small shifts

I like my small primes.
The Oly 17/2.8 and Sigma 30 are both small f/2.8 lenses that do great work. Being f/2.8 keeps them small and I like it that way; the 12-60mm zoom can handle the tasks when versatility beats speed and best-possible image quality.

However.. the appeal of the newer Sigma 30/1.4 was beginning to get to me! Events that really could use faster glass have come and gone, forcing me into the higher reaches of ISO to pull off. The Sigma small-30 has been a great fit for many reasons, so seeing it under such pressure is sad - but it was a good candidate for replacement with a faster lens. The Sigma f/1.4 is still pretty new and in demand, so used deals are not likely at all - and it adds more cubic inches and 100g to the bulk of my kit. Not unreasonable, but still less convenient than the little f/2.8 version.

The pressure has now been relieved - but not in the way I had expected. 

A couple of deals on used Lumix 20mm f/1.7 lenses appeared online, and I ordered one of those instead.
This is perhaps the original 'must-have' lens for the µ43 system, with compactness and great image quality offset only mildly by a 'slow' AF system. I've offered up a few other spare parts in exchange so the final expense for it should be quite small.

One of those 'spares' is the Olympus 17. I'd be very hard pressed to differentiate between times when the 17 or 20 would take precedence, so better to skip that part. Thankfully the odd 46mm filter size on the 20mm matches the Sigma 30 (and their 60/2.8 for that matter) so a new pile of filters will not be needed. And on the GX7 the little primes are stabilized!

I plan to seek out a Lumix 14/2.5 in the future* for wider shots. That one is another early model semi-fast pancake that I've owned before and felt good about. That leads to 14-20-30 and 45-150 for the tiny kit, with the 12-60 for handy wide zoom. Turning the 14mm vertically and stitching 2-3 images would cover to perhaps 9mm for those rare times when that would be of value.
Here's a 'blog post from someone who looks over the Lumix pancakes and has enjoyed them for a while!

* some slight risk that a fisheye will appear instead for the wider shots.. we shall see..

another gathering

I believe this will be my third copy of the Olympus 17mm f/2.8 that is coming soon. It always seemed so tiny - yet its specs are now matched by the 12-32mm Lumix zoom!  That's pretty amazing. In any case it completes my prime setup (for now): 17, 35 macro, 50 and 100. This time the 17/2.8 will come in black, which is handy for differentiating it from the zoom.

Also returned from the past is the Lumix 45-150mm compact zoom. Another non-speedy zoom, it reviews very well and maintains the µ43 penchant for keeping the overall kit small. I had planned to keep the Sigma 55-200 working as my telephoto of choice despite issues with slow focusing, but my lone bid at auction brings me this telezoom at a silly-good price. In fact the $90 in filters that comes with the lens is about the price I paid for the lens and filters! Several of the 45-150s have been offered for under $100 - at that price any user of µ43 cameras should own one. This lens looks cool in silver, but those were not going for the right price - so black will do nicely.

Now that I have a Panasonic camera in hand, it reduces my interest somewhat in an Olympus body for weather sealing. The Lumix line of sealed bodies is thin and expensive right now though (gx8 or g85) so I'm suspecting that an em5 Classic would be the better choice for the rest of 2017, after which a weather-resistant successor to the gx85 might come along. No proof of such things, yet that sounds like a reasonable next step (gx85+ seals+20Mpix sensor?). While the EM1 would allow my 4Thirds lens to come out and play more, I'm thinking that small is what I seek most with the micro setup - so the 45-150mm will pair up really well with the 12-60. The system offers no budget-type sealed telezooms right now, which is a bummer. Well OK the II-series 45-200 is now out, but at $449 I'll just say no.

playing with color - NX lenses

Samsung's NX system cranked out many great little primes before going dormant.  (Not that their zooms were bad, but I don't wish to lug around their fast zoom pair - the 16-50pz is just right though!) In the past I've owned the 16 20 and 30mm pancakes and found them to be talented lenses and handy enough to carry any time.

The other curious thing about Samsung is that they do several things similar to Pentax - and that includes colors!  Several bodies came with color options (the NX300 came in silver-trimmed black, brown and white) and other NX and NX-mini bodies also played with colors.  The fun part is that they made several lenses to match the bodies.

