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Hi friends. Soliciting advice… So I bought a PEN E-PM1 circa 2011 and exclusively used the kit lens until recently. We just took a trip to Costa Rica for which I picked up the Panasonic 25mm/f1.7 which was great except for literally every wildlife application (because I am an idiot who can’t be bothered to realize that a zoom lens is important for taking pictures of small animals 100 feet away). Long story short: I want to upgrade to a newer camera, but am now in analysis paralysis between m43 and…everything else. My priorities are: portability, future-proof-itude of the ecosystem, and cost (a body for less than $1000). Since I only have two lenses and not much gear, this is pretty close to a fresh reset opportunity. I’ll be primarily shooting backcountry landscapes/wildlife and kids’ soccer games/birthday parties. I know the answer is “it depends” but I’m looking for some hand holds or things to think about after a few days of researching. Lens recommendations would be awesome too — otherwise I’m at the mercy of Wirecutter. waffle enthusiast fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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Jun 23, 2018 17:39
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The E-M10 Mark III is almost half the price of the G85 on Amazon. What’s the biggest reason for the price premium? Both do 4k…? edit: ah, em5 ii is older but mid range and has a bunch of stuff like weather sealed, build quality, etc. waffle enthusiast fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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Jun 23, 2018 22:27
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Thanks for everyone’s advice on a PEN E-PM1 replacement. I wound up going with the E-M10 Mark III. It was $100 over the Mark II, but I’m a sucker for “newer” and the improved focus points despite the dumbed down menu system and lack of remote flash capabilities. It still feels like a while hell of a lot more capable camera than my E-PM1. The smaller form factor of the Olympus OM-D line really sold me over the g85, which I would have picked if I didn’t care so much about the “jacket pocket” test. When you throw the 14-42 EZ lens on the Olympus it’s a great compact setup; something I’d be comfortable taking on MTB rides and longer hikes. It’s pretty amazing to see how far mirrorless has come in the last seven years. I’m stoked to get out and do some shooting.
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Jun 25, 2018 01:58
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Honestly, just the viewfinder and aesthetics. One of my few complaints about the E-PM1 was no EVF, so I knew I wanted an EVF that was over the lens, SLR style. The gx85's viewfinder being off to the side like old school point-and-shoots was kind of a turn-off. No real brand preference, otherwise.
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Jun 25, 2018 02:48
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Anyone have recommendations on a good (fast) telephoto for kids, sports, and kids sports? The Olympus 40-150 f4.0-5.6 is well reviewed but I don’t think it’s fast enough. There’s the Panasonic 35-100 f2.8, but that’s a little steep. Is there really not much out there between the $100 option and the $1000 option?
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Jul 2, 2018 01:26
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DJExile posted:If you want reach and focus/aperture speed, you're going to pay for it, that's just how it is. E-M10 Mark III That Panasonic is closer to $900+ right now. Mostly I’m just surprised there aren’t more middling options.
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Jul 2, 2018 02:39
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I just picked up the Oly 40-150mm f4-5.6 yesterday and it is extremely awesome. For $100 it’s kind of a no-brainer.
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Jul 7, 2018 02:54
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CodfishCartographer posted:e:Also, is the Olympus 14-42mm 3.5-5.6 pancake kit lens worth using, or should I just sell it for something else? Looks like it’s fetching around 120-140 on ebay, sometimes even up to 160-180. The EZ lens is great for portability, but IQ isn't great. I like it for its pocket-ability, but prefer to keep the Panasonic 25mm f1.7 on for most applications. Right now I mostly keep my Mk3 in my backpack with the 25mm on it and the 40-150 f4-5.6 in a lens bag. Seems like a decent all-around setup unless you need the wide angle. You can read my logic on the Mk2 vs Mk3 a few pages back. Seems like it really comes down to whether you value "shiny and new + 4k video" vs "less money and slightly less dumbing down." They're both fine cameras.
