameras are not weather sealed, and may be less ergonomic, particularly with larger telephoto lenses.</p>

<p>The Panasonic G6 and GX7 and GH3 and GH4 are also good choices, but do not share batteries, and the GH3 and GH4 are bigger and heavier - but also shoot the best video.</p>

<p>If it was me, depending upon budget and need for weather sealing and willingness to pack slightly more weight for more ruggedness, I'd say the OM-D E-M1 and OM-D E-M5 make the top of the line tandem.<br>

<br>

The OM-D E-M10 and E-PL5 (with either a VF-2 or VF-4 viewfinder) make a lighter, less expensive tandem that has the same image quality as the tandem listed above. This would be my personal choice, unless weather sealing was critical. There is very little sacrifice in crossing brands of bodies and lenses within the System.</p>

<p>There are so many lens options between 7mm and 300mm that I would be reluctant to make recommendations without knowing more specifics about your shooting preferences. Suffice it to say there are tons of choices both in terms of zooms, high end constant aperture zooms, and fast primes.</p>

Gene, if you want it, I'll sell you my Rokkor-M 90mm f4 for the CLE in mint- condition to you for $250 + shipping. Frankly I want a faster 90mm lens, and if I can sell my Rokkor, I'd buy a Hexanon 90mm f2.8 for around $400-450

 

The Rokkor and the Elmar-C are VERY sharp. But they are, of course, slow at f4 max.

Might I suggest the Olympus e-10 or e-20. These are true SLRs, and the manual focus over-ride is quite good - It's my standard mode of operation with my e-10. It has shutter priority, aperture priority, or manual exposure, and it can handle multiple off-camera flash units, (has a hot shoe and a PC sync terminal, as well as an integral flash that can be turned off when the other flashes are used.

 

It is, unfortunately, not compact, relative to the other digicam's mentioned, but it is certainly lighter than a 'Blad. But it IS worthy of Pro useage.

FYI, if you DO find that you need a wider lens than the 24mm that you already have, and you can't find one of the Minolta 17mm or 20mm lenses, there are a couple of alternatives:

 

Tamron makes a 17mm f3.5 SP lens in their Adaptall-2 system, and Tokina and Vivitar made 17mm f3.5 lenses (actually, these two were the same lens, Tokina made it and sold it under their own brand and also OEM'd it to Vivitar.

 

Of these lenses, I have used both the Tokina and Tamron, and I prefer the Tokina -it's very good. It can often be found on *bay for under $150 in excellent or better condition.

Are you comparing the Voigtlander lenses to Zooms, or to good Nikkor Primes. IMHO, the best Nikkor lenses around are the 85mm f2, and the 105mm f2.5, and I don't believe that the Cosina Voigtlander lenses would be tangibly better than those two older AI or AIS lenses.

I'd get an Olympus E-20 for that kind of money (actually, I recently got an Olympus E-10 that I am very pleased with, and that could well be sufficient for your needs). An E-10 can be gotten for around $800, an E20 around $1100. It is very capable of professional macro work if you get a good close-up lens that screws onto the front.

Well I bought my Mamiya 7 and 80mm lens off ebay, and I then sold it for a $200 profit, after I realized that even on ebay, the other lenses cost over $1000 each, and new through a dealer, it was $2000 each. I then bought nice 58mm and 180mm lenses for my Koni-Omega, at $250 each in excellent shape, and started using that old system again. I'm not a working pro, and I can't afford to spend $5K on a casual use system. The Used Koni-Omega setup ran me under $800 including 2 backs, and 3 lenses (my old Koni body already had a 90mm lens).

Many years ago, I saved over $100 on a 55mm lens for Pentax 67 compared to New York prices.

 

My advice about buying a lens in Hong Kong is, make sure you can physically inspect it, and you know what you are buying. Also find out what the warranty situation is - Some new gear is not warranteed by the manufacturer if bought in HK for use elsewhere. That might still be OK if the savings are sufficient. My experience is that you can probably save 20-25% over the best mail order prices in the U.S. from reputable dealers. You can CERTAINLY save the V.A.T. charges that buying in Europe would have, although I don't know what the local pricing would be on Canon Gear. I know that the pricing in the Netherlands is very competitive on gear that originates in Europe, like Leicas and Hasselblads.

