[iheiramo]

Well... when I joined here back in August 2019 I had like 4 lenses... now I own around 15... I'm far from drawing definite conclusions but...

I'm around 30 lenses ATM and I'm quite content now. 17 are M series primes and it looks like I will keep them all. The ones worth the money I want to keep. The cheap ones are not worth the trouble of selling them, so might as well keep them for occasional fun.

I've said before, but will say again. As hobbies goes photography is quite cheap one. The gear hold value surprisingly well. In sports anything is pretty much worthless in 10 years. Thought quality lenses might be expensive to buy they hold they value very well. My new snowboard with carbon interface I build cost about the same as DFA*85 ( I got mine on discount). To maintain our horse costs about half of that each month. The windsurfboard I ride costs over 4000€ new. I got it for 1700€ as an 4 year old model. No new camera body looses its value that fast. And thought the camera gear hold their value well, photography can also be practiced cheaply. Search for K30 with aperture block failure and combine with M50/1.7 and you have very capable system for mere 100-150€.

[Mikey Floyd]

I've been shooting daily with the SIC since September '15 (and with the DIC since July '17) ..... <snip>

......but as far as LBA..... my name is Dave and I'm an addict...

(:

You are indeed hard core Dave, and I mean that in the most complimentary way.

One thing that is certain is that you have carved out a recognisable style, and that is such a admirable thing. When I scroll down the Flickr SIC group image feed, I know which ones are yours, almost without exception.

---------- Post added 05-25-22 at 03:07 AM ----------

My LBA was under control until you all started talking about 85s. Now I have an M 85/2 on it's way to me.

It's a great lens, one of my keepers. Mine has a pretty decent chip in the front element which bothered me at first. Now I know that I've never seen any ill effect from it and remember that I got the lens for very very little money indeed because of it, (and the fact that it needed to be opened up for a clean and lube.) Interestingly, it covers the GFX sensor with only the very slightest hint of something not quite right in the very corners, totally not noticable in most images. What that means in practice is that on 36x24 you need not worry about those corners at all.

---------- Post added 05-25-22 at 03:19 AM ----------

Well... when I joined here back in August 2019 I had like 4 lenses... now I own around 15... I'm far from drawing definite conclusions but...

---------- Post added 05-24-22 at 10:04 PM ----------



This sounds like a really good idea

I can arrange film development at home in almost no time but I don't do scanning (my attempts to use the DSLR method have failed so far, mostly on the pp side). But assuming that I'd need 7-10 days for the processing of the negatives, here's what could work to me:

- we give ourselves the freedom of shooting two frames a day
- in mid-month, we develop the first and start the second roll of film
- on the 1st of the next month we start posting in the SiC threads from the previous month - in parallel to the present ones (here we'd need to apologize to all the other members for making a mess in the threads )
- in the meantime, the second roll gets developed and scanned to be ready for the midmonth

With this approach, we have enough time to process the pictures but still, we keep the daily, steady routine of posting - although with a monthly delay. That could go in parallel with the present SiC, assuming that the film-shooter joins the regular SiC, too.
One could use even more than two rolls a month - my point was only to give more time to scan the film and one day is way too short to me.
What would you say?

I would suggest to go with the month delay as you say but simply post in the current month image threads. Gentleman's honesty around shooting days and such (which is all there ever really is anyhow.) Or for anyone with a shorter turn around time just go a 7 day (or whatever) delay.

Unfortunately although I did suggest a film SIC to Peter, I can't at this stage join in myself. I have all the developing gear and the scanning at home is no problems - what I'm short of at the moment is a tap! Well, I have a hose, but no sink or waste water management arrangement, and I'm not inclined to dump nasty chemicals on my land which leads a couple of hundred meters down the creek into the bay. The local lab that will hand process for me charges too much for me to use them more than once in a blue moon (and they do a not great job). So at the moment I've put film on the backburner, which is a shame as it is what I enjoy the most. Sorry Peter to get the excitement rising and not be able to join in.

