Merry Christmas!

A few items.

1. So as not to bury the lede, TOP is hereby dimming the lights for a few days in honor of Christmas etc., as per our usual, and will be back after Boxing Day (although when exactly, I know better than to promise).

Speaking of promises, last weekend I mentioned that I'd be making a call for work on Sunday and showing the pictures on Monday. When I wrote that, I was of course being completely oblivious of the calendar. (I do that a lot. I fear that only gets worse from here on in.) Anyway, it being the Christmas break, I will not be doing that this week. And yes, I'm an idiot.

2. If the 2012'ers were right and the world ended yesterday, I am pleased to report that it has been replaced by a nearly identical one that is if anything even nicer—at least from where I sit. We got a beautiful snow here after all, and the bright Midwestern sunlight is creating a thousand pinpoints of light on the icy branches of the huge old elm across the street. A natural Christmas tree.

By the bye, Jesus, whose birthday we celebrate around this time of year, was an end-timer himself. The evidence of all the gospels (canonical, apocryphal, gnostic—you know, things like Marcion of Sinope) make it very evident that Jesus firmly believed the "Kingdom of Heaven" was due any day, and would certainly happen within his lifetime. Inconveniently, that clock's still ticking too.

Predicting that end-time predictions won't come true is picking low-hanging fruit, too easy.

Eschew eschatology!

3. I didn't mean to create great glutinous gobs of angst on the Internet with yesterday's post (traffic spiked upward). The Leica S is one of the few clean-sheet rethinks of what a top-level camera should be, and I think whoever was responsible did an outstanding job. Another clean-sheet rethink is the Lytro, so there are others, but I can't think of many...the Pentax 645D has a long lineage stretching back to 1984; the Leica M9's goes back all the way to 1953; the Canon 5D Mark III traces its roots at least to the pioneering D30, and before that back to the original EOS-1, and before that back to the seminal black-blob T-90 of 1986 (which however looks '80s-sharp by today's standards). Heritage isn't a bad thing, and in many cases has the advantage of encouraging refinement. But the high costs involved—not only the high cost of trying but the high cost of being wrong—have tended to slap down attempts at original thinking in the design of cameras. The Leica S2, one notable exception, has been a success (thanks largely to the Chinese), and we should be glad of that.

4. Re the D800, I have only two problems with it so far. First there's the predictable onslaught of buyer's remorse—common for me. I feel it almost whenever I spend what I feel is "too much"—for anything, not just cameras. The urge to turn around and sell the D800 before time washes away large chunks of the equity I have sunk into it is almost making me feel physically antsy.

Second, I'm not entirely convinced that it's capable of better results for my uses than the OM-D. The D800 has good highlight rendition, but so does the OM-D; the D800 has better high-ISO flexibility, but the OM-D's stabilization offsets that; and I just find the OM-D's picture files to be exceedingly pretty—the D800's too. The one area in which the D800 clearly body-slams the OM-D is that it's so much more comfortable to use—the viewfinding, the handling, and the control knobs'n'buttons'n'menus are all so much clearer and easier to me. And yet the OM-D counters by one-two punching the D800 in terms of easy portability and greater stealth.

This David and Goliath match is not over yet by any means, and probably won't be till spring (I'm not much of a winter shooter).

5. If plans go right, we have three print sales coming up before the summer of 2013. Michael and Paula will be offering some gorgeous large- and ultra-large format contact prints in January. Then late in the spring will come Ctein's Last Gasp dye transfer sale—in one grand, glorious last blowout, Ctein will use up all of his remaining dye transfer supplies prior to closing his darkroom permanently. This time, however, the prints will be full-sized ~16x20s. The number of prints will naturally be limited to however many he has the supplies to make—he anticipates between 100 and 200, depending on how the materials inspect and on the reject rate as the printing goes along. I have the honor of picking the four pictures we'll offer, and I'm halfway there. You are absolutely going to love these prints, I guarantee it.

Both of the above sales will be great bargains, with prices far less than you'd have to spend to get equivalent prints through other channels. But in both cases the prices are expensive in terms of our historical norms. So, in between them, I'm planning a sale of modestly-sized inkjet prints of pictures that have appeared on TOP in the past that have drawn widespread approval. For that sale, we'll work to shave the costs down to something exceedingly reasonable, so that participation can be as painless as possible for the greatest number of people. I don't want to leave anybody out.

