So I’m going to give the entire 1 camera, 1 lens, 1 film thing a try. We’ll see how long I last.

I’m going with the FX-3/50 Planar combo. That offers the least temptation for snagging other lenses for shooting. As a backup plan, if/when the notoriously fragile FX-3 self-destructs my backup plan is to get a Leitax mount conversion kit for the Planar and a Pentax KX, KM or MX as a replacement body (and then get rid of the rest of the Contax bits I have).

I’m officially starting Sunday after I return the borrowed Hassy 501cm, but I’ve already stashed everything else other than the G1 (which will continue to be used as a bar camera, don’t want to waste film on that) and the 645 Super which will get stashed as well.

As to the film side, HP5+ gets the official nod. Since I don’t want to waste the 35mm in my stash I’ll cheat a bit. 50% minimum of what I shoot has to be HP5+ and I won’t buy any new film other than HP5+. Of the non-HP5, no more than 50% can be colour and 50% of that must be Provia 100F (I have a ridiculous amount of P100F floating around that needs to get shot).

So I’m still really enjoying the G1 as my main digital. But its limitations are equally obvious. Don’t try shooting action with it. It simply doesn’t do continuous advance in a usable fashion.

As I do some shooting of that sort, I do somewhat need a plan for it (combined with an U/W and normal zoom options as well). Here’s my options:

Buy a Nikon D90 w/10-20: Upsides are good viewfinder, reasonable price, class-leading high-ISO, already have a usable walkaround zoom (24-85G), uses my 20, 24, 40 and 58 just fine. Downsides are: it’s a little big, no metering with the rest of my Nikon lenses, 10-20 not usable on G1, unable to use screwmount or Contax lenses, no in-body IS.

Nikon D5000 w/10-20: Upsides are reasonable price, flip-twist LCD, class-leading high ISO, already have a usable walkaround zoom (24-85G), uses my 20, 24, 40 and 58 just fine. Downsides are: VF is adequate at best, no metering with the rest of my Nikon lenses, 10-20 not usable on G1, new batteries (may be hard to find), unable to use screwmount or Contax lenses, no in-body IS, single-wheel UI, low-rez LCD.

Sony A700 w/24-105, 10-20: Upsides are good viewfinder, reasonable price, great ergonomics, second to Nikon in high-ISO, excellent build. Downsides are no lenses in system, unable to adapt Nikon kit (screwmount is adaptable, Contax convertible), large body (biggest of those I’m considering), native lenses are non-usable on G1, in-body stabilization only usable on chipped lenses.

Pentax K7D w/some lens solution (16-45 or primes): Upsides are excellent VF, very compact body comparable to D5000 in size), 14.6MP, screwmount essentially native, Contax convertible, Nikon’s can be sorta mounted, weather sealed, excellent build, shares lenses with ZX-M. Downsides are no lenses in system, most expensive option, DA lenses not really usable on G1, KA Adaptall-2 mounts expensive and rare.

Oly E-30 w/14-xx and 9-18: Upsides are good VF, almost everything’s adaptable, only option which can share AF lenses with G1, 4:3 aspect ratio, good ergonomics, flip/twist LCD, good CDAF performance. Downsides are lowest IQ of the lot, second most expensive, low-rez LCD, my traditional aversion to Oly bodies, viewfinder gets VERY dark by f4.5, overpriced for the specs.

Conclusion: A700 dies on the same altar it always does for me, I’d really have to switch whole hog for it to make sense. In addition my current preference for smaller non-645 bodies and Sony’s complete lack of competitive small bodies (along with my lack of interest in giving up the G1) renders the system less desirable. The Nikon’s lack of in-body stabilization and very restricted lens compatibility renders them significantly less interest. The Pentax K7D is very interesting, and most lenses for it would be usable on my ZX-m. It’s easily the best size/performance compromise as well. But it would require significant lens investment as I only have the one screwmount lens and the 3 Adaptall-2 lenses (which would still require expensive KA mounts for full usability) and it’s already the most expensive option by a fair marging (at least $200). That leaves the E-30. Which is the only Oly I could see myself owning as the lower-end bodies have unusably small viewfinders (and awful ergonomics aside from the E-520) and the E-3′s button layout was designed by a spastic moron with assignment handled by magic 8-ball (and it’s also massive). I’d still need to add normal and ultra-wide zooms (although the latter would be the 9-18 I want for the G1 anyways). Heck, I could even forgo the normal zoom in a pinch.

