I decided to chuck it all and go whole-hog µ43 in mid-December, when a budget crunch from delayed home-refinance issues stole my Pentax camera and several lenses. At that time, the bargains were all in the small format, and that's not a bad thing.
So I picked up a small Oly Pen ePL6 and a lens or two (including the rather large but talented and foul-weather-friendly 12-60), and posted about whether it would still be around a year from now. Silly me, that's never been how it works - nice though it sounds on most days!
I shifted from the Pen to a GM1 and felt fully satisfied, for most of two months. I then grabbed a GX7 and it was very nice. I picked up another bargain lens or two and we became a happy 2-µ43-camera family.
Then someone offered to buy a GX7 and 20mm at the right/wrong moment and I let it go. I wanted a second GM1 in any case so that wasn't a bad thing.
Well in fact it was, because at that time no GM1 bodies could be found for under $500!
Given my retreat to smaller bodies and having no splash-sealed body, I offered my 12-60 for sale. Instead of cash I was offered a GX1, which works quite nicely (and suddenly made the GM1 less appealing to my wife). At her direction I traded the GM1 off for another GX1 and additional lenses, so our team kit is made of GX1s and not GM1s.
And at that time the bargains all became Pentax!
Due to my lost hope of getting a weather-sealed µ43 body I wandered past the PentaxForums Marketplace. For well under the price I received for the GX7 I picked up a K-5 and 50-200wr lens, and suddenly my closet of K-mount lenses were useful again! So my Pentax-free era lasted about five months.
I traded all my Four-Thirds gear (E500 and lenses) to a local shop in trade for a 17-28mm fisheye. I picked up a 10-24mm Tamron for a bargain price as well - but that deal fell through so the 17-28 came into play. Now I learn that the 10-24 is in fact coming soon!. I also bought a couple of dirt-cheap lenses in order to resurrect some better lenses that were doing nothing in my closet other than occasional cameos on the µ43 bodies.
Today I closed out the bizarre six-week trading time with a B&H Photo deal.
I had traded in a couple of µ43 items for cash in early May, just before the GX7 left me. That check never arrived, so I called them today determined to be satisfied. First I looked through the µ43 used section, hoping to deal for gear instead of cash. Finding no bargains there that fit my kit, I checked the Pentax section - and there sat a copy of the HD 55-300WR. Cool: it is a great lens in and of itself, but it also means my bargain 50-200WR could be raided for parts to resurrect a broken 18-55WR. In a trade I did not expect to make I suddenly had two WR lenses covering 27-450mme! It also meant I did not need the dirt-cheap items as parts (which would have been effective but not WR!) so those could be sold or donated.
So how did all the deals at this time work out for me?
- GX7 and 20mm Lumix -> K-5 and 55-200WR (50-200 parts ->18-55WR) - net cash $200 back to me
- 12-60mm Lumix -> GX1 and viewfinder, plus batteries - net cash $0
- GM1 and 12-32mm -> another GX1, lenses and flash gear - net cash $75 to me
- ePL7 and Oly 17mm pancake -> HD 55-300 (allowing 50-200 to be parted out) - net cash $0.05
Just plain silly..
