Just read a very nice article by Dave Pardue on Imaging Resource about what he calls the “middle ground” cameras. It even has a photo of Mitchie’s Olympus E-M5 Mk2, which is indeed a very cool piece of equipment.
And I think, for this year in retrospect, he’s right. Lots and lots of so-called “full frame” mirrorless cameras entered the market which was/is dominated so far by Sony with their A7 family. My colleagues for instance are going bonkers for the new Canon or Nikon models, and only one of them reported about his nice visit on the Olympus booth at this year’s Photokina show, and about their OM-D E-M1 Mk2 camera (which is awesome, no question).
What I have left after a theft in Paris (where my E-PL5 with viewfinder and 75mm/1.8 got stolen) is my old OM-D E-M10, first version. And although by now that one’s a bit what Americans would call “battered and bruised” (the glued-on thumb rest for instance just came off), it’s still a perfectly capable 16MP ยต43rds model, so like the ones mentioned above it has the smallest of what’s considered “big” sensors, and that’s perfectly fine with me. See what you can do with it in another article from Dave about its successor, the Mk2 version. Or for the latest version, even the video guys seem to like it (and it’s more capable than Mitchie’s camera in this regard if you think you need 4k).
So what does this all mean? Look for that “middle ground”, and for affordable camera gear which isn’t too heavy to have it with you. That’s still far better than using your phone (tho those are catching up especially on gimbals for video work outdoors).
Me? I’m happy with what I’ve got. Sure, I’m missing that 75mm/1.8 although it’s kind of a special focal length, but it would be super cool to have one again to take photos and/or videos of musicians on stages. Other than that loss, I’m happy. Would I buy an Olympus camera again in the case that mine failed tomorrow? Absolutely! And because I don’t really like swiveling-out displays, it would probably be another E-M10 model, maybe the Mk2 version. Or if I’d forget about the display (just turn it around and assume there weren’t any at all), I’d probably get a Pen-F.
Your choice of course – but I enjoy this “little one”:
As always, thanks for reading.