Buy Buy Buy

So they had a pre Chrismas sale the other day on several items that had been on the back of my mind for a while now. With prices slashed from 20 to 30% before the year end, I decided to grab a few of them. Some I may not need immediately but they are definitely worth picking up due the reduction in cost.

The items that made the bag so to say were :

1) Samyang AF85/1.4
I actually wanted the Sigma which is double the price, but the new Samyang AF looks mighty sweet with an additional 20% price reduction. This lens has already proven it's mettle in this year's only Milkyway outing 2018 and the Comet 46P/Wirtanen chase. And it's very light ... did I mention f/1.4?

2) Panasonic LX100
Every year I seemed to pick up another tech loaded PnS that I can carry around on hikes or even play backup role to my full DSLR kit. This 4K 25fps capable camera was also on a discount. It has a maximum 60sec min shutter speed and a f/1.7 aperture, as well as internal timelapse capable PnS. Would be interesting to see it perform on the Star Adventurer star tracker at 60secs looking into the Milkyway when the season comes around again. And the 4K video obviously.

3) DJI Ronin S.
This was a purchase for the future ... it was on a 30% discount 6 months after it's introduction middle of this year. I've been making footage with the Canon 6D, Sony A7S on a fixed tripod thus far and has been meaning to make a more dynamic footage for a while now. With this gimbal it would be a definite possibility. The Ronin-S coupled with the recently available Blackmagic Pocket Cine Camera 4K would be epic, I will leave the Cine camera for the future for the timebeing. A Sony A7R is also within the attractive price band now that Sony A7R Mk 3 is all the rage at 3xthe current price of the A7R, meanwhile the BMPCC is only 1.5xA7R!!!

I figure if I quit FB next year (a distant objective) I'll have more time to pursue the items that were on my list of pursuits but have been left on the back burner for quite sometime now. These two pursuits : chase the night sky to the max and making more dynamic footages of the outdoors (night and/or day). Hopefully these will be getting the due attention they deserve come 2019 onwards. OFF with Zuckerberg!