Awesome - new gear

Timing is everything:

Bought my E-M5.3 and have really tried to figure out what I enjoy taking photos of.  With Coviid, trying to figure out what I enjoy taking photos of.  The dang iPhone 13 Pro is the camera that I have with me but have really found many of its pictures to be too much HDR and pastel like.

Went back to my lens collection to see how i can optimize it and figure out what lenses i can say bye bye to.

Lots of duplication and weird mix a bit but compilation over time.

12-35 2.8

14-42 EZ

14-150II

14mm 2.5

17mm 1.8

14-54 MKI(4/3)

70-300 (4/3)

50mm F2 (4/3) + Ext Tube

I figured out that I  like taking pictures of birds (nothing too speedy), landscape, the moon, portraits and trying to experiment with composition in nature.

So, I have decided to get the 12-100 F4 and the 100-300 II to do some exploration and see what I end up with.  And today, both lenses arrived!

Now I have to take some pictures and figure out what of the old I can move on from. I suspect that I will be selling the old 14-54 and 70-300.  I cannot seem to let go of the 50mm Macro, so will keep that.  Debating about the 14mm 2.5 as well, but the only thing is my extra cam is the old E-PM2 so trying to keep some compact options for it which is likely going to be the 14-42 EZ.  The goal is to have a secondary camera ready for my kids to use when we go out shooting.  So looks like only 3 lenses out the door for now (2 x 4/3 lenses and maybe the 14mm) .

I have to admit the 12-100 is pretty dang amazing.  Heavy yes, but its Sync-IS....holy, even with my shaky hands i can take pictures of things i could not do well previously without extra support and likely propping myself up against stuff.  I also think the 100-300, while not having the same 'image' as the old 70-300, also much easier to work with and way better AF......

Look forward to more adventures and trying to actually take pictures again.  These are awesome lenses for my limited budget and basic basic photography.

iPhone 13 Pro now shunted to be an email device and phone again.  

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Shooting an Olympus in Vancouver, BC!

I kept my 50/2 macro.  I like the rendering.

Don't be shy - share the excitement as pictures!

Andrew

The E-M5 III is an awesome performer. Give your 14-150 II a spin. I found my 14-150 to work better on my 5.3 than on any of my other Olympus bodes, current or prior. The PDAF brings fast moving subjects to heal and the cluster focusing (C-AF with all 121 focus points active) even nails butterflies in flight.

This with 75-300 and 16mm extension tube, Cluster Focusing.

john isaacs wrote:

14-150II - I think you may find you don't use it anymore.

It depends.  After awhile, the 12-100mm will get rather heavy.  I've had times where the weight of the combined gear becomes important.  The 14-150mm mark II is real light weight, particularly on the E-m5 mark III with its smaller grip.

Shortly after I bought the E-m5 mark III, I got the 12-20mm lens, which I generally use as my outdoor travel lens.  I was thinking of selling the 14-150mm mark II that I had used for the past 5 years (and the 14-150mm mark II for 5 years before that), but I've had some times, where I preferred the lighter weight 14-150mm mark II over the 12-200mm lens.  I can imagine it might be even more of an issue with the heavier and bigger 12-100mm lens.

Michael Meissner wrote:

john isaacs wrote:

14-150II - I think you may find you don't use it anymore.

It depends. After awhile, the 12-100mm will get rather heavy. I've had times where the weight of the combined gear becomes important. The 14-150mm mark II is real light weight, particularly on the E-m5 mark III with its smaller grip.

Shortly after I bought the E-m5 mark III, I got the 12-20mm lens, which I generally use as my outdoor travel lens. I was thinking of selling the 14-150mm mark II that I had used for the past 5 years (and the 14-150mm mark II for 5 years before that), but I've had some times, where I preferred the lighter weight 14-150mm mark II over the 12-200mm lens. I can imagine it might be even more of an issue with the heavier and bigger 12-100mm lens.

I don't use my 14-150 II much, but a few times a year I'll get hired to (or for fun) photograph a march or protest (I live near DC), and it'll always get thrown into my bag and eventually onto a body. Small, long focal range, reasonably sharp... if it weren't so damn slow. But daytime marches and protests are pretty well lit by the sun.

But... if I had the 12-100 doubt that I'd never use the 14-150. You have 101-150 covered in abundance. Your 14-150 is nothing but a slight convenience to you.

I do wonder, though, what you can get for the defunct 4/3 lenses. How many people buy or sell them? Perhaps some of them have optical or sentimental value.

mpb.com should give you an idea of what your lenses are worth. You know your financial situation.

Bassam Guy wrote:

Michael Meissner wrote:

john isaacs wrote:

14-150II - I think you may find you don't use it anymore.