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Jul 9, 2018 18:37
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mudskipp posted:That time photographing your dog will be well spent! I got one recently and whilst it's mostly been straightforward I have missed a couple shots out of lack of familiarity. Try letting him sniff your hand first. I took a bunch of shots with my E-M10 iii on a trip over the weekend. I remember having to back up for most shots. My viewfinder wasn’t getting everything in the shot. “This 25mm prime has a narrower field of view than you’d think. Definitely less than what the human eye sees.” I discovered a half a day later that I had accidentally pressed the 2x digital zoom button 
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Aug 1, 2018 14:38
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Welp. All this “mft is dead” chat has me pretty stoked on the $1000 I just dropped on the E-M10 and a couple lenses two months ago. On the plus side it takes great shots and probably won’t be an actual “dead” format for another decade. So that’s pretty rad. On the negative side I’m now not crazy about the idea of investing in wide angle or macro options. That $99 40-150 though… 
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Sep 5, 2018 22:59
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Slightly off topic but is there a dorkroom consensus on Flickr vs Google Photos for storage/editing? I'm keeping everything in iCloud Photos right now, which feels sub-optimal. On-topic: Got a chance to use the video capabilities of the E-M10 iii last weekend. Jesus this thing takes good video. I didn't shoot in 4k so I haven't looked at pulling stills out yet.
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Sep 19, 2018 23:04
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nmfree posted:The Something Awful Forums › The Finer Arts › Creating Covens › The Dorkroom › The Mirrorless Thread: I *insist* that my soup have 24 megapickles in it  What’s a good macro lens for my E-M10 mk VIIIiI? I need to take cooler pictures of the flies I’m trying.
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Oct 18, 2018 04:08
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Still loving my E-M10 iviiixi. Having FOMO about full-frame. Probably should buy a macro lens soon, and maybe ditch the ez for the 12-40 f2.8. My $.02
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Dec 3, 2018 03:19
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Looking at the docs for Photos.app it looks like iCloud stores both RAW and JPEG versions, which seems nice for backup. Now I just wish they had a decent option for sharing smaller albums of photos. I recently tried exporting and sharing photos via Google Photos and the workflow kiiinda sucked. Also, Amazon recently had the Oly 14-40 2.8 Pro on sale for $599 (white box) and I had to stop myself from pulling the trigger. Someone please tell me that wasn't a smokin' deal I just missed.
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Dec 4, 2018 19:33
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New?
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Dec 4, 2018 20:00
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Having the Panasonic 25mm f1.8 on my camera most of the time, is it worth it to pick up the Oly 17mm 1.8 as well? I find when I'm not taking pictures of my kids playing soccer, I'm usually doing street/walkaround photos or landscapes. I'd like something wider but don't know if the 17mm would fill that gap nicely, or if it's not that much different from the 25mm, and so I should be looking at something else for wide angle applications. Andy Serkis seems to like 17mm.
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Dec 5, 2018 20:46
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Wound up picking up the Oly 17mm 1.8 because I have a lens acquisition disorder. It’s…pretty nice. I’m actually quite surprised at the difference a “mere” 15mm of effective focal length makes. The 17mm feels like a great walk-around lens, particularly since I take random landscapes/streetscapes quite a bit. I can definitely see this thing living on my camera, with the Panasonic 25mm there for portrait-specific duty.
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Dec 9, 2018 22:35
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Speaking of tripod chat. Is there a consensus good/best general use tripod? I'd like something to keep in my car for travel and kids' soccer games, so ideally decent for video as well. Extra points if it's relatively light weight; something I could strap on a pack if the mood strikes. It'll only have to house my E-M10 Mk IvIIvxiVj 3 part 2 if that makes a difference.
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Dec 18, 2018 21:48
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DJExile posted:What kind of a lens are you using with it? This would be w/ the Oly 17mm, Panasonic 25mm, and Oly 40-150 mostly. My budget is…uh…what does a decent tripod cost?
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Dec 18, 2018 23:38
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I’m a scrub but holy poo poo does my E-M10 take better pictures than my iPhone Tennis.
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Dec 28, 2018 17:45
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Battery specs on the E-M10 II suggest 375 pictures or so on one battery charge. How close are specs to reality in people’s general experience with MFT? I’m taking a two week vacation coming up and am wondering if I can get away with just taking two batteries, but not my charger. Or is that a dumb idea? I have no idea how many pictures I plan on taking but it’s probably fewer than 1,000.
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Feb 20, 2019 16:56
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I need some advice. I don’t feel confident enough with any of these lenses to make a selection so I turn to you, fellow goons, for advice Per my battery question (thank you), I’m taking a trip to Europe soon and am trying to decide which lenses to bring, or at lest which ones to keep handy in my bag. I have: - Olympus 17mm f/1.8 - Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 - Olympus 14-42 f/3.5-5.6 EZ - Olympus 40-150 f/4-5.6 Photos will mostly be of places in the city, landscapes, and my kids frightening the locals. I was thinking about throwing the EZ on, but I don’t love the image quality compared to the primes. The 25 is great, especially for getting pictures of my kids, but falls down when I’m trying to capture interiors/landscapes. Is there one of those in particular you’d default to having on your camera? (I know this is all relative). Should I do something really stupid like try to acquire a faster standard zoom before I leave? Or just throw the EZ on and call it good, because “a craftsman never blames his tools”?