So, it looks like the E-30 is going to be my choice here. I’ll be waiting for the price to come down a bit more though.

This is part of the BC rainforest, near the US border southeast of Abbotsford in Cultus Lake Provincial Park. A truly gorgeous area that I do recommend visiting if you get the chance.

Embiggen…
Panasonic G1, G Vario 14-45 OIS, ISO 400, 1/60, f8@28mm

It gets darkish under those big Redwoods, even in early afternoon.

Well, I’m about to hit a major milestone in my quest to scan & archive all of my 35mm B&W negatives and organize them in a recognizable fashion. I’m 4 strips of APX100 away from having done all of the small stuff (emulsions with 30 or less rolls). This just leaves roughly 70 rolls of APX400/Silvertone 400 and a similar amount of Tri-X. This project will get me back to where I was in the fall of 2007 when I lost much of my 35mm scan archives to a failed HDD (Seagate, as usual). It will also ensure that my archival organization matches my negative organization. Previously I’d archived all my scans by aggregate roll number (A roll might be ‘B&W Roll 129) and organized the negatives by emulsion and emulsion roll number (The same roll might be Plus-X Roll 5). While I labeled the aggregate roll number on the neg sheet, and usually had the emulsion in the file name (outside of early rolls which had individually named files) this made for confusion trying to cross-reference neg sheets and scans. Now I sort everything by emulsion and emulsion roll count, with a standard filename indicating emulsion, camera (if known), roll count and frame number. So a file might be TX400-F3-R45-017 indicating that it’s Tri-X shot with an F3, the 45th roll of Tri-X in the archives and frame 17. Folders tree in that case would be 35mm Archives/B&W/Tri-X/Tri-X Roll 45/. My colour and slide work in 35mm is still organized by aggregate roll count, but the negs/slides are also organized that way (they do need to be moved to binders though, and old stuff rescanned).

Sold my Zeiss 28-70 today and grabbed a Pentax ZX-M with the proceeds. That gives me a camera to use with the S-M-C Tak 50/1.4 I bought on the cheap a while back (along with a K adaptor). Not a bad little camera, much like the MZ-5n I used to own but with a MF-friendly focusing screen. Also scored 10 rolls of Ektar 100 as it’s unbelievably cheap. At $5/roll I’m going to shoot a LOT of it. I was rather impressed with the first roll I shot, looks very much like E100VS without the cost of slide film as my purchased & processed cost on Ektar at the more expensive place I used is less than the processing or purchase alone of E100VS.

This brings the realization that there’s really little in the way of reliable, cheap Contax bodies. The good ones are all quite pricey (RTSIII’s are typically $500+, Aria’s and RX’s not all that much less).

On the flip side, I really do like the late Minolta AF bodies. Especially the Maxxum/Dynax 7, which are available for quite reasonable money (under $200 for a 7) And the same goes for the Sony A700 & A900. But they’re unsuitable for lens adaptation as the mount throat is too small for adaptors other than M42.

But thinking about it, the M42 adaptors have some meat between the threads and the Alpha bayonet. And Contax lenses have removable bayonet lugs which leave just a ~43mm diameter tube when removed. And Contax mount register is essentially identical to M42 (0.04mm difference). There’s a shoulder between the lip and the face of the mount though.

This means that it should be possible to easily ream out an Alpha M42 adaptor, then drill & countersink it to the mount screw pattern and mount it to a Contax lens via the mount screws. The mod would be totally reversible too as you could simply take the adaptor off an remount the bayonet lugs.

As a bonus, the same basic idea can be used with Pentax K lenses, although you’d have to physically modify the lens as the lugs are not a removable piece and the infamous Pentax stop-down lever would still cause issues. But Pentax lenses are something that I’d be more willing to modify permanently.

Oh, and yes, Nikon lenses too, but you’d need to add a 1mm spacer to make up the difference in spacing between F mount (46.5mm register) and M42 (45.46mm register). But I’d be inclined to keep my Nikon lenses for my Nikon kit.

Embiggen…

Panasonic G1, Olympus ZD 40-150, ISO 200, 1/640, f8@40mm, toned & B&W conversion from PS CS3′s B&W Adjustment tool.

