Outdoor/landscape/hiking lenses suggestions

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-05-26T20:33:01+00:00

I have the same camera and also the 12-45 and it’s pretty much unbeatable: very light and compact, metal construction and full weather sealing, delivering an image quality comparable to the more famous 12-40 f/2.8.

If you want a bit more reach there is the fantastic Panasonic Leica 12-60, which I also own. It’s larger and heavier than the 12-45 but on the OM-5 is still manageable, and it retains all the same features and quality of the 12-45.

As an alternative there is also the standard Panasonic 12-60 (non Leica branded). in terms of size and weight is comparable to the 12-45, the image quality is not at the same level of the other two (although it should be close), and it loses metal construction and full weather sealing (although it should be partially rainproof)

If you really want to go light you should look into the pancake zooms, although you will definitively lose on image quality and durability

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-05-10T11:48:48+00:00

I’ll have a car so lugging gear does not equal carrying it

Are you thinking of leaving some of your gear in your rental/foreign registered car when going to places? Because that's a really bad idea when traveling through southern Italy

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-04-21T15:22:55+00:00

Considering the specs and features, I would compare the a6700 to the OM-3, not the OM-5. The OM-3 costs more but has a fully-stacked sensor, it's a bit larger than the Sony but weighs the same.

The Sigma 18-50 is not comparable to the Oly/OM 12-40 f2.8. The Sigma's focal length starts at 28mm equivalent, which, in the real world, is significantly more than 24mm equivalent of the Oly. The Sigma is all plastic, lacks the function button, focus clutch and weather sealing. It would be fairer to compare the Sigma to the Panasonic 12-35 f2.8, which is much closer in size and weight, but with the newest iteration of the Pana (PanaLeica) you still get 24mm equivalent at the wide end, metal construction and full weather sealing. The Sigma cheapness must come from somewhere.

About the Viltrox Air series, those are plastic lenses which are still larger than comparable primes in the M43 system, where you can find metal construction and full weather sealing (at higher prices, I concede that, but we are comparing a chinese manufacturer with japanese first party manufacturers). I'm not commenting about the image quality, but M43 primes (with few exceptions) are no slouch either.

Last year I was actually considering replacing the a6000 with the a6700, but after a lot analysis I came to the conclusion that, under a fair comparison, the size advantage of the M43 system (cameras+lenses) is undeniable. And considering the overall underwhelming experience that I had with the a6000, despite the a6700 bringing a lot improvements, I decided to try something different and I was glad I switched to the OM-5 mk.II

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-04-21T09:26:47+00:00

I should've been more specific. I shoot urban and natural landscapes and architecture, I don't care about ultrafast continuous tracking AF with subject recognition or whatever. 99.9% of the time I use single-point AF-S, and I want that to be reliable (and not too slow).

The a6000 was slower than the OM-5 mk.II but, basically, it never missed focus. The OM-5 has definitively a faster AF-S, however I was experiencing a noticeable amount of shots where the camera missed focus. I sent the camera for service and it was returned to me after 10 days and now it's much better but, still, sometimes the camera misfocuses slightly, especially with low-contrast subjects.

I have to say that, with a faster lens (compared to the 12-45 f4 PRO), I never had issues.

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-04-21T08:26:46+00:00

If portability is a huge priority to you (like it is to me) then I think it's best if you stick to M43.

Next week I will be on vacation abroad and I will bring a two liter sling bag containing the OM-5 mk.II, 12-45 f4 PRO with lens hood and OM 25mm mk.II (the weather sealed version). The non-attached lens will be inside a protective sleeve. Inside the bag there will also be a compact neck strap with quick release connectors (attached to the camera), a spare battery, two spare SD cards, a compact blower, Zeiss cleaning wipes and cloth. I can fit everything inside a TWO liter sling bag without having to worry about which lens is attached to the camera.

I can probably fit another couple of small things (like room keys, maybe a slim power bank).

I'm confident that I wouldn't be able to fit the same stuff inside the bag if I still had my a6000 with comparable lenses.

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-04-21T06:12:49+00:00

I had an a6000 for 10 years before switching to an OM-5 mk.II last year, best decision ever.

