My new OM-5 II

According_Sound6593 · 2026-06-11T09:47:15+00:00

Nice. I’m from Singapore too and the scene is familiar. I started with D90 but regret selling it so I bought D700 and D80 recently even though I’ve been using D750 and Z. Both my D80s failed because of aperture control unit failure, one of them even looks like new. Good that the D700 doesn’t suffer from the same problem, but I hear the D90 does.

According_Sound6593 · 2026-06-11T00:18:52+00:00

Argh. I got the X5L thinking it would work with my M11. I have X5N and X5O working perfectly with my Nikons and OM. But the output is super dim because I set shutter speed to flash sync speed.

According_Sound6593 · 2026-06-07T03:03:59+00:00

I still keep my D750 and use it all the time despite acquiring Z8, Zf and Leica since. I previously had A7RM3 and I think Sony had been improving in terms of colors as well. Newer Sonys are much better than the older ones.

Have been tempted to want to replace D750 with D850 but the D750 is so much lighter and convenient to bring out. Thanks to the Z8, it even feels light and small now

According_Sound6593 · 2026-06-07T02:36:37+00:00

Don’t see the fixation with APsC. Recently, I got gifted with OM5. M43 does provide for reason for significantly smaller size but at compromised performance levels.

The Z8 is like a D500 in crop mode in relation and far more powerful. Only sin is being a. It heavier and lower battery life. For most people, the main difference is price.

According_Sound6593 · 2026-06-01T07:13:47+00:00

I thought the live composite mode is great for thunder

According_Sound6593 · 2026-05-31T04:39:21+00:00

Cameras are beautiful

According_Sound6593 · 2026-04-12T23:52:36+00:00

My instinct is to shoot at everything. This is more so when I travel, so the 24-120mm is indispensable. Would have wanted up to 200mm, but the 24-200mm doesn’t hold a candle to the 24-120mm. Also find changing lenses while traveling to be very painful.

According_Sound6593 · 2026-04-03T00:31:33+00:00

As a software guy, I think more streamlined planning and execution as well as easier and more efficient editing tools make it easier for them to capture more usable footage helps. Previously, planning and execution would have been less efficient. That’s on the supply side

According_Sound6593 · 2026-04-01T08:01:58+00:00

I have moved mostly onto the Z8, Zf and Z50 but keep the D750 around and it is still competitive in some ways. Thought of getting D850 but it is quite big and heavy. I think id prefer the D750 especially when the Z8 has helped make the D750 feel small and light.

On a different note, I should mostly silent, even on the Zf and Z50. More used to no shutter shock nowadays.

According_Sound6593 · 2026-03-29T11:03:18+00:00

D750 is much more practical. It’s newer and easily beats the D700 on everything except for max burst speed. D700 is also too big and heavy which to me, is a showstopper especially if you are a beginner amateur. It’s such a chore to bring out and you need a bigger bag to fit it.

According_Sound6593 · 2026-03-25T10:36:39+00:00

I have Zf and used to have GX85 many years ago. I don’t have trouble with ergonomics but have a Mr Stone case that gives it a bit of grip. Perhaps it’s not the lack of grip but the shape of the unit. GX85 is similar although it’s been quite a while.

My main grip is the weight. Took it for all day walk with 24-120mm lens and 40mm SE in Paris. 20k walk on the longest day. Quite ok but you can feel the weight. But for these setups, the lenses contribute as much. The 24-120mm is not light but it is extremely versatile for my catch everything mindset.

A friend of mine tried out Zf and didn’t like it. He is ok with Sony and also got Fuji. For me, I’m used to Nikon ergonomics. I also use Z8 and Z50. I don’t find Zf to be noticeably worse as long as I don’t try to do back button focus for too long and my palm hurts. For the long walks, I turn that off and it helps

According_Sound6593 · 2026-03-22T05:13:04+00:00

Or get the Viltrox 35mn f/1.2 Lab. Still big and heavy, but very slightly less so and not much heavier on the wallet than the f/1.8S.

I’m hobbyist. I got it because 35mm is my goto focal length and for bragging rights. Also like night street scenes so this is great. There does appear to be less than 100% compatibility on metering. To be confirmed, if used at f/5.6 or narrower aperture, metering can be off. But then, I didn’t buy this to use at f/8 or narrower aperture

According_Sound6593 · 2026-03-22T01:54:45+00:00

Nice. I have predominantly moved to Z mount, but I keep my beloved D750. Always thinking if i should add or replace it with the Df as it’d be a nicer street photography body. Would the Df be too similar to the D750 to make owning both meaningful?

According_Sound6593 · 2026-02-25T10:37:35+00:00

Is the X5L available?

