Oh My Dear...Camera

Finally, I have managed to take a good look at the photos I took over our holiday. To do this, I had to buy a new laptop, wait for the migration of the data from the old laptop, then quickly learn the basics of using an Apple Mac. All this took a week. It was a lesson in patience. What a pleasant experience to put in my first SD card and find my photos looking so good...seriously good...well, for an amateur that is!!! 5 SD cards later and I am happy to report that a Macbook pro makes photos look awesome and Olympus make awesome cameras that take awesome photos, that Apple makes even more awesome. You get the drift. My camera? My 'Oh My Dear' Olympus OM-D EM5. Mirrorless, micro four thirds system. I luuurve it. I bought it in November, after a huge amount of research (DPReview) and soul searching of what I needed from a new camera and the complete indecision of changing over from my beloved Canon SLR to another brand and system. I wanted the quality of an SLR and the ability to change lenses but with a lighter and smaller body weight. I walk a lot with my camera and often it gets thrown into my handbag, along with the usual stuff a Mum carries. A new camera had to be tough, functional and had to fit in with my life and not vice versus. I was sick to death of lugging around a big camera and heavy lenses. The reviews for the OMD were all great; the price, though steep, was in my range if I started with just one lens, and the timing was perfect, as one of my Canon lenses had been playing up and our holiday was imminent. I made the right choice. I took a huge amount of photos on our holiday. Ahem...over 3000. Oops. This many photos was achieved through my camera not leaving my side...Literally. I have a women's 'Rapid' strap attached to my camera, so my OMD just hung around on me the whole time, right there and ready for action. This way of carrying a camera is brilliant for site seeing, long walks, playing in the snow, ...and shopping. The OMD is very light compared to a typical SLR and I used just one lens for ease of travelling - my 12-50mm f3.5, so I didn't even need to carry a camera bag. The camera body and this particular lens are weather sealed, so it coped with Scottish drizzle, snow and the dusty sands of Dubai. The OM- D can barely take a bad photo. I used it on manual 98% of the time, only swapping to Auto when I was really struggling with indoor night time shots and I had a glass of wine to enjoy and really didn't have the drive to push through and find the perfect setting. I used the flash rarely...the OM- D copes with low light extremely well and it was terrific in the overcast skies of winter in Scotland and the shopping centres and attractions of Dubai. I bumped the ISO up the moment we arrived in Scotland and it remained higher than normal the whole time we were there - strange after the brilliant blue skies of Australia, where the ISO gets stuck on 200 just about always! My only complaint? With a touch screen on the back of the camera, I took a fair few photos of my feet!! The touch screen is brilliant but easily used by accident. I also wish the 12-50mm lens had a lower f stop than f3.5. I would have liked a smaller depth of field for some shots but that is also an area I still need to gain more skill in. I did my best. It's early days in my photographic journey. I could have achieved this if I had used my Lumix 20mm f1.7 as a companion lens on the trip but it was all about travelling light this time around! Macro? The 12-50mm is amazing for macro...amazing!! Just flick a switch on the lens...Voila! All in all, I can highly recommend The OM- D 5 for any level of photographer. I am sure professional photographers could find many benefits of owning an OM -D for street/stealth photography or as a back up to a large kit. It is especially perfect for gals like me, who are enthusiastic hobbyists and need a camera to fit into the craziness of family life. For new photographers, its idiot proof and the ART and Scene settings are super dooper fun...I played with Diorama and Pop Art, to name but two of its many settings. Oh My Dear Camera, thanks for the terrific memories...looking forward to the next amazing adventure with you, where ever that may be. Better get painting...and selling! I have a holiday to plan. Mia x