It depends. After awhile, the 12-100mm will get rather heavy. I've had times where the weight of the combined gear becomes important. The 14-150mm mark II is real light weight, particularly on the E-m5 mark III with its smaller grip.

Shortly after I bought the E-m5 mark III, I got the 12-20mm lens, which I generally use as my outdoor travel lens. I was thinking of selling the 14-150mm mark II that I had used for the past 5 years (and the 14-150mm mark II for 5 years before that), but I've had some times, where I preferred the lighter weight 14-150mm mark II over the 12-200mm lens. I can imagine it might be even more of an issue with the heavier and bigger 12-100mm lens.

I don't use my 14-150 II much, but a few times a year I'll get hired to (or for fun) photograph a march or protest (I live near DC), and it'll always get thrown into my bag and eventually onto a body. Small, long focal range, reasonably sharp... if it weren't so damn slow. But daytime marches and protests are pretty well lit by the sun.

But... if I had the 12-100 doubt that I'd never use the 14-150. You have 101-150 covered in abundance. Your 14-150 is nothing but a slight convenience to you.

I do wonder, though, what you can get for the defunct 4/3 lenses. How many people buy or sell them? Perhaps some of them have optical or sentimental value.

mpb.com should give you an idea of what your lenses are worth. You know your financial situation.

Although. I have the highly, and justifiably, lauded 12-100, I often still find myself reaching for my 14-150 II. I seem to have this ongoing love/no love relation ship with my 12-100. It’s heavier than I like on my E-M5 III and when out at 100mm, I wish  I had more reach. For festival candids the 14-150, being smaller and longer reach is the better fit. But, BIG BUT, when I want a super stable lens for Hand Held Hi Rez with my E-M1 III there isn’t anything in my bag that can match the 12-100.

I guess I need to keep both….

gary0319 wrote:

Bassam Guy wrote:

Michael Meissner wrote:

john isaacs wrote:

14-150II - I think you may find you don't use it anymore.

It depends. After awhile, the 12-100mm will get rather heavy. I've had times where the weight of the combined gear becomes important. The 14-150mm mark II is real light weight, particularly on the E-m5 mark III with its smaller grip.

Shortly after I bought the E-m5 mark III, I got the 12-20mm lens, which I generally use as my outdoor travel lens. I was thinking of selling the 14-150mm mark II that I had used for the past 5 years (and the 14-150mm mark II for 5 years before that), but I've had some times, where I preferred the lighter weight 14-150mm mark II over the 12-200mm lens. I can imagine it might be even more of an issue with the heavier and bigger 12-100mm lens.

I don't use my 14-150 II much, but a few times a year I'll get hired to (or for fun) photograph a march or protest (I live near DC), and it'll always get thrown into my bag and eventually onto a body. Small, long focal range, reasonably sharp... if it weren't so damn slow. But daytime marches and protests are pretty well lit by the sun.

But... if I had the 12-100 doubt that I'd never use the 14-150. You have 101-150 covered in abundance. Your 14-150 is nothing but a slight convenience to you.

I do wonder, though, what you can get for the defunct 4/3 lenses. How many people buy or sell them? Perhaps some of them have optical or sentimental value.

mpb.com should give you an idea of what your lenses are worth. You know your financial situation.

Although. I have the highly, and justifiably, lauded 12-100, I often still find myself reaching for my 14-150 II. I seem to have this ongoing love/no love relation ship with my 12-100. It’s heavier than I like on my E-M5 III and when out at 100mm, I wish I had more reach. For festival candids the 14-150, being smaller and longer reach is the better fit. But, BIG BUT, when I want a super stable lens for Hand Held Hi Rez with my E-M1 III there isn’t anything in my bag that can match the 12-100.

I guess I need to keep both….

Life could be significantly worse

funny, i stepped away from posting for a few days and lots of good feedback here.

Have to admit I really have not been able to enjoy the new gear yet as I have had to deal with some family stuff with an ill family member.  I do intend to have some fun soon enough in between things.

This said , I am going to keep the 14-150 II , just in case i want to get a bit more range, perhaps may be in the wet, so i have another option that is a bit more light weight.   It came as a kit with my E-M5 so not likely to get rid of it anytime soon.

I have done a little bit of shooting with the 12-100, and WOW, that Sync-IS is amazing.  It does a way better job for me than some of the other gear.  I don't have to stop down and likely will do a fair bit of shooting at the 4/5.6 end and likely stop at F8 for most of the time. The old 4/3 Dinosaurs are likely to go away sometime, if only for a drop in the bucket.  I need to keep my gear drawer up to date as these are taking up a lot of space. That 70-300 can give some nicely rendered photos but it is a beast because of the extra adaptor and is Heavy.  The 100-300 II will be a bit of an experiment but at least it is a bit more compact and lighter.

