I put the 12-200mm super-zoom on the diminutive OM-5 for my walk this morning. It's at the ragged edge of being comfortable on the sling. The weight distribution seems to make it more prone to bouncing around on the sling, the center of mass is farther from the tripod socket where the strap attaches. It's worse if I leave the lens extended, which I'm prone to do, since I'm usually looking for subjects far from me, like this rose.

The weight is fine, though.

The choice for this post was between a rose and a squirrel. I liked the splash of color. The squirrel is up at Flickr. The rose is SOOC, the squirrel was lightly edited.

I'm satisfied that the 12-200 is sharp enough for me. It's not a cheap lens, but MPB has it at a reasonable price, and less than KEH. Mine was described as "like new" and I concur with that assessment.

I'm uncertain at this moment whether this lens will live on the OM-5. It'll take a few more walks to know for sure. The 14-150 is perhaps ideal, but I'm a sucker for reach. I would carry the OM-1 with the 75-300 because of the additional stability of the larger grip at 300mm. It wasn't super uncomfortable, but it was noticeable. I may just keep the 14-150 on the OM-5 and the 12-200 on the OM-1 and just alternate cameras if I'm walking with a camera.

I need to start walking for pace soon, which makes taking pictures pretty much impossible and choice of camera and lens combination moot.

The beat goes on...

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 10:25 Monday, 9 December 2024