update:
after being a happy m43 shooter for a while i am still a happy m43 shooter. nevertheless i couldn’t resist the song of the sony siren and got myself a sony a7. i’m using it with all the om zuiko manual lenses and have no concrete plans of going to get an autofocus lens for it (at least that’s what i’m trying to tell myself). and suddenly i have the sony 28mm f2 (update two years later (october 2017): and the sony 50mm f1.8 and the sony 85mm f1.8 and the samyang 35mm f2.8) in my bag… not too bad :)
i have to say all this full-frame talk is true (especially that it’s big)… nevertheless the a7 has its share of flaws. the most obvious (for me) is the lack of image stabilisation. in this regard i’m really spoiled by the e-p5. but sony has listened and the a7II does have ibis now. the second most obvious problem for me that i noticed after some time of shooting with the camera is the lack of possibility of setting a minimum shutter speed. i really don’t like that it goes down to default 1/60th when i have e.g. the 135mm mounted. but since i’m going quite manual with this camera i could go full manual of course… (but i am not really fond of that idea)
currently i am using
- olympus e-pl1 (i liked it a lot, but now it rests in peace on my shelf)
- sony a7 (see above)
- sony 28mm f2 (a nice little lens i really enjoy using on the a7)
- sony 50mm f1.8 (i really dig the ‘normal view’ this lens provides – check out my -uhm- review here)
- samyang 85mm f1.4 (big but really capable in the right hands probably :))
- samyang 35mm f2.8 (that’s the one i wanted in the first place, small, light, fast and accurate autofocus and sharp… (and reasonably close in fov to my lovely lumix 20mm))
- sony 85mm f1.8 (it’s big in terms of m43 but reasonably ok for full frame. it’s much bigger than the venerable om zuiko 85mm f2 though but it has excellent silent, fast and accurate autofocus and is sharp even wide open. i like it a lot!)
- olympus e-p5 (trying to love it (and it worked out!))
panasonic gm-1 (i never thought i’d say this, but i find it too small)(sold to a girl with smaller hands)zuiko 14-42mm(kit lens – quite good actually but i gave it to a friend)- zuiko 40-150mm (43s version – good)
- m.zuiko 40-150mm (m43s version – better!)
- panasonic lumix 20mm f1.7 (always on)
- mitakon om mount 28mm f2.8 (quite nice actually and it’s a macro…)
- om zuiko 50mm f1.8 (cool thing)
om zuiko 135mm f3.5(a bit too slow… otherwise fine but left the house recently)
- om zuiko 100mm f2.8 (grrreat)
- slr magic “toy lens” 26mm f1.4 (so so…)
- om zuiko 50mm f1.4 (my copy has a problem with its helicoid so it does not get too much use)
- om zuiko 135mm f2.8 (very good, probably the best buy i did… a bit big though)
- om zuiko 35mm-70mm f3.6 (seems to be a quite good zoom and works like a charm on the a7, but it’s big)
- om zuiko 85mm f2 (this still has to be evaluated against the 100mm f2.8, i’m not sure yet but i think i prefer the 100mm)
- panasonic lumix 12-32mm f3.5-5.6 (a very good kit lens that i really
enjoyenjoyed using sometimes until i lost (sic!) it at a concert) - m.zuiko 45mm f1.8 (fantastic)
- panasonic lumix 14mm f2.5 (very tiny, very nice lens, strong contender for the 20mm as ‘always on’)
- panasonic dmw-gwc1 wide angle conversion lens (sits on the 14mm all the time and so the 20mm is the ‘always on’ again)
- panasonic leica 25mm f1.4 (very good lens, a bit bulky, though. replaced the 20mm on dedicated photowalks)
- samyang 7.5mm fisheye (very good, but it seems i’m too stupid to use this kind of really wide wide angle to my advantage – i found it helpful sometimes in churches)
- m.zuiko 60mm f2.8 macro – brilliant optics, great macro functionality (whom am i kidding – i just bought it to satisfy some g.a.s. and there was this olympus deal… )
- m.zuiko 75mm f1.8 – the holy grail in olympus primes. yes, it is too long but then again – it’s perfect! i’m really looking forward to doing some concert work. i’ve bought it primarily for this purpose but it really is fun to use for other stuff. (update: it’s brilliant for concerts :))
the kit i have almost always with me consists of the e-pl1 e-p5 itself (no surprise here), the 14mm, the 20mm and the 45mm (so no surprise here either).
