The Olympus E410 is a 4/3 format....not a micro 4/3, I picked up a new 40-150 zoom for $75.00 just over a year ago, the 40-150 (80-300 in 35mm terms) is the other kit lens that were sold with E series cameras, and like all zuiko lenses they are very good!
In fact there is one on Ebay now in Melbourne for $80 +$15 post.

Thanks for the info BL2. I doubt I will ever sign up to evilbay. Saw a fairly secondhand looking one on Gumtree in the price range but the other things the seller had made the provenance seem a bit suss.

Hey Graham,

I am contemplating an m43 camera. Current dslr is fine, but size and weight count against it. Whilst it takes nice pics, its a pain to travel with.

Be interested to hear feedback on your new camera in due course.

First impression: a lot easier to carry around than my Minolta film SLR, lens is light.

Graham,

Smaller size and a lighter weight sounds brilliant. Have yet to decide whether to buy or not.

Have sent you a pm...

Graham,

Smaller size and a lighter weight sounds brilliant. Have yet to decide whether to buy or not.

Have sent you a pm...

Haven't seen a PM.

So far have used the E410 on auto and results are generally good. See this album for examples. http://www.ipernity.com/doc/grahamh/album/463887?with=26665439

The immediate advantages are ease of getting the composition I intended to take and better colour rendition. Plus the lightness. Now will have to get into the various part auto and manual operations.

I posted in this thread over a year ago, I've now reflected on what I had then and what I use now.

Here is my main setup as of now, and is bound to change...

Canon G-15 these days

Canon EOS 30D, 1DMkIIn, 1DMkIII, occasionally a 5DMkIII.
24-85/3.5-4.5 USM
100/2.8 USM macro
70-200/2.8L IS USM
300/4L US USM
500/4L IS USM

I have not, admittedly, done much train photography over the past few years. Hearing steam locos whistle near Penrith (NSW) a couple of weekends ago made me excited, but I predominantly photograph birds for a hobby, hence the long telephoto lenses). I do have a pair of Powerful Owl, whom I "study" during their breeding times near Blaxland and get excited every time the big coal trains pass by....

Would love to spend more time photographing trains in the future.

Canon 450d with 28-135 and 55-250 for local travel.
Panasonic lx7 for on the go snaps and video.
Panasonic g5 with 14-45 for video and snaps when travelling.

The most recent video posted on the sdsr news thread....
http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11377117.htm

...was taken using the panasonics. The g5 is an m43 format compact system camera. So far it's been great, though the white balance is noticeably warmer than the lx7.

Gee it's been a while since anyone posted so my news is good. I now have a Sony A6000 camera with the 16-50 and 55-210 lenses ...and it is sensational!!!      and I got hold of an adapter so I can use my old Zuiko manual lenses too and they work brilliantly, so I have a portrait lens which works beautifully wide open and with nice Bokeh....had to sound like a tosser there! hehehe

Fuji S5 Pro.

Fuji S5 Pro.

Fuji XT-1. Am pleasantly surprised at just how good it is: light weight, excellent optics, great colour rendition and easy to use with very 'old school' controls. I still own a Canon 5D MkII but I can't see myself using it for other than the very occasional shot.

I have a choice of three, the choice depending on how much weight I can stand to carry and how good an image I am looking for.

Nikon D810 with a 24 70mm f2.8 lens and a 70 to 200mm f2.8 lens. This set is quite bulky and heavy, but produces images that challenge ones produced by my Mamiya RB67 medium format camera, you do need to take extreme care with the D810 to produce images of that quality.

Nikon D700 with a 24-70mmf2.8 lens (purchased 2nd hand) and a 70-300mm 4f-5.6 lens.

Sony A35 with a 28-75 f2.8 lens, small light weight camera, produces excellent images (I have a good lens on it), battery goes flat in no time (around 2 to 3 hours), extra batteries essential.

The D700 usually has a Nikon GP1 gps attachment fitted to it, this allows geotagging of the images. One his to think about uising it as the GPS system is not switched on until the shutter button is push half way. So there's always a slight delay before the GPS produces a position. This method of working means though that the camera battery is not discharged to quickly which would be the case if the GPS was on all the time.

I have had the D700 for quite a while , the D810 is a lovely camera capable of really excellent images and its about a 1 stop better low light camera than the D700, but I kept the 700 as is still and excellent camera.

Been a while since this thread has been updated, and as its pined i figure its fair game to post into.

With 4k becoming mainstream, and i'm sure some looking at higher, whats good on both the video side and still side these days? what features are people using these days? what should someone who is using a mobile phone these days (current model iphone at 4k 30fps video) looking to migrate to better equipment be looking for? Makes/Models people find the best performers, and how does one keep them charged while in the field? more batteries, or in car charging?

For those with drones, what tech should one be looking at there as well? keeping in mind we need to keep that space legal, are drones viable? or is the line between legal and not to tight when it comes to railway photography?

and what software do people use to edit the footage? free, or not.

I was into still and video photography a little while ago, but thanks to an uninvited visitor at home i lost all my gear, and havnt got back into it yet.

Most of my work photos these days tend to come from my old Galaxy S7, or a older GoPro Hero 3+. I do have a Canon EOS550D at home, but the only thing that has going for it over modern phones is zoom, so it doesn't get much action these days either.

I'm using a Canon 80d, with a GoPro Hero 7.

The 80d is not 4k, but if you upload anything to YouTube, it usually won't be in 4k anyway.

Phone cameras are surprisingly good these days. But stills and video can absorb huge quantities of money for little noticeable difference, depending on user skill, editing and presentation.

Every camera will have its strengths and weaknesses. Buying an interchangeable lens camera buys into that system, so choose wisely.

Just about any old camera can take a decent still image. I think the Canons still have the best colours straight out of camera, though others can be improved in edit. I use Panasonic micro four thirds for lightness and portability. I find the typical crop body DSLR too heavy for a day out and about, but individual mileage will vary on that front.

Many stills shooters will advocate for full frame bodies and that's fine. But the cost and added weight over a crop body DSLR turns me off. For a hobby I deem that unnecessary. Plus tiring if I'm on my feet for hours at a time and carrying two cameras, one on a tripod and the other in a shoulder bag.

For video, its different. Editing will need a decent computer processor. So whilst a full frame with no crop or pixel binning delivers great resolution, many home PCs will choke when trying to render the files.

For vlogging or general upload, 4k isnt necessary but can be very handy to have during editing. I typically use a high res non 4k take to capture the footage. The advantage of 4k files is that they can be cropped significantly without much loss of resolution, which is handy in 'run and gun' filming.

For the record, I have a Panasonic g95 for stills and an ancient GH3 for video. I wouldn't recommend MFT for stills, despite using them myself. A good crop body DSLR like ANRs Canon 80D is probably a decent compromise.

I am so looking forward to when the steam trains begin to operate again.