6. Christmas, like the lottery, fascinates me. It's a pure folk holiday with elements that are 5,000 years old (solstice rituals) to as recent as a a few years ago (the whole "Black Friday" thing). Its customs and iconography derive from a huge variety of sources—did you know, for example, that Washington Irving, who wrote Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, was the guy who came up with the idea of the flying sleigh pulled by reindeer?

In any event, please accept the following as encompassing in its broad embrace not just Christmas, but any end-of-year holiday you and your family celebrate—with best wishes and cheer from me to you and yours:

Mike

Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
A book of interest today:

There's a nice video about this project, as well.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Andrea B.: "The D800 vs. the Oly OM-D: You don't have to make a choice. Let yourself enjoy both of them! It's never been the case that one camera fills all needs although I have frequently tried to make it so. Currently I admit to Goldilocksian camera ownership: One little digicam (the Pentax Q) for fun and carrying in my purse or pocket. Sometimes my phone cam serves in this capacity too. One small-to-medium-sized digicam for serious shooting without excess weight (currently the Nikon D5100, but wish I had that Oly OM-D). One Big Dragoon, which currently is being decided between my old D3S and my new D600. How this is going to work out, I don't know. I love them both, but I do not really need two BDs."

Comments

[Tom Kwas]

As to point 4, I'm with you...I've been working with a Nikon DSLR for years now, and not really happy with it, but picked up a Lumix G-3 on that give-away deal you posted a few weeks ago. I find it's files to be "pretty", or "real", or something compared to the Nikon, which I'm always struggling to make not look like over-juiced Fuji Velvia. I certainly think I've been struggling with it for so long, I was delighted with the files from the G-3, and find it more acceptable to peoples skin, which is basically what I'm trying to capture professionally anyway (I sent a few files to my buddy who has much better down-stream equipment than I have, and he told me I can get a pretty nice 16X20 off of them, which for a guy like me looking for a decent 11X17 double mag page, is music to my ears)...

Now that I've been using 4/3rd's for a few weeks, I cannot imagine going back to a camera that does not offer multi-format! Being able to shoot 1:1 square, and near 8X10 format 3:2, is just a delight as well. 4/3rd's focus on reasonably priced primes, between both Olympus and Lumix, is also wonderful. I will be long dead before I can expect someone to make wide-angle f/2.8 primes for the APS-C format. It makes me sad I worked against my better judgment when I first purchased digital, and did not buy into the micro 4/3rd's market.

After the first of the year, I'm planning to put my Nikon stuff on eBay and call it a lesson learned. I'll convert that money into the wonderful 45mm and 12mm Oly, and maybe a 20mm Lumix, or even the Sigma 19mm and 30mm.

Seeing a report on Petapixel this morning, saying that Sony is now working on a full frame NEX6 type camera, means, as I predicted one time, that it's all going to be heading in this direction.

[david blankenhorn]

I think that somewhere else it's reported that the J. Nazarene said that "the Kingdom of Heaven is within you" so maybe he wasn't an end-timer himself. Although it's quite clear that an awful lot of His followers were (and are.)

[David]

HI Mike,

Yeah, you.
Ok, forget about the buyers remorse. People in these creative areas that require machines constantly trip out on their equipment. I do it all the time but I've learned when to say -no more- go to work. I've always stayed behind the curve on tech stuff, buying used and trying to be happy in my deluded frame of reference, behind the times.

Yoooou've got a great camera, make pictures now and stop itching.

Im still shooting with my original version D300. Which at this point is diving towards the bottom of the barrel on Craigslist. It doesn't have a lot of anything, really. But, as with any camera, you learn to understand what it can do for you and these boxes, ALWAYS, affect process, it's part of what's cool about photography. The camera. 8x10 affects your process differently than 4x5..medium format vs 35mm. Blah, you know. I think much of this has been tempered in the digital splotch...everything looks, feels and shoots like a 35mm film cam. Ok, not EVERYthing, quibblers. You know all this..let the camera embrace you a little bit and get out, or in, and use it to work, it's work.

I shot for 20 years, commercially, with a beat up Sinar F and a couple of middle of the road Rodenstock lenses that i used extensively in the field, it was trashed. It just became my studio camera when i needed to start to make money for diapers and animal crackers. And I shot everything with it, forever. I was envious of some of my friend's studio rigs..nice cameras on sexy rolling, monocolumn supports. I used a damn tripod the whole time. It was fine and i did well work with it.

So, quit your itching and get to scratchin', handsome.

