[jct us101]

I once again invite you all to join my forum...which was once hosted on PF's server. :-P

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

Interesting article and images:

Shooting professionally with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 ? Ming Thein | Photographer

[pingflood]

[stormtech]

Cross posting from another thread......I tried a very non-scientific test the other day to compare my Pentax and Panasonic setups. I had a juvenile finch stay still at one of my feeders for 1/2 hour, so that was a good a subject as any.

First image - Pentax K-5 w/FA*300 4.5
Second image - Panasonic GH2 w/100-300

Both images heavily cropped (almost 3x)





Needless to say, I am just blown away with the detail of the Panny when put up against the K-5 and a legendary Pentax lens.

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

Needless to say, I am just blown away with the detail of the Panny when put up against the K-5 and a legendary Pentax lens.

Interesting - you used the Panasonic at 300mm where it is supposed to be at its weakest. I've been thinking of getting that lens.

[stormtech]

Interesting - you used the Panasonic at 300mm where it is supposed to be at its weakest. I've been thinking of getting that lens.

Yeah - @300mm wide open I am also very impressed especially being hand held. Here are a couple more shots from that day that are not cropped:

Zenfolio | stahr | On the deck GH2 100-300

Also what has impressed me is I bought my wife a G3 w/45-200 a couple months ago. She is basically a point & shooter, but the combo has generated some very impressive shots in her hands:

Zenfolio | stahr | On the deck with G3 45-200

While I really like both camera setups, I still just can't let my Pentax gear go for some reason. I've just begun to work with the Panny equipment and know I can do even better with some time and experimentation. So in the meantime I am stuck in a 2 system fold and don't know which way to proceed - so I just use both!

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

Here are a couple more shots from that day that are not cropped:

Nice shots!

Also what has impressed me is I bought my wife a G3 w/45-200 a couple months ago. She is basically a point & shooter, but the combo has generated some very impressive shots in her hands:

My wife also got better results with the E-PL3 than she ever did with the K-x.

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

Got to use the DA 50-200 on the E-PL2 with a new adapter allowing simple aperture control:

[stormtech]

Just beautiful shots - the classic Pentax rendering still shines through!

I have an adapter like you explain, but have never tried it on a da lens without aperture ring yet. How do you find it works? Do just move the lever a little and take a guess where your apeture is?

[Aegon]

Good stuff, LC. #3 is amazing.

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

Just beautiful shots - the classic Pentax rendering still shines through!

This lens has very nice color contrast. This seems common to the DA series and is probably the result of the combination of modern optics and the most recent iteration of SMC. Sharpness is a notch below great though. And I could never focus it reliably on the Pentax bodies - especially on tiny subjects. It still is frustrating to use because of the short throw of the focusing ring, but I seem to nail focus somewhat more reliably than before.

I have an adapter like you explain, but have never tried it on a da lens without aperture ring yet. How do you find it works? Do just move the lever a little and take a guess where your apeture is?

Yes, you move it and you can judge the aperture by how the exposure time changes. The throw is very short though, as it corresponds directly to the throw of the aperture lever. Not sophisticated, but it was inexpensive.

BTW, you can try this functionality of the adapter with a regular lens too - just set the aperture to wide open (away from A mode) and then you can control it via the adapter ring.

Good stuff, LC. #3 is amazing.

Thanks! It helps a lot to exploit good afternoon light.

[stormtech]

Thanks for the details on the adapter. I have used mine with lenses with an apeture ring. I'll have to give it a try with one of my DA lenses.

[ivoire]

GH1 and 45-175mm

[rparmar]

I just took a trip across the ocean. Last time I took a backpack and a Pentax kit. This time I took an Olympus PEN and two small lenses. About 1/10 the size and 9/10 the functionality. I did miss not having a telephoto for some animals, but then again I might not have brought one even with a larger kit.

[legacyb4]

Any of you Panasonic users know what the lifecycle is for the Lumix line? Prices on the GX1 have pretty much flattened out over the last 3 months and I'm wondering if we'll see another drop before the GX2 (or whatever it's called) will be released. I'm assuming an annual release schedule so anticipating November-ish of this year?