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a technological wasteland

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Guy Parsons said:
It's truly a wonder that you have managed to communicate with us via your computer and the Internet.

Maybe you should drop back to using a sharp stick on a soft clay tablet to get things more to your liking. :-)
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I'm still working, Guy, as a successful self-employed database designer and programmer. Maybe it's because I'm engulfed in high tech all day most days of the week that I seem to somewhat reject a high tech hobby? :-) Maybe I should become a smithy. Or a florist.

Jim Pilcher
Bonita Springs, Florida, USA
Life is a breeze by the sea
 
James Pilcher said:
....As far as raw goes, I go back and forth on raw. It's nice to have a lot of information to work with when wanted, but then the photographer largely dispenses with the Olympus jpegs, which can be gorgeous. And I don't like to shoot raw + jpeg; personal preference based upon TMI (2 files for every image).
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If you shoot raw and use Olympus Workspace (OW), its default raw processing settings utilize all the camera settings to create the 'gorgeous' Olympus JPEGs. Plus, you can batch process the raws to get the JPEGs with no effort. Plus plus, such JPEGs are usually a bit superior to in-camera JPEGs, because the in-camera software has a relatively limited processor and also must produce final images very quickly. Plus plus plus, you can optimize the OW JPEGs a bit better from raw if any settings are a bit off. Plus plus plus plus, favourite images can be converted to OW TIFFs that have all the looks of the 'gorgeous' Olympus JPEGs, plus being lossless and 16 bit for maximized quality.

cheers
 
and adjust what you see in your viewfinder to help you get the RAW output you need in post, use the camera as if it were a film camera (adjust shutter speed, aperture, no need for ISO if ISO-invariant), and ignore the rest of the unnecessarily advanced features :) Have simplified fun.
 
Good info on the OW. I've been using third party software and should get that too.
 
Pete:

I'm an old guy, who has observed the rapid proliferating of "features" on digital cameras with some amusement. I see them as frantic and urgent attempts by manufacturers to grab attention and market share in an increasingly crowded market. I pay them little heed.

I become familiar with the "features" that I actually need and use, and gently explore others to see if they rate being added to my list. Perhaps a simple solution for a simple mind! :-)

Jack Winberg

[email protected]
 
I bought my E-M1 II at initial release back in 2016. It took me about 2 years of shooting it at least once a week, and most weeks more than one outing, to feel comfortable with most of the features and controls that I needed for the mind of shooting I do. Than I spent another year exploring the added whiz-bangs the camera offered. All in all, although I found it to be a challenge, it was also a great adventure....no regrets.

Now the E-M1 II is gone, replaced by an E-M1 III, and, although not exactly back to square one, I’m certainly into the “challenge” portion of this new adventure.

Most often the folks that get frustrated with new or different technologies make the understandable mistake of wanting the new to be just like their old. If one trades his wife for his mistress, he shouldn’t get frustrated because the mistress doesn’t cook like his wife did.
 
I've also just purchased the E-M1 mkii. I think this is a great camera, you can make it as simple or as complicated as you wish.

You can make it real simple by setting everything on Automatic and taking OOC JPEGs. Just worry about creating the image.

You can make it real retro, like the Canon FTb I purchased in 1974, by by setting it for manual focus, manual Shutter Speed, manual aperture and manual ISO. Or you can make the ISO automatic (for some purposes, this attracts me)

One doesn't have to use all the bells and whistles, and one doesn't have to learn them all at once. However, I find the camera very similar to the orginal E-M1.

The time has come to stop buying new complicated gear and learn how to use the stuff I have. Join me?

--
Cheers
Eric
 
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As had been said many times already, just learn the bits you need and ignore the rest.

We keep seeing rants like "I want a camera without video", etc. My personal rant is, why do we need all those scene modes. But I just never use them. I totally ignore them. I'm a happy camper.

The day will come when you have a new need, and you will likely discover your camera can already do it.

Use what you need and ignore the rest, until the days comes when you discover you do need it after all.

Never say never.
 
James Pilcher said:
Guy Parsons said:
It's truly a wonder that you have managed to communicate with us via your computer and the Internet.

Maybe you should drop back to using a sharp stick on a soft clay tablet to get things more to your liking. :-)
Click to expand...
I'm still working, Guy, as a successful self-employed database designer and programmer. Maybe it's because I'm engulfed in high tech all day most days of the week that I seem to somewhat reject a high tech hobby? :-) Maybe I should become a smithy. Or a florist.