The next thing i want to say is that this site is important to me. I flash through it all the time during the day and, as others have expressed before, it's part of my rainy day Folger's moments when im wearing a grey shetland sweater and some jeans with a 4 inch wide leather belt and a tremendous brass buckle. Where I've just come in from hunting for people's cats in the misty woods. I shelf my giant axe, clutch my steamy brew with both hands, and click onto TOP.

Seriousness aside, I hope your holidays are warm, with fellowship and good food and fulfilling . Take note of the gifts you have in your life and follow through with keeping healthy. We love your voice and balance and enthusiasm and that is why we are here.

[Armand]

S2 is a great camera. If I am not mistaken, Leica made a lot of improvements on it and made the S. Not used the S but if it is better than the S2 then it should be the best of the lot. I would love to get the S APO 120 Macro if I could.

People who use or have used medium format knows that it is not only about resolution but the image characteristics are completely different from the 35mm format.

If it is about pixel counts, 41 MP Nokia 808, D800/E , S2/S, Pentax 645D or other MF cameras should produce the same quality. In the real world, it is not true.

Yes, I shoot 35mm format too. I love the portability, the zoom lenses and for low light. I can't imagine walking around with a Rollie 6008x :)

Merry Christmas, Mike and the TOP readers

[David Aiken]

"Eschew eschatology!"

Really, Mike. Is there another photography site of which one can say "It's all about the words"? That excellent exhortation has made my day.

And a merry Christmas to you also.

[01af]

Once a wise man on the Internet said, shop around for a new camera for two or three months, then take a decision, then use what you bought for the next three or four years without looking back.

[Nigel]

Not to add to your problems, but there's a new 35mm lens, at a reasonable price, which looks rather good:

http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/sigma-35mm-f1-4-dg-hsm/5

Happy Christmas, Mike !

[DC Wells]

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and don't forget to put up your Festivus Pole.

[Dave]

Mike, you are the preeminent voice of photography on the internet. You should have the best camera -- you should have multiple cameras. This is your full time job after all. Let go of your buyers remorse.

Merry Christmas. Now, get out there and take some pictures of that fresh snow.

[Steve Biro]

Re: Nikon D800 vs Olympus OM-D: As the inimitable Kirk Tuck has written, "There is no law that says you can have only one cool camera."

Thanks so much for The Online Photographer, Mike. It's a daily must-read and makes life just a little bit better. Merry Christmas and all the best in 2013!

[Mark]

First off, for almost 30 LARGE, very LARGE, including lens, the Leica better damn well be one of the best cameras available, if not the best. Good for them. I'd probably own one if I was stupid loose with my money. If I made a living with it, it'd be great. But let's not forget something important. Suppose you do earn a living with it. And you need, no must have a backup. Having a digital back would enable you to have two relatively inexpensive bodies to swap the back on, not the Leica, you need two of 'em for 45 LARGE.

As to your Nikon vs. your Olympus, fughedaboutit. I have a Canon G10, which I never use, just picked up the G1X. Don't ask me why. Great deal gently preowned for $400 so I couldn't resist. And my 5DIII and 1DX. I use the 1DX most often, love the 5DIII. In fact, just bought my wife the 5DIII kit for Christmas as she said she wants to finally get into the hobby. Yippee. And if she bores of it easily, I've got a second 5DIII just for me.

[Sarge]

All I want for Christmas is my camera fixed (and maybe a "stocking-stuffer" back up for the New Year).

Is it time for season's greetings from all over yet?

Maupay nga Pasko* to you and yours, Mike. And to all TOP readers!

*In Waray, from Leyte-Samar, Philippines ("maupay" means "good").

[Paul Whiting]

I asked a few photo friends the other day what their favorite photo website was. One guy mentioned yours. I'd seen it before but was too hasty in moving on to other sites. When I settled in with you a few days I then remembered. Oh, _that_ Mike Johnston. I remember your presence in the magazine, what was it, Darkroom Techniques? I was a faithful subscriber. But more than that, what I remember was 37th Frame! I was a loyal subscriber and looked forward to every issue, delivered to my door via snail-mail.

You seem to have a knack for bouncing up here and there from time to time. I'm glad I caught up with you again on this bounce.

As for Marcion Sinope... well, you sent me scrambling to Google on that one. Thanks for opening a new window for me.

[Speed]

I second Andrea B's sentiment.

Motorcycle owners and want-to-be owners are as good/bad as camera people when it comes to discussing, comparing and pining over hardware. After one such long discussion, a friend said, "You know, you can have more than one."

He was right. He and his wife had six. And a five car garage.

I have one motorcycle. One wife. One dog. One house. And ... more than one camera.

