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Re: [OM] New guy fishing for info ...

Subject: Re: [OM] New guy fishing for info ...
From: "John Hermanson" <omtech@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 08:38:03 -0400
Welcome to the list!

John  Hermanson
___________________________________
Camtech, Olympus Service since 1977.
21 South Lane,  Huntington NY 11743-4714
631-424-2121 http://www.zuiko.com
Free Olympus Manuals: 1-800-221-3000
___________________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: Reuben Acciano <rubydoomsday@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2000 4:10 AM
Subject: [OM] New guy fishing for info ...


| Hi guys.
|
| I am a new signatory to this list so please bear with me as I muddle
through
| my first post. One thing is certain though - I am a committed Zuikoholic
and
| will be til the day I die. I am 27, live in Perth, Western Australia, and
my
| name is Reuben Acciano. I would class my experience as semipro/beginning
pro
| - I get paid for my stuff occasionally, but I can't live off it. Yet :)
|
| First the tale of woe - I was a Zuiko user in the past, then spent two
years
| lost in the EOS wilderness, but am now back in the fold. Of course, when
my
| Zuikoholism went into remission (and being a photo neophyte back then) I
| sold off some gear that I would give up family members to have back now.
| Sigh. Still, I presently possess some very nice gear, and will be adding
to
| it in the coming weeks.
|
| When I started in photography, it was as a staff shooter/writer for my
| university paper. Being young and primarily concerned with pop-culture, we
| shot a lot of live gigs/music related stuff. For low light and for the
most
| versatile flash options, I believed autofocus to be a necessity, so
invested
| in EOS gear - a 100 a 5, 430EZ flash etc. And took a lot of great shots
with
| it, many exhibited, a few sold. The only thing I miss to this day with my
| Oly gear is the absence of second/rear-curtain synch (obviously impossible
| with
| only 1 curtain!!!!) which enables some beautiful combined ambient/flashlit
| shots that are PERFECTLY suited to band/performance photography. BTW - I
| have MASTERED this technique IMHO, and if anyone still involved with other
| systems (surely not ... that would be like cheating on your wife now,
| wouldn't it) would like to discuss this, I would be happy to oblige.
|
| OTOH, the longer I do this, the more I understand the power of pushing
film
| to its limits and dispensing with flash altogether. Also, my Road to
| Damascus moment came when I did a big spring clean one year and marvelled
at
| the higher percentage of relatively sharper shots produced on the OLY
gear.
| Of course. See, during the high-turnover, deadline driven environment of
| publishing, simply getting the workload away meant no real time to peruse
| the print/tranny quality. They were all good enough for publication, as
| newsprint is a crap repro medium. But upon further inspection, the overly
| expensive EOS gear (continually being updated and therefore depreciating
my
| gear) was really, performance wise, no-better than my OLY stuff.
|
| Which led me to sell it all off. These days my kit is: an OM4Ti champagne
| body, 50mm 1.4, 35mm f2, 65-200 f4, Tokina 24mm 2.8 (soon to be rectified)
| and F280 flash. I shoot predominantly performance, travel and portraiture
| these days, though I'm by nature an experimentalist, so my tendency to
stray
| from the comfy travel publishing industry fascism of Velvia-or-die has
| disgruntled a few editors. Sigh. In a couple of weeks I will have a 24mm
f2
| Zuiko and 85mm f2, for a paltry $Australian 470 (about 290 US, I think).
| Don't cry guys. I can't reveal my source either. Hey, that's not the worst
| of it> My biggest Doris Fang (your term?) is a $20 16mm f3.5 full-frame
| Fish, sadly now
| sold.
|
| My reason for posting is thus: can anyone give me some "in use" appraisal
of
| the 85mm f2's performance and sharpness? I have been searching for a
| dedicated portrait lens for some time now and - though I obviously drool
at
| the thought of a 100mm f2 - have been left high and dry by the small local
| used OLY market.
|
| OK - The Fisheye. I went into Cash Converters one afternoon in 1995. I see
a
| bog-standard OM-10 w/out man adapter for $AUD 215 (145 US). Sitting on the
| front, and included in the price is a fairly scratched 16mm fish. I (being
a
| born horse-trader ... thanks, Dad) maintain composure, talk the sales guy
| down to 195 because he is completely oblivious to it's value, and walk out
| of the shop. I didn't need the OM-10 (at the time I had an OM4 and an OM2
| for backup) so I sold that for 150 bucks the following week. Scarcely able
| to believe my luck, I shot a bunch of stuff with the fish. Though the
front
| element scratching was fairly pronounced, the rear element was pristine
and
| thus the images came back absolutely
| fine. I'm sure if I'd bothered to do any huge blowups I might have noticed
| some extra softness in the centre, but for all usable purposes, they were
| spot on.
|
| Sadly I had a Canon relapse in 1996 and sold off my whole OLY kit (fish,
| winder 2 and 24mm f2.8 come BACK !!! - all is forgiven. Sigh). But am
happy
| with my present kit. I heard a viciously inflated price-list thingy about
my
| imminent acquisition (24mm f2 drool, drool droooolll!!!!) whose current
NEW
| replacement price was quoted as ~$AUD 2000. Can this really be so? Are OLY
| the Leica of the new millenium?
|
| Anyway - just an introduction. I will post some images somewhere easily
| accessible as soon as I have all my archived stuff in a digital format.
I'm
| really looking forward to some INFORMED feedback from the readers of this
| list. I've sort of been watching without posting for a little while now
and
| the standard of knowledge is admirably high.
|
| Anywho - 85mm f2 - any info appreciated.
|
| Cheers,
| Reuben Acciano.
|
|



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