Monday, February 14, 2011

Gear Lust Finally Hits...

These past ten digital years, I've been pretty immune from the plague of gear lust that so often and so easily distracts so many of us. Good thing too, cause I could never afford new WA lenses and a less than FF sensor DSLR (not to mention suffer their minuscule viewfinders), and FF bodies are just too damn clumsy (and expensive).

But this little Olympus EPL2 seems to deliver a decent amount of IQ in an ever so cute and compact body, at a fairly inexpensive price (although the $250 EVF would be a necessity)- and their equally compact 9-18 zoom gives me the focal lengths I require. That's one fairly versatile and very lightweight combo to carry about. And the fact that you can get square, 3:4 and 2:3 aspect ratios really sweetens the deal (not to mention no more scanning)!

 My god help me- I even like the white one best!!!

Either way, I'll have plenty of time to contemplate this move since I'm currently paying off two root canals, last year's vacation (and the one previous to that). And the next 2-3 yrs are no doubt gonna see several more fairly compact cameras (hopefully with WA options) that can deliver fairly serious goods. Anyone wanna buy some (very) limited edition silver prints?

Pros
                                                                                                                                             Compact                                                                                                                                         
Lightweight                                                                                                                   Inexpensive                                                                                    
Versatile                                                                                                                                                
Various aspect ratios!                                                                                                            
                                                                
Cons

Plasticky
No true optical finder
Creepy, butt fugly protruding lens and lotus lens hood
Destroys against all odds, rebel film mystique
Not metal
Plasticky

Update:  I just saw the above camera in its (less than attractive) red incarnation; what was exceedingly appalling however, was the kit lens with its protruding proboscis- I mean... it looks like you have to buy a fanny pack as a prerequisite to be seen using one of those things!

2 comments:

Eric Rose said...

resistance is futile.

Stan B. said...

True, true- but being "skint" (as they say across the pond) really puts a hamper on the urge...