[Chuck Holst]

An article about the Mayan calendar fervor in our local paper the other day was illustrated by a photo of a sign that read, "THE END IS NEAR." The sign referenced 1 Peter 4:7, which reads "Now the end of all things is near; therefore, be serious and disciplined for prayer." I believe the irony of the failure of this 2000-year old prophecy escaped both the painter of the sign and the person carrying it.

[Frank P]

Merry Christmas Mike.

You may have the first ten-year digital camera in the D800, if the tin whiskers don't getcha first. The file size, ISO, and DR are more than sufficient... and you know Nikon will just iterate it with more and more useless "features" that don't matter. The 2021 Nikon 885 just won't be that exciting....

[Mike Johnston]

Maupay nga Pasko to you too, Sarge!

Mike

[hamondian]

Could your card show the "Merry Wives of Windsor" - Mistresses Ford and Page rolling the luckless Falstaff?

[Manuel]

Merry Christmas to everyone.

[Arun]

"You may have the first ten-year digital camera in the D800..."

Last year, I finally upgraded from my 6-year old Nikon D70s/D50 cameras to an amazing Nikon D7000. I said to myself this would be my "ten-year camera".

A year down, the D7000 is gone, and a big* Dragoon, the D600 has taken its place. Oh well. Never underestimate the future.

*As opposed to "Big" Dragoon, which would be D800.

[Roger]

Enjoy your holiday, Mike. Mount a LensBaby on that Dragoon, shoot your holiday feast with it, and run the results through SnapSeed. That'll show those Instagram wanabees!

[Ed Grossman]

Merry Christmas to you, Mike. May 2013 bring you good health. My daily visit to TOP improves my quality of life and I am grateful to you, your co-authors (cheers, Ctein!) and the many commenters whose insights I've enjoyed.

As for the D800/OM-D conundrum, if this was a network TV show, your comments might be construed as a cliffhanger. I've faced a nearly identical dilemma myself and have made my choice. It'll be fun to follow along as you work your way through the same thought process. In the end it's really Aaron Rodgers vs. Tom Brady. (Apologies to those who don't follow American football.) With choices like that, how can you go wrong? Looking into my crystal ball, I predict the upcoming Olympus 17mm f1.8 is going to find it's way into your life. Just sayin'

[James Symington]

Merry Christmas from a warm and wet UK. Thanks for TOP which remains a great companion throughout the year to me and many others.

As for the D800 don't be hard on it. As I and others pointed out when you were toying with its purchase, it is not really an everyday kind of beast (although some will disagree). My D800E gets only occasional use as it's too big (both physically and in file size) for a lot of what I do - but when I am doing serious landscapes nothing else will suffice. My Fuji X cameras do the rest.

[JackS]

"There is no law that says you can have only one cool camera." ~Kirk Tuck

I used to live in that world. Not no more.

Happy Holidays to all, whatever and however you choose observe. My choice is to embrace any and all, large and small. Festivus is a favorite. 8~p

[Marilyn Nance]

Merry Christmas!!

Don't be silly--keep them both!!!

I really enjoy your blog, keep it up.

[Michael Steinbach]

Mike, since we last talked I have decided that I would keep my D800's and the D600. My thoughts originally echoed your Oly-Nikon situation, cut my losses and just go with the D600's but I just can't get past some of the missing features and buttons on the 600 vs the 800. And I KNOW I would miss the heft of the 800 though I say otherwise, it just feels like a camera.

[Ken White]

As much as I'd like to have a full frame Nikon or Canon the size and weight are just not appealing to me anymore. Once I got the E-M5 sorted out even my 60D seemed clunky. Adding the RRS grip/L plate to the little Oly made all the difference.

I did have a 5D for about a year. The images I made with it are easy to spot. What a beast it was.

For those Olympus users who are into self-gifting, consider the new 17mm 1.8. I went down to the local 'Good' camera store here in San Antonio to have a look at one yesterday. It went home mounted on my camera.

[Glen Rowe]

Hi Mike;

I am a relative newcomer to your blog. I have greatly enjoyed reading it over the past several weeks (including looking through the archives), and I have learned some very useful things from yourself and your regular columnists. However, I do have one quibble with the above post that I cannot resist responding to.

Perhaps it is best that an atheist such as yourself not try to interpret the words of Jesus. To the best of my understanding, when that spiritual master talks about the kingdom of heaven, he is employing a generally accessible metaphor to characterize an extraordinary esoteric experience. Please note that he also said, "The kingdom of heaven is within you."