I didn't think of color-coded pancakes until my wife asked about a pink lens, and I showed her the NX 16/2.4 prime in a pearly pink. She thought it was cool, but I also showed her white and black primes like the 30/2.0 that many camera folk feel is the best of the pancake primes (they probably did not try Pentax Limiteds, but other than build the NX30 is excellent). We ordered a pink 16 - and now I think about a time when their 10mm fisheye and 30/2 join us. The 3 pancakes look almost identical.. but not if I buy each in a different color! That would force me to buy the 10mm next as it's the hardest to find, and its color would determine the 30's. Or we could just get the Samyang 7.5mm which is easy to distinguish!

  

our new 16/2.4 (via eBay)

30/20/16mm trio from B&H 2012 website

In Pentax news, no surprise: I was just outbid on a 20-40 Limited. I expect it to go over $420 before it's over (in 4 hours) which is too much right now for us to deal with.

Our next priority is not a lens but a heat-pump, which will both cool us in summers (well in typical summers, it's drizzling here now!) and will be a much more efficient heat source than our 1980s furnace. With a wood-stove to supplement in chilly weather, it's a nice set of choices.

the prodigal lens

I bought a used copy of the nx 20mm f2.8 in late January and spoke of it here.  Over a month later it has reached American soil and is heading my way.  Wow, was that pokey!

To be honest though, it's still within its estimated shipping date - so delays were assumed to be likely.  The shipping window was about a month thick and it will be delivered on the last day.. but it still counts!  In the recent past I have been spoiled by items reaching me ahead of schedule from one or two time zones away - and this was coming from nearly halfway around the world.  This lens has been places and 'seen' things I haven't dreamed of.

It is reassuring to have the tracking number provide data again after the past few weeks of silent travel and/or customs checking.  This gently wide-angle pancake prime should be fun.

When everything is in hand the active kit/s will look like this:

• Samsung nx300 body + NX 16 20 and 30mm primes
• Pentax K200 body + DA WR 18.55 and 50.200 zooms
• A50 f2.8 macro, M100 f2.8, M150 f3.5 ¹
•  pro\spec 28 f2.8,  Quantaray 100-300mm zoom,400mm f6.3 preset ¹

¹ these are adaptable to the NX system

The inactive kit:

NX .. 20.50 and 50.200 zooms

K .. old 80.200 f3.5 zoom, A50 f2, M135 f3.5, rexatar 200 f3.3

Update: it's here and it's spectacular!  Very crisp and colorful images, focuses very close, at f2.8 it's decently fast.  I can shoot in-cam panos in portrait mode and sell the 16mm.  Well let's not be hasty.. :√)

tiny lenses rule!

Whether on a Pentax dSLR or the small Samsung NX bodies, small and light lenses are great to have on hand.  The 16 and 30mm NX are 'prime' examples %( but Pentax also makes small ones - and they even work on full-frame film bodies!

Shown here are the Samsung 30mm f/2 plus Pentax 50/2.8 (1:2 macro!), 100/2.8 and 135/3.5.  The K:nx adapter is similar in size to the 30mm.

These four lenses, along with the nx300 and 16/2.4 lens that took this image, can fit into a mighty small space.. And some day soon the NX 20mm f2.8 will join in.  The other small-carry option is 16, 30 and 50-200 Samsung lenses, the latter with in-lens stabilization (but somewhat slow at f/4-5.6). Nice choices to have!

the ins and outs of gear-swapping

A few new arrivals over the recent weekend = other departures.  

What's now in, and what's free to travel:

IN: Samsung 20mm f/2.8 pancake, this will compete with its 16mm sibling!

OUT: Samsung 20-50, tiny talented but slower than the primes.

IN: Samsung's 16mm pancake, f/2.4 and tiny.  Very convenient!

OUT: Pentax 17mm fisheye, a great lens that is less vital for wide shots.

IN: Pentax smc-A 50mm f/2.8 Macro, my 2nd copy and I've missed it.

OUT: Pentax smc 55mm f/1.8, excellent but I like at least 1:2 capability.

