New Camera Week - Olympus

One of the splendid perks of being a weblog writer is that you get the chance to try out new photographic equipment in your own time. It is altogether a different experience from that of reading Internet advertising or just hefting the gear in the retail shop. As a writer, however, you have to have something to say when you start typing - and the only way you can say it with authority is if you are going to do something with the gear that you know how to do.

This last weekend I got to test-drive the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 MkII camera with a variety of lenses - and the Olympus company were kind enough to match the optics to the tasks I normally do. It gave me a chance to exercise the camera in the studio and out covering a long distance subject. Every equipment test is, inevitably, a comparison with other systems  - so it is as well to subject the test gear to the same experiences as the normal rig.

As the Olympus representative pointed out, however, and as I have certainly discovered, there can be a world of difference in the ways the manufacturers ask you what you want to do ( menu communication ) and accept your instructions ( control operation ). We have to second guess how the engineers wish to refer to a function. If we're lucky we know what we want to do, but the question of how may arise.

The OM-D E-M1 MkII is new on the scene and there are good stocks available - it is a camera - not a phantom. You can march in, pay up, and march out with one. While you are at it march out with a pro lens.

When you do, you'll note that the original premise of the mirror-less cameras - small, light, simplified - has been somewhat set aside. This thing is solid and weighty. So are the optics, particularly  the pro-glass models of the Zuiko lenses. The ergonomics are good as the hand grip is deep enough to provide good finger clearance and the placement of the finger and thumb wheel as well as the shutter release are perfect. The on/off switch is somewhat disconcerting until you remember that Olympus used to put the thing on the left top plate under the rewind crank. No crank these days, but the switch is over there.

As with many Olympus offerings, there are multiple function buttons scattered over the control panels, and there are multiple ways to actuate the controls. Bless them, they have included two of these buttons right where we most espect them - under the fingers at the right-hand side of the lens mount. You can progam one of them as a depth of field preview like we did in the old film days.

 I switched off the touch-screen apparatus as I find it disconcerting - others love this facility. In my case I accessed the most-needed controls by pressing the menu and getting what is essentially an extended " Q " display on the LCD screen. Had I not had some coaching from Burke, the Olympus representative, I don't think I would have found half of the controls.

This week's experiments were conducted entirely in the JPEG mode - my processing programs will not decode RAW files on something as new as this camera. No matter -  the programs I wanted to try all responded in this mode and with a bit of enlargement I was able to do clear comparisons on the computer. But one thing I would like to mention at the start is the facility that Olympus put in this camera ( and in their Pen F ) for in-camera processing of images. This will give the sort of results that you might produce in an editing program on your main computer. Were you out on the road without access to a computer, you could still edit quite a lot with the camera as you shoot.

Note that the camera came from Burke with a 70% charge and shot all afternoon in the studio - with a number of electricity - hungry programs and screens in use all the time - and still had 22% left at quitting time. I found out why when I brought it home and opened it up the do the charging.

The battery is huge! I've seen smaller trays of lasagna...There should be enough capacity there for any reasonable shoot. As a way of measuring the size, that's a plastic dinosaur - and the battery is bigger. It holds 1720 mAh.

So tomorrow we start in the studio...

Gimmee One'A Dem - Part Five -The Hot Wash-Up

Okay, your friend has come with you into the shop - or perhaps it is the other way round. You may have the whole fam damily in there as well, and that can make for distraction and pressure - better to just keep it to two customers and one sales person. Note: the sales person does not have to be the owner of the shop. The staff are perfectly qualified to help, teach, and bargain, and you gain nothing by waiting for the boss. In fact, you lose time...and if you are not careful you lose standing in the eyes of your mate. Word to the wise...

Assume the best. A comfortable day, room to move, and the sales assistant has had coffee. Let your friend see the three kits on the counter in front of them. If the kits are matched as to lens capability and other general specifications, you can move to the next most important measurement: what does it feel like when they pick it up? This is the point at which the buyer is as expert as the sales assistant or the mentor...because they can feel what feels right or wrong for themselves.