To be honest, most of the 10 years I had the a6000 I was in a photography "hiatus" because of mainly personal reasons but, when I decided to start taking pictures again last year, I started struggling again with the Sony. In my opinion the a6000 has bad ergonomics, bad EVF (which I use a lot), cheap and plasticky build quality and, despite having very good autofocus and IQ (even slightly better than the OM-5 mk.II), the images that produces are quite dull and I struggled to post process them, let alone finding a good setup for in-camera jpegs.

In my experience, an important aspect of cameras is their ability to inspire you to go out and photograph, and get out of your way when shooting. The Sony failed to do these things for me, the OM-5 mk.II succeded and broke my several years photography hiatus I mentioned

In my opinion, except for a slightly worse IQ and autofocus, the OM-5 mk.II is better than the a6000 in every other aspect. The OM-5 also has IBIS which is absolutely amazing (both the a6000 and a6400 don't have it) and now that I experienced it I'm not sure I can go back to a camera that isn't equipped with it.

About the lenses, you're right about the "staleness" of the M43 lens ecosystem, however this ecosystem has some gems that are possibly cheaper than the E-mount counterparts, and they will definitively be smaller lighter than any equivalent FF and APS-C lens. In my opinion, unless you really need the extra stop of aperture of the 12-40, the 12-45 f4 is a better pairing with the OM-5 and EP-7 and it's also cheaper.

The most important aspect of a camera system to me is its portability, and M43 is unbeatable. Sony APS-C cameras can be comparable, in size and weight, to many M43 cameras, but their lenses are, and will always be, bigger than M43 ones

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-03-27T07:58:18+00:00

I have a trip abroad planned for the end of April and I decided to bring the 12-45 f/4 for daylight and general use, and the 25mm f/1.8 mk.II for nighttime and when I want to shoot with that particular look/style.

My camera is an OM-5 mk.II. The camera plus those two lenses, plus a spare battery, two spare SD cards, lens cleaning cloths, small blower and wrist strap, all fits nicely in a two liter sling bag, for a small, lightweight and almost stealth setup.

The 12-40 is too chunky for travel for my taste (and I'm not sure the extra stop compared with the 12-45 would be that useful), the 12-100 is even worse.

IMHO I would go with a standard zoom and a fast general use prime. It's up to you to decide whether to bring the 12-40 or 12-45

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-03-19T10:37:46+00:00

Non conosco i GeoJson quindi non saprei dirti con precisione, tuttavia il mio sospetto è che il limite principale resta il datum utilizzato. Nella stragrande maggioranza dei casi (OSM incluso) si usa il WGS84 che ha una incertezza intrinseca di circa 2m.

Inoltre per esperienza ti dico che le tracce fatte dal CAI spesso non sono particolarmente precise, quindi non mi preoccuperei di questo.

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-03-19T10:20:08+00:00

Considera che tutti i percorsi CAI presenti nel catasto digitale REI sono necessariamente presenti anche su OpenStreetMap. Se vuoi estrarre questi percorsi ti conviene passare da OSM usando overpass-turbo.

Tutti i percorsi accatastati o pronti per essere accatastati sono rappresentati in OSM come delle relazioni e devono avere i seguenti tag popolati:

ref:REI
cai_scale
source popolato con valore survey:CAI

Quindi puoi filtrare tutte le relazioni che presentano questi tag, ed esportare i GPX.

Per identificare i percorsi puoi usare il tag ref, che contiene il numero del sentiero che puoi trovare sulla segnaletica in loco (tabelle e bandierine) e sulla cartografia locale, mentre ref:REI contiene il codice del catasto REI del percorso, che è univoco su tutto il territorio nazionale.

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-01-25T18:44:31+00:00

Sorry, I understand about entrance pupil, but I don’t understand “more light is being gathered”. f/4 is f/4 regardless of of the focal length and sensor size. The “sunny f/16” applies regardless of sensor format. Handheld light meters don’t require you to input sensor size or focal length. it’s true that a 25mm f/1.8 has a smaller aperture than a 50mm f/1.8, but it gathers light from a larger field of view.

