OM-D and it's lens

Attached are the photos of my m4/3 system. Taken by Panasonic G1 and 12-50mm. Without the bulk size of DSLR and heavy lens, this small system has change my view point of photography and enjoy photography once again. Capable of rendering serious good images for home and professional use. This new system is a force to reckon in the future.

Olympus OM-D EM-5 sample shots

I brought he OM-D out to the street today. Together with it, I selected the 7.5mm fisheye and the 45mm f1.8 lens. Overall the camera is nice to hold. I like the rubber thumb rest on the camera. It supported my overall grip and I do not felt that the camera is too small to hold like the EPM-1. The dynamic range coming out from the camera is very  good. The older generation of image sensors from Olympus never achieved such level.As seen below,one of the photo where the man was standing under a tree changing his shoe turns out good under different shades.
 I enjoyed  playing with the Art filters available in the camera and there is so much choices now. I still remember the first Art filters Olympus placed was the DSLR E-30. Back then there were only 6 filters to choose. Now with EM-5, I seems to like the dramatic filter in balck & white variant.

above- this man was changing to his newly bought shoes.

OM-D outing shoot

I brought out this brand new toy out to Lower Pierce Reservoir with my family. Attached to it was the kit lens 12-50mm EZ lens. It has replaced the 14-42mm from EPM-1. This lens built quality is good compared to the plastic mount 14-42mm. This 12-50mm is a weather sealed lens and has a macro mode on it. In 35mm terms, it is a 24-100mm lens. The let down is the relatively small aperture and can be a great travel & outdoor lens. As for indoors and low light situations, i will still prefer the 20mm f1.7 and 45mm f1.8.

BTW, the handling of OM-D is familiar to me as it is similar to some Olympus DSLR & Pens I use before since I migrated from Canon to Olympus in 2009. Many serious photographers does the opposite. Why I like Olympus is mainly the colours it can produce in Jpeg. It is very hard to explain but coming from a Canon Professional user, I save many hours of photoshopping after I have switched to Olympus. The issue of smaller sensor like Olympus m4/3 is long gone for me as the sensor they have now can fight or in some case better than the full frame D800 Nikon. These can be found in many web doing the comparison. However full frame is still one level up if one know what he/ she is using to maximise the output. For serious users like me a 16mp or 12mp camera is very good already. I still remember when I was using the pro Canon 1D markii which was only 8mp but the results were brilliant with the right lens.

One thing I wanted to highlight on the OM-D is the new function called shadow/highlight adjustment built-in the camera. These function is usually found in photoshop or for the old school photographers, they play with Neutral density filters to get the result. The below are the result of adjusting the shadow. As it is a back-lilted subject, the ground will be mainly dark. But after adjusting the shadow level, it came out good. Again it will be useful for sunset/sunrise shot and also save time doing photoshop.

Normal shot

After doing the shadow adjustment, the rock detail can be seen,

Final result from the shadow/highlight function

OM-D Olympus

As much as I want to stop myself from getting the expensive and over-hype OM-D EM-5 from Olympus, I finally give in out of the curiousity and temptation.

2 years ago, as I was going around shooting with my then Ep-2 Pen, I spot a old Om-2 SLR on a street market. Admired it and ask the owner to have a permission to shoot it.. Back then, my mind was thinking why not Olympus re-design it with the new mirrorless technology. Then, all the Pen do not have any view finder and can be attached as a accessories. The idea is good but it still lack the toughness as the fit on EVF tends to be flimsy etc.

1) The old OM-2S

Fast forward, I am glad Olympus has came out the OM-D. It is still out-of-stocks in USA due to the popularity. In Singapore, the stocks seems to be healthy.

This camera hold memories as I always remember my first hand experience with my Dad's Om-1 which uses film. With this camera, I sold my EPM-1 but kept the Panasonic G1.
I never believe in keeping equipment due to the depreciation in cost etc.

My first hands-on to this camera is very postive. I can confidently say this design and built is comparable to the Fuji X100 which I consider one of the best design camera for the photographer. X100 disappointment is the Autofocus speed and unable to do fast manual focus. X100 however is the camera which I am very Impress with the image output. Olympus m4/3 cameras was unable to complete in term of image quality until OM-D or the new Panasonic G3/GH2/GX1 came out. More of the image quality comparison can be found in dpreview.com and it is the only m4/3 camera to receive GOLD award. 4/3 and m4/3 camera since 10 years ago have never impress reviewers until this OM-D came out.
 From my initally hands-on, I found out OM-d has some top-end features like the shadow/highlight adjustment (great for difficult lighting like sunrise/sunset). It has a built -in level guage (great of landscape) which can be found in top-end cameras like x100 /EP-3etc. The dual dials on OM-D is a welcome as my G1 or EPM-1 only has one which can be difficult to adjust . The Electronic viewfinder is good and seems to be better in refreshing rate than my aging G1.
Some reviewer mentioned the buttons are packed too closely but personally I find it well placed. The Autofocus speed of OM-D is super fast and positive. I have yet to see the actual images from it but I hope it can be as impressive as my X100.

Overall, this camera gave me a very soild feel and it is a leap over my EPM-1. I believe those who owns EP-3 may not feel the same as me. EP-3 it also a very well thought camera IMHO.

2) OM-D side by side with Pen EPM-1 (with EVF) . Not as big as some may thought of.

3) Small buttons but well thought n well placed

4) great over metal built.

4) With the well priced and great quality lens (45mmf1.8)

5) OM-d

I will post some shots later in the week and see if the hype over this camera is really there.