Thoughts on the E-PM2...

Klarno wrote:

As my GH2 is waiting to sell on fleabay, I just got my new E-PM2 from that fire sale that Newegg ran the other day. And man, this thing is amazing. With the right lens--I'm thinking the Olympus and Panasonic pancake EZ lenses--it's the same size as an awful lot of compact cameras. And at least according to DxOMark, it tests better than all of one leading brand's APS-C DSLRs (which I guess one is only supposed to take seriously if one finds the results favorable...)

As a dual-camera shooter, my 40-150 will probably be living on this camera. But it's also a really nice little camera to just grab and go with the kit zoom or one of the Sigma primes. I've been able to get it set up just the way I like (which is the greatest virtue of Olympus' monolithic take on menu options), and this camera is going to be much faster to operate than the E-PL1 ever was.

The OLED screen is nice and bright and useable at midday (haven't tried it under snow or sand at midday conditions though). I might get the VF-4 later on, but as it stands now I'm getting rid of the VF-2 (can't stand the way the VF-2 likes to get knocked off if you look at it funny, and basically needs to have an obnoxious safety tether on at all times, and the way the EVFs make the camera so tall that they don't fit right in bags).

Yeah, it's white, but that's okay. Black lenses still look fine on it, and when I need to be taken seriously I'll have the E-M1 with big black lens anyway. Besides, if your interest lies in street photography, there's nothing, absolutely nothing more inconspicuous than a stinky diaper hold on a bright compact camera or smartphone. The people who think you need to be behind a black Leica with the name blacked out are several decades behind the times, because nothing screams "visibly judge me for photographing you" louder than bringing a viewfinder up to your eye when using a device whose sheer cameraness cannot be obscured.

Faking focus peaking with the key line art filter might actually be better in some situations than Olympus' take on focus peaking in the E-M1. Key line doesn't slow down the live view framerate as much and contrast lines are often easier to see there.

Don't like how blasé Olympus is with the placement of the tripod socket on all of their MFT cameras except apparently the E-M10. I'll try the Sunwayfoto PT-26 (which attaches with a coin screw) or maybe the Peak Design MICROplate (which attaches with a thumb screw). I don't think there's a single Arca-type plate on the market that doesn't block its battery door (and I tried the Kirk PZ-130, it doesn't fit--you'd need to always carry the hex wrench with you if you have plans to change the battery, and its anti-rotation lip doesn't do the trick on this camera).

And, because this is that kind of camera, I'm going to close with the obligatory cat:

I bought 2 last week (planned to give one to my wife but she prefers her LX7 due to the auto lens cap primarily), and just received them yesterday. Still learning how to use mine well, and only have the kit lens, which is pretty sharp, IMHO. I must say I am having a blast with this camera, love the JPEG colors, how fast it is to focus accurately, and while I'm certainly going to buy the 40-150 and a Raynor 150 for better closeups of flowers and insects, I'm pretty pleased with this morning's attempts at close ups with the kit lens at 42mm and manually focusing.

Absolutely the best bang for the buck in my photographic life!!!

Joel

and a cat photo!!!