justthings

I'm starting to consider the om-d system as a replacement for my dslr gear that was stolen recently, I want to go lighter and more compact at this point. I haven't worked out yet which body appeals to me most - I could go for any of the e-m1 or e-m5 variants, but I'm mostly interested in deciding which lenses to put on whatever body I decide on. The 14-42 kit lens covers a decent range and seems good optically, but it's slow - what would be a good alternative that is faster? My interests are in landscapes, close ups (mostly nature subjects), architecture, and the ability to isolate subject from background, so recommendations of lenses with strengths in these areas would be helpful. I can see the 14-42 as a general walk around lens, and situations where maximum DoF is desirable, but would want both wider and longer options, and macro capabilities. I'm not concerned about specifying a budget just yet as all of this will come together piecemeal over the next year as I build up a new system. Appreciate your thoughts!

<p>@Todd, when I am being mobile as you describe, I often have a messenger type bag slung over one shoulder and in that I have any camera gear I have chosen to bring with, a tablet, chargers and accessories for electronic 'things', and then other nice to have stuff like a sweater if its going to get chilly, snacks and a water bottle. Again, I think that your sort of application for lugging about a single camera with a single lens and the very few accessories you might need to support that does not require a specialty bag - in fact this is one of the things that is attractive about small form factor kits. A small messenger style bag or satchel should be sufficient. Are you concerned about padding and protection of the item inside the bag? In all my wanderings often carrying multiple lenses, cameras and a host of other 'junk' all rattling around inside a single compartment I've never had any issues related to damage. Don't over think or engineer this problem, stuff it in whatever is handy and go, and enjoy the trip.</p>

<p>I think for a kit consisting of a camera and single lens that any bag would do. If you will be out wandering and seeing the sights any small to moderate messenger type bag would be sufficient. Even a waist pack for that matter. These options also have the advantage of not screaming "photo gear!". A lot really depends on the context and reason for travelling, what do you think you will be doing most often when you are in 'travel mode'?. </p>

<p>Sanford, ultimately that is one configuration that I could be looking at. I'm looking at getting into a the fuji system slowly to make sure this is the direction I want to go.</p>

<p>Thanks Andy and Eric - that pretty much matches what I was seeing I guess. I do like the idea of an X-E2/1 for the compactness, so I could see that or one of the other small bodies like the XM or XA being in a kit.</p>

<p>I'm looking at starting to build out a mirrorless system, and I'm leaning hard towards Fuji. Comparing the Fuji X-T10 with the X-E2 I am wondering what would be the advantage of the X-E2 given these are currently at the same price point. Does this choice simply come down to a matter of size and form factor, or is there some other capability of the X-E2 that makes this attractive for some users? I feel like Fuji has unfortunately created competition within its own offerings that can only cut the legs out from under something like the X-E2 - perhaps this is signalling is the end of the line for the X-Ex products. Ultimately, I need to get into a store and handle both items to see if there is an appreciable difference in 'feel' though I suspect I will like the X-T10 better since i'm more used to handling SLR-like bodies than rangefinder styles.</p>

<p>I don't know, I had an original M with the 22mm lens - I loved it but it had some annoyances. I got along better without an O/EVF better than I thought I might, but I think I would want one if it was my main camera. Mostly what bothered me about the camera was the touch screen - if i carried the camera on a strap just it bumping against my body while walking around would change settings at random and a few times settings got changed badly enough that I had to reset the defaults, drove me absolutely nuts. I also didn't like how fast the M would go through a battery.<br> I loved the size though and the fact I could have the camera with me almost everywhere. I think the image quality was just fine. Now that there are going to be more native lenses readily available, the rear screen is articulated, and the grip seems better I might consider this again. For me its competitors are the Sony a6000, Fuji XE-2 and possibly the XT10. </p>

