The weather's been crap, so I haven't taken any pics, and I didn't want to write about Automator, which I both love and despise, and, oh what it might have been.

Anyway, I was thinking about the E-M10 Mk4 the other day because I'd just ordered another copy of the lens that I shot this image with. ("Never end a sentence with a preposition," I hear Mrs. Peretta in my head, every time.) It's the mZuiko 45mm/f1.8 prime.

I just got another black copy from KEH.COM for about a third less than I could get a new one from OMDS. I have a silver one, which is what I used for this shot, that I bought in January, 2012. (I paid $3.99 for faster shipping. Pre-Prime I guess.) I bought a black one back in 2021, which I gave to my son with the E-M10 Mk4. I bought it for the E-M10, because a silver lens on an all-black body looks dumb.

The silver one looks fine on all of my PEN cameras, I shot that pic with the PEN-F. (Northern Ireland, April 2018)

Since I used "Sparks Joy" on the last post in February, I didn't want to use it again so soon. But this lens does exactly that. It's a tiny thing, not as long as your thumb, smaller than a shot glass. 90mm effective focal length, into the telephoto range. At f1.8 it's very bright (and just don't start with the "equivalence" bullshit), and at that focal length, when you get near your subject, you get excellent background separation. I won't speak to the quality of the bokeh (or the "toneh"), well, actually I will. It's excellent.

Anyway, I wanted another black one for the OM-5, which is all black. The combination makes for a very small setup. Unobtrusive. You can get some great shots.

I've got the 45mm/f1.2 which is by all measures a vastly superior lens. But it's also bigger and heavier. You're not going to get away with slyly grabbing a candid. When that honking barrel swings your way, you notice. It's not huge by any measure, and by full frame standards, it's positively petite. But it's big enough that I'm much more comfortable shooting with it on the bigger bodies with a substantial grip, which makes the whole thing a much more imposing proposition.

Which is why the 45mm/f1.8 sparks joy. It's just this tiny little thing that punches way above its weight. If I could have only one lens, it'd probably be the 14-150mm super-zoom. Gets me maybe 80% of what I like to shoot. If I could have a 3-lens kit, it'd be the 14-150, the Lumix 20mm/f1.7 (another lens that sparks joy, although it can also break your heart being slow to focus), and the 45mm/f1.8. But I wouldn't be too sad if I could only have one lens and it was any one of those three.

That shot is SOOC ("straight of the camera"). Looking at it on the 27" monitor, I'd probably add some sharpening, but not much, and maybe go with a 3:2 crop. It was bitterly cold that evening, with a stiff wind. A better photographer might have stuck around for some smoother water on the beach and more of a reflection, but I was cold.