Tamron Adaptall-2 mounts are more modern, simpler, and support more cameras than the original Adaptall mounts. I have HEARD that the original Adaptall mounts are USUALLY compatible with the Adaptall-2 lenses, and vice versa, but Tamron never guaranteed it because there were some problems. To be safe, one should use the Adaptall-2 mounts with the Adaptall-2 and SP lenses.

 

BTW, I have a few more Olympus OM and Nikon AI Adaptall-2 mounts than I need for my own use, so I would sell these for $16 each plus shipping, if you are interested. I could also spare 1 Pentax K Mount, as well as one for Leica R-series (that one would be $50, though - Leica mounts are as over-priced as Leica cameras). Contact me via my e-mail if you'd like to buy one of these.

 

I DON'T have any Canon FD mounts to sell - They are very hard to find.

Interestingly enough, I was at a photo show 2 weeks ago where a lady was trying to sell her F3 (standard finder, not HP) and she was trying to get $325 for it (in somewhere between Ex and Ex+ shape) and was unsuccessful in getting anyone to bite on it. One of the dealers I chatted with said that her price was right if it had a High Point finder on it, but that it was too high for the standard finder. One guy offerred her $290 for it, which she declined. If I had only owned 2 F3 bodies rather than 3, I'd have given her the $325 she was asking.

Well, I agree about having the same bodies makes working easier. The fact is, I have most of the Nikon MF bodies, and I tend to work with 2 of the same when I can, but I honestly find the FE, FM, FE-2, and FM2n so similar that I can go between them easily. I've not actually used an FM3a, just because I don't see what it gets me vs. the bodies I already have. Truth to tell, I have used the FE, FM, FE-2 and FM2n bodies the least of all that I own. Why, because they are, what I'd call "Tweeners" i.e. they are not optimal for anything I do. They are pretty good for everything, but not the best Nikons for anything.

 

If I was forced to standardize on one Nikon Body, it very well might be the FE-2 or FM3a, but since I have Motorized F3s, and very convenient light FGs, I don't use the "Tweeners" for much of anything because one of the others is always slightly better for whatever job I have at hand (Except for flash, where the FE-2 is superior, but I use Olympuses for most of my 35mm Flash work, so the "Tweeners" are still mostly un-used in my world).

Doug,

 

If you Do get into MF, don't start with Russian Junk (The Kievs are not junk when quality screened, but they aren't that cheap either if you pay for the crappy ones to be culled out, and the remainder to be adjusted to fully operational condition).

 

The ideal MF starters are either a used TLR, such as an older Minolta Autocord, or Yashica MAT (These go for around $100 on ebay in fully functional shape). Or else, a Koni Omega Rapid Rangefinder. Full systems can be gotten in completely working order for under $200, and in many ways, that camera is as capable as a Pentax 67 or Mamiya 7 system.

Well, IMHO, they are only worth the premium if you are a collector. When a nice user F3 costs under $300, and an Ex+ F3 costs under $400, I can't see why anyone wouldn't prefer getting TWO very nice and completely functional used ones that each have over 80% of their working life ahead of them for notably less than one new one.

 

I own 3 F3s (2 with HP finders, 1 with action/sport finder), and 2 MD-4s. They are all in 100% functional condition, one is VG/Ex cosmetics, one Ex Cosmetics, and one Ex+ cosmetics, and I paid around $1200 for the entire lot of them combined, over the past 2 years.

Jim, the reason that someone would prefer an FM2 (or more likely, an FM2n) to an FM3a is that it probably costs $200 less

 

To me, the combination of an an Ex+ FE-2 and an Ex+ FM for the same money as a single new FM3a body is a much more functional result - because I get 2 bodies, which is what I prefer to work with for reasons of keeping 2 different films handy to shoot with - usually color and B&W, or else slow slide film and faster color negative film.

I would agree that an autofocus lens offers little to zero advantage in macro photography. I'd get a used manual focus macro lens in the 90-105mm category. I think that the Tamron 90mm f2.5 MF lens can be easily found on ebay in great shape for $150-200 with a Nikon AI mount adapter, and it's a great lens - in the same class as the Micro-Nikkors for optical and mechanical quality (I wouldn't say that about current AF macro zoom lenses from any 3rd party vendor)

 

The 55mm Micro Nikkors are also great lenses, but I find that I use them more for close-up than for ULTRA close up, because 55mm focal length requires one to get too close to the subject for REALLY close work, so the 90-105 lenses are much better in that regard, with the Tamron 90mm MF being the best value of the several excellent quality choices that are out there.