Overall, I really do like the G1. The size is ideal and it handles very well. The EVF is large (similar in size to my 35mm film bodies) and works very well for both composing and focusing. It’s actually the best VF I’ve ever used for precise manual focus even without using the MF assist function (which zooms in to give better focus indication). Image quality is almost as good as my D300 was (really identical to ISO 640, then falling off as the ISO gets higher). The click-wheel UI really makes a huge difference in how usable a single-wheel camera is, allowing me to switch between Aperture and Exposure compensation seamlessly. It’s a bit too easy to click though, which is its only downside. Gotta say I love the MF assist function, and the fact you can actually compose in true B&W by picking a B&W Film Mode which sets the EVF/LCD to B&W display. That’s a killer app for B&W shooting, no more guessing as to what things are going to look like.

Overall I rather like the camera and it will be my light carry/travel camera for the foreseeable future.

Warts:
Too easy to change settings. The mode dial needs a lock, or at least stiffer detents. I find it switching to P or S modes too easily. Ditto the drive mode switch, which can easily be bumped to the next setting. I’ve already mentioned the click-wheel’s sensitivity. And also the eye-detect system for auto-switching from the EVF to the LCD is too sensitive, I’ve had to disable it as it won’t let me use the LCD in gut-pod mode (braced against my stomach with the LCD as a waistlevel, a favourite way to shoot in low-light).

Insufficiently configurable. Panasonic should give some more configuration options, particularly for the Film Mode and Fn buttons. Film Mode is only really useful to JPEG shooters as it allows switching between JPEG rendering settings (which also affect what the EVF/LCD do), but this is accessible from the Quick Menu button next to the Film Mode button anyways. Love to see it become configurable. Ditto the Fn button, which has too few options. MF Assist activation should become one of those options at least, giving 1-button access to it (currently you have to hit the AF button then the Fn button IIRC to activate MF assist with lenses which can’t activate it automatically).

I’ve got 3 lenses for it at the moment, two are 4/3rds lenses using the DMW-MA1 adaptor.

The kit G Vario 14-45mm f3.5-5.6 OIS Aspherical
The Zuiko Digital 25mm f2.8
The Zuiko Digital 40-150mm f4-5.6 ED

I’m very impressed with the kit lens, it’s surprisingly good for a kit lens, is tiny and well built as well (metal mount and part-metal barrel). The IS is effective down to fairly ridiculous shutter speeds (1/2 second is quite repeatable) and the colour, contrast and resolution are at the level of a mid/high end consumer zoom rather than a cheap kit lens. I don’t much like focus-by-wire though, no DoF markings and so-so feel. Also comes with a nice petal hood (but no polarizer slot, unlike the great Pentax hoods) and a pouch, which is a rare bonus at this level.

The ZD 25 is a lens that I try to love and fail. It’s small (25mm long), even with the MA1 converter it’s smaller than most 50/1.4′s. Handling is overall decent on the converter, Oly sacrificed a lot to get the largish focus ring. But the 43mm filter size is brain-dead, I can’t even find a bloody step-up ring to a useful size for it. And the lens just doesn’t deliver optically. The 14-45 outperforms it optically. It’s only redeeming qualities are size, speed (the pedestrian f2.8 is still noticeably faster than either of my other lenses) and the good close-focus performance, it focuses to 0.2m, vs 0.3m for the 14-45 and 0.9m for the 40-150. Frankly this is the worst normal prime you can buy today. And it’s not even that cheap at $279CDN.

The ZD 40-150 was a pleasant surprise. I’m not much of a long-lens shooter so I got this for $129 rather than getting the G Vario 45-200 OIS that is the other currently-available m43 lens (and is $399) or one of the better Oly lenses (the 70-300 or 50-200). It’s smallish (comparable to the Pentax 50-200 in size) with good handling compared to similar lenses (real focus ring, decent all-plastic build) although it does have a plastic mount. Comes with a nice deep and reversible lens hood (Nikon, Canon, learn from this. Pentax, Panasonic and Oly understand than even cheap lenses should come with hoods). The shocker with this lens is optical quality. It’s sharp, has good colour and contrast. A surprise in an ultra-cheap kit lens (this lens is the 2nd lens in the Oly 2-lens kits). In fact it puts the ZD 25, which costs more than twice as much, to shame optically. If you need a small or occasional long lens for a 4/3rds or m43 kit, get this little gem. You won’t be disappointed and you won’t be out much either.

Embiggen…

Panasonic G1, Olympus ZD ED 40-150mm f4-5.6, ISO 400, 1/800, f11@150mm

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Nikon FE2, 105mm f2.5 AI, Ilford HP5+ @EI800

Embiggen…

Nikon FE2, Nikkor 105mm f2.5, Ilford HP5+ @EI3200