IN: Vivitar 35-105mm f/3.2-4, a fun PK one-touch zoom that's fairly small.

OUT: ProSpec 28mm f/2.8, because the NX 30mm pancake is really that good!

One offer pending.. *UPDATE* smc-M 100mm f/2.8 coming soon!

So the kits as they stand.. at the moment!
4 Samsung = 16, 20, 30, 50-200
6  7 Pentax = DA 18-55 and 50-200 WRs, A50/2.8 macro, M100/2.8, M135/3.5
plus Vivitar 35-105/3.2-4, Quantaray 100-300/4.5-6.7
2 random mounts: JCPenney 80-200/3.5 M42, Hanimar 400/6.3 T-mount

---
13 total, plus several in the sell/donate bag..

Note that all Pentax lenses can be adapted to Samsung but the two DA zooms would have no aperture control.

unexpected stuff happens

I had forgotten my bid on a Samsung 16/2.4 NX lens.  Last night I was reminded of it via e-mail: ending soon, auction over, Winner!!  I put in a decent bid but nobody bid after me, so it was a fine bargain.  In the end I paid $500 for the flapjack trio, essentially buy two get one free based on typical pricing for new lenses - hooray for slightly used! 

 Now to forget they're in the mail .. good luck with that.

From Samsung.com site

This unexpected event definitely means it's time to sell the 20-50 and a few k-mount lenses more aggressively! I had a sale post languishing in the forum, perhaps a few price cuts will recharge it. :∆)

On the Pentax side, I found an excellent deal on the smc-A 50/2.8 macro.  This means the K55/1.8 will depart, which is sad - but having nothing in the way of closeup lens even 1:2 seems very good, and I really liked this one before.  I paid less than half of what I did last time, an incredible bargain for this lens!

old and .. much less old

I used some recent birthday funds to pick up something for each system.

For the Pentax, a Vivitar / Kobori 35-105mm f/3.2-4.  I really liked the 28-105 with serial #77---- and this is from that same firm.  This one is a bit faster, misses out on the wide end but takes 55mm filters not 72mm.  I own several 55s so that's a bonus.

That was all I planned to get .. until a Samsung 20/2.8 appeared for $100 less than its typical lowest price!  Similar to the 30/2 that I like a lot, but slightly slower and a bit thicker. Still quite small for a 20 plus it has the i-function on the lens, which can be handy for quick changes to settings.  

With this in hand soon, I can sell the 20-50mm; never thought that tiny zoom would be one of the larger lenses in my kit!  Its only real issue is its inability to easily use a polarizing filter as focus will rotate with the filter dial.

making the most of it

A few more K-mount lenses have left the building, so I bought some cheap treats for the NX300.  An M42:nx adapter will arrive soon for the 80-200mm f/3.5, and a leather wrist strap will look good with the auburn faux leather of the camera body.  The OIS 50-200 f/4-5.6 will get more use than the m42 tele I expect.. that is no cheap treat but the stabilized lens is worth owning as winter's gloom envelops the region.  As to additional updates time will tell; hopefully an NX pancake prime or two will come along soon.

Tests have impressed with AF video, and the touchscreen focus-point shift does well.  That feature reminds me of the GF1 micro-43 I once owned, but this sensor is both larger and more fully featured.  So far so good.  I recognize this camera will not compete with a K-3 for features, but for reasons that seem good to me this is quite satisfactory.

two pancakes, one crêpe

Many have extolled the virtue of the Pentax DA pancakes: 21mm, 40mm and 70mm Limited primes that serve very well and are tiny to boot.  At one time I owned the DA40 and 70 at once, and I liked them very much but the budget demanded a sacrifice.  I later picked up the DA21 so my lifetime triple was complete!

Now I have picked up a new 40mm - not the DA Limited but the XS model that came with the K-01.  If the others are pancake lenses, this is surely a crêpe as it's substantially thinner.  It loses quick shift but is optically the same excellent lens; I look forward to using it to replace my lens cap! :^)  Actually the lens-cap for this is about the size of a rubber quarter, so hopefully I shall be able to keep track of it.

The fourth prime is a Sigma 105mm macro, which is larger and heavier than these three combined.  Hopefully I can justify carrying such a 'beast' now and then!