It may be a matter as simple as the weight. Or as complex as the shape of the body grip. Few of these small-frame cameras have a grip big enough to take a full western man's hand with all four fingers engaged. You inevitably have one curled around the bottom of the grip. The other hand can hold the body if you do not have the screen swung out, or at least rest on the zoom ring of the lens. Thankfully, all three have on/off switches that re easy to access and shutter buttons that fall easily under the forefinger. The Nikon has the best two-pressure grip, if you are an old Enfield shooter. ( and less recoil...).

The eyepieces are similar, and as most modern cameras include a dioptre adjustment, they can be quickly brought o the individual's needs. The nose clearance is different for all three, so get your mate to try that out. Funny thing to mention, but noses are individual items...

Are they all reliable? Yes. Is one more reliable than the rest? No. Does it make a scrap of difference in which Asian country the camera or lens was made? Probably not - they have all passed through the cattle race of the Australian importer and that is who you would deal with for any issues.  They are all three reliable, and what is better, that means you are off the hook as far as your mate is concerned.

Some final thoughts: Why did you and the shop hit upon selling a DSLR kit to your mate instead of a compact camera or a mirror-less camera or a waterproof camera?

Well, partly because that is what they asked for...and there is no commercial sense in refusing to sell someone a hamburger when they ask for a hamburger...

Partly because it is the sort of purchase that can grow to greater things in the future. It's happened before. The entry-level buyer goes off and has a whale of a time and comes back and starts to haunt the internet, camera clubs, and shops. The initial little camera purchase becomes a a five-camera system with more long lenses than NASA. More and more gear is sold - more and more new things are tried - and it all ends either in a AIPP fellowship or a messy divorce. Either way our accountant is comfortable.

Partly because to give a person a smaller camera - waterproof or not - is to encourage sandy beach-side disaster. As much as we may want them to carefully ensure that there are no sand grains in the rubber seal or near the extendable lens system, we know what is going to happen. Every summer brings a crop of crunchy cameras back to the shop. The DSLR commands more respect from the user and promotes a bit more caution. Of course when they come in asking for a tiny action camera you can throw caution to the winds and look out the health insurance...

Walking The Olympus Way With Camera Electronic

 

A Photowalk can be a peculiar ritual - somewhere between a civic parade and a band of footpads skulking through town. It is innocent enough, though, when it starts...

Actually it generally begins with a greeting by the industry representative - in this case Burke Flynn from Olympus Imaging - and a setting out of the rules; you are welcome to try the new cameras and please do not drop them in the mud. Do not run away with them as young, fit shop assistants will chase you like greyhounds. We have counted the lenses...

Friday's Olympus Photo Walk  from our new Murray Street Store was actually delightful, coinciding as it did with pleasant summer weather and the Friday night hawkers markets in the centre of Perth. If you can stand fire, smoke, and the smell of things frying you have a chance for some great pictures. As well, the falling light in Perth at this time of year can be surprisingly gentle and artistic - particularly if it is reflecting off signs and Christmas revelers.

It was not always thus. The city at the end of Friday in the 1960's was alternately grim and garish, though you were pretty safe wandering the streets at nearly any time of the night. I should not care to linger late in the area these days...but then I get nervous when they let the Bingo mob out of the local parish hall - full of tea, biscuits, and passion. You get hit with a Zimmer frame and it is all over...

Well, back to the centre of the city. Two examples of the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 MkII were to be had, but one of them was firmly in the grasp of Camera Electronic's Sam Perejuan. And I was able to observe one very smart design feature that Olympus have changed from the OM-D E-M1 original. Look at the picture of Sam's hand holding the camera.

Sam's hand is not a small one - call it an average man's span. He has a firm grip on the camera with forefinger on the shutter button and thumb ready to turn the back dial - but his hand is not having to fight its way over the camera support lug and strap holder. Olympus have moved it from the position  they...and most other people...formerly put it on the side of the camera. It is now up in the cradle of the web formed in finger and thumb. It is ever so much easier to handle the camera than before.