analog stuff (i’m quite new to all this analog stuff but it really is fascinating)
- seagull 4b-1 twin lens reflex
- olympus om-2 slr (can take all the wonderful om-mount lenses from above)
- nikon f55 + kit + 50mm f1.8
- olympus 35rc
- polaroid ee100
- pentacon six with carl zeiss jena biometar 80mm f2.8
- canon 9900f scanner (i really struggle with scanning…)
getting dusty (but still warm feelings)
- panasonic lx3 (24-60mm f2.0-2.8)
- panasonic wide angle converter lw-46
will probably leave the house soon, it just didn’t work out between us
panasonic tz7 (25-300mm f3.3-4.9)i gave it to a girl with even smaller hands
.documenting.the.obvious 
I have an epl1 too which I got to save me lugging around my lump of a d700 all the time! (love that camera more that anything but sometimes its just too big for some situations) I really want to get myself the 12mm f2 for the olympus but currently need a bank loan to pay for it!! I have only the kit lens at the moment which is actually very good!
Nice blog you have here!
size and weight considerations have been the main reasons that i bought into the system. the 12mm would most probably a great lens but at the moment i’m quite happy with the lumix 14mm and gwc-1 converter solution. but of course this would is not a fair comparison. i liked the kit lens a lot when i got it, but since the 20mm arrived i have rarely used it.
and thanks a lot for the compliment regarding this blog.
Sweet collection you have there :)
I’m going to get an epl3 in a couple of weeks and I think I’ll get the Panasonic 20mm as well. My Canon is just a bit too big for street photography. I do it anyways, but I’m really looking forward to just taking a small camera with me on trips and such.
i think the e-pl3 and the 20mm will make a perfect combination for your shooting style. be sure to check the focussing speed of that combination, though. but i think you shoot manually most of the time anyway, don’t you?
I shoot manually, apart from the autofocus, because the focussing screen of my canon is hideously crap. You can’t see enough detail to know where the focus lies with that one. Thanks for the tip! I doubt that it can be any worse than the autofocus of my canon lenses though. They drive me mad sometimes. I guess, focussing speed is probably not my main factor in selecting the lens. It seems like a pretty decent lens from what I’ve seen so far.
focussing speed definitely shouldn’t be the main criterion. and apart from that the 40mm doesn’t disappoint. it is an absolutely brilliant lens to shoot with.
i’m interested in what you think about shooting without a viewfinder.
My favourite lens at the moment is my 35mm Canon lens, so the 40mm frame should be nice! The image quality I’ve seen with the pany was pretty impressive for a pancake, so I’m really looking forward!
Lately I’ve been shooting a lot from the hip, so I don’t always use the viewfinder anyway, but it’s still going to be quite a change. There is still the option of the electronic viewfinder if I can’t get used to it. I’m planning to use some manual focussing lenses as well and for that the electronic viewfinder might be really good. It’s a bit pricey though.
Those tiny camera amaze me each time. I am actualy looking for a new camera. I was first looking for a dslr and stuuf like this but I am seriously wondering about that kind of camera each time i meet a blog like this one (and this one : http://lucdewaele.wordpress.com/ ).
You have a great blog with great pictures! I am following you! :)
thanks a lot!
yes, i’ve seen your comment over at luc’s blog. i’m always fascinated by his stuff, too ;)
i saw you are shooting with a rebel t3 at the moment? if you are not preferring the form factor (and size) of the t3 i can happily recommend the m43 system. i believe the fuji100s that luc is using is probably even more interesting but you can’t change lenses on it. but then again – you already have the t3 ;)
decisions decisions…
thank you for following and all the likes!
This is such a well written gear page… very originally presented. Loving your site, and so glad I found it through the feature today!
thanks a lot for visiting and for your very nice comment, Shane. i’m glad you found my site, too ;)
and thank you for commenting on ‘beusselstrasse’. i like that picture very much, too.
I had the Pentacon Six TL but I made a mistake because I bought the Hasselblad a week after, the seller told me that I would get rid of my P6 very quick after using Hasselblad. I didn’t listen and I sold it after 2 months lol.