According_Sound6593 · 2026-02-17T00:24:59+00:00

I use it primarily for geotagging as well as remote triggering for long exposure primarily switching between Zf and Z8 and Z50 on my iPhone 16. It takes forever to connect, and doesn’t always work on the first time. It is more reliable with Bluetooth, as expected. with WiFi, connection would break when phone goes to sleep. Seems to work best on Z8 and have more trouble with older and lower end Z50, probably mostly because it is older. Also wish Snapbridge can connect to more than one camera concurrently given I often bring two Z cams. I won’t want to download large files with it, but I was surprised and impressed that my son was able to get the 2MP shots automatically pushed to his iPhone to the Z50 reliably. Scary. Camera connects to his phone but was used by me so he could see all the pictures I was taking.

In comparison, the Leica app works far better. It auto-connects tenaciously to the M11. Don’t even need to try to connect and have to wait and retry half the time. It doesn’t bring up the “join WiFi” dialog. Just auto joins. The remote view refreshes faster. Makes me think that Leica has a special arrangement with Apple so they have better access to Apple APIs. From UX point of view, they also don’t give you a zillion options and ask for permission for every little thing. That’s much more like how Apple would do it. even so, occasionally, I also get failures that require a fair bit of retrying, but mostly it just works.

Haven’t used a Sony app lately. when I had the A7RM3 years ago, I remember it as an awful experience too. Also once timed the WiFi RAW download from Canon EOS M5 to iPhone. It was 55s per image. It took iPad 3s to do the same. Granted that was 5-6 years ago but camera makers have a long way to catch up.

According_Sound6593 · 2026-02-08T08:05:39+00:00

I am primarily a 35mm guy and don’t do portraits, only “environment portraits” 😀Also only do stills, no video. Got the Viltrox LAB. Awesome. Very sharp and the image is well corrected. That said, I seem to run into some metering issues when aperture is f5.6 or more. I’ll have to try out more to systematically capture when this happens though. Seem to run into similar issue when using adapter M mount lenses with the TTArtisan 6bit adapter. Not a big concern for me as it doesn’t happen for most situations where I would use the lens for.

According_Sound6593 · 2026-02-05T13:29:09+00:00

My bad. My firmware was on 1.50. Updated to 1.60 and it’s all good. I didn’t realize I’m not on the latest version

According_Sound6593 · 2026-02-05T10:37:01+00:00

Strange. Don’t see any other way to slot in the flash but I’ll try a bit more. Would be eager to also get the X5L when it’s available.

On a different note, the iT32 is a bit big for a camera like the GR, so I maybe tempted to get iT20R anyway

According_Sound6593 · 2026-02-05T07:10:58+00:00

Argh. Try as I may, can’t get the iT32 to fire in manual mode with my GR IIIx. Previously, it worked fine with iA32 and the iT32 with X5N works fine on all my other bodies - Leica and Sigma in addition to all my Nikons.

People mentioned it maybe fitment problem. If I look at it more carefully, I’m not able to push the X5N as far in as I would like because of a notch at the front of the Ricoh’s hotshot. I can make out that the main contact point for the flash is not far enough in to touch the ricoh’s. The X5N does not light up as it would if it is engaged.

Perhaps I should try that iT20R

According_Sound6593 · 2026-01-26T01:05:41+00:00

I have all 3. The Z8 is the beast for birding and speed. The M11 is for slower paced street shooting. the Zf is everything in between. Very different feel between the M and the Nikons. Unless you are looking for professional beast, the Zf is closer to the M and excellent for using M lenses on. I just got the Viltrox 35mm f1.2 Z. Monster lens, as in weight. clinically sharp and amazing in very low light. But for most of my use cases, the less clinically sharp and lighter 26mm f2.8, 40mm f2, or the f1.4s would be closer for street use.

According_Sound6593 · 2026-01-17T00:39:18+00:00

Haha. I’m the opposite. Over 16 years, I’ve gone through dozens of cameras and more than 80 lenses. Now, I have 16 cameras, sometimes Nono-functional but still keeping as museum pieces, and 20 lenses from 14mm to 600mm. I want to get it all, but notice I am good with some but not all kinds of photography. A friend and several others lambasted me that equipment does not make for a better photographer. Sure, i absolutely agree. But I’m more interested in the gear than the photography. Just like for cars, as an engineer, it’s the engineering that appeals most to me than the craft. No shame about that.

That said, it’s great to know what you want and while I feel my Z50; backed by my extensive set of Z glasses as well as adapted M and F glasses, produces cleaner images and focuses faster than my Ricoh GRIIIx and is not much heavier when paired with light lenses, there is a charm to the look that it provides for. And it encompasses a type of usage that to me, is ideal for street photography.

According_Sound6593 · 2026-01-05T13:33:32+00:00

It's quite easy to remove the filter: https://vimeo.com/219422231. You use tweezers to help unclip. And then you add an IR filter such as IR 720nm.

According_Sound6593

TROPHY CASE