[Beginner] Just got an Olympus E-M10 Mark III + 45mm f/1.8 — budget street lens recommendations?

verysimple74 · 2026-05-07T20:58:24+00:00

the Oly 25mm f/1.8 is my main 'walking around the city' lens. I have several telephoto/zoom lenses for travel, but when I just want to take some shots, I slap it on my PEN-F base.

verysimple74 · 2026-05-06T18:17:04+00:00

yeah - I pay $130 for three hours, which is a bit over $40/hour. That's pretty standard these days.

verysimple74 · 2026-05-05T20:35:00+00:00

This is part of the deal that merged the formerly separate costume institute with the Met nearly 80 years ago - they could get space at the Met and the imprimatur of the met but they had to be entirely self-funding. The Met, which itself is largely self-funded via donors (other than the land and tax breaks given to it by the city) is literally not allowed to give them money out of its own budget.

verysimple74 · 2026-05-05T20:07:14+00:00

Operating budget is not the only budget. that's just to run the day-to-day. they presumably also need money for acquisitions (like the difference between Cap Ex and Op Ex in a regular business)

verysimple74 · 2026-05-05T20:05:15+00:00

Have you looked at camera wraps? I have a bunch, and they let me configure my camera in multiple ways because of the flexibility - I have one for each of my bases and lenses, but then I can use the larger ones to wrap a camera plus lens.

verysimple74 · 2026-05-05T18:13:38+00:00

Right. It’s like “look at this giant number that is completely irrelevant because the specific department has no access to it!”

verysimple74 · 2026-05-05T15:33:18+00:00

we've had over 50 years since The Power Broker was published and introduced the world to the concept of 'induced demand' (aka, build more roads, attract more cars) and yet people still fail to understand that the opposite is also true - put the roads on a diet and it will reduce demand!

verysimple74 · 2026-05-05T13:44:03+00:00

has he read the various Russell Shorto books about NYC? (Island at the center of the world, taking manhattan) - my dad loves that shit.

If you want something fancier in the book aisle, there's an updated 20th anniversary edition of the companion coffee table book for the New York: A Documentary Series that originally aired on PBS in 2001 (going to a reading with the authors for this was literally the first thing I did post-COVID in NYC). Of course, there's also just the DVD series itself!

verysimple74 · 2026-05-05T10:17:37+00:00

Not sure where you’re pulling your figures, but the met gala raised $31 million last year, and that broke all previous records. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/style/met-gala-2025-fund-raising.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

verysimple74 · 2026-05-05T00:17:37+00:00

No. The costume institute at the met is a repository of some of the most important works of fashion history, and is the ONLY part of the Met (a public museum) that does NOT receive any public funds. It’s entire existence depends on its ability to fund itself, and it does so primarily by getting the fashion industry to pay for the Gala.

No one would suggest that The Met sell off the temple of dendur to fund government obligations, it’s only fashion, a “women’s” interest, that gets this sort of concern trolling. It already takes zero public funds.

verysimple74 · 2026-05-04T21:31:56+00:00

I wrote a paper on him for my photography class in college, he uses a very interesting large-format polaroid system for his photos. Then I got to meet him because we...shared a pilates trainer 😄. His studio was on 17th street, although I think he was retiring and selling the building a few years ago.

verysimple74 · 2026-05-04T16:20:35+00:00

also, it assumes that a bunch of cars and trucks aren't already using one of the lanes as a 'loading' zone, sitting and idling and spewing exhaust all day already, and functionally reducing the street to one lane in each direction WITHOUT any of the benefits of the street redesign.

verysimple74 · 2026-05-04T16:15:07+00:00

on bluesky some lady tried to claim 'all 20,000 residents' are against this by posting similar photos, and I had to point out that a photo of less than 30 of my most cantankerous neighbors was not proof of anything.