<p>Recently my camera bag was stolen and unfortunately my eos-m with it. I'd decided not to replace it since, at the time, Canon wasn't selling the M cameras in the US. This is welcome news since I really liked my M but I'm still concerned about price point compared to other milc offerings, and one or two nits I had with the M anyway. This wrinkle makes my quest to replace my carry-everywhere camera more difficult, but choice is always a good thing! </p>

<blockquote> <p>My Nikon D80 has a notoriously funky matrix meter that I don't always trust so I switch a lot between spot and center weighted metering. A lot of times I am in spot because I can sample the highlights or what I think are the important parts of a scene, or check areas of 'average' tonality as a check on my exposure settings, I tend to work slower than many when I am out shooting so spending time taking several readings with the spot meter isn't the hindrance to me that it might be for others. If I feel the need to 'run and gun' that is usually pretty situational where lighting is going to remain reasonably static so I will find a good average exposure and just make sure I'm not going to blow highlights. </p> </blockquote>

It was one of those days, full of promise just before the wheels fell off. Went out hiking with a new friend of the opposite gender when I stumbled and my Nikon with12-24 attached swung around and smacked against a boulder, thankfully the hood which I'd attached absorbed the impact and shattered. Ugh could have been worse, so now I need to find a new hood, no biggie. Things went better until we got back to the parking place where I discovered that someone got into my rig and took my camera bag. I am pretty frugal and don't have a huge arsenal of gear as I really only keep around what I use. That means nearly everything except what was on my shoulder was lost. Four lenses, a Canon eos-m with its nice little 22mm lens, flash, a double sided reflector, a diffuser, miscellaneous filters... All gone. I was dumbass for having all my gear in one place and not securing it better, so I'm not going to rage about people doing what they so often do, I knew better. So now the rebuilding, lots of things to think about. If I simply replaced all the gear I lost item for item, I'm talking around $1,800 - not nearly as much as some people would have lost but still not anything to sneeze at. But, I've been thinking of going totally mirrorless, or even moving up to FF so maybe now is the time to really think hard about those options. Of my lost lenses only two will be really missed - The Tokina 50-135 f/2.8 and my ancient Vivitar Series 1 105mm macro. I found myself using the nifty 50 and the 18-70 less and less as those were more than adequately covered by the 50-135. I've been trying to get by with a two lens kit on most trips these days, the WA zoom and the short tele-zoom seem to fit the bulk of my needs. So, I can probably retool my kit pretty easily, the hard part is really deciding what direction to take that. I guess I'm trying to turn a pigs ear into the proverbial silk purse here and emphasize the opportunity for change and think pretty clearly about what my shooting needs and goals are. The lesson about securing my stuff is also well ingrained now!

Not sure I'd worry about it really untless you start experiencing issues and you should be vigilant about watching for those until you can be sure you haven't got a dud. I bought a refurb Nikon D80 several years ago and it's been a stellar camera the entire time. Never looked back once I made the decision to purchase a refurbished item

<p>Here is a website that provides a summary of various sites TOS and a ranking (if you find that useful). <br> https://tosdr.org/</p>

<p>Mr. Toad contemplating his return to toad hall I believe. EOS M with 22mm f/2.0 lens.</p> <p><a title="MrFrog by chris thompson, on Flickr" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/17523457663"><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7778/17523457663_f7bb05f340_z.jpg" alt="MrFrog" width="640" height="468" /></a></p>

<p>Are contemporary cameras still suffering from heat bloom in the sensor with long exposures? It seems i read something about this from Thom Hogan some time back, but I do not recall at the moment if this was camera specific or more of a generic problem with digital sensors? I think this is at least in part why people shooting star trails often shoot many short (30 seconds or so) exposures and stack the results in software designed for that application. </p>

<p>Shot with an EOS-M and 22mm f2.0 lens. This guy waited patiently for me to snap a few closeups and let me get within a few inches. Taken at Pocahontas State Park near Richmond, Virginia, I have to do a little research to figure out just what sort of critter he is, though I think he is more toad than frog.<a title="MrFrog by chris thompson, on Flickr" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/17523457663"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7778/17523457663_f7bb05f340_z.jpg" alt="MrFrog" width="640" height="468" /></a></p>

