Using Olympus EPM2 with m.Zuiko 12-40/2.8 Lens

Bach65 wrote:

I'm planning to take photographs of my stepson's upcoming wedding but due to budget constraints I will not be able to purchase an EM1 (hopefully a future acquisition) and the m.Zuiko 12-40 PRO lens so I'm considering getting just the lens at this time. I do have an EPM2 but I'm concerned about the handling/ergonomics of the 12-40 on such a small body. Does anyone have experience with this set-up? I'm also considering purchasing the VF-4 viewfinder as I'm assuming bracing the camera to my face will improve the stability (plus I'd rather compose/focus using a viewfinder). Any suggestions and/or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

In my case the not much bigger E-PL5 and 12-40mm and it's a good combination. The extra mass of the lens does help make the camera steadier.

Holding the camera involves more the left hand doing the work of supporting the lens and left side of the body, and the right hand with a light grasp and in my case with a snugly fitting wrist strap for extra right side support.

Some say shutter shock is an issue with the lighter bodies but it has never troubled me. Besides, I use anti-shock setting of 1/8 second which possibly helps.

Unless really needed it would probably be best to leave stabilisation off and only turn it on when you start to see shake or the shutter speeds are getting too slow.

Auto ISO works fine but everyone has an upper limit that is different, I change between upper limit of 800/1600/3200 for average situations, but if totally desperate to get some sort of image in the dark then I let it run to 25600.

Advice would be to always take RAW+jpeg as problem shots can be better recovered via the RAW. I wish that I had taken RAW+jpeg from day 1 as now I'm slowly getting better with RAW converters and some old favourites will come to look a bit better.

Have a spare battery or two and some spare card capacity and for 'round the tables shots even the diminutive FL-300R flash works fine, better than the supplied slide-on flash (which would give lens/hood shadows with that camera & lens). The FL-300R is my carry-all-the-time flash as it does maybe 90% of what I need for flash.

In my case I never use the VF-2 any more, I am fully converted to LCD use where in tests I did find that slightly more stable than to-the-head with VF-2 shots. Maybe IBIS is tuned better for holding away from the face and not to the head?

Regards...... Guy

I'm planning to take photographs of my stepson's upcoming wedding but due to budget constraints I will not be able to purchase an EM1 (hopefully a future acquisition) and the m.Zuiko 12-40 PRO lens so I'm considering getting just the lens at this time.  I do have an EPM2 but I'm concerned about the handling/ergonomics of the 12-40 on such a small body.  Does anyone have experience with this set-up?  I'm also considering purchasing the VF-4 viewfinder as I'm assuming bracing the camera to my face will improve the stability (plus I'd rather compose/focus using a viewfinder).  Any suggestions and/or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I think the VF4 is almost 300 dollars. That is a lot for something you will sell for a loss later if you upgrade the body. I wouldn't worry about the handling issue. Its smaller and lighter than the 75-300mm zoom I use on my E-PM2 and that's manageable. I personally believe in viewfinders maybe my eyesight isn't as good as it was when I was younger but in bright light its a huge help for me. I use the VF3 its OK and it does the job but not as nice as the VF4. However it's a lot cheaper and I will keep it on the EPM2 as my macro setup and backup camera if and when I upgrade.
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90891174@N04/