Another Idyllic Day

Today was another near-perfect day. The temperatures were in the mid-70's, the breezes light and variable, and the front that had delivered the rainy weather earlier in the week had pushed through and scrubbed the skies a perfect clear blue.

I was also in a good mood because UPS had delivered my second Olympus E-1 body. I paid $200 for that body plus the SHLD-2 grip with battery on e-bay. After all the bids for E-1's I lost, this one was unreal. I was the first and only bidder, and it sat on e-bay for three days before the bid ended and I won. When I received all the kit, it was in mint-condition. There were only 1,700 shutter actuations, the firmware was at version 1.5 (the last and final version to be released), and there was no dust or marks on either the body or the SHLD vertical grip. This makes the second mint-condition E-1 I've purchased this year. The first was from KEH, and as good as that body was, this one from e-bay was even better.

According to the seller, he'd purchased the E-1 four years ago and used it once, primarily on a vacation. Then, a year later, he purchased an E-3, and the E-1 sat on the shelf until he put it up on e-bay to sell it. And then I won it. I guess it really is true that the good things come to those who wait, at least in this case. This marks the end of purchasing any new digital bodies, at least for the foreseeable future.

My daughter and I went to Leu Garden's today to enjoy and photograph. She took her E-1 and I took the other E-1 and my E-3. The E-P2 stayed home. On my E-1 I mounted the 12-60mm, on the E-3 I mounted the 50mm macro. My daughter had the 40-150mm MK2. During the day she got a chance to use the 50mm on her E-1. While she's been home I've been letting her try out all my lenses, just to get a feel for what's possible with the system. She's too young to be able to afford all I've collected, so I've been "loaning" bits to her to work with. When she goes back to FSU tomorrow, she'll be taking my 40-150mm Mk 2 back with her to supplement the original two kit lenses she got with my old E-300. Turns out that the Mk 2 works better with the E-1 than the Mk 1.

Here are a few of the images I managed to take today, some with the E-1, some with the E-3. Most are from Leu Gardens, but not all.

Sunlight dappled leaves
"Sunlight dappled leaves"
Olympus E-1 with Zuiko Digital 12-60mm
1/1000s, f/4.0, ISO 100, 55mm

Sitting in the garden
"Sitting in the garden"
Olympus E-1 with Zuiko Digital 12-60mm
1/1600s, f/4, ISO 100, 43mm

Purple flowers in the garden
"Purple flowers in the garden"
Olympus E-1 with Zuiko Digital 12-60mm
1/500s, f/4.5, ISO 200, 60mm

Orange flowers
"Orange flowers"
Olympus E-3 with Zuiko Digital 50mm Macro
1/500s, f/3.5, ISO 200

One of the elements that made the day so enjoyable for me was the smell of all the flowering bushes throughout the garden. And that seemed to attract quite a few bumble bees throughout the garden as well.

Bottlebrush and bees
"Bottlebrush and bumble bees"
Olympus E-3 with Zuiko Digital 50mm Macro
1/800s, f/4.5, ISO 200

It was wonderful to hear their soft buzzing, and to see them flitting from flower to flower. I haven't seen bees around my house in years; and it was equally wonderful to see them in such concentrations as I saw them today, especially in the middle of a major metropolitan area. It added to the pleasure of the garden.

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