Mastering Microstock hits $3,000 milestone!

Just passed the 3K mark with this image. Deep thanks from Mastering Microstock to all of you who support my photography. In the word of the now-defunct Lucky Oliver, "Keep 'em coming!" so that I can continue to blog about photography.

Poor Man's Pancake: Industar 50/2 3.5

This is one of the best-kept secrets in the M42 manual focus field. Instead of spending $300-400 on the Canon nifty-fifty 1.4, I probably should've picked up one of these years ago when I started shooting digital. I acquired this solid aluminum gem a few months on Ebay from a Ukrainian seller for about $35 total. I am still looking into getting another one in case this one gets crushed or dropped by accident. As you can tell from my previous posting in which this lense was mated with my GF3, the colors and bokkeh are spetacular and it is sharp wide open.

It stays on my T1i almost permanently, as the metal dial is wonderful for candid video. Most of these sold on Ebay come without lense covers, but this is easily solved. I bought a camcorder adapter ring and lense cap for the front. You just can't build quality like this anymore; even the plastic 50 from Canon will set you back $80, which is more than double the cost of this lense.

If I had a T3i with the flip-out LCD, this would be the perfect low-profile street cam. The Industar makes the rebel look like a non-threatening bridge camera.

GF3 + M42 adapter + Industar 50/2 3.5

Here are some sample shots from my favorite new street cam and one of my favorite M42 lens. The Industar 50/2 3.5 is probably one of the best-kept secrets among manual focus aficionados. The Industars are clones of the Zeiss Tessars and the stock lens for the Industar bodies produced in the Soviet Union. They are remarkably lightweight and sharp wide open. They are also some of the smallest lenses out there. If you want a pancake prime for cheap, you can't get much better than the Industar 50/2 3.5. Shipping from the Ukraine will probably cost just as much as the lens, but considering how popular manual focus has become with the release of micro 4/3 cameras, SONY NEXs, and almost everyone's try at mirrorless cams, costs are just going to go up in the years to come. I have a nice set of M42 Takumar primes that I bought for about $20 each including shipping. Nowadays on Ebay some of these are selling for between $50-100, and that's just for the lens. Heck, I think I'll probably order another Industar from the Ukraine as a back-up. They shoot great on Canons as well.

The GF3 processing engine tends to be pretty faithful in reproducing real world colors and is wonderful in not blowing out highlights.

Interchangeable Lens Camera in the palm of your hand: GF3

Here are some photos showing the difference in size between a DSLR and mirrorless camera. The 5D is pretty much a 2-handed affair no matter how you cut it. The GF3 fits in the palm of your hand. I have it with a EF 50 F1.4 here, which bulks it up a little, but with a Panasonic pancake prime (which I don't have yet) it is absolutely Lilliputian in size.

Both are great cameras. The 5D is a pro for low light and vivid, almost 3-dimensional images. The GF3 is wonderful for incredibly light, discrete shooting.

Panasonic GF3

I received the Panasonic GF3 for Christmas 2011 and have taken an immediate liking to it. It does not have near the image quality of my 5D or even my Rebel. The Micro 4/3 sensor on the GF3 cannot compete with APS-C sensors and noise is evident in shadows even at the base ISO 160.

However, all of this is beside the point. What this wonderful little camera does is bring back the days of snapshot heaven. My very first digital camera was a Nikon Coolpix 3100 which I took everywhere with me. It fit in my pocket and I literally broke the camera by shooting some 65,000 frames on it. I love shooting with my Canons, and would never replace them with another brand for my microstock business, but I don't always want to lug around several pounds of weight with me. So they mostly stay in their bags except for when I do my studio, landscape, and architecture shots. However, the GF3 is so incredibly light that I can just sling it around my shoulder and barely notice it all. It's incredibly snappy like a P&S, but also takes interchangeable lenses--including those of almost every other camera maker both past and present. Shown below is the GF3 fitted with a EF 50 F1.4 via a Fotodiox adapter with stepless aperture adjustment. I also have an M42 adapter which is equally a joy to use with this tiny mirrorless camera. Stay tuned for some sample photos.