sderdiarian

Director of landscape architectural design for a New England based planning/engineering firm.

My interests include sailing (Catalina 27), watercolor painting (mostly landscapes), photography (mostly landscapes), music, autocrossing my Miata and travel.

Favorite photo haunts: Stony Brook Nature Sanctuary in Norfolk MA, mid-coast Maine shore/harbors, Corkscrew and Ding Darling preserves in FL, St. John USVI.

I've enjoyed photography since the late 70's using compact/lightweight SLR's. Began with a fondly remembered Konica TC ('77-84) with 50mm Hexanon lens I toured South America with, followed by an Olympus OM2S ('85-02) with various lenses, and last a Minolta 5 bought in 2003 at the twilight of film cameras.

My first digital camera was a Panasonic FZ3, a small superzoom, followed by a Panasonic TZ5 and then an Olympus E-510 DSLR (a natural choice given the SLR's owned earlier). Enjoyed the E-510 for its small size, sturdy build, nice handling, excellent IQ, and great JPEG colors.

Followed it with an E-620 DSLR to solve E-510 blown highlights. I shot with both cameras along to minimize lens swapping (14-42, 40-150, 9-18, 70-300) and compare IQ. I ultimately preferred the E-620's features/handling. Also tried and sold an E-PM1 (unusably small 2.3" LCD in native 4/3's).

I now use an E-M5 with 12-50mm, Pan 20mm/f1.7 and 75-300mm MkII zoom along with a GM1 with 12-32mm zoom. I love the convenience of small mFT lenses which fit in my jacket pockets and have sold my 4/3's equipment as it was gathering dust.