My new (totally unwanted purchase) Olympus EM-1 MK III arrived yesterday, but with so many things going on, I didn't have a chance to even take a peak inside the box until today. I still don't have time to really play with it, but since I am expected to take birthday photos of Smallsteps ASAP and capture a little of the guests tomorrow, I have had to set it up in a rush.
The shots of the camera itself are taken with my phone.
There are plenty of things I need yet to customize in order to get it working the way I want it to work, but it will have to wait and I will mostly use the default positions for settings that I use. This is awkward at the moment, but I will manage for what I need to do - I hope.
I was going to do a more formal unboxing, but with limited time I thought instead I would get out and take some test shots instead. However, it is a very nice to hold unit and one thing I love about the Olympus cameras is their build quality. They feel solid and robust and all the little dials and levers are built to last. I was very happy with my last Olympus (the MK 1 version) and this one feels a little more refined, and the shutter movement is more satisfying.
The other "big" change is that the LCD screen swivels instead of just angles out, meaning I can more easily take all of those selfies I don't take. What it does do however is give me more options to preview my weird position shots, which many of them are. I tend to get twisted into positions and having the screen swivel makes it far more comfortable.
First shots
Next, I ran across to the neighbor who needed a bit of a hand with something and they have a lovely garden that is actually going to be photographed professionally for a magazine in the upcoming week.
The first shot is of a dahlia, a flower I really like as it has such a satisfying form and structure. I like flowers that are firm, more than those that fall apart in a light rain, like peonies. Peonies are beautiful though.
The other thing the camera has is a decent face and eye recognition, which I haven't really tested yet, but it did pick up this Buddha statue and adjust the focus onto the eye of it - which surprised me a bit since it isn't so lifelike.
After helping with the pergola a little and mostly drinking a coffee there, it was back into our garden to organize a few things for tomorrow as since the weather will be good, we will have a garden birthday party. The painting of the plinth was finished yesterday, so now the outside of the house is done - kind of. There is still plenty more to do, but all that was meant to be painted by the pros is now painted. We haven't decided what to do with the stairs and entrance yet, but we will do that a bit later.
Weirdly (imo), the strawberries are still getting new flowers on them. It is mid August and I am not sure if this is normal, but the weather has also been unusually warm for Finland at this time of year. It could very well be 10 Celsius and pouring down. We have been lucky with her birthday in general though, so can't complain.
These shots were taken with a 60mm Macro lens and are straight out of the camera with most not even being cropped. Obviously, a big factor in staying with the same brand of camera comes down to lenses and I have a few decent ones, so I don't have to get much more. I would like a better long lens as one I bought from a friend is slightly off focus, but that is not a necessity by any means.
Our rose bushes weren't overly great this year, so if they don't perform next year, I might have to remove them. They are doing better than these leaves indicate though, I just liked the color.
With all of the digging that went on for the drainage and removal of sopping wet soil (due to lack of drainage), our grass looks like it has gone through a light carpet bombing with tanks following the destruction. I wanted to get some grass in fast in the hope it would root before it gets cold, but it is growing a little slower than I expected, with it only sprouting yesterday. This means that it took over about a week. The time depends on the type of grass, but at the garden store, they only had one type and the type wasn't actually written on the box. Weird.
And a little fly sitting on a lovage leaf, an edible plant that I have no idea what to do with - I think it is for soups. I didn't play around with the settings before the fly took off, but the detail isn't too bad considering.
One of the things I was really looking forward to doing this year was making mojitos with fresh mint from the garden, but it hasn't happened even once. The mint is instead flowering from disuse, but it still smells good. We got it from the neighbor, but there appears to be two types of mint mixed together, as some have purple flowers, some white.
There is also a chocolate mint variety that has a great flavor, but we don't have any here and I will put it in for next year. Mint is a perennial as far as I know, so it should come back strongly next year.
Finally, my wife wanted something to put on the table that is outside as it was looking a little bare for the party. She likes potted flowers, but can't seem to keep even the hardiest of them alive for long. It concerns me in regards to the entire garden we now have :D
Well, so far, so good in regards to the camera and now I have to charge the batteries for the flash and see if I can set that up for taking some birthday photos. I am hoping to get something of Smallsteps sitting on our stairs or in the construction mess that is the inside of our house at the moment, but I am a little unsure what it will frame like. However, it would be nice to have a memory of not only the birthday, but also what is going on in our lives at the moment.