<p>Shot with an EOS-M and 22mm f/2.0 lens. This guy waited patiently while I got within a few inches to snap a couple of frames. <a title="MrFrog by chris thompson, on Flickr" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/17523457663"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7778/17523457663_f7bb05f340_z.jpg" alt="MrFrog" width="640" height="468" /></a></p>

A couple of shots while out hiking along the James River the other day, both taken with D80 and taking 50-135 lens <p>Dragon fly</p> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/17956149558" title="DragonFly by chris thompson, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8791/17956149558_ef6daae0de_z.jpg" width="640" height="640" alt="DragonFly"></a> <p>Broad-headed skink</p> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/17956148548" title="Skink by chris thompson, on Flickr"> <img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7797/17956148548_22cd82849e_z.jpg" width="458" height="640" alt="Skink"></a>

At this point I think the Surface family, especially the new 3 or Pro 3 are the best looking such devices out there, but probably too expensive. It's the old adage of "cheap, easy, or fast - pick two". With external USB storage so cheap these days, and the plethora of cloud storage available, I'm not sure I need a computer/tablet to be the storage medium it once might have been. Essentially a device needs I think to serve as a conduit between a drive or the Internet or cloud. Processing power for the sort of editing one might do while traveling is pretty limited really and the capabilities offered by Picasa, snapseed, lightroom mobile, and the like will probably suffice and will run easily on these platforms with smaller amounts of RAM and CPU capability.

<p>I don't understand what is meant by 'retractable' barrel in this context. Does it require the user to manually extend the barrel to achieve the longer focal length? Or does the barrel simply extend/retract as you turn the zoom ring? </p>

<p>A view up the James River in Richmond, VA. <br> <a title="AutumnRiver by chris thompson, on Flickr" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/16333671210"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8586/16333671210_66c2f57501_z.jpg" alt="AutumnRiver" width="640" height="266" /></a></p>

<p>Looking up the James River in Richmond, VA; EOS-M and 22mm f2.0 lens<br> <a title="AutumnRiver by chris thompson, on Flickr" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/outwithmycamera13/16333671210"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8586/16333671210_66c2f57501_z.jpg" alt="AutumnRiver" width="640" height="266" /></a></p>

<p>Thanks all for the perspectives, they help! Still haven't decided but I am leaning towards the Canon. I think the thing that nags at me about the Epson models is the loss of ink that results from switching between matte and glossy papers, seems like Canon has a better approach to this issue. The current rebate for the R3000 is mighty attractive though. I'm not sure that I see enough 'new or improved' features or capability in the P600 to consider that over the R3000, especially with the rebate that is currently being offered.</p>

<p>Thanks Howard and Ellis - ink usage and costs had made me lean towards the Canon somewhat. I had just seen notes that the new Epson P600 is due out very soon, is there anything notable about this new device that might make sense to wait a little and see what some of the reviews have to say? I feel like its something of an unknown quantity at this point.</p>

<p>I have narrowed my upcoming printer purchase to the Epson r3000 and Canon Pixma Pro-10, and I'm quite frankly to the point where I may have to decide by a coin toss as I think these are pretty similar machines - they are similar price points, both print 13x19 borderless, and can accept roll paper. Both use premier pigment based inks that seem to have reasonably long life. My chief interest is in printing black and white images. I get the sense that the Canon may be cheaper to operate over time, but thats not 100% clear to me. I'm also unsure if the extra inks in the Canon will give a bigger advantage when printing black and white but from what I can tell this is largely a dead heat. While the big brother for each of these printers (Pixma Pro-1 and 3880) are desireable, I simply can't justify the price point for my hobby. For those of you who have made this decision, what tangible or intangible factors helped you make a choice?</p>

<p>Randy, sorry to have not made my point brutally clear. It opened in LIQUEFY instantaneously. No delay, no partial loading... click then BAM! it was there.</p>