...your call !

...this lovely lady walked into my studio a couple of weeks ago...wow !...she knew her STUFF... I'll bet I did not say 10 words to her, she went about her business, and in about 30 minutes we had a couple hundred great pix...you judge, your call...the Olympus EM5 with the Leica 25mm (50mm FOV) combo...stunning, thats a fack Jack !

...it can be addictive !

...this black and white thing...I mean so many possibilities, so little time...I shot a batch of this stuff in Cripple Creek last October 2011 with a Panasonic G3 and some sort of wide angle m4/3 lens...a huge batch...probably no one has seen this stuff, but me and one of my cats...such is life, so I thought I would play with the B/W thing again, in Silver Efex and finished it off with a Vignette Blur from Color Efex...I thought Vignette was a salad dressing...

...Silver EFEX PRO 2

...I must confess, I was in Santa Fe and a fellow photographer was displaying his New Mexican landscapes in black and white ...stunning......I took a guess and said "Silver EFEX ! ... yes ! ... I bought a copy, and needless to say I am a complete new-born when it comes to black and white and Silver EFEX...but here are a couple more pix from the Cordillera series processed with NIK Silver EFEX...and as you might guess the variations are endless..I will get better...enjoy

Cordillera

...yes, that mythical location that actually does NOT exist on a Colorado map, but everyone in Colorado knows where it is...this was an early fall day, and I love this site, junk cars, cabins, barns, manure, all natural  and all things horsey...sweet ! ...Beth  looks at me "why are we here?" and of course, I would not miss it for the world...I've probably shot this site at least 20 times over the years...each time its different, but one-day it will not be here...waiting...

...the pix of course are full color, and fun to play with in there own right, but I decided to whip these puppies into black and whites and see if I could get them to "bite"...the conversion was done with NIK ColorEfex, the blend was certainly nothing exotic, the camera was the Pentax K-01, shot in bright daylight, the lens was one of the Pentax Pancakes (I just love pancakes), and the results were, well again, you be the judge

...bet you have NOT seen this combo !

...I thought not...it's the Sony a65 matched with the Minolta F8 500mm Reflex (Mirror) (750mm FOV)...the Minolta has been around since the previous century and recently dis-continued by Sony in 2010...it probably was in production for over 30 years...but, here is the kicker, it's AUTOFOCUS...yep, AF and a speedy one at that !...even better, this lens has had the popularity of a wart-hog, until it was discontinued by Sony (thank you Sony)...it's now like a painter that has died, and gone whearever, the value has shot waaaaay up...up...and oh yeah, these guys were a long, long way off in the distance

...anyhow, it was a rare overcast afternoon, ISO set to either 400/800/1600 depending on the cloud density, all HANDHELD (750mm FOV)...and yes, oh yes, you CAN count the hairs on a Rhino's ass at 100m

check out more at www.ronster.smugmug.com

...Yarmouth in Boulder

...sometimes I get paid for my work...and this was one of those times !... the assignment was to photograph a residential "rowhouse" neighborhood recently completed in Boulder...I decided my weapon of choice would be my loving "knock your eyes out" Pentax K-01 mated with the Tamron f2.8 17-50mm (25~75mm FOV) lens. The Tamron has been around for years and ALWAYS receives rave reviews...

...the day was bright and dead calm...the results were quite colorful...check out the entire shoot at www.ronster.smugmug.com and enjoy...I certainly DID !

...Panasonic G5 in the Studio !

...well, never leaving dust to settle, it was time for a "Fresh" machine...the just released Panasonic G5, mated with the Leica 25mm (50mm FOV) Prime lens. A Killer Combo !...now, off to the studio, and a fresh victim... Blair is a lovely lady, and as such, took most of the work out of the shoot... re-freshing !

...the G5 Panasonic lived up to expectations, and more...a fresh 16mp sensor, 6fps, live-view and blah,blah,blah ... you know the routine...these new machines are really quite good and once they are mated with "gonzo" killer glass, well the rest is history ! ...check out the shoot at www.ronster.smugmug.com  and YOU decide ???

...Kenosha Pass

...that time of the year, mid-to-late September, and the turning of the Aspens...Kenosha Pass sits at 10,000 feet and has been in constant use, for a variety of activities, since the time of the Ute Indians... I shot these pix with the Pentax K-01 and an assortment of Pentax Pancakes (15/21/40mm (23/32/60 FOV))...all tucked into my jacket pocket...and at 10,000 feet you ALWAYS want to have a jacket with pockets...it can change that quick... see more at www.ronster.smugmug.com

... a drive by !

...It's rare that I actually "happen upon" a classic car without looking for them...but there sat a LaSalle, in a vacant lot, somewhere in rural Colorado... by chance I had the Oly OMD-EM5 on hand with the Pano 12~35mm Vario X "killer" lens and thought I would click off a "quick hundred" or so, pix... ...so nothing profound with this post, EVERYONE has already said that the EM5 with the 12-35mm was a combo to die for, either as a pair or singularly...THEY ARE RIGHT !!!

Anchors Aweigh !

