Slow progress

Those that have been reading my blog for a while will recognize my need to squeeze every drop of blood from every penny. Thus, progress is painfully slow. No more so than in the acquisition of stuff, particularly when I have a low paying job with hours that precude any other employment. In addition to that, photography is not my first priority. First priority for disposable cash goes to the construction of my motor home. That, I need, in order to better my chances of being able to take a job in an instant.

After ordering my iPad mini 2 and getting my secondhand Olympus E-M1 plus a secondhand lens, I needed other things. In no particular order, a lens cap, camera strap, polarizing filter, lens hood and USB cable. As those had to be ordered from China to save money, there has been a time delay.

The polarizer is an unknown brand "Andoer" but to be honest, I bought some off brand skylight filters when I did high speed photography and they were excellent. It's not a coated filter so I could get reflections. I remember buying a Hoya multi coated filter and getting reflections. It turned out Hoya had three kinds of filters.

Multi coated - these just stop some surface reflections.

Super Multi Coated - these stop all surface reflections.

Digital Multi Coated - these are the same as Super Multi Coated save for the fact they're coated on the back as well as the front.

Needless to say, I did encounter a rare occasion when I did get reflections on the back of the filter. As far as I can recall, it was photographing Christmas lights one year. I believe it was caused by a reflection off the sensor rather than the multicoated front element. I'm really not sure how good this $3 polarizer will be.

The lens cap turned up and is exactly right. The lens hood turned up and is frankly a disappointment. I had expected a bayonet mount to fit the lens. Instead, it's a screw in hood. That was a disappointment though I'm sure I'll be able to use it.

The USB cable needed to update the firmware in my camera and lens has not yet arrived nor has the neck strap. They'll be here some day.

I had desired a camera with Bluetooth or wifi in order to facilitate downloads to my tablet. I have, however, obtained for $10 a USB plugin that acts as a mini wifi server which in turn allows wifi access to any USB device. Of course now I have that, I can't find my memory card reader. Without buying another, I have to wait for the USB cable. It goes without saying that the camera uses a size I don't have!

There is a viewfinder attachment available that looks pretty tempting. That would turn the camera into something like a DSLR. That might be worth getting if the tests come out well.

Forthcoming is a competition at my camera club. The theme is 7 black and white images. I might take the opportunity to shoot a series of images with both my Canon DSLR and my Olympus ILC. If you recall, a few years back I compared images from a cellphone, DSLR and a zoom compact. They were all pretty much the same. I remember being called all kinds of names by the magpies on camera groups for my findings.

Now, if the new camera is as good as or better than my Canons then there's a good case to sell the bulky Canon stuff. I'd want to match the range of lenses. For most of the range that's simple and cheap. The 45 -150 is about $100 secondhand. My current kit gets me to 480mm while the 150 goes as far as 300mm. I'll have to see if 300 is too short - if I buy a longer lenses. I see no need to have two bodies either. I am not a professional photographer and resent anybody trying to push me into being one. I am not, never have been and never will be a snake oil salesman.

So, the futures looking rosier. Work ends tomorrow and stays off until September. That should give ample time to test and compare cameras as well as to completing my bus project. Not to mention actually having time to enter a competition!