My Photographic Equipment

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Here is part of my current line-up, I've switched to Micro 4/3 Olympus system.  I love it:

Small and light!  2X crop factor, 16.1 Mpixel.  I switched to M4/3 due to size, weight and cost.

Here are the thoughts of some others on micro 4/3 vs. DSLR (FF and APS-C):

By Ki Thomas, 11 Key Differences (Ki Thomas is a freelance photographer, filmmaker, graphic designer and writer based in the UK)

By Christography  (He is a licensed Photography teacher, NYC)

By Steve Huff  (A Photographer for a few decades, enthusiat/blogger)

Current rig:

Olympus OM-D E-M5 and M10 (several bodies; the M5 is the main one), crop factor = 2.0

What I actually walk around with:

Olympus OM-D E-M5

LUMIX G X Vario, 12-35MM, f/2.8 ASPH.  (24mm-70mm equivalent, my walk-around lens)

LUMIX 35-100mm  f/2.8 G Vario  (70-200mm equivalent)

LUMIX G Vario 7-14mm  f/4.0 ASPH  (14-28mm equivalent)

Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f/1.8  (90mm equivalent)

Olympus 9mm f/8.0 Fisheye Body Cap Lens  (18mm equivalent)

MEKE 3.5mm f2.8 220 Degree Manual Focus Circular Fisheye Lens

Image taken with LUMIX G X Vario, 12-35MM, f/2.8 ASPH.

Image taken with LUMIX 35-100mm  f/2.8 G Vario

Image taken with LUMIX G Vario 7-14mm  f/4.0 ASPH

Image taken with Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f/1.8

Image taken with Olympus 9mm f/8.0 Fisheye Body Cap Lens

Image taken with MEKE 3.5mm f2.8 220 Degree Manual Focus Circular Fisheye Lens

Image taken with LUMIX G Vario 100-300mm f/4.0-5.6 MEGA O.I.S.

Full lens list:

LUMIX G X Vario, 12-35MM, f/2.8 ASPH.  (24mm-70mm equivalent, my walk-around lens)

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75mm f/1.8  (150mm equivalent)

Olympus 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6  (28-82mm equivalent)

Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f/1.8  (90mm equivalent)

Panasonic LUMIX G Vario 100-300mm f/4.0-5.6 MEGA O.I.S.  (200-600mm equivalent)

Panasonic LUMIX 35-100mm  f/2.8 G Vario  (70-200mm equivalent)

Panasonic LUMIX G VARIO 7-14mm  f/4.0 ASPH  (14-28mm equivalent)

Panasonic LUMIX G 14mm  f/2.5 II ASPH   (28mm equivalent)

Olympus 9mm f/8.0 Fisheye Body Cap Lens  (18mm equivalent)

Olympus M. 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 R  (80-300mm equivalent)

Olympus M ED 9-18mm f/4.0-5.6  (18-36mm equivalent)

MEKE 3.5mm f2.8 220 Degree Manual Focus Circular Fisheye Lens

LUMIX DMC-LX5 compact camera

And my LUMIX DMC-LX5, which bascially acts like a tiny DSLR, but without interchangeable lenses

and through the lens optical viewing.  My main highlights of the LUMIX are:

RAW format available

All-manual operation (including focus)

LEICA SUMMICRON 5.1mm - 19mm zoom  (35mm film equiv. 24mm - 90mm)

Lens speed!  f/2.0 - f/3.3

ISO range of 80 - 12,000

Mode dial (M, S, A, etc.) just like on a DLSR

Previous DLSR rig:

Black K-5 body

Black K-X body

Navy K-X body

Pentax DA 17-70mm f/4.0

Pentax DA 14mm f/2.8

Pentax DA 15mm f/4 Limited

Pentax DA 40mm f/2.8 Limited

Pentax DA 70mm f/2.4 Limited

PentaxDA 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 fisheye

Pentax DA 100mm f/2.8 macro WR

Pentax DA* 300mm f/4

Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8

Sigma 10-20mm f/4.0-5.6

Sigma 150-500mm f/5.6-6.3

Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8

First Camera:

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I had been using PENTAX cameras and lenses (until 2015) since I was about 17 years old (that would be

in 1978) when I bought my first camera:  A PENTAX K-1000, all-manual camera that came with

an M-Series 50mm f/2.0 lens.  This was a great starting camera.  I still have two K-1000 bodies

(not that I've shot any film in the last 6 years!)

My Dad taught me photography.  He had done darkroom work (black and white film, mainly

Plus-X-Pan) including film and print developing, and Kodachrome slides for years.  Our home was filled

with art (my Mom and Dad sketched and painted), books of art, and photography.  We swam

in a sea of visual (2-D) arts.  My Dad took me into the darkroom, even before I had that

first camera, and taught me film development and black and white printing.  You can see a lot

of the B&W work at my Old Minnesota page.  I used to "help" him before I had my own camera.

I was fascinated by the darkroom and the printing process especially.