Such esoteric experiences are by their very nature ineffable, and can be spoken about only via imprecise metaphor. However, the actual experience can be replicated by anyone who is willing to undertake the appropriate practices and lifestyle, which I believe is the primary point being made by prophets like Jesus.

Thanks again for your excellent blog, and best wishes of the season to yourself, your regular columnists and your respective families. I look forward to more of your helpful and entertaining posts in the new year. And best wishes to my fellow readers as well.

Glen Rowe

[pete]

well I decided my Nikon dSLR had to go.

I had a complete Panny m4/3 system so an E-M5 was on my buy list, so what did I end up with? a Fuji......

[Patrick Perez]

Also, Mike, you shoot treat yourself to the Olympus 15mm f8 body lens cap lens (or whatever permutation of those words is correct). $60 for a body cap with triplet 15mm lens with lever focus (and detent at hyperfocal). Hard to resist. I read bout it at Thom Hogan's site and just got it. Nice little treat.

Patrick

[Robert L.]

I'm still confounded that there's precious little, camera wise, that I want right now - that I can afford. It's actually very considerate of camera makers to keep the good stuff priced high enough that it's just silly:) A merry Christmas to you and yours(two and four legged varieties), and many thanks for what has become a daily escape - not just a great site with engaging articles, but a masterfully moderated community that feels like the very best of the hallway outside a camera club meeting. You're a heck of a educator, and it's very appreciated.

[Oskar Ojala]

Merry Christmas!

This year has been good to me and thus I've ended up in owning both a D800 and an OM-D. I got the D800 first, with the aim of making it my main camera and was a bit nervous about whether I have use for two cameras, although a backup is sometimes needed. Now less than two months into my OM-D ownership, I feel its the camera I grab for family snapshots, photos at home and generally anything that isn't slow and contemplative or requires a lot of preparation. The D800 really isn't a walk around camera, but I like it when I'm aiming for a high quality image and I'm photographing for the photographing itself.

To be honest though, for snapshots and family pictures the image quality of the OM-D is so far quite sufficient. I don't plan to make huge prints (I rarely make large prints anyway) and processing is a lot faster with the smaller files. I tend to use the accessory grip all the time with the OM-D, as it doesn't add too much to the size but makes it much easier to photograph people.

But with a good lens, the D800 really delivers. It's just not in my mind a camera for every situation.

[Marc Saylor]

Rumor has it that Sony is working on a 71.8 megapixel sensor for 2013 :-) Merry Christmas!

[Moose]

"The evidence of all the gospels (canonical, apocryphal, gnostic—you know, things like Marcion of Sinope) make it very evident that Jesus firmly believed the "Kingdom of Heaven" was due any day, and would certainly happen within his lifetime."

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."
Luke 17:20-21 NVT

Other translations say things like 'among you' or 'already within some of you'

Elsewhere, Jesus answers two questions about the Kingdom of God:

When? Now.
Where? Within you.

I'm no expert, and take no position here about apparently conflicting ideas about what Jesus said or meant. I'm simply surprised at your blanket statement, in light of contradictory statements directly attributed to Jesus in the canonical Gospels. Gospel of Thomas #70 also says individual destruction or salvation comes from within the individual.

Moose

[paugie]

I have a Pentax K20D bought 2nd hand. It's up to 65,000 actuations. Just this year I bought a 2nd hand Panasonic GF2 to shoot video. I'm not that good a photographer in my eyes to justify getting a "better" camera for my usage than these two.
My K to M4/3 adapter will be coming to me this February. Being able to use my Pentax Primes on the GF2 should be enough excitement to tide me over until either HAS TO be replaced.

[Andy]

Merry Xmas Mike
Thanks for a wonderful year of photo-related reading
Andy

[Paul Richardson]

I have to say, it took a little warming up to, but the OM-D is now hands down my favorite camera. I bought a Fuji XE-1 on impulse, and it doesn't seem able to compete, image wise, which frankly surprises me. So I think the moral is, when something works well, don't keep looking for something better. It's an avoidance mechanism.
And the Fuji is on it's way back.

[Steve Jacob]

Hi Mike, trouble with the big guns is that they are big, heavy, conspicuous and somehow a little vulgar.

OK sometimes it's necessary, but if you really DO need a truck, you almost HAVE to have something like a Miata for fun. Otherwise driving is more and more of a chore.

I am feeling more and more like that about SLRs in general. They are just utility vehicles for doing a job.

Oh and have a great 2013 by the way!