The picture of Sam shooting the camera with a rather large strap attached shows that the strap naturally lays out of the way now and does not bunch under the hand. Bravo! Stand there fighting with a strap for an hour and see how your concentration suffers.

Now as to topics for a walk - apart from the doughnut stalls and fist fights - people can find some artistic treasures:

Or architectural flights of fancy:

Or just quietly evocative lanes.

I just enjoyed speculating about the late-night goings-on...I believe they call for players some time after 9:00. Tennish, anyone...?*

 * Yes, that was intentional. The weblog pun filter is not turned on.

Slip Into The Driver's Seat - Panasonic GX-8

Two years ago I was allowed to own a Panasonic GX-7 camera with a 20mm lens for a week and was extremely impressed with the combination. It was an ideal choice for a genteel but thoroughly capable mirrorless camera. The glimpse that I got of the manufacturing processes of the company involved boosted my confidence in the whole concept of the micro 4/3 sensor in a camera.

Panasonic never rest on their laurels, so after a suitable interval they issued the GX-8...capitalising on the design of the 7 but improving the sensor and adding a number of internal features. I am happy to report that the improvements are discernible and desirable. I took one in to the studio for a spin this week to see what it could do.

Note: I forgot to grab a 20mm f:1.7 Panasonic lens when raiding the shelves for the illustration, but as the Micro 4/3 cameras share common lens mounts, a kit zoom from one of their competitors could bayonet onto the body and we were good to go.

The first detail I noted was the change in grip from that of the GX-7. I was leery of this as the 7 had one of the best grips for a medium-sized hand that I had ever encountered. The new camera sharpened the angle of the body in the spot where your fingers curl into it.

Good? Bad? Better? Worse? I am of the conclusion that for some people it is actually better. The fingers grip tighter in the crease and this factor coupled with the resistance in the ball of the thumb gives good stability to the body while freeing up the thumb and forefinger more than before. The shutter button and adjustment wheel are still in perfect positions.

Your focus choices are also placed very conveniently. I use AF out and about but MF in the studio - it is good to be able to switch rapidly without using a menu.

The main command panel has shifted the controls somewhat, with the addition of a compensation dial concentric with the mode dial. Good choice of spot, as it is hard to accidentally twirl it out into the wrong setting...Of course there are front and back thumb and finger dials for important adjustments. The only regret I have is the shift of the on/off button to a front rather than back position.

As an aside, I wonder if the design department that deals with new cameras is divided up into "Thumb Team" and "Forefinger Team" to lobby for the position and importance of their controls. Think of it: ten earnest Japanese men sitting around a table trying to gain prefer for their digit over that of the others...

I was pleased to see that the innovative tilting viewfinder was maintained. it is one of my favourite features for low-level shooting. Of course the camera has touch screen on the tilting LCD panel but this is no substitute in bright sun for being able to put your eye right down to the viewfinder. That said, I do like the fact that you can touch-focus on the LCD screen to shift the AF point. I am always a little clumsy with touch screens but this one does have some merit.

So how does it all work in practice? I grabbed a '56 Chevy Nomad (Car Of The School Teachers) and turned on the new IKEA mini stage lights and tried it out.

The depth of field for the micro 4/3 cameras is superb - probably the best compromise between sensor size and focal length there is for medium-sized tabletop subjects. If you have a hankering to do it in one shot rather than a 2 or 3 stitch, this may be the camera for it. I should imaging a 17mm to 25mm focal length would be the sweet spot of the optical geometry.

The day was also a success with the trials of the IKEA lighting. If course you need to make sure that you measure the colour temperature and set a custom white balance, but after that it is just a matter of  movie the light heads on their gooseneck tubing to set the positions. It is going to make car interior shots so much easier.

PS: I want chrome strips on the back of my hatchback too, but the car agency man just sniffs and pushes me out the door.

See the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8 Mirrorless Camera online here

Tilting The Screen

Older members of the readership will remember the 1980 movie " Flash Gordon " with the fight between Flash and the hawk men on a tilting tabletop. It was a pivotal point in my life...pun intended... as it was the first concrete illustration of the university education system I had ever seen. I still have Flash backs...

