Most fun rig or piece of equipment?

[pixelpreaching]

18 hours ago, Trek of Joy said:

Love this lens, wish I could justify owning one LOL! You get so many unique angles since you can move through things.

I've gotten a lot of mileage out of a phone gimbal, and I had the Osmo pocket for awhile and really liked it - both are fun additions to my kit.

I think I want to experiment with a cheap underwater housing next. 

Chris

It's truly a phenomenal lens, though for very specific needs. But if you have those needs, there's nothing else remotely comparable.

I just got a DJI OM4 gimbal, it's AWESOME. That + the Moment anamorphic adapter and iPhone 11 make for a very cool combo.

I recently got a DJI Mavic 2 Pro and it's a stunning piece of equipment for photos and video. Hasselblad colors are the best out there.

[leslie]

On 2/15/2021 at 7:45 PM, kye said:

I'm seeing a blur of about 2 pixels on the RAW 4K images, and most lenses don't get much sharper than that, especially for the USD$47 this cost me, brand new:

 

thats almost like stealing it. let me know if you find  a 9 mm bodycap lens at the same price. we could do a group buy 🤔

[kye]

2 hours ago, leslie said:

thats almost like stealing it. let me know if you find  a 9 mm bodycap lens at the same price. we could do a group buy 🤔

Not sure why, but there's quite a difference in price....

Maybe the "3 left in stock" means that's not a normal price, or maybe it's that the 9mm is the international version and looking at the delivery dates it obviously ships from overseas.  Commerce and the foibles of markets are strange sometimes, although they gave us lenses like the Helios that are crazily cheap for what they are, so it's not all bad!

[noone]

Interesting.   

I just looked up Olympus official site for lenses (Asia anyway) and the two body cap "lenses" are listed under the accessories page and not under any of the actual lens pages.

[noone]

9 hours ago, kye said:

Not sure why, but there's quite a difference in price....

Maybe the "3 left in stock" means that's not a normal price, or maybe it's that the 9mm is the international version and looking at the delivery dates it obviously ships from overseas.  Commerce and the foibles of markets are strange sometimes, although they gave us lenses like the Helios that are crazily cheap for what they are, so it's not all bad!

Ahh, looking at their construction, the 15 is a simple 3 element 3 group lens with "all glass construction" while the 9mm has 5 elements in four  groups and even has two aspherical elements so I would think the price difference is right there.     Not to mention the 15 seems far more common.

[leslie]

I looked at the olympus site last week was surprised  that they still have mirror lenses listed for sale. For my purposes,  I think only the bodycap lenses and the 12mm, 17mm and 25mm would work on the gimbal I bought. If I lean in any direction it will probably be those three, time will tell however

[kye]

12 hours ago, noone said:

Interesting.   

I just looked up Olympus official site for lenses (Asia anyway) and the two body cap "lenses" are listed under the accessories page and not under any of the actual lens pages.

Yeah, they're kind of gimmicky, and I guess Oly wouldn't want the pixel peepers buying them thinking they're "real" lenses and then trashing them online.  Expectation management I guess.

Canon did the same thing with the XC10 - when it launched it was on their website in the cinema camera section but very quickly it moved to some other random section.

12 hours ago, noone said:

Ahh, looking at their construction, the 15 is a simple 3 element 3 group lens with "all glass construction" while the 9mm has 5 elements in four  groups and even has two aspherical elements so I would think the price difference is right there.     Not to mention the 15 seems far more common.

That makes sense, both the 15 being more common and also the simpler construction making it cheaper.  It's a 30mm equivalent FOV, so much closer to the focal lengths that are easier to design and build, like a nifty fifty etc.

Wider lenses seem to be far less common, and if you go deep into C-Mounts and coverage the difficulty was always at the wide end.  Lots of cine zooms by the big names that were 50-250+ or other ridiculous lengths, and just leave me wondering why they didn't go for a more 24-70 type range that covers the middle ground, but wider lenses are more difficult and expensive to make and correct all the issues etc.

8 hours ago, leslie said:

I looked at the olympus site last week was surprised  that they still have mirror lenses listed for sale. For my purposes,  I think only the bodycap lenses and the 12mm, 17mm and 25mm would work on the gimbal I bought. If I lean in any direction it will probably be those three, time will tell however

Why only those lenses?  Are you just thinking that lenses longer than 25mm won't be well stabilised, or is it a weight issue?  Maybe some of the newer Chinese lenses might be light enough from being cheaper plastic construction?  Or maybe they protrude too much to balance?