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Mar 6, 2019 17:52
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CodfishCartographer posted:This is the exact same lens spread that I’ve got, for the exact same camera. I left the 14-42 behind, I went to Tokyo for two weeks, and the only time the 17mm left my camera was when I was specifically using the 40-150mm to take photos of something far off. I don’t think I ever once used the 25mm, maybe I threw it on once or twice to make me feel like bringing it wasn’t a total waste. What’s up lens twin  To be honest, it’s the photos of my kids where I care about image quality the most; I’d trade every amazing travel photo I’ve ever taken for the freeze-frame of my kid launching a corner kick. Sounds like throwing the 17mm on there is my best bet, with the 40-150 for reach, and the 14-42 “just in case” since it’s so damned small. I think the 25mm really shines with more creative use, so it probably makes sense to leave it at home. Thanks for everyone’s advice.
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Mar 7, 2019 16:53
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DJExile posted:FYI, if you want shutter and aperture speed for those kind of things then you're gonna wind up paying for it. Freezing fast moving kids and animals with kit lenses is almost a fool's errand. Luckily most of the situations where I snap my kids are outside in broad daylight. I’ve even got good action shots w/ the 40-150. I definitely can’t do anything indoors with them, so TBQH I’m considering picking up an X-T<somenumber> for a non-travel camera. My FIL just picked an X-T3 up. I toyed around with it for a few and decided “I have no need for this and it’s more camera than I could ever make use of. I must have one.” waffle enthusiast fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Mar 7, 2019 |
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Mar 7, 2019 17:50
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O-MD pewps, what are you setting max ISO to? I’m still having a hell of a time getting crisp low-light photos. I had set a max of 3200 on THE INTERNET’s recommendation but that usually gives me a hard time stopping any motion at 1/60 f/1.8. I’m told I’ll have too much ~~~noise~~~ if I go higher, but…meh. Since I have an uncritical eye, I’m just curious what others find to be the limit. I also broke down and moved noise reduction from off to low. I do shoot in RAW+LF so… In other news, I watched Ben Long’s flash course on Lynda and…holy poo poo I can actually get decent images using the pop-up flash as a fill now! Flash compensation. Who knew? 
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Mar 12, 2019 14:58
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Kids. Inside. Olympus 17mm f/1.8 TBH the stuff at 6400 doesn’t look bad. (Though #6 needs to get his head on a swivel) waffle enthusiast fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Mar 12, 2019 |
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Mar 12, 2019 17:36
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That looks nifty. I love my PD wrist strap and slide lite. The quick release mechanism is perfect. How do you find the weight of the camera on one side?
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Mar 14, 2019 15:25
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Okay still on the “I need a different camera for certain applications” kick. General APSC vs m43 question I suppose, but is the sports performance of the X-T30 going to be that much better than something like the E-M10? As much as I’m lusting after the X-T30, I’m given to understand APS-C doesn't really work as a compliment to m43. Rather it would be a replacement. My oldest plays soccer and futsal, and frequently trains at an indoor facility, so indoor light + action (per my other posts). I get good shots from the E-M10 outdoors, but it definitely shows its limitations indoors. I’m debating whether I should move to APS-C (thus the X-T30 probably), if it gives good enough overall performance-to-weight to also take it camping, mountain biking, etc. Alternatively, I could stick with m43 for backcountry sports/travel and get a proper full-frame for lugging around to my kids’ activities. Though right now none of the full frame ecosystems seem that great? I'm not a big Sony fan, and it still seems like mirrorless FF is being sorted? Not to mention I don't love the idea of dealing with that much size/weight. Lastly, I could just HTFU and keep practicing with the E-M10 until I figure out how to get the most out of it. Thoughts?
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Mar 18, 2019 18:00
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Inside I shoot almost exclusively with the Oly 17mm f/1.8 or the Panasonic 25mm f/1.7.