---------- Post added 05-25-22 at 03:22 AM ----------

I've said before, but will say again. As hobbies goes photography is quite cheap one. The gear hold value surprisingly well. In sports anything is pretty much worthless in 10 years. Thought quality lenses might be expensive to buy they hold they value very well..... .

I agree with this completely Ismo - Photography can be a bit expensive but compared to a lot of other pursuits is is very cheap indeed!

[JensE]

My aim with the SiC, in addition to the simply get out of my prism called 'office' more often in daylight, was to figure out how consolidate my seemingly random assembly of lenses. I failed that part. The SiC has changed my view on some of my lenses for sure - however mostly proving to be more useful or interesting than I thought. Several others, which I have not used in a SiC, have been acquired for a very specific reasons anyway. I could e.g. only think of parting with one of the five macro lenses that I own, even if the four longer ones would look redundant to others. And now it's become even harder with the SiC'd lenses.


The SICs not only taught me something about lenses. I had run two formats in parallel, with K-1 (rarely MX/Super-A) and KP before the SiCs. My K-5 sat idle after I got the K-1. I like the relative 'ease' of the larger sensor on the lenses, being able to stop down one stop further, much like @Mikey Floyd; described it mid-month. However, I tremendously enjoy roaming around with just the KP and one compact prime for the SiC photographs and some very tempting specials (K3-III and various desirable Pentax lenses) make me think about thinning out APS-C lenses once more. I'm still trying to figure out a path to qualities over quantity, with just a few days to make up my mind before June.

So given where I am, it would verge on hypocrisy to to talk about how good a limited number of excellent lenses, that you know intimately, is. But it can still be an ideal.

[Mikey Floyd]

This talk about how many lenses we own has me thinking through mine, wondering where I could cut a few out. I admit to feeling kind of ridiculous owning this many and take great inspiration from people like Jersey who are happy with just 4. If I could reduce to just one camera I could do 5 lenses pretty easily.


I listed them, at least I know them well enough to do this entirely from memory, and looking at the list I know all except two of them very well, and those two are in the 'Don't use' category because I never took to them, both are heavier zooms, just not my thing. Then I went through each category, which is by camera, and starred the ones that I'd cut down to if pushed. I guess the ones left without stars are the ones that I should put on the list to Single so that I can free myself from them forever, or know that I should keep them.


Of note and definitely a consideration on keepers is that many lenses play well on more than one camera - of course all the PK lenses work on Fuji-X, although some better than others. That said I think other than the F*300, and maybe the A-50/2.8 Macro, I'm pretty much done adapting PK lenses to FX. A few of the PK lenses also do amazingly on GFX and they are a lightweight dream being used as such, the A-50/2.8 and the A-100/2.8 make a smashing lightweight pair giving me 40 and 80mm equiv as well as decent semi macro. In theory I could use the P645 lenses on anything, in practice though the adaptors are so massive it's kind of comical and I just would not bother, there's no gain, except maybe for tilt/shifting but I'm not that into it.

The reality at the moment is that I walk out the door with the GFX and between 1 and 3 lenses, almost exclusively P645 lenses, occasionally a pair of PK lenses although the lighter setup seems to be more of a percieved advantage than an actual one as I never find what I carry too heavy. The liitle pro-3 gets grabbed for the tele zoom if I see a nice view in the distance at home, but I'm not heading out the door with it in a bag. The K1000 is sitting idle with a half shot film in it. Many of the PK lenses are being kept for some future time when I might be adapting to 36 x 24, but are in deep freeze for now.