[leslie]

Mostly weight constraints,camera is about 400 grams. With the little crane m2 gimbal. It maxes out at 720 grams or so. Which allows me 310 grams or slightly more for a lens. The flip side is being mft the olympus lens should work on the p4k as well. I did try some laowa rectilinear lenses in store however the weight was a deal breaker  for me at this point. 

[kye]

Looks like there are other players throwing their offerings into the (lucrative?) body cap lens market...

It didn't sound cheap though.

[hyalinejim]

I've had a bunch of fun with 35mm film camera bodies, a few rolls of film and my existing lens collection. 

Started with Olympus OM bodies that I used my manual focus Zuiko's on.

Also shot a bunch on Canon EOS bodies with EF lenses. This is autofocus, auto everything, if you want it.

Everyone has a Canon lens lying around, right? Give it a go! It's loads of fun.

You can still get a crappy Canon for almost nothing. Check out the specs at:

https://global.canon/en/c-museum/product_search_result.html?t=camera&s=film&s2=eos&a=E&sort=new

[BenEricson]

On 2/23/2021 at 12:02 AM, hyalinejim said:

I've had a bunch of fun with 35mm film camera bodies, a few rolls of film and my existing lens collection. 

Started with Olympus OM bodies that I used my manual focus Zuiko's on.

Also shot a bunch on Canon EOS bodies with EF lenses. This is autofocus, auto everything, if you want it.

Everyone has a Canon lens lying around, right? Give it a go! It's loads of fun.

You can still get a crappy Canon for almost nothing. Check out the specs at:

https://global.canon/en/c-museum/product_search_result.html?t=camera&s=film&s2=eos&a=E&sort=new

Agreed! Started shooting 35mm stills on the OM1 like 6 years ago. Recently, medium format or fully auto point and shoot cameras. The Olympus Stylus Epic takes great photos. I think you can learn a lot about lighting and composition by constantly shooting stills, plus its a lot of fun.

[kye]

Just because things are fun doesn't mean that they don't benefit from work in post....

BMMCC, GH5, GF3 and SJ4000 action camera.  I've shot the colour checker, as well as a few other scenes.  I'll try and get a sunset tonight to test the DR too.

I've already shot the colour checker for BMMCC and GF3 and developed a base grade to match the hues and saturation and luma from the GF3 to the BMMCC and it makes a huge difference, making the GF3 video look appear much more subtle and filmic.  
I'm beginning to think that part of the video look is the compliance to the 709 colour profile, where reds are red and blues are blue etc.  Film turns its nose up at such kiss-ass behaviour, saying that its only useful for scoring well on tests!  Well, if film could talk then I'm sure that's what it would say.

I've also discovered that the 15mm F8 is really only a daytime lens, and maybe only an outside lens, on the GF3.  Once the GF3 hits 360 shutter and has to ratchet the ISO up, its image falls apart big time.

[leslie]

22 hours ago, kye said:

iv'e also discovered that the 15mm F8 is really only a daytime lens, and maybe only an outside lens, on the GF3.  Once the GF3 hits 360 shutter and has to ratchet the ISO up, its image falls apart big time.

i nearly bought a 9mm bodycap lens today $75 aus, new as well. I'm gonna sleep on it and probably buy it tomorrow if its still available. Personally I like the idea of some aspherical glass elements to help things along. Since i didn't mind the look from the 15mm, the 9mm should fit right in.

Also not surprised you found the 15mm to be daylight limited, Kind of similar to the canon f8 mirror lens, kinda like for special circumstances i would venture 😉

[kye]

2 hours ago, leslie said:

i nearly bought a 9mm bodycap lens today $75 aus, new as well. I'm gonna sleep on it and probably buy it tomorrow if its still available. Personally I like the idea of some aspherical glass elements to help things along. Since i didn't mind the look from the 15mm, the 9mm should fit right in.

Also not surprised you found the 15mm to be daylight limited, Kind of similar to the canon f8 mirror lens, kinda like for special circumstances i would venture 😉

It's quite annoying actually, for the GF3 at least.

The alternative is to use a native lens like the 14mm 2.5, but that means the GF3 is constantly changing the aperture to control exposure (along with SS and ISO) which I'd rather it not do.  So, if I want aperture control then I need to have a manual lens, but there aren't any cheap manual lenses around, for the ~10-17mm range, that I can find for any semi-comparative price anyway.

[leslie]

found that Pergear 10mm for sale  on ebay while looking at olympus 9mm lenses

retail wise its probably close to $50  cheaper than most of the olympus 9mm body cap lenses.  its supposed to have three  ed glass elements Never heard of these guys before however. might google it later while i have the cat at the vets, getting his shots.