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Mar 18, 2019 19:14
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Popelmon posted:You could also look around for a used E-m 1 Mark II. The E-m 10 is an entry level body and it was never really designed for sports photography. I just assumed that, given the same sensor, most of the rest of the (practical) functionality was going to be within the margin of error? e: I mean sensor size. The E-M10 is only 16mp but has the same number of focus points (I always center focus and then move the framing FWIW since I’ve always found autofocus to be terrible at picking a subject), 5-axis IBIS. I wonder what about the E-M1 would be better for sports. waffle enthusiast fucked around with this message at 14:04 on Mar 19, 2019 |
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Mar 19, 2019 13:58
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Submarine Sandpaper posted:em10 has 3 axis. The mark III has 5-axis. It was also given AF updates but I don’t know how those compare to the E-M1 Sounds like I should keep shooting with the E-M10 and see if I can make it work for me. The questions about APS-C and FF are maybe just FOMO more than anything. waffle enthusiast fucked around with this message at 14:52 on Mar 19, 2019 |
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Mar 19, 2019 14:39
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DJExile posted:👏 MEGAPIXEL 👏 COUNT 👏 DOES 👏 NOT 👏 MATTER 👏 ABOVE 👏 LIKE 👏 7MP 👏 But…this one goes to 26. (FWIW my concerns are mostly about sensor size rather than pixel count)
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Mar 19, 2019 18:18
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Just got back from two weeks in Spain/France. Lessons learned: - Bringing just two batteries and no charger would have been an idiotic move. So thanks for talking me out of it. Bringing a single battery and the charger probably would have been just as dumb. Each battery on the E-M10 Mark III Junior, Elite Edition lasted about 250-300 shots. I had two or three “big” shooting days and killed at least one batter each of those days. I think I wound up taking ~2k shots on the trip. - The E-M10 is really fun for video. Also, I am bad at taking video. - I still have farther to go with this camera before I feel super limited by it. It does liketo auto-select high ISO’s which can be frustrating. I wish there were a way to tell it to prefer adjusting aperture or shutter speed before raising ISO beyond 1000. Basically an “exposure triangle priority” setting (beyond A/S/P modes, but before M mode). In many cases, I could get decent hand-held shots at shutter speeds of 1/5”, but had to manually set ISO at that point since the camera’s choices felt overly conservative. - Shooting with a family in tow makes you click the dial over to “Auto” a lot. Oly’s AF priority in Auto still leaves a lot to be desired. I prefer setting focus point to the center of the lens then composing the shot from there, which isn’t possible in Auto mode  . It also raises the marginal value of having a zoom lens on your camera.- The Olympus 17mm f/1.8 spent most of its time on the camera, but I really missed having a good standard zoom on it. I could have used the 14-42 EZ but, TBQH, I just don’t like using it. In places like La Sagrada Familia, or for landsapes/cityscapes, I wished I had a bit more wide end to capture the vastness of the place. Or I’d find myself in a situation where 17mm just didn’t have the reach (and I couldn’t zoom with my feet). I’m now thinking about renting the 12-40 PRO to see if it’s really that much more amazing. Taking the 17, as opppsed to the 25, was definitely a better move for travel though. - The 40-150 f/4-5.6 remains such a great value lens. I had it on the camera for most of final day of the Volta a Catalunya. It still seems soft for sports at the super long end, but I was also asking it to do an awful lot. - (Non-mirrorless question but w/e) How are you guys culling photos? I took 300+ images on the final day of the Volta a Catalunya, most were burst, so I have three to five shots of the same image. This is probably the final straw that moves me over to Lightroom CC, but I’m still reluctant to kill photos I’ve taken because “space is cheap”. Random other note: I’ve been using the Pixelmator Photo beta and really liking it. The only thing it doesn’t have is modifying only selections on the image, but man is the ML stuff good. - Frickin’ everyone had a nikon DSLR.
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Apr 3, 2019 14:18
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So who’s been shooting with the X-T30?
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Apr 11, 2019 15:44
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For anything ecotourism related, I highly recommend bringing a telephoto.
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Apr 12, 2019 22:30
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Played with an X-T30 at B&H while I was in NYC this week. Love the size but man what’s up with that EV dial being baked into the body? It’s a PITA to adjust. The guy said “what’s the problem? You just set it to zero and never touch it.” (wut) Comparatively, both the X-T3 and E-M10 mark iii feel much nicer in hand. waffle enthusiast fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Apr 19, 2019 |
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Apr 19, 2019 21:55
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But…muh gear acquisition disorder! Realistically, in what situations would you pick the X-T30 over the X-T20 when it comes to AF performance?
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Apr 29, 2019 01:00
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Literally the only thing stopping me from picking up an X-T30 right now is concern about the annoyingness of the Q menu.
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Apr 29, 2019 19:32
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The Oly 17 f1.8 pretty much lives on my E-M10 mk iii
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May 2, 2019 14:49
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Where are some other places to score decent used lenses? EBay seems like a solid option if you want to pay 1.5x what you should.
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May 27, 2019 19:55
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