Working in a tech reliant field tends to make you grateful for the better choices you make, so in the interest of sharing and also to acknowledge these winning devices and processes, here is a list.

Note; many well loved things are not listed, this list is limited to newer surprise givers or items that lifted my game unexpectedly.

The Panasonic Leica 8-18.

My only non Olympus lens, purchased over the Olympus 7-14 for practical reasons (filter size, cost, handling, focal range), it would likely have been an Oly 8-25 instead if it had been out, but I am happy with my choice.

This lens takes great images and does it reliably. AF was a little patchy on my older cameras, but touch AF on an EM10 flip screen or any focussing form on the EM1’s or G9 is nearly faultless.

It has also been dropped twice and so far (touch wood), no issues.

My only negative is the annoying AF/MF switch, that throws me sometimes.

Capture 1 and ON1 No Noise.

C1 has promoted all of my imaging up a level from Adobe. After a few teething issues and I will admit up front, I do not know it backwards yet, C1 now fills me with confidence. What it cannot handle comfortably (underexposed 6400 images or worse), ON1 No Noise handles easily and quickly.

Camvate Univercal C-Cage.

This was bought for the wooden handle, since added to the G9 cage, but the “leftover” half cage, made up of this C-Cage with 197mm extension bar, the Smallrig rubberised top handle and mini top handle used as a side handle/bumper bar, then with weights added, makes a very stable, nearly gimbal quality kit with the EM1x.

This cage effectively bought Olympus back into my video kit. It is not as smooth as the OSMO, but that is part of the charm. It adds a semi-obvious hand help vibe, without amateurish jitters, just like a heavy pro camera.

The Neewer Camera Backpack (model? Its big anyway…..with red piping).

Now the video kits home, this thing makes portable possible. With my hands free, I can wrangle a trolly laden with lighting and sound stands, somethng I could not do before.

My 130cm Hand Trolley

So, I finally bought a decent hand truck. The little flat pack one I have been using was too short, too flimsy and the wheel width was annoyingly small, making it “walk” a lot when crossing bumps etc. The base model, no frills delivery trolley now holds a rigid plastic tool box on the base and a long Neewer lighting bag strapped above it and can handle any environment without breaking my back.

My lighting kit now comes in at a minimum of 4-6 stands, poles, lights and other bits, which I can now carry without being tempted to leave behind that last item I end up needing. The bag alone is way too heavy to carry even 50m, but with the trolley, 500m is possible.

The G9.

It is hard to overstate how easy this camera makes video compared to the Olympus interface. Everything about this camera can take on a video persona, meaning set up as I have it, it simply has no distractions. All buttons (and wheels and dials) to the video task only. It is also generally better at video, especially 1080, even in basic Natural mode than the Oly, and when using 1080, there are a wealth of extras available. I especially like the 6 Custom settings.

The Godox 860 Flash.

I have a ton of flash units, mostly Yungnuo, with a couple of Godox and bunch of those handy little Oly ones that come with some cameras. The 860, my day bag unit has converted me to daylight fill, TTL ceiling bounce and TTL off camera. It just does it all so well and with high speed sync if needed. The 685 with eneloop pro batts is probably as good and the YN’s really nail studio work, but I will ride my luck with the 860 as long as I can.

The Neewer SL-60w Point Light.

This little power packet has given me some serious video light. So impressed, I have since purchased a second and some extension cable options, this light get video into still camera flash territory for me and will likely see use with my stills cameras also.

They are cheap feeling, plasticky and obviously not built for abuse, but at less than $100au each, I can afford (a) a backup and (b) to replace them as needed. The remote is also handy and they are light.