Equipment - Reviewing my Olympus OM-D E-M10ii

Equipment - Reviewing my Olympus OM-D  E-M10ii

Olympus OM-D E-M10ii - http://amzn.to/2DmIH3W

 

During the spring of 2017, I attended an event for Drink and Click in Madison, WI.  We went to Lucky's Brew Pub where Olympus came to sponsor the event.  We got to try their cameras and shoot with a model.  It was a fun event and at the end of the day, they gave this camera away, the OM-D E-M10ii (Amazon Link).

I have some positives and negatives to say about this.  But like my other recent articles, I want to keep this at least not-long.  I think it has kept things easy to read online.

I was introduced to Micro 4/3 sized sensor with this camera and event.  My main camera is a Sony a6000 (Amazon Link) at a sensor size standard of APS-C.  So I do not have a full frame camera just yet.  However, it means that the effective reach of my 200 mm focal length on APS-C is similar to 300 mm from a full frame and with the M4/3 sensor it gives me equivalent zoom of 400 mm.  Sports and wildlife tickle me with being able to reach out further with these cameras so it is why I didn't start with full frame.

What I liked:

What I have to say is that this camera is for is the starting photographer that isn't shooting sports or fast activity of any kind.  For an experienced photographer you can take advantage of certain things that can give you a good second camera.  

The new photographer will find two things familiar to you on your cell phones: a touch screen.  In a user friendly configuration, you will find as soon as you touch the screen, it will take the picture.  So just touch what you want to focus on and it will take the shot.

Additionally, you can get a camera that has decent auto modes and scene modes.  You can choose coloring and other affects.  This is like when you are on instagram for different styles.

One of the things that shine for this camera is IBIS (In Body Image Stabilization) on the sensor.  Along with your kit lens (that is also stabilized) video feels like you are on a gimbal.  This means the movements of the camera will feel very smooth.  Along with touch screen focus, you have a versatile starting system.

And what I like as a more professional photographer: 

I still love the IBIS.  

I like the M4/3 format as it is easy to adapt a non-M4/3 lenses to it.  You need an adapter, but since this is an open standard that multiple companies and people have worked on ways to adapt other brands to this camera.  Old lenses look great with this... even though you need to manually focus you can still get things fairly sharp since you have eliminated camera shake. 

Just because it is a small lens, does not mean it won't give you a great reach.  I picked up this old 135mm lens, and it means it will reach out as far as 270 mm equivalent focal length.  I can go out and shoot something that isn't moving fast, like a squirrel in a tree or a perched bird or duck in the water.  And I can do this because the camera will show me what is in focus with focus peaking.

The camera is also fairly silent.  You don't have a loud noise when clicking the shutter.  You can hear something (it isn't 100% electronic), but it won't be like a big clunk from my Sony a6000 (Amazon Link).  It won't disrupt sensitive events, and animals won't be completely disrupted.

Some of what I didn't like:

Autofocus system is terrible.  If you like having the viewfinder by your eye, there isn't a wide area autofocus continuous (af-c).  This camera does not have eye auto focus like many other cameras, such as the Sony a6000 (Amazon Link) and the  Olympus  OM-D  E-M1ii (Amazon Link).

The menu system.  There are a ton of options in the Olympus menu.  However, it gets too big and too confusing.  For example, there is a feature called setting effects.  When using the camera through the viewfinder or the screen on the back, you can set it up to see the exposure before you shoot or it will just give you a similar view like from an optical camera.  But I had the hardest time setting it up this feature.  Since I want to see how the exposure will affect my shot before I take it, I had to adjust 4 or 5 different settings in the camera before it would work like I wanted it to.  People have said Sony menus are bad, but there is only one menu item I need to adjust in the Sony before I change this type of feature.  

But that may be a feature most people that pick up this camera are not worried about.

If I had to rate this in a 1-5 star rating comparing it to all of the other cameras out there, I would give it a 3.  It is a solid body.  It can do what you want it to do.  It does have limits.  But it is great for a starting photographer that isn't looking to make it a possible career.

If you are comparing it to all of the starting level cameras out there, I give it a 4 out of 5.  But the area wide auto focus can be a limitation.  If you like pointing at everything on the back screen to focus on and then photograph then it is kinda fun.  Or if you set the focus to be a single point on the camera then it will do well.  But many cameras today have a much more intuitive focus system and make the experience much more fun.

And video, while not the main point of this review, is nice with 5 axis image stabilization on the sensor.  So that video will look way better than anything from your cell phone.

Ultimately, you will be seeing me use both this Olympus camera and my Sony in the months to come.

How I Shot That - Gulls over Bridges

How I Shot That - Gulls over Bridges

Shot with Sony 50mm f/1.8 - http://amzn.to/2FmZ82E
Camera is Sony a6000 - http://amzn.to/2ELLKIr
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Shot this almost a year ago, I get to take many noon-time walks during my day job. Usually this isn't the time to take a photo, the light is usually so harsh.  

What can you do, but take advantage of a ritual near a location that is always changing.  I've read and learned that many photographers will sit in a location and even camp out for days at a time.  But what I have substituted was ritual.  When I go for a walk at lunch, I'll have about 4 routes I choose from.  Being next to the Mississippi River, 2 of the 4 routes take me along that path.  

Usually, this gives me 2 types of water fouls to shoot... mallards and gulls.  They seem to love this area because... it's easy.  People feed them.  A ton of people feed them.

