Just as you thought this has degenerated to one of those drippy personal emo blogs, here's a geeky personal tech post to keep things in balance! =P
I've been lusting over the retro-chic Olympus E-P1 camera ever since it was announced, then in December we met a friend who owned one so we had the chance to play with it hands-on.
To my surprise, Lena became as enamored with it as I was, so I quickly took the opportunity to convince her that it'll make a wonderful christmas present for moi!
So having used the E-P1 extensively over the past few weeks, here's what I have to say about it and it's underlying technology, the micro 4/3 format:
1. Form over function - it's a reflection of the world we live in that form matters as much, if not more, than function - think iPhone.
The E-P1 has no built in flash, an awfully slow AF, poor resolution LCD, but all is forgiven cos it just looks so damn cool.
*Disclaimer: I did buy the uglier but faster Lumix 20/1.7 lens over the prettier Olympus 17/2.8 lens, so I'm not all that bad.
2. Reviving legacy lenses - sure you can mount your old manual focus Canon or Nikon lens on your fancy 7D or D3, but you're negating the greatest strength of those DLSRs - blazingly fast AF.
So it never made sense to me to mate legacy lenses with my DSLR, but with this little E-P1, it makes perfect sense to shoot manual with legacy lenses cos the AF is nothing to shout about in the first place!
Plus the E-P1 just looks so damn sexy with these old lenses mounted on it (yes yes, see point 1 above).
E-P1 with Helios-44M 58/2
3. Micro 4/3 will never replace DSLR - the small sensor means it's hard to get really wide angle, yet it's poor AF speed cancels out it's advantage at the tele end eg. for sports and wildlife photography.
E-P1 with Lumix 20/1.7, Pinhole Art Filter
4. Micro 4/3 might well hasten the demise of the traditional compact digicam.
Already, it doesn't make sense to get a 'high-end' digicam like the G11 anymore, cos any m4/3 camera will beat it hands down in terms of low light, high ISO capability, but as m4/3 cameras get cheaper, smaller, and (hopefully) faster, I think they just might become the compact digicam format of choice in the medium term future.
5. Not only has m4/3 successfully found a niche between DSLR and compact digicams, but it's also found a similar niche between the 'traditional' rangefinder camera and the 'modern' SLR camera.
Indeed, the E-P1 has been dubbed the 'poor man's Leica', and I won't disagree with that claim at all.
By embracing m4/3, Olympus and Panasonic have effectively changed the rules of the game that Canon and Nikon have been dictating to the photography world all these years...that's an impressive achievement, so kudos to them!!
E-P1 with Lumix 20/1.7, Grainy B&W Art Filter
6. Lastly, this is probably just me, but with my 5D, it's all about 'serious' photography, but with the E-P1, I find it so much more inviting to go shoot 'just for fun', to go crazy with the Art Filters, to purposely shoot out of focus, to basically try 'anything goes' kind of photography, which I find very refreshing.
As a result, I'm getting shots now which I'm not even sure should be classified as photography or art.
Maybe these attempts simply count as bad photography/ bad art!
I don't know.....but to my eyes at least, they don't look too shoddy at all....
E-P1 with Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35/2.4
So the E-P1 and m4/3 detractors can continue to say what they want, but this little Pen has certainly written it's way into my heart (and my wallet)! =)
PS. For more bad photography, see here.
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