Jim Pilcher
Bonita Springs, Florida, USA
Life is a breeze by the sea
Click to expand...
Colored pencils and coloring cards are very low tech. Of course once one decides to get the very best set of pencils, with over 150 colors..... we’re right back into the “too many options” mess.
 
James Stirling said:
ahaslett said:
..so my wife can't see where the programme is up to from the sofa!

I don't shoot video on my camera.

Just ignore the features you don't need and be grateful for the ones you do; alternatively get a Sigma DP Merrill and do without.

Andrew
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Andrew, We have one of those "smart" fridge freezers from Samsung with a whopping WIFI LCD touch-screen. It is not that smart I ask it for a sandwich and it tells me the weather :-) When kitchen appliances work like the replicators on Star Trek then they will deserve to be called smart, until then mildly annoying is nearer the mark
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Imagen this:

You reach for the 7e beer and your fridge is locked won't open and the screen is showing your wifes grumpy look telling "you got enough"

Or it's locked and it displays " you reached your maximum amount of callories!"

Or it tells you every time you take someing out the amount of callories...

My "smart" fridge is alowed to do one thing, ok two, keep temperature right and re-order eaten stuff on internet every week. Maybe as extra option a buyingdate or latest date to eat safe of products.
 
Pity that the GM5 is no longer made James.

This is a camera that does basically everything that a photographer would need from a camera to take still pictures. At the same time it still uses quite a bit of technology - but it is not overwhelming in the way some of the top range cameras are.

Neither is it a camera made for light duties only. You can get a lot of interest out of making it work properly.
 
Guy Parsons said:
James Pilcher said:
What are your thoughts as we experience what is a descent into technology and a departure from any thoughtful creative endeavor?
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As far as M4/3 is concerned I ceased buying newer bodies* at the E-P5, it does all I need reliably and nicely and is not too darn complicated. Set up with 4 MySets on the Mode dial so now it is easier to use than a usual point 'n' shoot.

A year ago for a compact to fit into a belt pouch, I bought a Sony RX100M6 and suddenly faced a massive wall of menu mess and complication, so found how to use it in a simple way and ignored the 1,000 other fancy features.

So yes, when I look into later manuals in order to RTFM for someone asking a question here, I do see a crazy mess of options that don't interest me. I just want to go take pictures.

Note*: I did more recently buy a very cheap new E-M10 Mk2 simply to explore the newer features of the later TruePic chip but it sits idle as I have not had the time to explore its possibilities. The E-P5 is still my usual camera.

Regards..... Guy
Click to expand...
well damn Guy I just recently got a nearly new EM10Mk2 (1,3k shutter actuations, yours came with 0?) and was hoping to see you write a guide for how to set up the menu, set it to use the fully electronic shutter all the time, etc. I also bought the 75-300 lens for it and was wondering if you got the grip made for this camera or if you would recommend it? I like my cameras on the smaller size and anything heavier than 2-2.5 pounds total weight is too much for me.

--
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961
 
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Guy Parsons said:
Olyinaz said:
I run mine like it’s an E-volt E-300, generally on A mode, sometime M. I may be a dolt, but I like my new E-volt! ;-)

Oly
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I must dig out my old E-300 sometime and see if I have a battery that still works somewhere. Interesting camera and it served me well, but heck, it sure looks clunky now beside the way better E-P5.

As for that E-Volt name, can't stress enough what a silly name that sounds, it's Re-Volting.

As an aside: The problem with the E-300 was flash sync and flash slaves.

The TTL pre-flash and the final flash were so close together no slave could separate them. The trick was that the shutter blades were 18% grey and the TTL test flash was measured off the shutter blades after the mirror flipped away and only a few milliseconds before the shutter opened and the exposure flash fired.

They basically modified the idea of the original film flash TTL that Olympus invented where they measured the flash reflection off the surface of the film. The E-300 had to use the shutter for the test pulse as the reflection off the sensor would not have worked.

Later models to get slave compatibility they moved the TTL test flash to much earlier before the exposure flash. Slaves seem to need something like more than 50mS between TTL test flash and final flash. The 18mS that I measured for my E-300 simply didn't work for slaves if set for first curtain sync.

