Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Olympus E-P3

I have been very excited for my new camera to come.  Reading review after review (Thanks to Steve and his site http://www.Stevehuffphoto.com) led me to the Olympus E-P3 as my next camera.  Choosing to make the investment into the Micro Four Thirds Camera (MFTC from here on out) field.  I have been looking at the MFTC since the GF-1 was released with great interest.  The idea of a high quality camera that I can put in a jacket pocket for dinner or have all the lens I need for portraits, landscapes, and wildlife is greatly appealing to me.
After some motivation from my Father (check out some of his photos here http://dwkee.blogspot.com/) I ended up at Samy’s Camera to look at the various competitors.  The GX1 (originally my first choice) just seemed to much like a point and shoot camera but would provide a nice small package if one was looking for a smaller setup.  Next was the nex-5n, the larger sensor was very appealing but the overall feel was too Sony for me(not necessarily a bad thing).  The Sony feel for me is more like a Holo-imager from Star Trek (sorry I have been watching too much Voyager) and less like a camera.  The new Sony line also seemed to be lacking lens choices.
My final decision finally came down to the Fujifilm x100 and the Olympus E-P3.  I know what your thinking "very different cameras".  Fixed lens X100 vs the interchangeable E-P3.  Going into the store to look at the cameras I was ready to go with the E-P3 and start my journey into the MFTC world.  I then took a look at the x100 picked it up and looked through the view finder to take my first shot.  Wow what an amazing view finder I though to myself, I think my decision just changed, I want this, I want this, I want this!  The lens clicks and the view finder changes from optical to the electronic replay of the image I just took.  WOW! Gorgeous!
So how did I end up with the E-P3 you ask? Well I continued to shoot around the store with the X100 and suddenly realized the auto focus was severely lacking compared to the E-P3.  Out of about 10 photos 6 of them were out of focus or focused on the wrong point.  Then I notice, when using the viewfinder in the optical mode the framing of the photos was off when looking at the images on the back screen.  On no I thought to myself all of issue I read about with the X100 were showing themselves proudly in the first 15 seconds of using this camera.  At that point I decided its E-P3 for me, the amazing fast auto focus, great touchscreen (something I never though I would want or like), and just great amazing style.
So now here I am waiting patiently (maybe not so patiently) for my new silver Olympus E-P3 to grace my doorstep with the 14-42mm kit lens to start my journey though the MFTC world.  Photos to come soon...

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