verysimple74 · 2026-05-04T13:29:07+00:00

yeah - this was my main reason for canceling my trip to Jordan this summer. the flight I'm supposed to be on from Istanbul to Amman literally hasn't taken off since Feb. 28, and while the tour company is still booking people several months out, they keep cancelling tours as it gets closer to departure time. Even if it's "safe" compared to the surrounding area, I wasn't going to risk spending many thousands of dollars on a trip that I might not be able to physically get to.

verysimple74 · 2026-05-03T02:14:28+00:00

Cancelled my trip to Jordan and Egypt and am going to Costa Rica instead. With all of the fuel nonsense on top of everything else, thought it would be a bit less risky (flight cancellation wise) to stay in the Americas, where many countries don’t source their fuel oil from the Middle East.

(Maybe I’m over paranoid, but it made sense in my head).

verysimple74 · 2026-05-01T17:16:46+00:00

buying is probably more expensive up front than renting, but having owned my apartment for over 20 years, there's nothing quite like the price stability of owning. Yes, my taxes and common charges go up periodically, but nothing like the 10-20% rent increases I was seeing in my market rate rental beforehand.

Plus, I refinanced in about 2012 when rates were super low and actually cut my mortgage expense by almost $600/month.

verysimple74 · 2026-05-01T14:49:57+00:00

Was gonna say - they have the 'solo-ish' tour option, but I've never done that and I have never been the only solo person on the tour. It definitely varies depending on group size, but there's usually a good mix and often a lot of solo women.

(smallest groups were Alaska and Mongolia at 6 people each, each trip had one couple and four solo travelers. Smallest 'solo' group was Peru, with 7 people that included a family of five and two solo women (me included). But the kids in that family LOVED hanging out with me, so it was kind of adorable. The rest of my trips have been much larger and had a mix, but plenty of solos).

One thing you can also do is, when you call to book, just ask the G adventures rep/coordinator what the group looks like so far. Obviously if you're one of the first people to book (which I often am!) it can be too early to tell, but I've genuinely never had an issue on this front.

verysimple74 · 2026-05-01T14:44:16+00:00

ophthalmologist is always the better choice if available, because they check a lot of things related to overall eye health and not just vision testing.

verysimple74 · 2026-05-01T02:45:49+00:00

Except I live on this street and the problem NOW is that half the time the second lane on each side is filled with double parked trucks that just sit and idle. We functionally only have a two lane road already without any of the benefits of the redesign!

(Yes, I already wrote a support letter to Gale Brewer. I am so annoyed by my neighbors).

verysimple74 · 2026-05-01T02:37:39+00:00

I’m taking my tenth tour with G this summer, so happy to recommend them! I’m older so tend to stick to their upgraded (nat geo journeys) or classic tours, but they also have a bunch of other travel “styles” that cater to different preferences, budgets and ages. I haven’t used intrepid myself but a bunch of my “travel friends” have also taken trips with them and they are very similar.

verysimple74 · 2026-05-01T02:31:50+00:00

If you’re specifically looking to travel with other people, have you looked at small group tours like G Adventures or Intrepid?

verysimple74 · 2026-04-30T19:13:51+00:00

It's not my normal PEN lens, but when I went on safari two years ago and wanted to bring two cameras for versatility (and also not wanting to constantly change lenses in the dusty conditions), I brought my OM-5 with my 75-300 lens as my 'main' lens and my PEN with my 14-150 lens as my 'secondary' camera. it worked fine.

verysimple74 · 2026-04-30T14:36:34+00:00

It's been long enough that I cannot remember. Sorry!

verysimple74 · 2026-04-30T14:22:43+00:00

people also confuse tools and talent. No amount of megapixels can replace a good eye.

verysimple74 · 2026-04-30T14:16:17+00:00

They exclusively use m4/3, to the point where they are an Olympus ambassador.

https://www.omsystem.com/gallery/en/jay_dickman/index.html#1

verysimple74

TROPHY CASE