The list:

GFX

P645-A 35/3.5 *
P645-A 45/2.8 (the weakest 645 lens, such a shame as I really like 35 equiv as my wide, which remains an unsolved issue.)
P645-A 55/2.8 *
P645-A 75/2.8 *
P645-A 120/4M *
P645-A 150/3.5 *



PK

K 28/3.5 (Just keeping for the day in the future when I decide that I'm ready to start to love something wider than 35 Lol. )
K 35/3.5 * (My favourite K-mount 35)
M 40/2.8 (It's just so small, and actually really really good. But not needed as such.)
A 50/2.8M * (love this lens)
K 55/1.8 * (I kept this one over all the other non macro 50's, the 1.4's the 1.7. I like it being slightly longer, I think it overall makes subjectively slightly nicer images. It's usable on GFX as long as one is not too fussy about the very corners.)
M 85/2 (As much as it is awesome, the A100/2.8 is a scratch better and more my focal length, so if pushed to choose it would go.)
A 100/2.8 * (Just a fabulous lens, long MFD is the only slight downside)
A 100/4M (relatively new to me, doesn't really excite me, actually prefer shorter focal lengths for close ups.)
A 135/2.8 (Like the A100/2.8 - just great.)
F*300/4.5 * (use on FX with the 1.4 TC - actually I personally don't ever use this lens, I hand it off to my girlfriend and she kindly takes photo's of me surfing. Special use scenario. )
A 35-70/4 (really like the close up ability, kind of fun to have a zoom once in a while. Surprisingly does just fine on GFX from 40-70)


FX

VE 21/3.5 *
VX 35/1.2 *
Loxia 50/2 *
XF 55-200 *


Own but never use.

P645-A 45-85/4.5
A 35-105/3.5
XF 18-55
M 400/5.6



p.s. Thanks for indulging me. It's useful for me to have written the list out and considered which lenses do and don't get used and for what.

---

Last edited by Mikey Floyd; 05-25-2022 at 05:05 AM.

[AggieDad]

"...but as far as LBA..... my name is Mud and I'm 'dead in the water'...." thus speaketh the AggieMom.

My lens plan is on a spreadsheet – lenses with ratings and average sell prices and a column I call "Value" which has my secret-sauce formula that takes into account the rating, price, my desire, etc. It works pretty well for me, and keeps me from spending too much money on shelf-sitters.

[pepperberry farm]

You are indeed hard core Dave, and I mean that in the most complimentary way.

One thing that is certain is that you have carved out a recognisable style, and that is such a admirable thing. When I scroll down the Flickr SIC group image feed, I know which ones are yours, almost without exception.

thank you, Mike - I tend to use my photography as a therapy, especially during this pandemic....

This talk about how many lenses we own has me thinking through mine, wondering where I could cut a few out. I admit to feeling kind of ridiculous owning this many and take great inspiration from people like Jersey who are happy with just 4. If I could reduce to just one camera I could do 5 lenses pretty easily.


I listed them, at least I know them well enough to do this entirely from memory, and looking at the list I know all except two of them very well, and those two are in the 'Don't use' category because I never took to them, both are heavier zooms, just not my thing. Then I went through each category, which is by camera, and starred the ones that I'd cut down to if pushed. I guess the ones left without stars are the ones that I should put on the list to Single so that I can free myself from them forever, or know that I should keep them.


Of note and definitely a consideration on keepers is that many lenses play well on more than one camera - of course all the PK lenses work on Fuji-X, although some better than others. That said I think other than the F*300, and maybe the A-50/2.8 Macro, I'm pretty much done adapting PK lenses to FX. A few of the PK lenses also do amazingly on GFX and they are a lightweight dream being used as such, the A-50/2.8 and the A-100/2.8 make a smashing lightweight pair giving me 40 and 80mm equiv as well as decent semi macro. In theory I could use the P645 lenses on anything, in practice though the adaptors are so massive it's kind of comical and I just would not bother, there's no gain, except maybe for tilt/shifting but I'm not that into it.

The reality at the moment is that I walk out the door with the GFX and between 1 and 3 lenses, almost exclusively P645 lenses, occasionally a pair of PK lenses although the lighter setup seems to be more of a percieved advantage than an actual one as I never find what I carry too heavy. The liitle pro-3 gets grabbed for the tele zoom if I see a nice view in the distance at home, but I'm not heading out the door with it in a bag. The K1000 is sitting idle with a half shot film in it. Many of the PK lenses are being kept for some future time when I might be adapting to 36 x 24, but are in deep freeze for now.