It’s a keeper though It was amazing to use and I love to see people use it.
thats a lot of gear!
i never thought of owning so much, but it must be nice to have so many options available to fight over who’s going to be chosen/used.
i just started trying to “seriously” make an effort at photography last summer 15.
I’ve always had a point and shoot/smart phone in hand for jobs to steal/knockoff/inspiration as a designer, but never really thought of using it for anything other than that…but looking back at past photos; i.e. ‘making a buck’, i guess i really was using it for its main purpose. to capture images that interested me.
this is my gear:
canon s95(which now rest in a cupboard)
lg g3 smartphone…on occasion for pictures/often used for a phone
pentax k1000/1st film camera that i traded out shortly for an olympus 35rd. which i recently gave it as a an xmas gift to my ex-wife/best friend presently. theres a few images posted ‘a girl named chie’ which i shot of her using my canon iii, and the olympus 35rd. theres a true difference in the two cameras. the rd is really sharp, and contrasty when used with the dark tint filter.
fuji xpro1 for digital images. which i am very happy with its design aesthetics. i can’t speak too much for its tech abilities, since I’m no pro, and firstly bought it for its looks. it works fine for my usages.
nikon fm, 1st slr that i am very happy with.
but my main shooter is a beautiful canon iii rangefinder. i can’t get a leica as of just yet…
my dream camera(and if/when i finally can afford it) will be a leica m4. when this finally happens, i plan to rid of all others…except the canon iii and my phone(until it dies).
I’m really jazzed about what I’ve shot/posted so far, but there is of course much room for improvements. since i can only afford to be self taught, it even makes me happier when I’ve self developed a roll, and if at least 1ne image is worth posting.
to be honest, i never thought about owning so much, either… i started some six years ago with some more ‘serious’ effort in photography with getting a panasonic lx-3 (i remember considering the canon s95 at that time, too). the lx-3 was a kind of revelation to me because low light photography suddenly was fun and the pictures did not look like mush anymore and more importantly i learned to live without a (tele-)zoom and that was probably a real push for my compositional abilities.
soon enought i wanted more, though. olympus had just come out with the m43 system especially with the entry model e-pl1 and after a lot of deliberation i finally went for one. and i was sold. it was better than anything i had ever used before image-qualitywise and it felt so right.
i used the e-pl1 for about three years and then ‘made an upgrade’ to the e-p5 and i’m still using the e-p5 as my main camera. somewhere on this path i tried out some film photography, too. i liked it and have some cameras but i think this is not yet the right tool for me for converting my vision to pixels. i have to learn much more, which i consider a good thing but it takes a lot of time and i only have a limited amount of free time for photography so i rather work digitally at the moment. i can absolutely understand the satisfaction you feel when developing a roll, though :)
thank you for your interesting comment, which made me recap my photographic way up to now again.
This is a fun read, not least because I too am an Olympus fan, having used the OM D-1 for about a year now. I still have no understanding about (probably) 60% of what it can do, with all the programmable buttons, etc. I love the ibis as I’m a spontaneous shooter and loathe tripods. I even use the art setting once in a while but mostly just A priority is enough.
That panasoic 20 mm lens has been a big favorite with me, too. I was thrilled with it, after only using a kit lens. Then the M zuiko 60 mm f2.8 macro entered my life. Both of those lenses are so sharp, when I put any zoom on I struggle to make satisfactory images.
I recently got the M zuiko 14 – 150 mm, which I hope will be better for me than their 45 – 175 mm has been. I need to practice with that 14 – 150 mm.
Then I picked up the panasonic 14 mm f2.5. I thought I should have a better wide angle prime for landscapes and I found a used one for a great price – so I have to learn how to use that one, too! You really have to look differently with each different lens, and figure out what to do with them and which ones reflect your style best.
I have been thinking about the 45 mm f1.8, too… and I really don’t know much about the oly 75 mm f1.8, your holy grail – must check into that! ;-) Also on my list, an oddball vintage lens, the Helios 58 mm f2, which I think I will get soon to play with. I have another vintage lens that produces interesting effects but I confess I don’t use it much.
The closest I get to analog is playing with Color efex pro…yikes, so many possibilities!