Thanks. That's a great presentation of the multiple points you've made
in favor of the camera. Well done and it must have taken you quite some
time to put that together.
Anyone who hasn't taken the time to review your shots should do so.
There's some excellent stuff in there regardless of what camera/lens did
the work.
Chuck Norcutt
On 1/19/2013 11:20 PM, Dan Mitchell wrote:
> 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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