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[OM] Re: Confessions of a minimalist - gear, not post!

Subject: [OM] Re: Confessions of a minimalist - gear, not post!
From: Jim Couch <zuikoholic@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2007 22:28:08 -0800
I have to confess to being anything but a minimalist, although as of 
late I am certainly headed that direction. My OM kit has diminished 
significantly over the years. At one time I could not have possibly 
carried the whole kit (short of using an SUV.) I will not post all the 
OM stuff I have owned (nothing like Tom, but still a list long enough to 
send the digest readers into fits!

The current list:

OM-4T.   After using and owning nearly every single digit OM body this 
is the one I settled on  for the vast majority of my use. This body 
looked nearly pristine when I purchased it used, it is not so pretty 
now. I find that the OM-4 is still one of the finest tools for shooting 
slides.

OM-1n   My first love so to speak. Actually my original OM-1 dies years 
ago, and was replaced with an OM-2 (which my daughter now owns) that 
served me well for many years. I ran into an OM-1 in great shape at a 
good deal, so snapped it up as a second body, primarily for B&W use.

Like you Ken, I was never a real lens snob, although I have owned some 
nice and pretty pricey glass in my day, even though I really could not 
afford it! :) My penchant for zooms is probably enough to keep me of the 
lens snob list! Much of my expensive glass was bought as much due to 
lack of good impulse control as anything else, and most of it has been 
since sold to pay the bills. So what is left:

Tokina ATX Pro 24-40 f/2.8   Great lens, has seen a lot of use, includes 
my two favorite focal lengths (24 & 40mm) and a host of good ones in 
between.

Tokina ATX Pro 60-120 f/2.8 Picked this up on a lark from KEH just 
because I had never seen one. Reasonably small, incredibly sharp, a 
great lens!

Kiron Match mate 1.5x converter. A great teleconverter, not quite a 
match for the Olympus 1.4xA, but will work with most lenses as it does 
not protrude forward. Very good results, and it works well with the 60-120


These two Tokinas & the Kiron paired up to the OM-4 are really the bulk 
and basis of my kit. I have a pair of Nikon multi-element close up 
lenses and a cople of step up rings that I also carry for close-up work.

What about our beloved Zuikos? Well there are a few, but the lack of 
fast zoom lenses limited my choices to after market. (Yes I have used 
and did own the fabulous 35-80 f/2.9 Zuiko. Great lens, sharp, low 
distortion, big, and very expensive. Just never used it enough to big, 
to heavy, and to expensive) to justify the investment, and it headed 
down the road when I needed some serious cash.

But I digress, there are a few Zuikos in the group:

40 f/2   Zuiko I have owned two of these, The first I got when they were 
still an affordable lens. Years later I sold it when the price had 
gotten so high, and I quit using it for fear of diminishing it's value. 
I immediatly regreted it and replaced it with the spectacularly 
perfroming Voigtlander 40, but the backwards focusing and bulk just did 
not work for me, so it was sold. After a long search I cfound a Zuiko 40 
f/2 at a reasonable price and it gets a lot of use, on both bodies. I 
particularly like it paired with the OM-4 for climbing when I want to go 
light.

35-70 f3.5-4.5 A great lightweight normal Zoom. This lens has been used 
a LOT, and has been used to take many of my favorite photos. My climbing 
lens of choice.

50 f/1.8 slivernose, used rarely, mostly it just looks good on the OM-1. 
Besides it's resale value is nil and everybody should own at least one.

21 f/3.5  A great super wide. Still in the kit, but currently listed for 
sale. May just wind up keeping it. It's hard for me to let go of the 
wide lenses.

135 f4.5 macro W/auto extension tube. For when I want to do 'serious' 
macro work. I have also owned the 80, but when one had to go, the 135 
got kept, more working distance, and it functions as a normal 135 in a 
pinch. Now that all my long glass is gone this it the longest thing I 
have. :)


What else is gone, all of the flashes, and all but a single MD-1. I have 
also kept my few favotie focusing screens. There are a few other odds 
and ends, but a lot of stuff got sold to get into the N*kon digital 
system. I also have a Contax G kit that I just could not pass up. when I 
want a film camera with a flash that is my choice. Most of the time I 
either shoot with the built in flash on the N*kon, or an old set of 
studio lights my sister in law gave to me when she gave up portraiture.

What am I missing? to my mind, almost nothing. I can't focus manually as 
fast as I used to which is why the long glass is gone, and why the low 
light/flash camera is an autofocus camera (the Contax.) Bsides that, I 
don't do much bird or sports photography these days which is what I used 
the big glass for. Truth is probably 50% of the shots I would have taken 
with the big glass were missed because I was not lugging the beast with 
me when theshot presented itself. (Whichever beast it happened to be at 
the time, and they all are beasts!) I amtempted to pick up an autofocus 
N*kon to match up with the digital for when i want to shoot film & 
digital, but not carry two completly different rigs. If I do that, more 
of the OM gear would go down the road most likely.

Jim


AG Schnozz wrote:

Message snipped - you want to see, go check out the archives, I have 
taken up enough space already! :)

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