Photography from a motorcycle - why I chose Micro Four Thirds

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There is a thread going on the Vstrom forum as well. Staff snagged a Gx1 used for $155 US and is in heaven.


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this is a cross post from the Vstrom thread

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One further note that point and shoot users may not understand.

The better cameras capture up to 16 million pixels of information. for 16:9 shots that's 4000x3000 pixels.....way way more than you ever need for say posting up here..

BUT....down the road, and for many like me right now....as our computer and TV resolutions rise....my old photos just look crap and the current ones look better than I've ever seen them.

A couple hundred dollars spent now will serve you well as 2k and 4k screens are used to show your travel photos. Keep your camera at highest/finest resolution always.
Storage cards are dirt cheap these days.

I whimper when I see some of my photos from 5 years ago or more....it took a couple of trips to Australia and not few missed shots due to a marginal camera for me to smarten up.

This was one of the moments...

The damn ( and decent ) point and shoot simply could not focus properly on a once in a life time wild cassowary only 15' away.
Light was low and the black bird gave the auto -focus fits.

cassowaryglory.jpg


yet on occasion that camera could be brilliant. ( same area, same day )

Screenshot2012-04-15atApr152012101719PM.jpg


At that point I decided to look for a better camera and even tho this one was captive...the difference is very obvious with the Gx1 taken next year....similar distance and light level.

cassowary.jpg


and it was taken entirely automatically.
But if I did get into a situation where I needed to...I could focus manually as well.
 
My daughter was getting some awesome pics at the Rockton Fair using a Lumex. Then she sent it to her home computer via her I phone. I guess that's why people don't send postcards any more.
 
I wouldn't mind having a Sony A7R with a pancake. My D610 with 70-200 F2.8 and 24-70 F2.8 are ridiculous in size......

the Fuji XT-1 also looks great.
 
Perfect timing for this thread revival. Had a chance to play with an Olympus EPL-1 and was very impressed! I'm thinking of moving to dslr but they're just to big for my needs and this may be the next best thing! The size with interchangeable lenses is great and actually smaller than my wife's advanced point and shoot!

Probably will look for used to see how it develops and if I end up using it often but already saw some nice GX1 used on kijiji but closer to $250-300 so will continue looking.
 
Got my Olympus refurbished OMD EM5 yesterday and it's a wonderful little camera. Very sturdy and well built. Excellent condition, looks like new.
 
If I were to switch from film to digital, I would look at a Fuji x10, x20, x30, or x100.
 
I have started with FT format shortly after digital became the thing and still keep my E300. It was the size reason and the much better consumer glass. Nowadays, the sensors and technology in general got much better, so I am sure there are some wildly smaller cameras who can do the whole bit and be much smaller. If you don't shoot moving objects in poor lighting conditions, I suspect most people don't really need DSLR's.
 
Great thread - I have a Canon DSLR with a couple of lenses that I'm finding I'm just not using. It's all too much to carry on the bike, and the bulk takes away from how spontaneous I can be. And we all know the best camera you have is the one in your hand.

Right now I'm using my old Canon G11 - from which I have gotten some good landscape shots - but I think that a MFT system is in my future.
 
This is why I choose film for photography. I just printed up, in my darkroom, a few 8x10's and 5x7's of an iconic image from my bike trip.
Taken with a Rolleiflex TLR
i need to speak to a few people here about their prints.
56964906d016c8d8e866d78cadbfa8e7.jpg
 
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I'm surprised that I didn't see this thread before. I started shooting at the track with point and shoots, then went on to a E-500, and eventually worked my way to the Micro Four-Thirds cameras. I'm currently using a E-M5 (candids) and E-M1 (trackside). The E-M1 works beautifully with my Four-Thirds lenses, like the 50-200 F2.8-3.5.

J6060133.JPG
 
Rob MacLennan said:
I'm surprised that I didn't see this thread before. I started shooting at the track with point and shoots, then went on to a E-500, and eventually worked my way to the Micro Four-Thirds cameras. I'm currently using a E-M5 (candids) and E-M1 (trackside). The E-M1 works beautifully with my Four-Thirds lenses, like the 50-200 F2.8-3.5.

J6060133.JPG
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Any lead on good aftermarket batteries for the EM5?
 
Rob MacLennan said:
I don't use aftermarket, as I've had bad experiences with them. If you sign up for the Olympus mailing list they might send you a 10% off code on your birthday.
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Hmm, it's not just the batteries. The charger that comes with the camera isn't travel friendly. Was looking for a good bundle that came with one of the slim chargers too. OEM batteries at $60 a pop doesn't help either.

Do you just use your adapter for 4/3 lenses on the EM bodies? I got a 12-50mm f3.5-6.3 that came with the camera which is great, and I just got the 40-150mm to fill in the gaps at the zoom end. Looking to add a good pancake prime lens next for packability.
 
jc100 said:
Hmm, it's not just the batteries. The charger that comes with the camera isn't travel friendly. Was looking for a good bundle that came with one of the slim chargers too. OEM batteries at $60 a pop doesn't help either.

Do you just use your adapter for 4/3 lenses on the EM bodies? I got a 12-50mm f3.5-6.3 that came with the camera which is great, and I just got the 40-150mm to fill in the gaps at the zoom end. Looking to add a good pancake prime lens next for packability.
Click to expand...

Given that the aftermarket batteries I've tried seem to lose more than 50% of max charge in the first year, some as little as 6 months, the $60.00 for Oly batteries doesn't bother me much.

I've got a few u4/3 lenses and I use my 4/3 lenses with the adapter. The 14-54mm F2.8-3.5 work very well on the E-M1. I've also got the u4/3 12-50, 25mm pancake, and 45mm.
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