Regards.... Guy
Click to expand...
e-volt sounds like the name of an electric car ;-) maybe Oly will bring back the name when they start making solar powered cameras ;-)

as far as e-volt cameras are concerned, my first and only was the E-520. I bought a third party Ownuser grip for it but only because it took AA batteries as well as AC power and came with an extra button to use the camera in portrait mode and even a handy remote. From what I can tell the Oly grip for the EM10Mk2 doesn't have any of those features and neither does the third party grip I found. All they do is add weight?


 
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James Pilcher said:
When you read what I’ve written here, I know some of you will tell me to just go away, buy a nice manual film SLR, and be quiet. What I'm really interested in though are your thoughts surrounding the technological "advances" in photography as digital is "the everything." This post is simply an expression of my occasional bewildered ramblings through the tall grass of technology...

I recently purchased a very nice Olympus OM-D E-M1 MkII. Fabulous camera, but I am overwhelmed. The camera is a complicated beast. It looks as though if I want to enjoy it, I may wish to back off and use it in "A" mode at ISO 200. If I do that, I ignore its potential and maybe the purchase is/was a complete waste of time, effort, and money. Its user manual is MASSIVE. Really?? C'mon, a Boeing 737 Max is easier to understand, and that technology atrocity has killed hundreds of world citizens. But, if I don't simplify, the sheer abundance of features gets in the way of good images IMO. Really, nobody can remember every feature, every AF twist, how to use any of it, and when to use it to best effect. And the user manual mostly just tells you how to set a feature, and nothing about its usefulness or appropriateness. I know I don’t have to use all of the features, but they clutter the menus and confound.

I don't consider myself a luddite, but even with my passion for photography, I am bewildered by the supremely complicated cameras of 2020. Even my 2016 Pen F is a challenge. Firmware, IBIS, live view, noise filter, shading comp, color space, compression levels, scene modes, art filters, pixel mapping, dark frame subtraction, HHHD, SD card versions, and more and more (and more!), and all with the outrageous pointless hugely complicated video abominations.

I started in the film era, circa 1971. I've never used a Nikon F3, but hand me one with a lens and a roll of film, and I'll understand the camera just fine and be making pleasant images in about two minutes. No user manual available? So what!!! Current digital cameras are massively overly complicated, even to start making your first image.

I have a nice contemporary European-made pocket watch that my wife gave me for our anniversary. I push the stem and the cover pops open. I twist the stem to make it go (winding). I pull the stem and twist to set the time. It just works, and I don't have to plug it in or worry about firmware updates. If it stops running, I can step outside and look at the sundial in our garden to get my watch “updated to current firmware” (silly, I know, but I'm wanting to make a point here).

A Leica M10 Monochrom is looking so attractive. Digital, relatively simple; after all it's only money that I don't have. Or maybe a Hasselblad 500CM with 80mm f/2.8 lens and 120 film back. Is there any 120 film out there?

What are your thoughts as we experience what is a descent into technology and a departure from any thoughtful creative endeavor? I expect a lot of negative replies, but I don’t care. Give me your best shot.

Or ignore me, and this thread, and go make some images.

Jim Pilcher
Bonita Springs, Florida, USA
Life is a breeze by the sea
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Some of those features do sound overwhelming, but some are second nature to most now (since they've been around 10+ years, like pixel mapping and dark frame subtraction, and are quite indispensable to me.)

I still do have a special place in my heart for the first digital camera I ever owned, the Nikon E990, because it simply took great pictures and I didn't fuss around with its menus and just used it in auto mode.
 
OutsideTheMatrix said:
well damn Guy I just recently got a nearly new EM10Mk2 (1,3k shutter actuations, yours came with 0?)
Click to expand...
They never come at 0, always some test shots at the factory, seems to range from maybe 50 to 150 shots.
OutsideTheMatrix said:
and was hoping to see you write a guide for how to set up the menu, set it to use the fully electronic shutter all the time, etc.
Click to expand...
I started on creating some pages but stalled, too many other things to do taking precedence. The E-M10 Mk2 gathers dust currently.
OutsideTheMatrix said:
I also bought the 75-300 lens for it and was wondering if you got the grip made for this camera or if you would recommend it?
Click to expand...
I never use added grips of any type, I use home-made fitted wrist straps and like to keep the cameras simple. For me that works OK even with my 75-300mm.
OutsideTheMatrix said:
I like my cameras on the smaller size and anything heavier than 2-2.5 pounds total weight is too much for me.
Click to expand...
My usual shoulder bag maxes at about 3kg when I want a "big" outfit and that's OK for me to carry all day and for many days continually when on a holiday.
 
