After a week (2 days) of shooting for the paper I have mixed feeling as to how I have done.

My photography was secondary early on, simply because of the other factors I needed to be aware of. New systems (a Google landscape) and old (Lightroom again!), changing photo styles and processes.

I went in with the kit I felt would be ideal;

EM1x with 40-150 Pro, 1.4x TC and 45 f1.8, which provided sublime long lens speed,

G9 with 8-18 and 25mm f1.8, for wide and video,

Godox 860 flash.

My feeling was, I would shoot either wide or long with the 25mm in the middle and that was the way it has gone to a point, becasue it was what I had. This came with plans to replace the 40-150 with a 35-100 f2.8 II Pana simply to reduce weight.

What I did not realise was the majority of shots could be taken with a 12-60 range lens and often, the extremes forced time wasting mucking around as swapped cameras or lenses.

Compression is nice, so is a bit of extra coverage, but 90% of the time, the needs of these images are within a range you would call “expanded normal”. More important is the “PICS” dynamic (Person, Interaction, Composition, Shoot), which is easier in the “normal” shooting range as communication and compositional imperatives like watching the subjects hands, interactions etc count for more.

Longer lenses are needed for many distance shots and wider for tight spaces, but these can usually be predicted and a 24-120 equivalent is a decent range for most.

The other advantages of a smooth par-focal zoom lens, with the same 62mm filter thread as my 12-40 Oly filter kit, Leica contrast, build quality and sharpness, weather sealing, DFD focussing and dual IS matched to the camera, will raise my G9’s to another level and there is even enough lens there for indoor sports. The 8-18 is great, really great, but lacks stabilising and is a specialist lens.

If I add the 75mm Oly, I have a much cleaner and smaller kit than the twin extreme zoom kit which still needs supporting primes as f2.8 is not a total soluton. The big 40-150 is the best in class, but I do not need to either replace it nor carry it every time. I can also use just one camera, a G9, using the standard lens the bulk of the time and using the EM1’s with longer lenses only. This increases the life span of my kit as the two G9’s are basically new.

So from;

2 bodies with 8-18 and 40-150 Pro lenses and a couple of fast primes,

To;

1 Body with 12-60, 45 and 75 for the bulk of my jobs. This kit weighs half as much. Even if I add the 8-18, it will still be a light weight kit.

A second consideration is, it offers a massive 24-120 and 65-325mm range for 1080p video, with all the above extras.