Well, university aside, the tilting tabletop is the best way to understand the new LCD screen mechanism on the Pentax K-1.

We've seen LCD screens in various forms since the inception of digital photography and they have gotten bigger, brighter, more detailed, and more useful all along. A few years ago they started to move - makers attached them to panels that swung out to the side of the camera. Then the panels were made to swivel at the same time and eventually they got to the point where they could go from being turned into the body of the camera to pointing straight forward.

Not content with this, other makers made the screens tilt - up, down, and eventually right forward again. It was all very good, but it really was only a help when the care was held in the landscape orientation - if you went to portrait position you still had to peer sideways and wonder.

An aside. Old Hasselblad and Rollei photographers like me can peer sideways like owls. We had to do it with the waist level finders on the old film cameras and we've developed the knack. Still makes us look silly, though.

Okay. Pentax have taken a leaf from the makers of some monitor screens and attached the LCD assembly to the back of the new K-1 camera with four struts. This means it can go in far more positions for viewing without being stuck out of the side of the camera on a flimsy plastic swivel. You can sight through it in portrait mode without twisting your neck off. No small advantage in candid photography and an absolute godsend in tripod work in a studio. Note: once it goes to the end of he swivel arms it tilts up even further.

I get the feeling that Pentax designers are human beings who take their own pictures in real life with their own design of cameras. And they pay attention to how their own hands work and how they feel. Let us all applaud them with our hands.

Then let us dive this hands into our pockets and fish up a wallet. This camera is in the shop right now - come play with it or order it on-line.

Round The Dial Roulette On The New Pentax K-1

The last few years have seen camera makers send their designers on divergent paths when it comes to the interface between the customer and the device.

In some cases nearly all the operating controls have been hidden inside the menu button, in others they have been spread out on a touch screen, and in a third instance have been relegated to levers. But nothing beats a good old fashioned dial - particularly if it is well-marked and a decent size. If it has firm click stops and a sturdy grip you can confidently fly the machine in all weathers.

Well, digital Pentax cameras have always been pretty good in this respect - their external knobs meet all the right criteria. The latest full-frame digital camera is the Pentax K-1 and here are a few of the control areas that illustrate how clearly Pentax see with the eyes of their buyers.

a. The main mode dial. Standard PASM and then Pentax's specialty - the variable ISO settings; Tav and Sv. Note as well the full Auto ( though why on a professional camera like this one...)*.  But look at the wealth of options there are with 5 custom channels. For some photographers these would be all they ever changed for their different interests. Also note the lock button.

b. The fun specialty dial. Oh dear goodness what you could do with this one...

 HDR explains itself, but you would still be well advised to look in the manual to see what they think you are going to do before you do it. Some love the look and some hate it, but it is actually useful for some technical illustration.

BKT is bracket. Again good for tricky light conditions.

CH and Cl are your continuous shot speeds

 ISO is amazing as the camera goes up past the 200,000 mark. Bob Litchfield said he was notorious for always shooting at 100 ISO but would feel confident running to 800 with the Pentax K-1. Betcha it would go very well a long way higher - check out DP review's test shots.

+ and - are for when you can't decide...no, these are the exposure compensation factors you can dial in.

The white dot is right there and until I get a camera to play with it will stay right there.

WiFi is self explanatory. Or should that be selfie-explanatory...?

Crop controls the use of DX lenses on the FX camera - you can put 'em on but the camera only uses part of the sensor to record. It will automatically indicate what is live in the viewfinder.

Grid lets on a series of guide lines to scold you when you get your horizons crooked and your verticals divergent.

SR Shake Reduction. And in this camera there is a lot of that - 5 axes arecovered, including roll.

c. The Usual Suspects. This is the main under-thumb back panel with discrete button wheel and a joystick button above it. More and more cameras are giving the shooter this sort of tiny thumb navigator rather than compelling them to move AF points with the main wheel. They can shift while the camera is at their eye.

