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Everyday Carry Cameras – Micro Four Thirds

Olympus now OM stand at the NEC photography show. People at the stand trying out the new OM 3.

My first every day carry camera was actually an old film Hanimex AF film camera. It was a re-badged cheap film camera but worked well. I then went on to a Nikon S3 digital compact, but I was always on the lookout for a large sensor’ed compact like the Fuji X100 or Ricoh GR.

I have tested both of these but prefered the viewfinder of my Leica to either of them, the Ricoh having no viewfinder and the Fuji being a poor competitor in the viewfinder stakes to the Leica.

Over the years I have kept returning to and testing the Olmpus Pen range.

Quick snap of Gavin Hoey at a 1/3 of a second in bad artificial light.

As I posted a while back, I went on a photo walk with the Olympus rep and a OM5. This was a great little camera but I prefer the styling of the Pen. I kept putting it off as none of them had viewfinders. When the Pen-F came out, I loved it but it was too expensive for me at that time. I did get the chance to play with the OM3 recently with is totally gorgeous, see top photograph I took with it at a show. The second shot is a portrait of the amazing photographer Gavin Hoey. This was a shot with the Pen-F and the 17mm f/1.8 lens at high ISO and at 1/3 of a second. Considering the bad artificial light its come out really well. Likely if I had been more familiar and experienced with the camera, this shot would have been much better.

My everyday carry at the moment is a Leica M, but sometimes I want something I can use one handed, especially as I am often out with Ted the Greyhound.

Ted, a large black greyhound laid on his dog bed. His tongue has escaped from his mouth and is hanging down.

The original digital Pen keeps coming to mind and if I can find a VF-1 optical viewfinder that fits in its hot shoe I might pick one up second hand, there only £100 now and still a nice performing camera. It would be something you would not be to concerned with risking in environments where you would not want to take a more expensive camera.

I also tried out out the Pen F again last week, as they had a black one in the local London Camera Exchange. Its still very nice, but its a lot to pay for a secondhand camera and it also lacks weather sealing.

In many ways the new OM Pen announced this month would make a good option. I was in Lincoln on Tuesday and the local London Camera Exchange had the new pen in for demo.

Its got a really nice feel and for a lower end model the quality and feel in the hand was excellent. So I have pulled the trigger and have placed an order. I am going for the black one. I might add an original Pen in silver if I can find that viewfinder accessory.

Being a little late with my order its unlikely i get one from the initial batch but should not be too long. I have placed an order for the original 17mm f/2.8. This is a fun tiny lens, and i’ll also be using a 20mm f/1.4 pro lens on it as well as the zoom it comes with.

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Revisiting an old Camera

Plants by the river bank in closeup, and an old Norman church can be seen in the background.

Sunday morning saw me walking Ted the Greyhound around a local village.

A typical english scene, a field and village in the background.

I decided to dig into the back of my photo cupboard in my office and dig out one of my older mirrorless cameras.

Country tree lined lane leading back to a traditional english village.

I picked up my old Nikon V1 a tiny mirrorless camera from 2011, and popped on a telephoto lens. This tiny combination gave me a reach from 90 to 300mm.

A white village cottage for sale and behind can be seen the old norman village church

The tiny 10 megapixel camera was not a big success for Nikon its tiny CX 1 inch format was considered two small, but for a small everyday carry, its quite a capable little camera.

Too many people people feel you have to have 35mm full frame, and look down on the smaller formats. As a photographer I have large format 5×4 inch camera, full frame medium format, full frame 35mm, and DX and this little CX. I am also considering adding a small MicroFourThirds kit. All have there place and each has an advantage and disadvantage.

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Photo Walks – getting back into the habit

Centre of Horncastle, and some of the old buildings, Perkins shop and the Horncastle Farmers Club are the two main buildings in the picture. Some people walking and pushing a cycle can be seen.

Last few trips out I have always taken a camera with me, generally the Leica M10. I had gotten out of the habit recently, and its one that I have been trying to get back into.

An old plain brick building in Horncastle dating back to the last century.

When visting Horncastle two weekends ago, I had the trusty M10 and a 35mm lens, but now I think something wider might have been better.

An old thatched town cottage on the way to the old church. Some of the old cobbled street can be seen and past the cottage is the remains of a Roman wall.

Theres some lovely old buildings in the villages and towns of Lincolnshire.

