Hello hello.
I basically only do macro and landscape work with some wildlife (e.g. bird) photography thrown in for good measure. Feel free to check out my website,
www.renderedinsilver.com , to see my work in case it helps you with your responses.
Right now I'm pretty well set for macro work. I love my om-d and the 60mm olympus macro lens. I sometimes still use my old takumar macro lenses too.
🙂 Micro four thirds gives me good reach for macro along with fairly good depth of field (more than full frame or aspc anyway).
Also, I feel comfortable using the om-d for telephoto / wildlife work. I'm not going to buy a gigantic fast telephoto for a dslr because I am not comfortable spending that kind of money on an area which is a not a primary area in my body of work. Micro four thirds gives me the panasonic 100-300 which is relatively inexpensive and delivers fairly good quality photos.
So, that brings me to landscape. I've been using my om-d with the 12mm lens and also my rx100 for landscape work. On the whole, I've found that I prefer the rx100. I am not a big wide angle person apparently. I find that I prefer that my landscapes are taken with a 35 - 90mm lens / perspective on the whole. And, I like the zoom. There have regularly been times in which it is not possible for me to 'zoom with my feet' because either (1) it would take too long to cover the distance to get to where I would like to be or (2) taking those extra steps would be dangerous, e.g. walking off a cliff. Cropping to get the composition I want is not always a great option. I would prefer to minimize cropping as much as possible. Also, telephoto compression can be quite nice for landscapes. As nice as the rx100 is, I would like to step up in image quality a bit if possible (sensor is damned good though). I would also like to do long exposures, which just is not an option with the rx100.
So, now I have a bunch of gear, accumulated over the past decade, that just isn't really getting much use and which I am generally somewhat reluctant to use. To be blunt -- most of it is film equipment and I'm tired of scanning negatives. Digital convenience is getting to me these days. I don't particularly have the time or the inclination to scan. I do love my film cameras and the results I get from film, but I find that I just go digital nine times out of ten these days.
I think I have a few options at my disposal...
(1) Just be content with the rx100 for landscape. Obviously the cheapest, easiest option. The camera has held up well in the rain and delivers quite good results. The sensor is pretty awesome. I would like to get more dynamic range and generally step up IQ a bit though. Also, no long exposure possibilities with the rx100.
(2) Get zooms for the om-d. The zooms in the moderate wide angle to telephoto range just don't seem as good as the slr options. Quality is okay, but nothing great. Wider zooms just seem somewhat lackluster too. Primes are great though.
(3) Get a fuji x-e1 kit. The kit zoom with it seems quite good and by all accounts the telephoto zoom should be good as well. They may not be up to the top of the line nikon or canon zooms, but they should be solid contenders. The sale that is ongoing now makes the pricing rather attractive.
(4) Get a full frame dslr for maximum quality. I should note that I print no larger than 13x19. A d800e would be the top quality choice, but a d600 gives a full frame sensor for 1k less (but possibly with dust / oil issues? hope Nikon remedied that). The 24-120mm f4 and 70-200mm f4 seem very good. Nikon has a sale going on that moment. So, while this is clearly the most expensive option, it is at least somewhat less expensive than what it might otherwise be. This seems to be the most flexible, highest quality, heaviest, and most expensive option.
(5) Oddball option is get a leica m 240. The wait time involved, having a camera body alone that costs $7k, and unknown long exposure capabilities give me pause though. Would be able to use some zooms of x y z brand on it though via adapters. EVF technology seems fairly old and I don't really like hotshoe evfs. I could keep using my 50 summicron and 28/2.8 elmarit asph on it though...
To pay for the above, I'd have to part with a good chunk of gear. Note for the moderators -- not putting up anything for sale here and I will summarily ignore any messages about purchasing so as not to run afoul of any forum policies. I am always happy to pay my classified fees and sell my gear here at rff and will do so if and when the time comes.
I don't really use my hasselblad kit at all. I generally just prefer my rolleiflex -- it is simple, not as cumbersome, and I can focus it more reliably (just works better with my rubbish eyesight, thank you maxwell screen). Selling the camera plus accessories along with the 50 / 80 / 150mm lenses would cover $2700 or so. I havent bothered to carefully price anything out.
Could also part with my olympus 12mm for ~$600.
I could let go of my leica r8 for another $500, keeping my leicaflex sl2 and 50/90 summicrons.
I won't sell my rolleiflex or my m3 with 50 summicron, ever. If I let go of my black paint .58 mp, I could get another $3500+, but that would be a difficult sale. And, I would have to get a m2 or something to replace it with (unless I got the m 240) because I'd have a 35mm and 28mm lens that I would not really be able to use on my m3 without accessory finders -- and I'm not going to do that.
So, the funds for the above options are available. Just really not sure what way to go.
Leaving for glacier park in montana in a two weeks. Should I stick with existing, trusted equipment or bring along new stuff as well as the om-d / rx100?
Just trying to work through my thought process here and would appreciate your opinions and input.
Thanks in advance.
