Experience With The Olympus Mju-II

So finally after buying the Olympus µ-II from Ebay and running two rolls of (unknown) B/W film through it… I finally got the developed film back, scanned on the CD.

I must say, I am a little disheartened by the results; but maybe I shouldn’t be, considering it took me quite an effort getting accustomed to the “parallax”, and then there’s this film I never used and it stood on the table for a while before I sent it out for developing.

Out of 2 rolls of film, I could salvage 4-6 “decent” pictures that I can show around… definitely feeling a really big blow on self-esteem!! 😦

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Let me know what ya’ll think ?!

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Dreams & Desires

Well, it’s been hell of a long time since I actually “wrote” something on my blog and so today I decided to do just that.

I have been all this, however, watching trends and going “ooh!” and “aah!” over camera gear ranging from Medium format to DSLRs to Rangefinders and even the most popular Mirrorless compacts.

I have been day-dreaming and making a “wish list” (more of a goal), that I hopefully will meet, and money wasn’t the (main) deciding factor since my list was made to cater for life… as long as I would live and continue shooting, I know I wouldn’t need anything else and the gear would not break on me.

Its a bold statement, but I honestly believe that if you know what you want and more importantly why you want it, you can find peace of mind that few have actually been blessed with, especially due to the aggressive marketing of camera companies and Gear Acquisition Syndrome (aka GAS in the photo-community).

So anyways, the first step to how I came to recognize what I want came from knowing what kind of shooter I am and what kind of tools are required for the job. Now, this might be a tricky question since one CAN do the same job with varied tools/camera system or one may want to use something that’s an overkill and not even know it’s an overkill. The determining factors are different for everyone. For me they are : Product Knowledge, Final Print Size, Ease Of Handling & Portability.

Therefore, I made a list of the camera gear I will need and that I can use regularly and not be overwhelmed by deciding “which one do I use?!”. Instead of buying a couple of the same bodies (not talking about or referring to professional shooters here, but just hobbyists that splurge on equipment), I’d rather buy a single body that is the next step or better than the two I was buying and invest more on glass.

So here’s My List that includes all camera bodies and lenses – and all formats : –

POINT – & – SHOOT

Sony NEX-7
Olympus Mju II

SINGLE LENS REFLEX

Nikon D4
(w/ these lenses atleast)

17~35mm f/2.8D
24~70mm f/2.8D
70~200 VR II  f/2.8D
CZ Makro-Planar T* 100mm f/2

RANGEFINDER & MEDIUM  FORMAT

Mamiya 7 II
(w/ these lenses)

65mm f/4
150mm f/4.5

Pentax 645D (w/ these lenses)

SMC Pentax-A 645 35mm F3.5
SMC Pentax-FA 645 75mm F2.8
SMC Pentax-FA 645 45~85mm F4.5
SMC Pentax-FA 645 80~160mm F4.5

COMPUTER SYSTEM AND ACCESSORIES

CPU/Desktop  : Mac Pro G5
Monitor            : NEC MultiSync PA271W

Printer             : ???
Scanner           : Epson V750-M Pro

Ext. HDD         : ???

Equipment Storage   : XDry CS-151SS
Lighting Equipment  : AlienBees

Everything on this list is an outcome of long, long, long sleepless nights and dreaming and researching. I have not chosen just the “best of the best”, but rather tried to balance practicality, budget and quality. The only reason to go for medium format would be for landscapes. Choices can definitely make you go crazy… esp. if you don’t have the moolah!!

So far, I have managed to acquire just the Oly Mju II, and I was lucky enough to find one in a very good condition and at a very good rate. I am just being lazy and haven’t had the time to sell my stuff I already have and invest that money into the list.

I am sure I won’t be buying / acquiring all that is listed here, basically due to money concerns and also the fact that I kind of think I won’t be able to do justice to all the bodies – so why have them and just store them?!

Well, thanks for reading all of this… if you did! Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions?! 🙂