The Heath

Recently I visited an area in the southwest of Germany called the "Mehlinger Heath". This is a several square mile large abandond military test area that has become a natural preserve. The landscape is vast with only few trees and mainly overgrown by heather. This one is the second largest heath in Germany.

In late summer the heather is blooming and being rather unspectacular during the day it offers some nice photo oportunities before sunrise, especially on a foggy day. So I went there about an hour before sunrise and took some shots with my Fuji X Pro 1 and XF 14mm and 18-55mm lenses. Enjoy!

 to be continued...

Monster!

I fullfilled myself a childhood dream and aquired a Leitz Telyt R 5.6 560mm lens.

Adapted to Micro 4/3 you get an impressive focal length of 1120mm with an aperture of 5.6 (!). The downside is, it's very big and heavy and it totally dwarfs the GM1 as you can see in the pictures.
But I like it!

It came with a shoulder stock, but I don't see much use of it since the lens is so heavy one needs to be bodybuilder to use it without a tripod. The latter needs to be a very sturdy one. In my case I use my good old Cullmann Titan with a heavy ballhead.

Another downside is the minimum focussing distance of about 20 ft. For some wildlife photography this just isn't close enough. I guess, I'll have to find some sort of extension tube to get closer.

Focussing is a pleasure with its Televit® rapid focus device. As for camera shake, there is non, since the GM1 has an electronic shutter and with 5.6 I should be able to get shutter speeds of 1/1000s or faster.
I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but as soon as I do, I will post pictures here.

to be continued...

Perfect match... ?

Some might remember that I got me an old Olympus Pen-F Zuiko 40/1.4 which I adapted to my X-Pro 1.

Even though this is a very sharp lens and due to the fact that it was originally made to cover an area of only 18x24mm, hence almost perfectly covering the APS-C sensor of the X-Pro, I wasn't really excited about the manual focussing abilities of that camera (missing a focus peaking function).

Therefore I wanted to part with it but haven't been able to find a buyer who was willing to pay the value of this superb lens... :-(

So a while ago I ordered an MFT -> Pen-F adapter to find out how the lens performs on my GM1.

It finally arrived and I have to say, that I'm quite happy with the result. Not only does it match the little bode of the GM1 better than that of the X-Pro, focussing is also much easier with the Panasonic.

I still have to take it out in the "field" to do some more than only a few test shots. Then I'll decide whether  I eventually keep it or keep looking for a buyer and maybe get an Olympus MFT 45/1.8.

I'll keep you posted :-)

To be continued...

Couldn't resist...

A few months was the first time I saw the tiny Panasonic Lumix GM1. I was fascinated by the looks of it and how really small it was, even smaller than my LX7.

The build quality was another point that made me want to have it, compared to my good old GH2 it looked much sturdier not having that shiny plastic shell...

But I did resist at the time, not knowing why I should need this camera. Also, it was only available as a kit and I didn't like (neither had I the use for it) the 12-32 lens that came with it. And its protruding front tube that came out at the longer end of the lens spoiled the great looks of this sexy camera.

But now, everything has changed... I was offered a barely used GM1 body. 

Maybe you remember my post about my GH2 rig that I used together with the Panasonic 100-300 mm lens. Since I have switched mainly to the Fuji X system I only used the GH2 for some wildlife photography once in a while. The last time I used it though, I noticed that it had become too big and heavy for my taste.

That's why I had considered replacing the GH2 with a GM1, but the lack of an ELV made me hesitate doing so.

Then I remembered having this great little LCD hood that I sometimes use on my LX7 (see resp. post). I figured that I could use this also on the GM1 with the 100-300 mm mounted. And I did!

As you can see, it fits perfectly and makes a very good little combo.

The Panasonic 100-300 mm lens is a bit on the heavy side when mounted to the GM1, so it might not be the best idea to mount the camera body directly to a tripod with the heavy lens hanging freely on the lensmount of the camera.

Fortunately, in my case the mounting bracket for the LCD hood works as the ideal lens support.

As you can see, I mounted a spacer between the camera's tripod mount and the LCD hood bracket so that the bracket is almost on the same level as the lens. I glued a thin piece of plastic in the remaining space, so now the bracket has become a sturdy lens support and releases the lens mount of the camera body.

In order to reach the LCD screen of the camera, part of the hood collapses upwards, so one can easily look onto the LCD screen and use the touchscreen functions if desired.

And of course, the LCD hood detaches completely from the bracket by simply pulling it off. A

strong magnet holding it in place when attached.

Finally, I aquired an old pistol grip with shoulder brace from a Leitz Telyt lens that I can easily attach to the LCD hood bracket. This setup proved to be very ergonomical yet light and ensures some tack sharp images even without a tripod!

Last but not least, I had become so fond of that little camera that I decided it would not only be used with the 100-300 mm lens. So I got me a used Panasonic 14 mm 2.5 and a nice metal lens hood. Don't ask me why... ;-)

to be continued...