Pentax have recognised  that with a camera of this size the grip of the user is going to have to be firm...which in its turn means that the tactile control available to thumb and forefinger to operate fore and aft wheels is necessarily a little rougher. Try it yourself gripping the mouse of your computer - as you tighten up you have less fine motor control. This in turn means that the control wheels must be larger and well-ribbed to engage with the fingers. Thankfully, they are, and adjustment when the camera is to the eye is easy.

Any way you look at it, the new Pentax K-1 is a DSLR for grown-ups.

Fully Equipped Olympus Pen F - Lock And Load!

A few posts back I said the Olympus Pen F was going to succeed for a number of reasons  - and alluded to the styling of the camera. Here's a closer breakdown of what that means in ergonomic terms.

The camera pictured is in Camera Electronic now - the illustration pictures were taken on the shelves and don't show all the care that a studio shot might...but the enthusiasts who see the camera in the shop will still get to experience the design. Some people will be immediately attracted to it without really being able to tell why. Here's a few clues:

1. Your hand has to go somewhere and do something. This is the extra hand grip of the Pen F - taken from two angles. Finally enough heft to suit the grip of the average westerner without pinching their fingernails or giving them cramp. The back-of-camera thumb rest is also big enough to provide the opposition to this hand rest - you won't need an ancillary thumb rest. Note for panorama shooters - the tripod socket hole is in about the same position as the sensor, which is a great geometric help.

2. SLR film shooters expected to be able to check the depth of field at the working aperture by stopping down the lens with a preview button or lever. This was either on the camera or on the lens - but it was up the front - not down the back or in a menu. The Olympus Pen F has a DOF preview button at the front right body panel - exactly where we have come to expect it. It will get used more that way.

3. If you are going to have a DOF button on the right, don't confuse the right hand with a lens release button on the right as well - put it on the left. Also make it stand out visually and look good. Here is Olympus' answer - extend the chrome land of the lens mount out to the right and put a large button in it.

4. Have you ever picked up a dozen different digital cameras and tried to figure out where the designer has put the on/off button? And failed in about 40% of the cases? This is something that confronts sales staff every time a new model comes in. Leaving aside the novelty of the camera that turns itself on when you twist the zoom ring, most of the others either have a finger switch under the shutter button or a separate button somewhere o the top of the casing ...in amongst a forest of video, function, compensation, and pickled herring dispenser buttons. Hold your breath and press something and hope for the best...

Olympus are smart. For years their OM cameras have turned on with a lever on the left hand side - initially associated with a film rewind crank. No more film, no more rewinding, and the only cranks are the ones who operate the cameras...but Olympus have seized upon that portion of the top plate to put a positive knurled knob with an on/off switch that really does let you see that it is on or off. If it pays visual homage to a knurled film rewind knob, so much the better.

5. If you remember the screw-mount Leicas you are as old as this writer. Congratulations. You also remember Sabrina and cheap Australian brandy. But come back to the SM Leica. The slow-speed dial was frequently put onto the right front panel of the body where it could influence the escapement train for the shutter. Same on Leotaxes and Niccas.

Well, Olympus have decided to echo this memory by putting one of the colour control centres on this same position. You'll have to modify the number of commands that this dial can generate by flicking over the toggle switch under the top mode dial, but it will be worth it as you can fiddle with the tone curves no end. The fact that you can do it without pressing into a back menu is likely to encourage you to do it far more often. Keep fiddling - eventually you will stop being Nero and come closer to being Paganini.

6. 4 C spots on the mode dial. 4 Custom channels, accessible from outside with a thumb and forefinger. No button pushing. Again, you are far more likely to make use of a facility if the operation is facile.

7. Big rubber-covered eyepiece at the northwest corner of the map. Can-shaped design to the housing...more for effect than operation, I suspect, but it does echo a lot of older professional equipment. A visual echo calls as much as a vocal one, and buyers have eyes as well as ears.

These cameras, in silver as well as black, are ins tock right now. Please look at our on-line store for pricing and please come in and heft one if you can. They are set to become a modern classic.

Pen F: Currently on display and available in store with limited amounts