As soon as I got to college, I met Kent Reed at the Bulletin Room (3 Coffey Hall, St Paul Campus

of the University of Minnesota).  Kent had NIKON gear, a couple F-2 bodies and some prime

lenses.  This motivated me to buy more and better gear.  When I moved to Seattle, I had an ME-Super

body, MX body, and the K-1000, along with a a set of M-Series lenses:  20mm f/4, 28mm f/2.8,

50mm f/2.0, 135mm f/3.5.  You can see work with these lenses on my Old Minnesota page, my

Canadian Rockies page, and my Climbing Page (and the Ptarmigan Traverse, Mt. McKinley,

and Bailey Traverse pages).

In 1990, I began to acquire many more lenses and an L-X body (a magnificent camera), a one-time

bonus from Boeing helped.  I was getting ready for my bicycle trip around the world with Jeff Mellor.

I knew I wanted to take a lot of good photos on this trip.  I bought a range of new A-Series PENTAX

lenses:  16mm f/2.8 fisheye, 20mm f/2.8, 40mm f/2.8, 50mm f/1.2, 200mm f/4, 400mm f/5.6 plus

a matching 2X converter.  I also acquired a number of PENTAX zoom lenses and a very good

TOKINA ATX-Series 80-200mm f/2.8.  On the trip, I picked up an M-Series 85mm f/2.0 (super

sharp portrait lens) and an M-Series 400-600 f/11 mirror zoom lens.  The work with these lenses

is best seen in my Glacier National Park 1990 page, my World Bicycle Tour page, and my 1990s page.

I shot over 13,000 Kodachrome 64 slides on the world tour.

PENTAX M 20mm f/4  (one of my all time favorite lenses)

PENTAX 85mm f/2.0  (one of my all time favorite lenses)

PENTAX 20mm f/2.8 (terrific wide angle lens)

PENTAX 400mm f/5.6 and mated 2X A-XL converter (Rear Converter-A 2X-L)

PENTAX 400-600mm f/8-12

TOKINA ATX 80-200mm f/2.8

I didn't do much photography from about 1999, when I went to France and Italy for a month, until

about 2003, when I got my first small digital camera, a Canon Powershot 100 2.1 MPixel camera.

At this time, I became very intensely involved in guitar making and guitar playing and photography

definitely took a back seat for quite a few years.

Later, I got an updated version of the CANON:  The SD-1100IS, which I like a lot and has

8 Mpixel images.  It's nice for snapshots and times I don't want to haul the big rig with me.

I really shot nothing but snap shots until 2006, when Phyllis bought me a PENTAX *ist with an

18-55mm and 50-200mm kit lenses, to which she later added the 14mm f/2.8 super-wide angle.

After a couple of years, I was getting more serious about photography again, and I wanted more resolution

than the 6.1 MPixel image of the *ist and the kit lenses.  I got the new PENTAX K-X, and a set of new

lenses that incorporate rare-earth glass, aspherical designs, and large apertures:

The great bulk of the photos you see on this site were scanned to digital using the EPSON V500 Perfection

photo scanner.  I really love it for slides, color and B&W negatives, prints, and it does nice pdfs as well. Using

the scanner and Photoshop Elements, I was able to salvage a large number of slightly off-exposure slides and

make them look beautiful.

I am printing photos using the CANON PIXMA Pro9000 MkII printer.  This is an amazing printer

that produces results that are better than photographic processing.  The prints are crisp, brilliant,

and they knock your socks off.  CANON claims better no-fade life than any photographic material.

I highly recommend this printer.  I also recommend that you stick with CANON inks for it and I also

recommend the CANON Glossy II paper.  Wonderful results.  I had clogging and streaking problems

with non-CANON inks.  Not worth the lower price!

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It has been well said that software is the new darkroom.  This is certainly true in my case.

I am now using Lightroom 3 and PhotoShop CS5.  I love Lightroom:  The fastest, best way

to organize and adjust photos, as far as I can see.  I'm just getting going learning how to use

layers in PS5.  I still use PS Elements (8) regularly, for quick spot cloning and cropping, or

just a quick adjustment.  The exposure controls, noise reduction, and other IQ adjustments

seem easier to use and more intuitive to me in LR.

Camera Bags:

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I am now using  various Crumpler (5-million dollar home) and Tenba (Messenger DNA,

sizes 8, 9, and 10, depending on what I am carrying.)

The crumpler is my hiking bag.  Very secure and protective in the outdoors.

Tripods:

I still have the Bogen 3020 tripod I got in 1980 and it still works great.  But it has been

susperseded by a Manfrotto 055 with a Manfrotto MHXPRO-3W X-PRO 3-Way Head.

This tripod is pretty beefy and gets tall enough for me (also gets very low to the ground),

carries a heavy load, but is still manageable for carrying it around.

I also have a Gitzo Student tripod with a ball head, when I want a smaller, lighter tripod.

The Gitzo was purchased in 1990 for my bicycle trip around the world and rode with

me, strapped outside to the back of my rear pack on the bike.

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Background image is Misty Cascade Range Mountains, near Seattle, late 1990s