> From: PDML [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Steve Cottrell > > On 19/10/13, Larry Colen, discombobulated, unleashed: > > >All of your camera gear has been stolen, but the insurance > company has > >given you a check to replace it with the brand new > equivalent, or good > >quality used for fear that is no longer made. How would you > spend your > >money replacing your kit. > > Buy getting the same stuff again. >
When my Pentax stuff was stolen I tried to get all the same stuff again, but it wasn't available. The insurance policy was new-for-old, and I didn't like what Pentax had to offer at that time, so I bought Contax / Zeiss, which was fabulous film gear. It didn't translate well to digital, though, so I later traded it in for a Leica M8 and a lens or two. My basic requirements in camera equipment haven't changed much over the years: robust, weather/dust-proof good, large, bright viewfinder high quality lenses simplicity and ease-of-use Situations in which I use it: casual, flaneur-type of stuff (street photography, I suppose) travel photography, including cycling and backpacking The focal length range I like is uncontroversial, although it's nice to be able to go outside that from time to time. In 35mm terms, this means a normal range of about 24mm to 100mm covers just about everything, and I have a set of prime lenses as well as zooms that cover that range. I also have a 21mm prime and a 100-400mm (equivalent) zoom. So if I had to replace it all, I would buy a Leica M with 21mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm & 90mm lenses. I already have all these, but an M8 rather than an M. I would also replace my M3 like-for-like if that were stolen. I like the Fuji X100, but I would probably replace it with a Fuji X20 - and I am considering doing just that anyway. I really like the Olympus E series, for which I have 3 high quality zooms covering 22-400mm equivalent. I have an E-3 with battery grip which is superb, although rather heavy. It's annoying that they've dropped that line. There may be better things out there now, some of the top-end-but-not-very-top full-frame Nikons are appealing, and I would give a lot of thought to them. When I was replacing my Pentax gear though I looked at the F3, and it was too much of a monster. Having become used to lugging 3 LXes around, I could barely even lift 3 F3s with the equivalent lenses and winders. B -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