Horncastle town square. Market stalls are being setup.

With the showery weekend we had, my thoughts turned again to a small compact or microfourthirds camera, if I can find one that is weather sealed.

The new Pen comes to mind as a great everyday carry when I don’t want the weight of the Leica or risk it in a downpour.

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The new Nikon Z5IIC

Product shot of a black Nikon Z5IIC to the left and Z5IIC in silver to the right. Text to the right saying Capture the Spark.

I can image the comments on in forums now. Useless camera, no EVF wheres my 28mm f/1.2 S but pancake size!

This is a nice product with good video and good performance. If you after a small camera and are a landscape photographer who composes on the rear screen this is not a bad option. If your a content creator and need a b-roll camera or are getting into video, again its not a bad choice.

This is not the camera for everyone and many photo centric users will be vocal in it not being for them. Put there will be some users who love this. A good camera to flesh out the range.

Now Nikon I will say wheres the small 17mm f/2.8, a quality 28mm. The recent f/1.4 none S lens are a good start for their small cameras but we need more small lens.

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Hyprland and the change to a lua config file

A screenshot of the w3c web browser, this is a text command line browser.

I use a window manager on my main linux laptop, I find to it helps me to concentrate. The linux build is quite minimal.

Recently hyprland changed its config file to lua. I had been putting it off, but in the end I had to re-write my config file in lua. It was surprisingly straight forward. One thing I could not get working was window resizing using the standard VIM keys.

Screen print of my lua config file for Hyprland

I had a few attempts at trying to resolve this but was struggling to find the command I needed, what I tried always gave me errors. I could not find an example on line every example was for pre-lua, but eventually I found the command:

hl.dsp.window.resize

Yep easy once you know.

So if your searching yourself here are the four lines you need in your Hyprland Config Lua file for resizing windows with the VIM keys.

hl.bind(mainMod .. ” + CTRL +h”, hl.dsp.window.resize({ x = -10, y = 0, relative = true }))

hl.bind(mainMod .. ” + CTRL +l”, hl.dsp.window.resize({ x = 10, y = 0, relative = true }))

hl.bind(mainMod .. ” + CTRL +k”, hl.dsp.window.resize({ x = 0, y = -10, relative = true }))

hl.bind(mainMod .. ” + CTRL +j”, hl.dsp.window.resize({ x = 0, y = 10, relative = true }))

Black haired model with glasses, white blouse and pink jacket. She is sat typing onto a laptop
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Full Frame Nikon Z30?

Product shot of a Nikon Z3-

The Z30 is a nice little DX crop factured camera if you happy with no EVF.

Rumour is, that there is a Z5II version coming so a full frame Z5 with no EVF.

For Nikon DX crop format lovers they are still waiting for a high end Z body. It seems everyone is concentrating on full frame.

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Leica Classic Line

Advertising image for the Leica 66mm lens in M mount. There is a picture of the lens with a red stripe across the image saying sold out.

Over the years since inventing 35mm photography, Leica have produced some interesting sometimes limited edition lens. An odd one is the M glass 66mm. Olympus liked their 55mm, and Nikon had a classic 58mm. Leica’s 66mm is an interesting choice of focal length, an in-between choice similar to the 40mm that has become popular recently.

Not sure how many Leica made but most of the uk stockists are sold out.

I am intending to add a 40mm to my collection at some point. Any none standard focal lengths you like?

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The current cost of entry level cameras

Young mum and child walking past Jews Court on Steep Hill in Lincoln

Olympus have released the OM Pen. As the Pen F it was a flagship product but did not sell well. Now it’s more an entry level camera, but with the kit lens its still close to a thousand pounds.

Canon have just released the refreshed R8ii at £1759 which is also an entry level camera.

With the entry level now £500 – £1200 for small mirrorless to £1000 – £2000 for 35mm full frame, and the professional spec bodies around £5000 getting into photography is proving to be expensive.

High end compacts like the Ricoh GR range going for £1300, and the Fuji X100 if you can get one for £1800.

Secondhand is looking increasingly tempting. Especially when you can get something like a mid range Nikon Z6 for under £700, Canon EOS 7Dii for £400, the Olympus OM-D E-M1 for under £600 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 for £250. Thats a good selection of DSLR, full frame mirrorless and MicroFourThirds.