The list:

GFX

P645-A 35/3.5 *
P645-A 45/2.8 (the weakest 645 lens, such a shame as I really like 35 equiv as my wide, which remains an unsolved issue.)
P645-A 55/2.8 *
P645-A 75/2.8 *
P645-A 120/4M *
P645-A 150/3.5 *



PK

K 28/3.5 (Just keeping for the day in the future when I decide that I'm ready to start to love something wider than 35 Lol. )
K 35/3.5 * (My favourite K-mount 35)
M 40/2.8 (It's just so small, and actually really really good. But not needed as such.)
A 50/2.8M * (love this lens)
K 55/1.8 * (I kept this one over all the other non macro 50's, the 1.4's the 1.7. I like it being slightly longer, I think it overall makes subjectively slightly nicer images. It's usable on GFX as long as one is not too fussy about the very corners.)
M 85/2 (As much as it is awesome, the A100/2.8 is a scratch better and more my focal length, so if pushed to choose it would go.)
A 100/2.8 * (Just a fabulous lens, long MFD is the only slight downside)
A 100/4M (relatively new to me, doesn't really excite me, actually prefer shorter focal lengths for close ups.)
A 135/2.8 (Like the A100/2.8 - just great.)
F*300/4.5 * (use on FX with the 1.4 TC - actually I personally don't ever use this lens, I hand it off to my girlfriend and she kindly takes photo's of me surfing. Special use scenario. )
A 35-70/4 (really like the close up ability, kind of fun to have a zoom once in a while. Surprisingly does just fine on GFX from 40-70)


FX

VE 21/3.5 *
VX 35/1.2 *
Loxia 50/2 *
XF 55-200 *


Own but never use.

P645-A 45-85/4.5
A 35-105/3.5
XF 18-55
M 400/5.6



p.s. Thanks for indulging me. It's useful for me to have written the list out and considered which lenses do and don't get used and for what.

oh, a list..... i'll pretend I didn't see that, since lists tend to feed my LBA.....

(:

"...but as far as LBA..... my name is Mud and I'm 'dead in the water'...." thus speaketh the AggieMom.

My lens plan is on a spreadsheet – lenses with ratings and average sell prices and a column I call "Value" which has my secret-sauce formula that takes into account the rating, price, my desire, etc. It works pretty well for me, and keeps me from spending too much money on shelf-sitters.

lol... I keep a spreadsheet for purchases and sales, but there's not normally a plan involved....

although, the project I'm working towards and the one I'm currently almost half-way through (the 12 months of Takumars) were planned.... and they seem to be working out....


EDIT:

I knew if I looked long/hard enough, I would find the thread over in the lens forum:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/10-pentax-slr-lens-discussion/250604-how...ml#post5532291

[Chris_K]

I would suggest to go with the month delay as you say but simply post in the current month image threads. Gentleman's honesty around shooting days and such (which is all there ever really is anyhow.) Or for anyone with a shorter turn around time just go a 7 day (or whatever) delay.

That would make some sense. I remember that the SiC rules (used to?) include posting film images on the day of scanning them so we would stretch the rules a bit by posting "recent" images daily... If there were some participants and the mods didn't mind, that could work, I guess.

[pepperberry farm]

if i remember the rules, as they were suggested a while back, for film is that you can post a week at a time as long as you actually took that photo on the day you were posting it to...

(but who would know if you actually fudged it a bit)

(shrugs)

[Minimonster]

I knew if I looked long/hard enough, I would find the thread over in the lens forum:

Thanks for posting that, it makes my collection of lenses look quite small. I do need to thin mine down a bit as I have way too many 50s and a few things I haven't used for ages and can't see myself wanting to use again. As others have mentioned, it's a relatively cheap pastime and the older lenses hold their value very well (as long as you don't over pay in the first place ).

[robgski]

The 85 has arrived, it’s a big’un.

