I actually got my OM-D last June, and have been meaning to write up some
thoughts
for ages and ages. So here's a bunch of photos from a trip in July/August last
year,
annotated somewhat by comments.
First thing -- for me, at least, the ergonomics work better than any previous
OM
digital. I went OM-10 -> OM2S -> OM4T -> E-1 -> E-330 -> E-3, and the OM-D
really
does feel pretty much like a digital OM body, rather than a digital camera with
Olympus written on it. In particular, I never have to think about how to use it,
whereas the E-3 in particular was always a bit of a mental challenge for me, for
some reason.
Now, I don't have big hands, which helps with buttons and such -- but I've
used it
in -20c weather, wearing big gloves, and it's awkward but definitely possible.
The touchscreen is surprisingly useful at times, similarly the fold-out/up
display;
otherwise, it's the same menu system as always, which works fine, and I have no
problems with the dials/user function buttons. (one's set to 'zoom' for old MF
lenses/AF area control, one set to curves to let me deal with awkward
exposures).
EVIL is, well, EVIL -- morally I'm sure it's a bad thing compared to real
photons,
but frankly I _like_ being able to do things like dial in exposure compensation
and instantly see what'll happen, and as a result I use that exposure
compensation
a lot more than I ever have, because I don't need to mentally think about how
much
I need, I just fix the image until it looks the way I want.
It's also a much more practical size for me. I went back to the E-3 for some
family
portraits because I didn't have a working remote for the OM-D, and it just plain
felt _big_. Not 'professional' or anything, just bigger and heavier. The
OM-D + 12-50 lens will just fit in a trouser pocket (I wear fairly loose
trousers),
and easily fit in a coat pocket, which means I can carry it around very easily;
for
travelling, the OM-D + 12-50 + 40-150 _just_ fits in a Lowepro Munich 100 bag
(13x10x17cm), which is basically unnoticeable if I'm carrying any other sort of
bag.
For a small light travel kit, it's pretty much perfect -- obviously I'd like
more
speed in the lenses, more range at the long end, closer macro ability, more
wide-angle, etc, and I did that by carrying adapters and old 4-3 / OM lenses --
but
that two zoom kit will cover an awful lot of stuff, and I would have no worries
about
taking just those lenses if I was constrained by weight/size at all.
As for actual picture-taking ability, it's the first camera that I haven't
ever felt
'gets in the way'. ISO 3200 is very very usable, so I can with a reasonably
guilt-free
conscience let it auto choose ISO up to that point, which means I can take
photos
indoors with pretty much no grain/NR blur and not worry about it. The IS is
again, a bit
better than before, and I can hand-hold down to 1/10th at ~200mm equivalent if
I'm
careful, 1/10th-50mm equivalent with no problems at all -- so shutter speed
isn't really
something I need to worry about unless it's motion blur of the subject.
AF speed is close enough to instant that focus is yet another thing that I
don't need
to worry about any more -- the whole experience is one of the camera getting
out of the
way and not restricting me, I can just decide what I want to do and it'll let
me do it.
Even just little things like time to power up / down make a difference -- I
can carry it
powered off and know that once I hit the power switch, it'll be ready to shoot
by the time
it's raised to my eye, which means I miss that many fewer shots waiting around
to have the
chance to take the photo.
On which note, finally, some photos; family trip to washington state last
summer, and a few
shots from the way there/back via vancouver/seattle.
ISO range -- at times when I know it's going to be gloomy, it lets me get
shots that
could well be impossible otherwise:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/03_Jul_22&image=P7220478.jpg
and as I said, in 'normal indoor' light, it just lets me not worry about
taking photos
where it might otherwise have come out unexpectedly blurrier:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/02_Jul_21&image=P7210192.jpg
has lost basically no detail even at ISO 2500.
Outdoors, it again takes away some of the worry about shots not working the
way I'd hoped; I've
taken shots like this one and had them fail a lot of times:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/13_Aug_01&image=P8010649.jpg
and, again, at 2500 there's basically no loss of detail:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/01_Jul_20&image=P7200054.jpg
It also is, finally, a camera that I can use to take photos in aquariums and
hope to get
a reasonable result:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/03_Jul_22&image=P7220420.jpg
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/03_Jul_22&image=P7220445.jpg
and while we're at the aquarium, I liked this one:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/03_Jul_22&image=P7220476.jpg
(though I should really clone out the stroller in the foreground)
The 12-50 kit lens is a very nice lens -- sure, it's a bit slow, but as an
all-rounder it
gets wide enough to let me fit a lot of stuff into the shot at the wide end:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/02_Jul_21&image=P7210261.jpg
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/09_Jul_28&image=P7281592.jpg
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/10_Jul_29&image=P7291793.jpg
and the "macro" setting is not what I'd call 'macro' as it's not 1:1, but it
still lets me
get in close enough for a lot of things:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/15_Aug_03&image=P8030873.jpg
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/01_Jul_20&image=P7200079.jpg
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/13_Aug_01&image=P8010614.jpg
It's water-resistent enough that adverse weather is another thing I don't
need to worry about:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/01_Jul_20&image=P7200118.jpg
and sharp enough for my needs:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/02_Jul_21&image=P7210237.jpg
Also, 9fps continuous shooting is both a blessing and a curse -- it means I
can get exactly the
action shot I want (again -- the camera gets out of the way; I set it to 9fps
and shoot, I don't
have to worry too much about timing things too precisely).
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/15_Aug_03&image=P8031019.jpg
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/14_Aug_02&image=P8020825.jpg
but it also means I chew through memory cards that much faster..
As with anything, it has a particular optical character, but that isn't
always bad:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/08_Jul_27&image=P7271262.jpg
(agh, horizon! I find the horizontal/vertical level feature very useful, when
I remember to
use it..)
The 40-150 is finally where the "4-3 makes things smaller" promise starts to
pay off -- and it's
also sharp enough for me -- see the duck shot above, and:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/02_Jul_21&image=P7210254.jpg
and it'll focus fast enough for me to just blast away at moving subjects and
get a
surprisingly good number of hits:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/08_Jul_27&image=P7271323.jpg
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/08_Jul_27&image=P7271293.jpg
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/12_Jul_31&image=P7310232.jpg
150mm/300mm isn't super telephoto-y, but it still lets me isolate things if I
want to when "zoom
with your feet" isn't practical:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/06_Jul_25&image=P7250847.jpg
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/08_Jul_27&image=P7271368.jpg
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/13_Aug_01&image=P8010700.jpg
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/13_Aug_01&image=P8010711.jpg
(yes, a sunset and the moon, sue me..)
This one isn't technically interesting, but it's unusual in that it came out
looking better than
I expected for a quick-grab snapshot because of the reflections.
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/14_Aug_02&image=P8020784.jpg
and, of course, it still mounts OM lenses, so you can still get that lovely
50/1.4 silvernose glow:
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/08_Jul_27&image=P7271158.jpg
http://danielmitchell.net/sg/index.php?gallery=Places/Washington_Trip_2012/08_Jul_27&image=P7271144.jpg
-- dan
--
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