Guy Parsons said:
OutsideTheMatrix said:
well damn Guy I just recently got a nearly new EM10Mk2 (1,3k shutter actuations, yours came with 0?)
Click to expand...
They never come at 0, always some test shots at the factory, seems to range from maybe 50 to 150 shots.
Guy Parsons said:
and was hoping to see you write a guide for how to set up the menu, set it to use the fully electronic shutter all the time, etc.
Click to expand...
I started on creating some pages but stalled, too many other things to do taking precedence. The E-M10 Mk2 gathers dust currently.
Guy Parsons said:
I also bought the 75-300 lens for it and was wondering if you got the grip made for this camera or if you would recommend it?
Click to expand...
I never use added grips of any type, I use home-made fitted wrist straps and like to keep the cameras simple. For me that works OK even with my 75-300mm.
Guy Parsons said:
I like my cameras on the smaller size and anything heavier than 2-2.5 pounds total weight is too much for me.
Click to expand...
My usual shoulder bag maxes at about 3kg when I want a "big" outfit and that's OK for me to carry all day and for many days continually when on a holiday.
Click to expand...
Did you get the all black version or the silver and black version, Guy?

Got any recommendations for a fast wide lens for night photography?

Since that grip doesn't take alternate power or provide any added functionality, I think I'll pass on it too.

What's the heaviest you can handhold for extended periods of time? I find 3 pounds and higher make my arms and back sore.
 
The next version will be E-Voltron since the cameras will finally be modular.
 
James Pilcher said:
When you read what I’ve written here, I know some of you will tell me to just go away, buy a nice manual film SLR, and be quiet. What I'm really interested in though are your thoughts surrounding the technological "advances" in photography as digital is "the everything." This post is simply an expression of my occasional bewildered ramblings through the tall grass of technology...

I recently purchased a very nice Olympus OM-D E-M1 MkII. Fabulous camera, but I am overwhelmed. The camera is a complicated beast. It looks as though if I want to enjoy it, I may wish to back off and use it in "A" mode at ISO 200. If I do that, I ignore its potential and maybe the purchase is/was a complete waste of time, effort, and money. Its user manual is MASSIVE. Really?? C'mon, a Boeing 737 Max is easier to understand, and that technology atrocity has killed hundreds of world citizens. But, if I don't simplify, the sheer abundance of features gets in the way of good images IMO. Really, nobody can remember every feature, every AF twist, how to use any of it, and when to use it to best effect. And the user manual mostly just tells you how to set a feature, and nothing about its usefulness or appropriateness. I know I don’t have to use all of the features, but they clutter the menus and confound.

I don't consider myself a luddite, but even with my passion for photography, I am bewildered by the supremely complicated cameras of 2020. Even my 2016 Pen F is a challenge. Firmware, IBIS, live view, noise filter, shading comp, color space, compression levels, scene modes, art filters, pixel mapping, dark frame subtraction, HHHD, SD card versions, and more and more (and more!), and all with the outrageous pointless hugely complicated video abominations.

I started in the film era, circa 1971. I've never used a Nikon F3, but hand me one with a lens and a roll of film, and I'll understand the camera just fine and be making pleasant images in about two minutes. No user manual available? So what!!! Current digital cameras are massively overly complicated, even to start making your first image.

I have a nice contemporary European-made pocket watch that my wife gave me for our anniversary. I push the stem and the cover pops open. I twist the stem to make it go (winding). I pull the stem and twist to set the time. It just works, and I don't have to plug it in or worry about firmware updates. If it stops running, I can step outside and look at the sundial in our garden to get my watch “updated to current firmware” (silly, I know, but I'm wanting to make a point here).

A Leica M10 Monochrom is looking so attractive. Digital, relatively simple; after all it's only money that I don't have. Or maybe a Hasselblad 500CM with 80mm f/2.8 lens and 120 film back. Is there any 120 film out there?

What are your thoughts as we experience what is a descent into technology and a departure from any thoughtful creative endeavor? I expect a lot of negative replies, but I don’t care. Give me your best shot.

Or ignore me, and this thread, and go make some images.

Jim Pilcher
Bonita Springs, Florida, USA
Life is a breeze by the sea
Click to expand...
A B737 max is easyer to understand ?

Well do your best fixing them then ? :-)
 
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