I don't intend for the marmot to just be a link-blog, but I've been a little busy.

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I've been acquiring more crap, chiefly Nintendo games for the GameCube, Wii and Wii U. That itch appears to have been scratched for now, but the clutter factor was pegging the needle, so action was required.

I've got another stack of books ready to go to Goodwill. I don't know what they do with books, I mostly bought them on ebay. They're all older titles, most more than 30 years old, dealing with technical things I thought I had time (or interest) to learn about.

But the needle was still pegged, so something besides books had to go. I looked at my camera shelves and thought I should consolidate my cameras from three shelves to one. Well, it turns out that I could only manage two. I may return to this effort soon, but for now two is all I can emotionally manage, because it's certainly not rational.

At first, I was just going to take a big box of cameras to the photography club's next meeting and give them away. But who knows if they would take them, and then there's the issue of answering questions, providing some level of support. Too hard.

So I went on KEH.COM and started entering cameras for a quote. Came back at $1000, which isn't bad for a box of cameras I was going to give away. But it does require packaging them up and finding all the appropriate chargers and so on.

Since these cameras use mostly the same batteries, I went through and checked all the dates of manufacture for the batteries. I kept all the newest batteries for the cameras I still have. Because we're only talking about two types of batteries, most of the chargers were in a box in the garage, so I had to dig that out and all their associated cords.

Now I've got to package them up. The nearest shopping center is anchored by a Publix, but there's a USP Store in the complex. I figured I could get bubble wrap from one of them. (There was a bunch of bubble wrap in the garage, but nowhere near enough.) Well the grocery store didn't carry it, and the UPS Store wanted $10.00 for a role of a few feet of that big-bubble wrap! Yikes! And I wasn't buying styrofoam peanuts (which weren't priced anyway).

So this morning I'm headed over to Walmart because I seem to recall they have a good selection of packing supplies from our move.

This morning's project is to get everything all boxed up and ready to ship. Once KEH gets them, they'll evaluate them and let me know what they'll actually give me. I'm guessing it'll be somewhere around $700. I was conservative in my condition assessment. The high-dollar bodies were my OM-D E-M1 Mk2 and OM-D E-M5 Mk2. They're both in great shape, but who knows? The rest are a large number of PEN cameras.

I have a bunch of lenses I'll offer them as well, but I figured I'd just start with the cameras.

My irrational choices are hanging onto an original E-M5, which is a camera model I'd bought at release and later sold to KEH. A few years later, I felt that I missed it. I liked the images it made, so I bought a used one. (From KEH.) I don't shoot with it much, but I do like it so I couldn't part with it this time.

I loved the E-M1 Mk2, but I have the Mk3 and the E-M1X and the new OM-1, so it was totally redundant. Same with the original E-M1, which I also bought at release. Shot that one so much the rear rubber came off. I bought a replacement from Olympus but never applied it. I'm including it in the package to KEH.

The E-M1X is a one-of-a-kind body and I quite like it. I also like the built-in GPS, compass, manometer and thermometer. It's built like a tank, and I think it kind of represents what might have been Olympus' last no-compromises effort in micro-four thirds.

The OM-1 was probably on the drawing board when JIP acquired Olympus' imaging division and created OM Digital Solutions; and it supposedly is a no-compromises body, and it still bears the Olympus brand, but it's not from Olympus. Again, not strictly rational. I hope OM Digital Solutions succeeds and survives, but I'm not certain it will. And I admired Olympus as an underdog innovator in the camera industry, so I'll kind of treasure the E-M1X as an example of Olympus at its best.

Technically, the E-M1 Mk3 came after the 1X, and included the Starry Sky autofocus feature, not present on the 1X (which was never added as a firmware update to the 1X, alas). But the Mk 3 was designed as a less featured body than the 1X, and doesn't include subject recognition auto-focus. So I think the 1X still represents Olympus designers' peak vision as Olympus. Just my opinion, but I really like the camera.

I fully expect those three bodies will outlast my ability to carry and shoot with them.

Of course I kept the PEN-F and I kept one PEN Light, the E-PL7. I have an E-PL8 that's going to KEH. I bought it new, and it has far fewer shutter activations, I've hardly shot with it. But I really enjoyed the E-PL7 and have taken it on many trips. I like the grip better too. What finally tipped the balance in favor of the 7 over the 8 was the sound of the shutter. I think they should be about the same, but the 7's is just kind of silky smooth while the 8's is more mechanical.

Put a small prime on it, or the 14-42EZ powered zoom, and carry it on my wrist when I'm out and about and not expecting birds. Nice little camera, won't draw much attention. Fun to shoot with.

Of course, now I'm thinking about how I'll spend the money. The E-P7 isn't sold in North America, but is readily obtainable on ebay from Japan. Much or all of the JPEG in-camera customization of the PEN-F is in the P7, and it doesn't seem to suffer from the auto-focus hesitation the PEN-F sometimes exhibits.

If I get rid of a few compact cameras, there should be room on the shelf for another PEN. Probably the last of its kind too.

You know how this story ends.