F8 Pancake Fisheye lens For APS-C-format M4/3-Mount Mirrorless Cameras

1.【M4/3-Mount Lens/M43 Format 15mm (35mm Equivalent)】： excellent for portrait, landscape, and humanity photograph.
2.【5 Elements in 4 Groups】: Its optical system consists of 5 elements in 4 groups. Aperture range: F8
3.【3 Extra-low Dispersion】:Improve contrast and color rendering in a variety of lighting conditions. 
4.【Extremely Slim Body Cap Profile】:Metal body, only weight 0.14lb/61.3g. 
5.【Manual Focus Lever】:with the focal length scale and smooth focal lever. After a short term learning, it’s very easy to focus what you want and feel the unique charm of the manual lens, and lets you more concentrate on the image itself. 

campatible List: GX1、GX7、GX8、GX85、GX9、GH3、GH4、GH5、G7、G9、EP5、EM1、EM1II、EM1III、EM1X、EM5、EM5II、EM5III、EM10、EM10II、EM10III、PEN-FGX1、GX7、GX8、GX85、GX9、GH3、GH4、GH5、G7、G9、EP5、EM1、EM1II、EM1III、EM1X、EM5、EM5II、EM5III、EM10、EM10II、EM10III、PEN-F

 

Specifications：
Type:10mm F8
Lens construction:5 elements in 4 groups
Focal length: f=10mm
35mm format equivalent: 20
Angle of view: 150°
Max. aperture: F8
Min. aperture: F8
Focus range: Approx. 30cm/0.98ft - ∞
External dimensions: ø55mm x10mm
Weight : Approx.70g（Z-mount Approx.90g)

Pancake Fisheye lens 
Is designed for M4/3-Mount APS-C-format mirrorless cameras and offers an 15mm equivalent focal length.

3 Extra-low Dispersion elements
Improve contrast and color rendering in a variety of lighting conditions. 

Extremely Slim Body Cap Profile
Metal body, only weight 0.18lb/80g. Anodizing coloring design, which enhances the lens anti-corrosion, an-dirt functions, and its varnish not easy to removed.

 

Manual focus lever
After a short term learning, it’s very easy to focus what you want and feel the unique charm of the manual lens, and lets you more concentrate on the image itself.

[fuzzynormal]

30 foot extension painter's pole with a camera on the end of it.  Easy way to do "drone" shots without the drone.

[noone]

Fun for me is low light shooting and especially light projections (as well as live music gigs but not so many of those lately. 

I also like shooting people (portraits) but do not get to do that enough.

 

From Enlighten Canberra recently.

This is the Australian National portrait gallery.  

They are going to use some of my shots....   

Maybe it will be a very slight "in" for me (but I doubt it).....Before I die I would love to have a portrait in the gallery...Probably never going to happen though.

[kye]

19 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

30 foot extension painter's pole with a camera on the end of it.  Easy way to do "drone" shots without the drone.

The thing I was very surprised by, when I watched a video showing techniques like this, was how little elevation it takes to get a drone feel.

They had a follow shot and the person went from a standard eye-height shot to holding it up above their head and the shot instantly transformed into a drone shot.  It was a very odd experience, having just watched the shot start at eye-height and rise up in one take and while watching a synchronised BTS angle in the corner, to have some part of my brain spontaneously decide that the camera had changed.

I took a note of that at the time to do more overhead shots with wide lenses (which for me is my action camera) while I'm on my trips.  It really was a very cool effect.  A 30-foot pole would be able to create some spectacular angles!

[Spaceghost1969]

Purchased a Velbon monopod. This is the most fun monopod I’ve ever had…if you can say monopods are fun. It goes from fitting in my pocket to full length in seconds. I’m 6’1” and my camera is right at eye level. 
 

 

[kye]

The mods continue - putting a filter thread on the 15mm f8 lens...

I bought a filter adapter to go from something larger down to the 52mm thread that I wanted, then applied PVA glue where I worked out that the lens and filter thread adapter touch:

Put it on the lens:

I made sure it was flat and waited a long time for it to dry to ensure it had dried all the way through and had hardened properly, etc.

Just for fun I took the whole filter stack from the Micro and put in on here, so this is the lens with the glued on adapter, a 52-58 adapter, a UV IR filter, the Tiffen BPM 1/8, and the vND.

I have a 52mm vND so I'll just put that on there, but I also bought a super-cheap 52mm diffusion filter from China, so I'll try that on there and see how that goes - it was under $10 so can't really go wrong.  

I haven't shot anything with the lens yet, but it's on my list....