At this time, the ice had just disappeared from the river and the birds were looking for more food than people were giving them.  And for a moment, it seemed I had cought them lining up as if coming or going over the interstate bridges. 

And a bit of technical luck, I set the camera up for more of a street style aperture of f8.0.  This helped keep the bridges sharper while I focused on the bird.  And because it was broad daylight, I could keep the ISO at 100 with a 1/750 sec shutter.   This is how I kept the noise down and the birds are still in the air.

And in post I really just needed to bring out the contrast and deepen the blacks.  

How I Shot That - Rivoli Theater Building BW

How I Shot That - Rivoli Theatre Building BW

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Shot with Minolta 70-210 F4 Lens - http://amzn.to/2sNQSGy
Camera is Sony a6000 - http://amzn.to/2ELLKIr

A photographer I admire has said many times, "Clouds are cool!  I won't shot if I can't see clouds."  

While I am not 100% sure that is true for every situation, clouds did make this photo better. 

Besides the obvious clouds in view on this photo, there is something else that the clouds did that day.  Normally during an afternoon walk, I am exercising futility in my photography.  Broad daylight with the sun coming almost directly overhead is actually not a very good thing.  Light coming almost directly down would have made the shadow from that little ledge at the top of the Rivoli building too much.  But Wisconsin if full of weather changes.  Cold, hot, windy, calm rain/sleet/snow (many times all at once) and of course sunny.  

Since there is so much of this changing weather, I keep reminding myself, even if your walk doesn't provide a fruitful set of photos one day, does not mean another day won't provide something awesome.  Just like this awesome September afternoon did.

Now, normally, a straight on photo of a building doesn't do it for me.  But since the wind was blowing this flag around I really wanted to make it part of the photo.  Funny thing, this flag is in a Bank parking lot across the street, it doesn't belong to the theatre at all.  But for many here in La Crosse, WI, we love this theatre just as we love America.  It only has two movie screens, a main one and a 'showing room'.  You can order a pizza, get beer, essentially have a movie type dinner here.  The main theatre even has a section in front that has tables.  When you have a child's movie playing, it is the most family friendly place.  When you are there for fright night type of a showing, it is the most fun.  And when they decide to show an old movie (that they do frequently) you have a great date with the one you love.

So I had to include this flag.  Like the movies, America is full of drama.  Just as much as the sky was showing that day.

On this walk through town, I was trying something different.  Normally, street photography makes you want to have a short lense. Most use a 20mm.  Many times you will see me with the 50mm.  But this day I used what many in the Sony/Minolta world call 'The Beer Can" lens.  We call it that because it is the 70-210 f4 Minolta lens that has no optical stabilization and is just a straight and tall can shape.  Almost the size of large beer kans from back in the day.  

From where I saw this, I had walked through an alley from another block away, letting me see across this parking lot of a bank to have this reveal itself to me.  Obviously, if I was zoomed in all the way, I would have been looking at the sign of the building, and forgetting about everything else.  So this was most of the way out at the 70mm zoom.  And I was using f4.  After making sure my shutter speed was really high at 1/2000 of a second.  This gave me the clouds a pop in shape, froze the flag in motion while giving me enough light on the building.

To show this place some love, visit them at http://www.rivoli.net/

How I shot that - LAX WI Blue Bridges over the Mississippi

How I shot that - LAX WI Blue Bridges over the Mississippi

Shot with Sony 50mm f/1.8 - http://amzn.to/2FmZ82E
Camera is Sony a6000 - http://amzn.to/2ELLKIr
Similar aluminum Camera Tripod - http://amzn.to/2opfBw3
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La Crosse, WI (#laxwi in my tags) sits on the shores of the Mississippi River running between western Wisconsin and southeast Minnesota.  Between the two states (and in the middle of the river) sits Pettibon Park.  Pettibone Park was an island originally governed by Minnesota but was given to Wisconsin at the start of the 20th century.  

Originally, this island was mostly owned by a sole investor who's idea was to make a magnificent city on the river.  To say the least, that idea didn't pan out.  The river flooded so high and so often, that any structures would have to withstand such high water levels that would never allow for year round living.  But eventually it was realized that open structures open to a surrounding of water from the river would work out nicely as a park.

Given that the island would be part of La Crosse, WI that meant building a bridge over this mighty river wouldn't be a problem as you have one less jurisdiction to worry about (one less state).  

Fast forward almost 100 years, LAXWI is a thriving city with good river traffic sitting between the bluffs of WI and MN.  As it happens, I found that it was almost the time of a 'super moon', but the Upper Midwest has a lot of weather.  So, sometimes weather looks good in the afternoon, but clouds all up at night... and then there is the reverse.  July 19, 2016 was a long day on top of that, as my wife and I were driving all over the area.

But driving home, this park was on the way.  The river had relaxed to an almost normal stage. And not only did I have my a6000, but also my tripod too.  On my camera, I had the 50mm f1.8 lens and I took nearly 28 photos to stitch this together.  I was thinking, everything is farther away, but I didn't want to leave it at 1.8, and so I changed the aperture to 5.6.  I had a 1/45 shutter speed and 1000 iso.  

I came away with the tops of the bridges and the buildings on the other side of the river being a little distorted, but to me that was fine.  The river is larger than life.  Oh, heck, this river IS life to most of the country.  So if you need to make buildings to challenge it, they too need to behave this way.