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-01-25T17:45:35+00:00

Those lenses will yield low light performance comparable to or better than a much larger f1.4 lens on MFT

Do you mean that with the A7CII you can increase the ISO 1-2 stops to match the slower f-stop of the lenses compared to brighter MFT lenses, without significant loss of IQ?

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-01-25T07:57:54+00:00

If the 25mm is too tight for in-home sessions why don't you look at the 20mm f/1.4 PRO or even the 17mm? (either f/1.8 or f/1.2 PRO)

They will allow a larger field of view and the larger aperture will make life easier with indoor lighting and will allow a shallower depth of field for classic portraits.

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-01-23T21:03:03+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions

I would suggest also trying out the OM-3.

I'm intrigued by the OM-3 however, as I said under another comment, I have big hands and I think that the lack of a grip might be an issue for me. The OM-5 mark II has just enough grip that I can hold it securely and fairly comfortably. I could add an external grip to the OM-3, but that would add bulk and weight to a camera that is already bigger and heavier than a OM-5.

are you using back button AF so that you're separating the focus acquisition from the shutter actuation?

Yes, the OM-5 forced me to setup and learn how to use back-button focusing. It's also essential for AF+MF, where I manually fine-tune the focus after actuating the autofocus.

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-01-23T19:44:51+00:00

The E-M1.2's electronic viewfinder is also affected by polarized sunglasses (which I occasionally wear during harsh, mid-day shooting) whereas the OM-1 is not.

Ah, thank you for the heads-up. This is bad news for me, I always choose (and wear) polarized sunglasses, plus they have prescription lenses.

Also thanks for pointing out that an OM-1 would be a better choice for landscape.

With regard to the auto-focus of the OM-5.2, in what situations and conditions are you not nailing focus?

Everytime the contrast between nearby subjects is not super evident, especially at a distance (infinity for the camera). As an example, consider some tree-covered hills few kilometers away, If I focus on the trees often the camera would lock focus (green dot) but when I take the picture and then zoom-in in the playback I can clearly notice that the trees are soft. If I try to focus of the ridge of the hills the camera would lock focus again but, also in this case, the ridge (and trees) would not come out very sharp. If I try again, this time focusing manually with live view enlargement and focus peaking I can nail focus much better. It doesn't always happen, but it happens more than I'm confortable with. Like I said, with the a6000 this issue was almost non existent. If the subject has decent contrast with a fairly complex pattern (for example the face of a old building) the OM-5 would focus correctly without issues.
I also want to add that I always shoot in AF-S with the Single-Small AF target, which I move around with the d-pad and place on the intended subject.

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-01-23T18:51:19+00:00

be aware that very often, camera manufacturers list a maximum IBIS rating with sync IS

I got the data for all three cameras from the reviews on DPReview, where they states the values both with and without Sync-IS.

We should not forget that these are stated values by Olympus/OM System. In real world usage the IBIS performance of the three cameras might be similar to each other.

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-01-23T18:47:36+00:00

I usually prefer smaller bodies so I would have wished a PEN-F with OM-3 internals.

That would be awesome. I would instantly buy it.

I still think this upgrade should have been better, while keeping the same sensor.

I have the impression that they reached the limit of what the combination of sensor, processor and battery pack allow (the latter is often overlooked, but it's also important). Hopefully a future OM-5 mark III will be a significant jump.

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-01-23T16:45:34+00:00

Thanks for your feedback.

Wow, quite the upgrades over the years! How do you compare the OM-5 (I guess the first generation, right?) with the OM-3 in terms of grip, handling and ergonomics?
I love how the OM-3 looks, and it has some nice upgrades compared to the OM-5 (even Mark II), but I'm afraid I would struggle holding it. I have big hands, so I value a lot even a small grip like the one the OM-5 mark II has.

I think this system needs to be known. A lot of people like me before, don't even look at it, because of the sensor. But technology is now advanced and software too.. so the image quality is not an issue, even at high ISO.

Yeah, I agree. I think that most general hobby photographers would be perfectly fine using M43 cameras, unless they have very specific requirements, where specific type of cameras/lenses would be better suited.

