What a serious case of LBA!

Well, these are the problems with LBA, not in any order.
1. Never having the correct lens mounted.
2. Indecision as to what lenses to take with you.
3. Multiple camera bags (leads to BBA).
5. Multiple bodies, not to mention tripods, heads, flashes, lighting gear etc., etc.
6. Damaged shoulder and back muscles
7. Dreadful effect on finances.

Been there, done that!

Plus, the trouble is, as far as I'm concerned, there doesn't seem to be any really major positive effects.

After having some 20 different lenses, I decided to take the cure and have a reality check on my real needs rather than wants!

Decided that all I "needed" was 1 body, 1 standard zoom (DA 16-45 just replaced by DA 17-70), 1 telephoto zoom (DA55-300 recently replaced by DA*60-250, albeit with a brief dose of residual LBA virus, a Tamron 70-200 f2.8!) and 1 macro (FA 50 macro), and I've settled on just a couple of bags and a lens case, all of which can be mounted on a waist belt. Oh! I've also kept my trusty Metz 54 MZ3 flashgun and simplified my tripods/monopod/heads collection.

Sold off 17 lenses, 2 tripods, 1 monopod, 1 body, studio lights and several bags and accessories, resulting in improved finances and not suffering any of the above LBA problems, still have some remnants to go!

Okay, so just who is this guy Lance Blackburn?

Well, even though he's an Aussie and thinks they invented cricket , he is very much like us Brits!

Portraits taken by me Paris 2006 -

(His avatar)



Another of his favourite passions - BEER! - BTW, that's mine in the foreground (but I couldn't finish it!).




.. and another - PHOTOGRAPHY!




He's a great fellow, it's just a shame he's so far away.

I think that Pentax lens sales will tank considerably with established users when all the new prices hit. I picked up one of the last 17-70's at the old price from Chris yesterday. We discussed the new prices and Chris agrees that although he's had a bonanza in Pentax lens sales recently, the situation is changing as the old prices dry up. It will be interesting to see how Hoya will react to the inevitable drop in sales (at least in the short term).

Difficult times ahead for Pentax I think.

At least Chris will have the K-7 and the new Olympus E-P1 to keep his sales up, it's quite noticeable that he is stocking a lot more Oly and Nikon these days.

I also heard yesterday (from another source) that Pentax underestimated the demand for K-m's and have run out of stock until September! I trust that Chris has bought enough supplies to last till then!

On another note, I was very surprised how much quieter the AF was on the new sealed kit lenses (at least on the K-7), they are very quiet, almost SDM level, a big improvement.

Funny you should mention this, I recently dusted off my old OM-1 with 28mm f3.5, 50mm f1.8 and 135 f3.5 Zuiko lenses (goodness me, they are so small!) in order to use up some film in my fridge and indulge in a bit of nostalgia!

I also have a Vivitar Series 1 28-105 f2.8-3.8 macro zoom which I used for convenience, which, even by today's high standards, is an excellent lens. This line up was my first really serious SLR combo and still works really well, even after 40+ years!

For my use today, I agree with you about modern zooms, and have settled on just 3 lenses, a DA 16-45 (just ordered a DA 17-70 as a possible replacement), a DA*60-250 which replaced my DA 55-300 and Tamron 70-200 f2.8, and an FA 50 macro, which is a delightful lens with beautiful imaging qualities, but sadly I don't use it enough.

Great shots Lance, I love the tiger.

Is it me, or do you find the bokeh of the owl shot with the DA*300 a bit distracting?

The other shots, especially of the Koalas, look excellent though.

My own view is that if you are looking for a fast top quality combination for indoor work, portraiture and most general work that doesn't need the extra reach, then the obvious solution is the DA*16-50 plus the DA*50-135.

It is worth noting that at close focussing distances the DA*60-250 is nearer a 60-160mm (my Tamron 70-200 had a tighter FOV at close object distances), it only hits a true 250mm at near infinity distances.

If however you are mainly interested in outdoor work, then the DA*60-250 is an excellent lens (it's easily as good as the 50-135 at f4.0) and paired with the 16-50 makes a great combination, or the 17-70 if you prefer a lighter/smaller lens with an overlap. The range from 50 to 70mm is very useful for portraiture and avoids the need to lens swap for this focal length, plus the 60-250 is a bit intimidating when used for fairly close people shots!

It is also worth considering that the 50-135 is a fair bit lighter and doesn't extend when zoomed.

Personally, I would love a DA*15-60 f4.0 with the same level of performance as the 60-250, it would be a fabulous match , but I doubt if anything like that will be forthcoming in the near/mid future, so have settled for a DA 17-70 for now.

I think you mean a DA*15-60 f4.0?

I don't have a DA*16-50 at hand to compare, but, from looking at my various test shots from earlier this year, at infinity the two lenses were pretty much identical at the wide end, and only a very small difference between them at the long end. For my usage, I found the performance gain : of the 16-50 insufficient to warrant changing, considering the virtually identical coverage and added size and weight.

But I will compare the 16-45 and 17-70 as I shall have to decide which lens I will keep, there is no point in having both, at least as far as I'm concerned, because I don't collect.

I hope the 17-70 is better than my 16-45 as it gives a much more convenient range without changing lenses and makes a nice companion to the 60-250. It was from using my 60-250 that I found the 60mm end really nice for portraits of the grandchildren.

Hi Lance,

Nice to see you back!

Funny that you should think about the 17-70, as you know, I keep dreaming of a DA*15-60 f4.0, but I've returned to reality and just ordered a 17-70 from Chris (SRS) yesterday.

I still have my much loved 16-45, but have increasingly found the need for a slightly longer reach. I will do some comparisons of course!

I hope it's as good as Matt says and that I don't miss that missing 1mm too much!

Danny

Are the DNG Raw files straight from the camera?

EDIT - Sorry I didn't read your first post where you said straight from camera.

The reason I ask is that they are compressed DNG, which is a change from the K20D.

I'll wait for Ricoh to produce something similar, there has been quite some discussion about them producing a GX200 style camera but with a larger sensor and interchangeable lenses.

Their construction and ergonomics are hard to beat, the GX100 & 200 are delightful little cameras and have the advantage of having that very neat clip in EVF and also a pop-up flash, both are missing on the Oly.