On 5/27/2018 6:50 PM, Peter Klein wrote:
It's been suggested that I would have done better shooting color, multiple cameras, and a zoom or two on my eastern
Washington trip.
Not by me. I was very careful to say that "I" would not have been happy with
the gear that made you happy. :-)
The problem is that I don't have multiple mirrorless cameras and zoom lenses from 8 - 500mm. I've always been a fast
primes kind of guy.
And they serve you beautifully in your photography of family gatherings and musical events. That sort isn't among my
sorts of photography, though. I have often thought I *should be* a fast prime user.. I buy 'em, I carry 'em around, and
almost never use them for 'straight' photography.
That's mostly what I have, for both my Oly E-M5 and my Leica RFs.
Ah well, weird again; I seriously dislike RFs. The focusing method doesn't suit me and the limited focal length and
focal distance range would drive me crazy.
I like to travel light, especially with the shoulder and knee problems I've had
in recent years.
My light kit of GM5, 14-140 lens, 9-18 lens and an achromatic C-U lens, is highly capable, yet small and light. Mike has
said he uses much the same kit, although with larger, heavier, E-M5 II and the non IS Oly 14-150. I traded the 14-150
for a Panny 14-140 for the OIS, so I could use it with the non-IBIS GM5. Wonderful combo. Most of the images here were
taken with it; all could have been, I just took "5" and 12-100 along one day. <https://goo.gl/photos/JE6dSSvqHtBRRWXb6>
I had been toying with the idea of "taking a vow" of B&W for some time. I happen to like B&W. It is my "roots."
Still weird . . . When learning photography, I did B&W darkroom work, but never "took" to it. I was quite frustrated at
being unable to make color prints. And the drug store ones I could afford were crap, even Kodak 8x10s. Later, I tried
some tube in which one rolled exposed R paper from my home enlarger, poured chemicals in the end and rolled for
specified times. It made prints, all right, but far too contrasty to be desirable.
You might be amused to know that St. Ansel had a similar sentiment. He was a long time consultant to Kodak, and did
quite a bit of LF Kodachrome photography. In a letter he bemoaned the impossibility of capturing the sublime beauty of
an 8x10 Kodachrome on paper. But he liked the B&W darkroom and was a master. I didn't and wasn't. :-D
I decided to try it out on this trip because the original excuse for the trip was to see Grand Coulee Dam and
photograph it from the inside and outside. I also wanted to see what I could do in B&W and a yellow filter with the
landscapes and clouds. Eastern Washington is not that colorful. The rocks are mostly black basalt. The hillsides are
pale green (they will burn out to brown in the next month). I figured that I could emphasize line, form, and texture
rather than color.
Looks to me like you were in North-Central Washington? Lots of interesting
color in SE WA, in the Palouse.
What we didn't know until we got to Chelan was that Grand Coulee's spillways were not open, and the tour was severely
restricted by security concerns and construction. They don't take you into the powerhouse nor on top of the dam.
Cameras were allowed, but not camera bags. We heard this from people who had already gone there. So we decided not to
go to Grand Coulee, but to Chief Joseph Dam instead. There, I got to see everything I wanted to see inside and
outside the dam, but no pictures were allowed within the secure zone around the dam or inside the dam itself. So I had
to be satisfied with what I could get in the public areas near the outside end of spillway, and above it. Frankly, I'm
happy with what I got there, as I am with most of the Lake Chelan pictures I posted.
Excellent. The spillway shots are well done, and have a nice retro quality.
. . .
Should I upgrade my micro 4/3 kit at some point? Maybe. I've thought about upgrading the E-M5 to a Mark II or even an
E-M1 Mark II. I've thought about getting the 14-40/2.8 Pro and 40-150/4-5.6 zooms. I had a 40-150 with my E-30, and I
liked it, when I could bring myself to carry it. As I get older and equipment breaks or ages out, who knows...
As MikeL and I have suggested, consider the possibility of a slower zoom. The I'll bet you wouldn't have really needed
f2.8 on this trip. The 14-40/2.8 Pro is a big, heavy lens. Do that and go with a single, long focal range zoom, and size
and weight plummet. And the same speed from 40-150 as your old 4/3 zoom. The Oly 14-150 on the GM5 is a surrogate for
the Panny 14-140 that they don't have in their data. The Oly is a little slenderer, but longer. <http://j.mp/2IZlckZ>
Alternate Strategies Moose
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|