I love the 50 f2 Macro.  never thought of the 1.4TC for it but will keep an eye out.  That lens is pretty special, at least to my a few years under 50 eyes.

In the end, trying to figure out how to keep the weight down but also treat myself to at least one special modern lens, and have to admit the 12-100 looks to be a keeper as well.

john isaacs wrote:

12-35 2.8 - Keep this; it's your fastest zoom

14-42 EZ - If you like it, okay. I hated mine and swapped for a Panasonic 12-32. I like the wider FL, don't mind that you can't MF on it.

14-150II - I think you may find you don't use it anymore.

14mm 2.5 - I'm not a fan of slow primes; the 12-35 is sharp, nearly as fast, relatively small, and more convenient

17mm 1.8 - Great for indoor work

14-54 MKI(4/3) - Get rid of it

70-300 (4/3) - Get rid of it

50mm F2 (4/3) + Ext Tube - A very sharp lens, I would get get the EC-14 to go with it as well.

Thanks John.  I replied to Gary just now but looking at your recommendations, its pretty close to the plan.

that 14mm was a remnant from my GX1 days.  I wanted something compact, and had the 20mm as well.  Just have not gotten around to selling it.

The 14-42 EZ is mainly to pair up with my E-PM2 as a second camera.  While i would love the 12-32, the 14-42EZ just happened to be available.

Will try and hunt down an EC-14 to see what that looks like.  So 70mm with EFL of 140mm F2.8  That sounds pretty good to me.

CR1975 wrote:

john isaacs wrote:

12-35 2.8 - Keep this; it's your fastest zoom

14-42 EZ - If you like it, okay. I hated mine and swapped for a Panasonic 12-32. I like the wider FL, don't mind that you can't MF on it.

14-150II - I think you may find you don't use it anymore.

14mm 2.5 - I'm not a fan of slow primes; the 12-35 is sharp, nearly as fast, relatively small, and more convenient

17mm 1.8 - Great for indoor work

14-54 MKI(4/3) - Get rid of it

70-300 (4/3) - Get rid of it

50mm F2 (4/3) + Ext Tube - A very sharp lens, I would get get the EC-14 to go with it as well.

Thanks John. I replied to Gary just now but looking at your recommendations, its pretty close to the plan.

that 14mm was a remnant from my GX1 days. I wanted something compact, and had the 20mm as well. Just have not gotten around to selling it.

The 14-42 EZ is mainly to pair up with my E-PM2 as a second camera. While i would love the 12-32, the 14-42EZ just happened to be available.

I had the 12-32 Panny and swapped it out for the 14-42EZ. Although some think the 12-32 is sharper, I had a hard time seeing any difference in real life. What did make a difference to me was the lack of a manual focus ring on the 12-32. I use S-AF + M with focus peaking a lot so the 12-42EZ was the better choice for me.

Will try and hunt down an EC-14 to see what that looks like. So 70mm with EFL of 140mm F2.8 That sounds pretty good to me.

CR1975 wrote:

The 14-42 EZ is mainly to pair up with my E-PM2 as a second camera. While i would love the 12-32, the 14-42EZ just happened to be available.

Note, if you ever wanted to experiment with operating the camera remotely via the OIShare smartphone or tablet wifi interface, the 14-42mm EZ is one of 4 micro 4/3rds lenses that have electronic zoom instead of mechanical zoom. With an electronic zoom, you can zoom the lens from within the OIShare app.

All of the electronic zoom lenses are somewhat old as Olympus/OM and Panasonic felt they weren't big sellers, and so after doing the initial releases, there have been no other electronic zoom lenses. For Olympus lenses, they are marked with a 'EZ' suffix, while for Panasonic lenses, they are marked with a 'PZ' suffix.

The other 3 EZ/PZ lenses are:

• Olympus 12-50mm EZ f/3.5-6.3 (only splash-proof electronic zoom lens)
• Panasonic 14-42mm PZ f/3.5-5.6
• Panasonic 45-175mm PZ f/4-5.6

Note Olympus/OM and Panasonic both have released other 14-42mm lenses that aren't electronic zoom.

Michael Meissner wrote:

It depends. After awhile, the 12-100mm will get rather heavy. I've had times where the weight of the combined gear becomes important. The 14-150mm mark II is real light weight, particularly on the E-m5 mark III with its smaller grip.

I guess its all a matter of perspective. I love it when I can shoot with my 12-100mm (macro or street photos) because I mostly use the Oly 100-400mm (wildlife).