[bigted]

The 85 has arrived, it’s a big’un.

Have an awesome time hefting it about .

[Mikey Floyd]

thank you, Mike - I tend to use my photography as a therapy, especially during this pandemic....

I can relate to that.

EDIT:

I knew if I looked long/hard enough, I would find the thread over in the lens forum:

How many lenses do you have? - Page 127 - PentaxForums.com

Not such a crazy list. And SO eclectic! Some smokers in there.

[pepperberry farm]

Not such a crazy list. And SO eclectic! Some smokers in there.

yeah - not much of a plan....

(:

[bigted]

I too can relate to the idea that the SIC acts as therapy. There are too many days when I simply just don’t feel like doing anything and even getting out of bed is a struggle. My cats help because even if I don’t feel like breakfast the boys aren’t so lackadaisical about eating. Money (or the complete lack of it) keeps the LBA and GBA in check. This year was odd as it allowed for a new body and a couple of lenses one of which (100mm macro) I have been lusting over for a very long time. Anyway for this month in particular I wanted to make sure my new purchase was used and that it didn’t languish in a camera bag because I lacked enthusiasm to get out and shoot something.

[iheiramo]

I have a little existential crisis with my hobby. Not photography in general, but just this daily shooting thing. ATM it feels pointless as all my points have been conquared. I need to find a new point into it and I've been thinking of taking more time of the challenge while I search for it.

At first I joined in as I wanted to learn to use my lenses, but very quickly that turned into learning about the set of lenses. In my case it was the M series primes, as it was what I already had and was relative inexpensive to fill the gaps. So I shot 17 M series primes first in APSC and then in FF. This project was success and I indeed learned a lot about the differences between lenses. Also learned to see the difference between different versions in same focal length. But that's done and there's really no point to go back to it or restart in some other serie.

Then there were my personal skills to upgrade. Again I have learned a lot during my years in SIC. While in the beginning I was stumbling a lot with my settings and testing different options, nowadays I have solid view to settings I want to use when I find the target and also I know sacrifices I'm willing to make if light doesn't permit the optimum settings. I might even say I have found the way I like to shoot or should I say my style. Also manual lenses turned me into control freak and unable to rely on auto features, as there is so often the risk that camera makes a decicion I would not and that is totally unacceptable. Easier to go manual all the time than correct the camera when it makes bad choices. Anyway it feels like there ain't much to learn in here.

During my SIC years I have tried to learn a lot about post processing. I feel like I have honed my process quite well. I go with pretty constant set of adjusts to the shots. There's small variation and some shots have such challenging light that they need more attention, but all in all I can edit a large patches relatively fast. Also stitching, stacking or pixelshift doesn't add too much work. Photoshopping is still something I haven't studied, but it's something I'm not interested to venture into. So I think also here I'm already where I want to be.

I did go thru some interesting lenses I had bought to upgrade my lineup and some lenses I had bought just to play in SIC. There are a couple left, but I have zero interest to shoot them, as I have no great expections of them. I have also lost all interest to buy new lenses to shoot unless I can go for something meaningfully better than what I already have. There apparently is limit even with DFA*85 on how many months you wanna shoot with it. So also this road feels like it's done, as I don't have money to go for DFA*50 ATM and I think I need new a sail (and mast) before new lens.

The things where I need I would need more practice are lighting and portraits. Especially lighting in portraits. But lights feel like a lot of work and I'm not too keen about clinical studio work. I don't really want to dwell too deep into that world. Portraits would mean working with people and for an introvert that is something really dreadful I do like shooting friends doing sports and proper portraits among friends might be fun too, but I don't have eager model for that among my friends. Trying to find a stranger to shoot with feels like way too much work.

So do you have any good theme's or projects in mind that would make shooting these same old sceneries meaningfull again? It's not like I'm giving up on photography, but it might fall back to gategory I do when something special is happening and not be daily habbit. I'm really not satisfied with the effort I have put into daily shooting in last few months.