...Ransoon scanned the horizon, nothing, not a twitch, surely, it must be safe...a second look, what, what ? ...dark clouds, a thunderstorm, but from where ?  ...and just like that I was shooting another wedding...

so a familiar dilemma, what to shoot, what to wear ? you can only screw this up once !...I just received my Oly Omd-Em5 and the Pano 12-35mm f2.8 zoom a few days ago...why NOT ? what could go wrong ? ...good choice, Nimrod

Anchors Aweigh !

...well, it was a good choice, the em5 with the Pano zoom and Oly fl-50r flash were top gun at this event...not a technical hitch to be found, just shut up and shoot ! ...I did continue the trend of the Gary Fong "salad spinner" light diffuser pointed straight at every ceiling I could find...no blow-outs, no errors, very consistent exposures all bounced off ceilings ...so, 600 pix later the smoke had cleared, I drove home, with a smile on my face...

I've read a number of very positive reviews about the Oly Em5 and Pano 12-35 f2.8...and ya' know, every word of praise stated is...well, that's a fack Jack !!!

...want more, see the gallery at www.ronster.smugmug.com

...first impressions, OMD-EM5

...this camera took forever to be in my hands...I wanted the Black Body/no lens combo and it was forever to become available...forever...

I think we all know by now that this puppy is a rock-crusher for IQ... it has a very fresh Sony 16mp m4/3 sensor that equals most, all or some of the latest APS-C sensors from a variety of manufacturers...'nuff said

but first impressions are forever, and of course I have a few that I would like to share...starting with the Name... OMD-EM5...I mean what do you actually call it ????...also, it HUMS, yes, it has the slightest humming sound from the Internal Stabilizer System upon power-up, you can hear it in a quiet room, barely...it is small, I had the Panasonic G3 and it is approximately the same size, but because of its SLR type styling it looks waaaay small, as the G3 did not appear to be that small, the G3 looked pretty normally sized...it is not light, it feels solid, robust and not of a plastic nature...the styling is retro, it really looks like a 70's shrunk SLR, you may or may not like it...the Internal Image 5-Axis Stabilizer is off the charts, just try it and I think you will actually see a difference in very low light...the machine is "fast" in operation, fast in handling and of course has the "speed of light" autofocus system which means nearly instantaneous auto focus...the shutter sound "rocks"...the G3 had a "thunk" the OMD has a "thwack"... a significant difference in the way the camera feels to a shooter...last, the OMD LCD back panel is always face-open, the back screen is articulated, hydromatic and everything else, but the back glass is always face open

...but alas, I must report the other impression...the Menu/Info system...remember the old phrase from the 70's "user knarly"... well this is it !...the menu and information system is very comprehensive, its' just knarly to use...so many different ways to display the information all slightly different...and a few other surprises like when I selected my image quality you have choices for jpegs of large fine/large normal/medium fine/medium normal/small fine/small normal plus an assortment of RAW in combo with and without the jpegs...no problem so far, but perusing page 90 of the 133 page manual I discovered that by changing the BASE menu structure that a large/SUPER fine was available...that's great ! but without spotting that novelty on page 90 I would have never known that Super Fine was an option from the menu system...and the other oddity, the OMD has a touch screen/lcd panel that is a joy to use, but not always touch available depending upon the menu/information that you are currently trying to activate...as an example, the OMD has a "Super Control Panel" default screen which displays and controls all active shoot settings, with cursor control only, no touch control...and in live view mode  has TOUCH control for autofocus subject selection and shutter actuation...more great stuff but perplexing...I must admit I HAD to read the manual

first impression, a unique camera among a sea of cameras, a bit eclectic, but man, this is the real DEAL !!!

... speed of light !

...so what to take, that was the question ? the US Pro Challenge was finishing atop Beaver Creek and what to take? or more exactly, what NOT to take? ...I decided on the "lets' go light scenario"... reasoning was,  I was going to SEE the bike race, not photograph another event... I thought !

...the pickings were plentiful, A65, K-01, OMD-EM5, GX-1 plus a full compliment of lens...and of course you already know, the one I picked...the GX-1, fitted with the 20mm pancake f1.7 prime...and it was jacket pocket-able, with room to spare...oink - oink !!!

...the Jacket was key as I knew I would be standing, squating and walking for many hours, and besides there were plenty of folks carrying their dastardly black Canon and Nikon systems with matching neck straps/braces and insurance health cards hanging on a lanyard from there necks...

Panasonic is touting there new autofocus system as "Speed Of Light"...and that certainly sounds like marketing dung to me...but I wanted to use the GX-1 as sort of a "fast draw" machine, fastest gun in the west...simply raise from the hip, aim, frame and shoot anywhere from 3~5 frames in about a second...it did, it did, and it worked, I ended up shooting something like 600 pix in a few "FUN" hours... "FUN" being the operative word...I watched the DSLR crowd slowly banging their machines to there foreheads, twisting, turning and hanging on to their zooms for dear life...I mean were these folks actually having fun...I think not

...but for every upside, there must be a downside, and the GX-1 for having lightning fast autofocus did  have limited (think none) predictive/tracking autofocus...grrrr ...but ya' know, I worked through it

...bottom line, these new m4/3 machines have autofocus that works near the speed of light...check out the pix at www.ronster.smugmug.com and enjoy !