Robert Watcher
Well-known member
My favorite street camera and lens are my Olympus E-M10 with 14-42 kit lens attached. Nothing like it’s small size and light weight for walking through streets in Central America - grabbing pics of people, as well as capture the incredible textures and walls.
Well shortly after arriving in El Salvador 3 weeks ago, my 14-42 kit lens went on the fritz. This happened to me a couple of years ago with the same type of lens. This one was a replacement. Apparently there is a shortcoming with this kit lens that appears to have to do with a ribbon wire inside the lens eventually breaking or shorting after thousands of shots - and probably accelerated by my heavy use and abuse in brutal conditions of heat dust and grime. At any rate - the result was the same - the tele end of the lens produces an error on a black screen, while the wide angles can’t be trusted for focusing accuracy. I was bummed.
So I’ve been shooting with my longer focal length lenses up until today.
Wider focal lengths are a necessity for me, and so I had no choice but to take my big E-M1 pro camera body - with huge and heavy 11-22 (22-44mm equiv) four thirds lens. The E-M1 is required with this lens in order to make use of the four thirds lenses. What a beast. I’m just not used it such a size and weight and such an obvious camera in my hands to everyone looking at me. It was weird that even though the cameras are the same brand and basic design - I was totally out of my comfort zone handling this setup. I didn’t like it, but will learn to adapt to it, at least until I return to Canada for a visit in February, and should be able to pick up another kit lens then.
I’ll post a few of my street pics this morning, using the Olympus E-M1 w/11-22mm f2.8-3.5 (a beauty of a lens BTW)
Well shortly after arriving in El Salvador 3 weeks ago, my 14-42 kit lens went on the fritz. This happened to me a couple of years ago with the same type of lens. This one was a replacement. Apparently there is a shortcoming with this kit lens that appears to have to do with a ribbon wire inside the lens eventually breaking or shorting after thousands of shots - and probably accelerated by my heavy use and abuse in brutal conditions of heat dust and grime. At any rate - the result was the same - the tele end of the lens produces an error on a black screen, while the wide angles can’t be trusted for focusing accuracy. I was bummed.
So I’ve been shooting with my longer focal length lenses up until today.
Wider focal lengths are a necessity for me, and so I had no choice but to take my big E-M1 pro camera body - with huge and heavy 11-22 (22-44mm equiv) four thirds lens. The E-M1 is required with this lens in order to make use of the four thirds lenses. What a beast. I’m just not used it such a size and weight and such an obvious camera in my hands to everyone looking at me. It was weird that even though the cameras are the same brand and basic design - I was totally out of my comfort zone handling this setup. I didn’t like it, but will learn to adapt to it, at least until I return to Canada for a visit in February, and should be able to pick up another kit lens then.
I’ll post a few of my street pics this morning, using the Olympus E-M1 w/11-22mm f2.8-3.5 (a beauty of a lens BTW)