Sold Canon 5D full frame, changed to Olympus OM-D E-M5
Well, I've done it, after much deliberation I have swapped all my Canon full frame gear and gone over to Olympus OM-D E-M5. One of the main reasons was the weight and bulk of the Canon system.
My recent trip to Korea made me wonder if the weighty Canon gear was the best for me. There was lots to see and photograph there but I was disinclined to carry lots of heavy lenses around while sightseeing so tended to pick on one lens to take with me. As you may have guessed, I normally ended up needing one of the lenses I had left behind. As a result my wife, Sue, who had taken a small compact camera returned from the trip with many more photos than me, but the quality from the small compact wasn't what we were used to.
The deciding factor was a trip to Glen Coe in the Scottish Highlands. We went for a hike in the mountains, not too far just a few miles really, I was carrying all my normal Canon gear, 5D, 24-70 2.8, 70-200 f4, 17-40, tripod and various bits and bobs and Sue was carrying a similar amount. We realised that photography equipment was taking the enjoyment out of the trip. We were carrying far to much weight to enjoy the whole mountain experience. Something had to change.
We started searching reviews and forums for the right camera. One camera that stood out was the Olympus OM-D E-M5. It seemed to have everything that I was looking for, small size and weight, good IQ, good range of features including the excellent image stabiliser and very fast AF.
I gathered all my Canon gear together and took it all to Ffordes in Beauly, which is the main photographic outlet near to us. It all went in part exchange for the Black Olympus OM-D E-M5 with the 12-50mm kit lens. I also purchased a used HLD-6 grip that they had in stock and, as part of the Olympus promotion, I could send for a free 45mm f1.8 lens.
I have now had it for a few days. The first thing I found was that, although you could use the camera straight out of the box, to get the best out of it you have to spend time getting to know the menu system and setting it up to how you personally want to use it. The menu allows you to change almost everything in the camera, including which buttons and dials do what.
The printed manual that comes with the camera is not much better than useless. There is a pdf user manual on the software cd which comes with kit, but I found that the best and quickest way to set it up was to visit some of the many forums on the internet to see how others had set it up. I found this one particularly useful Thumati.com. This was a good starting point and I'm still experimenting with my setup. To that end, I have now reset my camera to default camera settings no less than six times and each time I get closer to understanding the menu.
I now have to get out and see what the camera does in the real world...
My recent trip to Korea made me wonder if the weighty Canon gear was the best for me. There was lots to see and photograph there but I was disinclined to carry lots of heavy lenses around while sightseeing so tended to pick on one lens to take with me. As you may have guessed, I normally ended up needing one of the lenses I had left behind. As a result my wife, Sue, who had taken a small compact camera returned from the trip with many more photos than me, but the quality from the small compact wasn't what we were used to.
The deciding factor was a trip to Glen Coe in the Scottish Highlands. We went for a hike in the mountains, not too far just a few miles really, I was carrying all my normal Canon gear, 5D, 24-70 2.8, 70-200 f4, 17-40, tripod and various bits and bobs and Sue was carrying a similar amount. We realised that photography equipment was taking the enjoyment out of the trip. We were carrying far to much weight to enjoy the whole mountain experience. Something had to change.
We started searching reviews and forums for the right camera. One camera that stood out was the Olympus OM-D E-M5. It seemed to have everything that I was looking for, small size and weight, good IQ, good range of features including the excellent image stabiliser and very fast AF.
I gathered all my Canon gear together and took it all to Ffordes in Beauly, which is the main photographic outlet near to us. It all went in part exchange for the Black Olympus OM-D E-M5 with the 12-50mm kit lens. I also purchased a used HLD-6 grip that they had in stock and, as part of the Olympus promotion, I could send for a free 45mm f1.8 lens.
I have now had it for a few days. The first thing I found was that, although you could use the camera straight out of the box, to get the best out of it you have to spend time getting to know the menu system and setting it up to how you personally want to use it. The menu allows you to change almost everything in the camera, including which buttons and dials do what.
The printed manual that comes with the camera is not much better than useless. There is a pdf user manual on the software cd which comes with kit, but I found that the best and quickest way to set it up was to visit some of the many forums on the internet to see how others had set it up. I found this one particularly useful Thumati.com. This was a good starting point and I'm still experimenting with my setup. To that end, I have now reset my camera to default camera settings no less than six times and each time I get closer to understanding the menu.
I now have to get out and see what the camera does in the real world...
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