Olympus om-d EM-1

Sent my back up camera, Olympus OM D E-M1 off to repairs for a broken strap eye. So much for Olympus's full magnesium alloy body construction.  Back using my old trustworthy  Canon 7D

Winter sports

Most of my photos are done outdoors,summer like winter.

In winter, here in Quebec the temperature pretty much stays below freezing. Batteries such as the Olympus BLH-1  are rated for temperatures as low as 14 degrees.  Batteries do lose a lot of energy in the cold, so what happens when you plan on shooting an outdoor event in the winter.  Whether i'm shooting with my Canon or Olympus, I always have a spare battery with me at all times, not just in the winter, but also summer.

I don't let cold weather stop me from doing photos, I dress warm,  keep a spare battery on me, literately,  in the inside pocket of my warm winter parka, and enjoy a great day outdoors shooting sporting events.

Pro lens

Are Pro lenses better?

Olympus 12-40mm 2.8F Pro

 I shoot with Pro grade lenses, a question I am often asked is are they better?
Pro lenses are built for heavy use and usualy weather sealed, and I shoot nearly everyday under all kind of weather situations. I leave my 12-40mm f2.8 pro lens on my Olympus OM-D  E-M1 all the time, I also have the consumer grade 40-150mm f4-5.6 in my camera bag for when I need extra reach.

My 40-150 lens is plastic and feels cheap compare to my metal built 12-40 lens, of course one cost me $1040 and the other $199.   Pro grade lenses are sharper, yes, faster and offer much better auto focus in low light situations. For general outdoor daytime use consumer level lens can do the job at a fraction of the cost of a pro grade lens.

Bellow are two photos shot at 40mm with the same camera, in ideal situations the difference is minimal.

12-40 f2.8 Pro

 

 

 

 A cropped view of the above image shot with a 12-40 f2.8 pro lens at 40mm, iso 200, f14, 1/125 sec.

40-150mm f4-5.6

 The second shot is a cropped version done with the 40-150mm R lens at 40mm that cost $199. In this case the difference is minimal because of the size of the photo. At just 190 grams and under 4 inches high, I carry this lens with me in my camera bag at all times. A great little lens for the price.  When purchasing lens, always buy the latest version, even if it cost a bit more.  The newer versions are always improved over the later versions and worth the small extra cost.

Olympus OMD E-M1

 

I got to try an Olympus OMD E-M1 camera with a  Zuiko 12-40mm f2.8 pro  lens.  It is a wonderful compact lightweight camera compared to my Canon 1D or 7D.  This photo was shot in Olympus raw format ORF,  I added a diorama and frame effect in Olympus Viewer 3 and converted to jpeg and resized for this blog.  I was overall impressed by the ease of use of this camera and the results,  I may end up exchanging my Canon gear for Olympus after all.

Olympus XA

My Olympus XA haven't used it in years. It was one of the smallest rangefinder cameras ever made. Comes with a  very fast f2.8 lens and excellent lens resolution between f8 and f16.