[Jon L]

Nice..
 

 

[musubi1000]

Hey Jon is that Suzies lens? And Armando's camera?

 

[MadCow]

Don't really like the new Zeiss designs. At all.
 
You can clearly see from that photo, the lens body won't hold out too well against fingerprints, grease, oil and scratches.

 

[randy98mtu]

New to Head-fi, but I've been on POTN for a long time.  I have a 5D3, 17-40, 24-105, 70-200 4IS, 35L, 85 1.8 and 135L.  It's taken me many years to build this collection and I feel it's very well rounded and aside from adding the 17-40 and 5D3 this year, I haven't made any changes in a couple of years.  I don't anticipate making any for a while either!

 

[Jon L]

  Don't really like the new Zeiss designs. At all.
 
You can clearly see from that photo, the lens body won't hold out too well against fingerprints, grease, oil and scratches.

Yeah, I much prefer the Distagon series look.
I am hoping that since Sony and Zeiss often cooperate on AF lenses, there will be a Sony-mount AF version of Otus 55 mm in the future, hopefully with more traditional Zeiss construction.

 

[MadCow]

So the objective reviews are out and the MTFs are really impressive on the Otus... though not as jaw-dropping as the 135 f/2 APO. Seems quite weak in the vignetting department though.
 
It is a nice lens, but I still don't like the looks, along with the size and weight. For its price, I'm actually eyeing a 50mm summilux instead for my M.

 

[Jon L]

Both Otus and Summilux IQ peak around f/4-5.6 with still a big drop towards the wide open end, which just demonstrates how difficult it is to have excellence wide open, even for these price-no-ojbect lenses.
http://www.lenstip.com/390.4-Lens_review-Carl_Zeiss_Otus_55_mm_f_1.4_ZE_ZF.2_Image_resolution.html
 
It's just too much money for me anyway, especially without AF, and I will keep waiting for the inevitable next Canon 50 mm.  In the meanwhile, my  50L's less-than-spectacular sharpness works pretty well for portrait work anyways.

 

[MadCow]

EOS M2 only released in Asia with marginal improvements is such a disappointment. I think a lot of people were already expecting Dual Pixel AF.

 
I like the idea of a small, pocketable and stabilized ultra-wide though... maybe I'll look at it again after the price drops to a bargain (again/eventually/hopefully).

 

[leftnose]

Yeah, that M2 is a pretty horrible "upgrade."  Makes me glad I bought a GX7.  Now I just need to sell my GX1.  

 

[MadCow]

Congrats on the GX7, I briefly played with it at the store and liked its features and handling, even better than the Olympus E-P5. In fact, a couple of dealers told me the price of the E-P5 was dropped the minute the GX7 hit the market.

 

[Stealthy Ninja]

  Not sure if anyone has used the new Sigma 35 1.4 but from what I have seen it is the only 35mm anyone that anyone should be buying right now.
 
http://www.canonrumors.com/2013/03/sigma-35mm-f1-4-dg-sets-new-benchmark-for-excellence/

 
I own it. It's a very, very good lens.

 

[leftnose]

  Congrats on the GX7, I briefly played with it at the store and liked its features and handling, even better than the Olympus E-P5. In fact, a couple of dealers told me the price of the E-P5 was dropped the minute the GX7 hit the market.

The accessory viewfinder of the GX1 was one thing I didn't like about it.  It increases the effective size of the camera quite a bit so I never really considered the E-P5.  (As an aside, I think Oly's naming convention is horrible: E-PM2, E-PL5, E-P5, E-M5, E-M1.  Not very well thought out to me).
 
The GX7, with the integrated EVF, Wifi, two dials, better high ISO, and IBIS, addresses all the complaints I had with the GX1.  Though it is a bit bigger, it's still very small and handy.  Build quality is considerably better as well.  What I especially like is the customizability of the buttons and dials.  I've got it set-up so the dials rotate in the same direction as my Canon, that I can move the AF point, change ISO, change the drive mode, etc. almost as easily.
 
Also, I've sold the kit lens which I "had" to buy to get the black version so I've got less than $800 in the body.  An EP-5 plus the viewfinder is over $1200 here.  Obviously, they're very different cameras but an E-M1 is $1400 and an E-M5 is $900.  Just a very odd pricing strategy by Olympus to me.
 
Now, I'm just waiting for the Leica 15/1.7 to be released!

 

[leftnose]

A little beauty shot. 
 

 
The changes to the MF aids are fantastic, BTW. Auto enlarge and focus peaking combined works really, really well. 

 

[MadCow]

  A little beauty shot. 
 

 
The changes to the MF aids are fantastic, BTW. Auto enlarge and focus peaking combined works really, really well. 

Nice.
 
A rotated shot? The ball head threw me off for a moment until I realized how it was angled.
 
What converter are you using? Also, from the looks of the review (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonic-lumix-dmc-gx7/6), it seems like there is picture-in-picture magnification together with peaking, and you can change the position of the PiP box? Funny none of that was mentioned in the review, I just noticed from the screenshot.

 

[leftnose]

Nope, not rotated.
 
A Manfrotto 055XPROB with convertible center column.
 

(I need to buy a second flash to balance shadows better)
 
I use Lightroom 5.  I've never used Panasonic's software even when I had my GX1.
 
Yes to all your questions, PiP magnification that can be moved around on-the-fly with on-the-fly variable magnification and peaking inside the magnified view.  Just really, really good.  With the 4:3 ratio, you can also have a live histogram in the EVF that's outside the image area.  With 3:2, there's some overlap, though.  The camera is just really well thought out.  And it's so customizable that if there's a behavior you don't like, you can probably change it.
 
Yeah, that dpreview piece isn't especially good for the GX7.  There's some grumbling on the MFT forums that dpreview tends to be a bit Olympus biased.