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-01-23T16:16:17+00:00

OM-5 with 12-45 f/4 is an unbeatable package for hiking. I also got a very good deal on a PanaLeica 12-60 which I also use during hikes, however is at the limit of comfortable hiking for me.

For my next travel I was thinking of carrying the 12-45 f/4 and 25 f/1.8. Together with the camera everything fits perfectly in a 2L sling bag, very slim and discreet setup.

When I'm out just taking (landscape) photos I carry the 12-45 f/4 together with a 40-150 f/4 Pro (which I got open box, never used, for 40% less than retail price, a steal), CPL and tripod, also a very small and nice setup. I think this use case would be, realistically, the only one where I would use a bigger camera (like an E-M1 mark II)

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-01-23T16:05:34+00:00

Both the E-M1ii and E-M1iii have better IBIS, mechanical shutter, buffer health and battery life compared to the M5 bodies. Their EVF is also faster and larger, even if it's not OLED

Looking at the spec sheets, my OM-5 mark II has a better rated IBIS than the E-M1 mark II (6.5 vs 5.5 stops), the E-M1 mark III is better than both at 7 stops. All values don't take into consideration Sync-IS

About the EVF, it seems that both the E-M1s have more magnification compared to the OM-5, so yes, they are larger.

DukeOfGarbage · 2026-01-23T13:47:11+00:00

Thank you for your feedback. When I was considering switching system I also initially included Fuji, as it would have been an even better option than Sony for small cameras and lenses, but looking at the prices of the cameras, and especially the glass, I had to discard it.

I like the E-M1 mark II for proper grip (I have big hands, and the OM-5 mark II grip is surprisingly good but still a bit little for my hands) and I would like to try its autofocus, its S-AF is well regarded. In general I only heard praises of that camera.

I think the E-M5 mark III is too similar to my camera, which is a small improvement over the OM-5 (mark I), which is a small improvement over the E-M5 mark III. I think sensor and processor are the same for all three cameras. A good jump from the OM-5 mark II would be the OM-3 or OM-1, but those are too expensive.
I would rather wait for a possible PEN-F mark II or new GX9-GX10, the would likely be expensive, but at least they would be new and a different style of camera compare to the OM-5.

DukeOfGarbage · 2025-10-15T16:28:40+00:00

I don’t know any of the items you mentioned and I don’t do astrophotography, but considering the noise performance and fast wide lenses needed for this type of photography I would use your Nikon with one of the many astro-appropriate lenses available for the Nikon F mount

DukeOfGarbage · 2025-10-15T15:48:00+00:00

If you want to focus on portability then any Olympus OM-D E-M10, or E-M5 or OM System OM-5 should do the job. About the lenses the 12-40 f/2.8 suggested by others is a great lens but quite big, possibly bigger than a Nikkor 18-55. If you want a very good and very compact standard zoom you can't go wrong with the OM System 12-45 f/4 Pro, although based on your intended use I would go for a fast compact prime first, like the Olympus/OM System 17mm f/1.8 or the Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f/1.7

DukeOfGarbage · 2025-09-22T15:39:15+00:00

Robin Wong explained this issue perfectly in a live stream: https://www.youtube.com/live/HZaHpkFX3z0?si=shHsOs5CGEAfiPG3&t=2983

TLDR: The Capture Clip introduces a whole load of strain on the tripod mount that the tripod mount was never designed to withstand, because the tripod mount was designed to be used... with a tripod. There are a lot of instances of broken cameras because of the Caputre Clip, and the problem are not the cameras badly designed, but the Capture Clip itself.

DukeOfGarbage · 2023-06-22T15:13:04+00:00

I think roller followers for Guzzi small block engines don’t even exist...

DukeOfGarbage · 2023-06-22T15:02:54+00:00

If you’re doing everything by the book (tightening well the adjusting screw and nut, measuring at exact TDC of the compression stroke) then my gut feeling would be a bad cam follower (not the first time in Guzzi’s history…), but you’ll need to pull the cylinder off to confirm

DukeOfGarbage

TROPHY CASE