One Kit Man Survives His First Day
The world did not end, the sky did not fall on our heads, all is well. One mixed kit man is viable.
The G9 just works for wide and standard lenses and the lenses I have for it are now matched. I really like the skin tones and artificial light handling of the Panas. From 16-120 (FF equiv), I am covered, which handles 80% of my editorial work.
G9, 15, 8-18, 12-60 Leicas.
It grabbed the dancers face when I trusted it to (she appeared from below and in the dark). The 15mm would have been ideal here, but I did not have it at the time.
The EM1’s fit like perfectly formed, well worn leather gloves for long lens work. The intuitivelly fast EM1.2 gets shots I often don’t even remember trying for. I have 24-850 covered with the total Oly kit, 80-600 in the core alone. This covers 95% of my sports, portrait and event work.
On me almost before I could switch from the 300 to my second camera and 40-150, I still managed a sequence “from the hip”.
EM1.2 40-150 Pro, 75-300, 45, 75 and 1.4x TC
No blackout with instant response, means no high speed drive modes need be applied for speculative bursts to see what the camera gets (which tend to feel to me like they have the same control as the downward drop of a roller-coaster-whhhheeeeeeeeeeee). No break from following the action, with the added benefit of the stabiliser helping me see everything smoothly is a very comfortable experience. I feel like a sniper compared to other sports shooters with their SLR machine-guns clacking away. Ironically I often have the highest frame rate options (18/sec with AF or 60 without), but feel no compulsion to use them.
EM1x and 300 f4. As fast as I can form the thought, push the button and let the camera do it’s thing, it just happens. If I hit, it hits. The above was a single frame not taken from a sequence, with another soon after just to confirm the players number (not needed as it goes). I have learned to give anything a go with often surprising results.
Both systems being MFT, means they can both do the other’s job if needed and perfectly well, just not as ideally as the matched units. I have used the G9 with an Oly telephoto with enough success to get the job done (actually better than expected) and had few issues with Oly cameras with Pana lenses.
The marriage of a G9 (used for the first time for stills) and the 75mm Olympus. One missed shot over a 1 hour photo shoot and that was still close enough to use.
The real benefits of this path are now dawning on me;
Consistency. One work flow for all my work, paper, school and private. It also helps that I no longer have to remember to switch over a few items I have not duplicted, like my wide angle or 75 prime (or be tempted to buy their duplicates).
Cost. I can indulge my curiosity with some new glass and backup specific cameras, but not have to run two kits at “full-noise” levels, or scavenging from one to cover the other if needed. This may naturlly grow my kit to basically the two kit dynamic, but it does not have to. I can also put more money into other useful items such as a back-up laptop for personal use.
Depth. I can basically repeat the whole kit and swap out parts as needed, but the core stays the same. I also have 9 batteries spread between these two, and that’s before I add any other cameras.
Specialisation. I thought this could be avoided, but the reality is, a G9 rigged for video, a pair of EM1’s just for sports, a small studio/event kit, are all ideal kit splits, rather than trying to duplicate the same thing twice and have specialist needs covered. As I get to know my gear better, I am realising that some bits are great at some jobs, ok at others. My 12-40, badly in need of servicing, is my work horse video lens, but does not have to carry a full load as a day to day standard.
Leftovers. I now have a bunch of “leftovers” for my own use. The Pen F, my 17, a 45 and the two EM5’s with some kit zooms (12-60, 14-42, 40-150), make for a more than decent street/travel kit.
Bags. The Domke f802 or f804 (still deciding) take the core, the 217 carries the rest and is used to store them. Some smaller bags are used for specific jobs like sports, but otherwise, that is it.