11 August 2014

I am Olympus

Or to be more accurately, I am no longer Canon, and I am now Micro Four Thirds.

Last week my final Canon DSLR body has sold on eBay. This may not seem like such a big thing, but when you've been using Canon DSLR's since the year 2000 it kind of is. I purchased my first one, the Canon D30 some 14 years ago along with its 3mb sensor and £2000+ price tag and I never looked back

A year or so ago, having invested in lots of Canon glass, I never thought I'd have made this decision, probably not ever, certainly not so soon.

What made me sell? Olympus (and a little bit of Panasonic) made me sell.

I've been using Micro Four Thirds cameras almost exclusively for around a year now. At first I only used them for my private work, days out etc... but slowly I found the confidence to start using them at weddings, and then finally model shoots and events.

The quality is good, extremely good. Perhaps not as good as a full frame 5D Mark 3, but plenty good enough for the work I'm currently doing.

The biggest difference for me though is weight. After a day of shooting a wedding while carrying around a couple of Olympus cameras, I can still actually stand up straight. With the Canon equivalent, not so much.

These two configurations will give the same focal lengths...

Canon 5D Mk2 w/grip + 24-70mm / Canon 5D Mk2 w/grip + 70-200mm IS
vs
Olympus EM1 w/grip + 12-40mm / Olympus EM1 w/grip + 35-100mm

Total weight of the Canon systems is 4.6kg, while the Olympus comes in at 2.2kg.

That 2.4kg difference might not seem much, but when you're carrying it around and shooting on and off for the whole day, trust me, it's kinda a big deal.

Ultimately that's what made the difference for me. The micro four thirds system is just easier and more fun to use.

I still recommend Canon to people who want to buy their first "proper" camera. They are hard to beat on value for money. However with more and more people around me buying into micro four thirds, to me it's clear to see where the future is.

A big test for the system is coming up this weekend when I'll be photographing the Rewind Henley Festival.   With 24 acts over 2 days, how will it cope?  I'm imagining very well indeed, and I'll report back next week with my findings.

I should note that I'm in no way sponsored by Olympus or Panasonic, although I really wish I was as at the moment I have to buy all of my own kit!


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