I took Ruth out for a walkabout a few times and I have to admit, she’s wearing on me. No, not cause Ruth is my Mother, but because this Ruth is my Olympus Pen EP-5. I must admit, OLY did a smashing job on this camera. I knew this 19 months ago but forgot because I just did. So now it’s like a rekindled love affair.
If there’s one reason and only one reason to love this camera it’s the AF. Simply put, there is no camera that focuses faster. My favorite M43 lens is the Lumix 20mm. I had the original version and now I use the 20mm 1.7 ll. This lens is known to not be the fastest focusing lens in M43 world. Well on the Pen EP-5 it.s lightening fast. No joke, it comes alive on this camera and the camera comes alive with this lens. This and the fact that you have a 5 point IS system that works and is amazing, makes a streetshooters dream come true.
Don’t let my
photos leave a bad impression of the IQ of the camera. It’s about pristine to 24oo and 3200 is excellent. The images compete against my Fuji X100s and are equal to it up to and including these high ISO’s. Amazing, I tell ya, amazing. Ok, ok so I am not the most neutral shooter with this camera. Fact is I don’t have to be and I’m not. I loved the EP-1 when it was released and this is light years ahead of the excellent EP-1.
Ya know, first time in a long time I’m having fun again. I mean the EP-5 is a gas to work with. It makes me feel like shooting and it’s all metal so It’s protection in seedy neighborhoods, not that Philly has any like that.
The thing is with cameras and me, is if I don’t love it, then maybe someone else will. I’m a shooter and more than that, a street shooter. I have no times for nonsense with cranky cameras. These photos represent play and learn time. I’m just groovin’ on life as I see it and enjoying being a shooter. The streets are coming alive and ppl are mosyin’ around. The battery is charged, lens is clean, the smell of exhaust is in the air, trucks and busses and cars are making loud noises, the light is starting to cook and it’s almost warm enough to go with a light jacket.
shooter,
in person you must be really contagious, because even in the blogoshere, when you are happy we are all happy.
at least, count me in.
glad the world is out there for you to shoot!
– marke
Well, thanks for the pep talk. I kinda go into my mode that is….I am who I am and I shoot who and what I want to shoot”. Maybe this sounds self centered but I have found that in the life I live, I would rather have mistakes and successes that are mine and not from some one else. I’m off to Market Street even if it rains…..
catch ya later and thanks for commenting, mush appreciated……
i meant blogosPhere, but maybe that’s the way it’s pronounced in philly anyway?
dunno, never been there.
this california kid did walk the streets of chicago one new years week searching for a lost big brother, taking pictures with my eyes and too dumb and innocent to be bothered by anyone, but that is as close as i’ve come and that not very…
I love the last paragraph. Those are words that all of us street shooters should live by.
Thanks Tina. I will try to live by those words myself.
Another great article Don. I do to love Olympus and i think they are great cameras for streetphotography.Keep up with your great work!
Thanks Pedro more on the way……
Ya know Don, when I first started getting interested in photography, especially street, I was all concerned about sharpness. But I have come to realize, at least for me, that it’s not all about sharpness. Especially when it comes to street. Thanks in no small part to following your blog and seeing your street images. Your shots capture emotion and atmosphere … that’s what I love about them. It’s a rainy-gloomy day here in Minneapolis today. Maybe I’ll get out and use it to my advantage. Take care.
Thanks Dave. I do my work in a perfectly imperfect manner. I find the biggest release of negative energy is to abandon the preconceptions I place on what I’m doing and just see and feel the images. Bunk to pleasing an audience. It’s nice to have ppl like our work but that can’t be the reason for doing it. It’ gotta be the Eye, Heart and mind of ourselves.
Cold and damp here too but I’m out the door in 30 min hitting the street.
Br blessed my friend