Aussies - E-P5 again

biggles266 wrote:

Seems to be a lot of love in this thread for the EP5. I cant say that I share it. I had one for about 3 years, and it took very nice photos and had good features. It also looked great... without the VF4 on. With it on, it looked quite ugly. The EP5 model also has a significant dials problem. Mine had to go back to Olympus 2 or 3 times to get replaced (fortunately under warranty). I sold it and bought an EM10 II and am much happier. It looks so much better with its built in viewfinder, and its dials are good.

I was vexed by the problem of the lack of a built-in viewfinder on the E-P5 for a long time. One day about a year ago, I lent my camera to a young DSLR user to take a photograph of me with his father. He had never used a m43 camera. Saying "wow I really like this little camera," he proceeded to hold it right up to his eye using the screen as if it were an enormous viewfinder.

I had never done that before; I always held the camera at a distance form me which caused problems with light interacting with the screen. I tried his "new" method right away to good results, but the real test came this summer while on vacation in Italy in the blazing bright sunlight. It worked great. With peripheral vision, you get a view of what is around you, but your eye is still centred on the image in the screen - a balance i quite like. Just as importantly, it was so effective in dealing with glare that I never once used the attachable VF-2 I had along with me. Pretty good for making adjustments in the photograph - as in street or anything really.

The other method I have always used - holding the camera at the waist with the screen flipped out - is also good, especially for stealth and for lower angled shots.

My thanks to Guy for encouraging me to stick with the E-P5.