Which is a lot.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
I got the Olympus OM-D E-M10 II which is also a micro four thirds. I really like those since the ones with mirrors are so much bigger. These really provide super quality for less size. And the lenses are amazing as well. Have fun with the picture taking and wishing you luck with all the little kids around
I think @galenkp has this (maybe the mk III - unsure) and likes it a lot. The size of my old canon was the reason I changed stables in the first place - as well as lens cost. The MFTs have some great lenses for far less price. I have a friend who has a sony something something as well as a very good Canon with many L-lenses - he barely carries his Canon because of the size and weight.
Not too many little ones this time, just family and a couple close friends. Most people are scared of the flu.
!ENGAGE 20
ENGAGEtokens.The strawberries must be the ever bearing variety, they will produce berries until it is to cold. While a little smaller than the one time crop berries and a bit more tart, I do prefer the ever bearing varieties.
Looks like the camera does a pretty nice job, and since you already have the lenses, it was a good move.
Have a lot of fun with it at the party.
These ones are very sweet and have been largish (if the birds didn't get them). Next year I will cover them so we can enjoy a few more :)
It should be fun and while everyone has their preferences, I am happy with my choice :)
Even though you didn't want it... way to go! Happy Birthday to the wee little one. The leaf shot caught my eye and the one with the fly. I like how the fly is rubbing his hands together! I pictured you doing that when you were unboxing. hahahaha I look forward to seeing some macro shots of weird things after you get everything configured.
This is the biggest treat for myself since well, five years ago when i bought the last one :D
Flies are good to practice on because they are less shy of the camera - but they do move their legs fast. Will be fun to get out there again.
I think we will all be the benefactors! hahaha I know everyone wants you to do more photography posts.
They want photography posts as they are tired of reading :)
Looks like the quick fix didn't happen then, that's a bit of a shitbag. Enjoy the new toy dude.
Yeah, the quick fix would have been 20% of the purchase price, taken 3-4 weeks and I still would have had a 5 yr old rig....
Makes sense to get new with a warranty then, a few hundred good photos/post on hive will see you back to even on your purchase:)
Ah! What a pleasure for the eyes here Taraz.
I presume that it will have a face and body setting for what they call "Face tracking" and a host of other settings for "Portraits".
You are going to have much fun with that toy and we are looking forward to the professional party pictures!
It does have face tracking, once I work it out, not sure about for portraits - but I will wing that with a flash and fat fingers :)
Not sure if things will get pro level, but I will definitely have a little fun :)
By now you would have taken the photos and I hope that everything worked out well for you Taraz.
Looking forward to the posts.
Fun is what it's all about lol.
Great photos! The macro lens seems like a really good one!
This is not so unusual. The statistical likelihood for the highest average daily (24h) temperature of the year was only three weeks ago. It would be roughly as likely as it was in the beginning of July for the daily (24h) average to be this high.
The weather usually starts really cooling off in the first half of September.
The 60mm Olympus is great. Bought from a friend who changed to something else as he wasn't using it.
Last night was nice and warm when we took the dog for a walk around midnight. I remember when I first came to Finland (17 years ago this week) it had been very hot a few weeks earlier and when I landed, it was like 15 degrees and raining. Coming from the tropics, I had very little clothing for that kind of weather.
Congratulations on a new tool that will help you preserve memorable moments. From the very beginning, I was going to congratulate you on a new toy, but after reading the entire article, I realized how important memories are to you.
I don't have many toys in my life these days, mostly tools. Some of them of course (like a camera) do double duty ;D
How are things?
I am so relaxed that I cannot bring myself to do anything again. Fresh air and parental home (there is my own bed, in which I degraded for so long) relaxed me. So I sat down for comments to somehow get myself. Hope to get to your articles closer to the night.
The features are amazing. Although I have never owned a camera.
The pictures are also good too.. I like the grassy picture .
There is no real reason to own a dedicated camera these days unless you are really going to use it. For most people, a half decent phone camera is enough.
I like the grass one too - it has a nice and fresh feeling.
Hello dear friend @tarazkp good afternoon
What a beautiful toy you have bought, if you have taken those beautiful photographs with the camera and it is not configured as you want, I imagine how beautiful they will be once configured to your liking.
It's a shame that I didn't make your mojito, but I think that when the mint plant blooms its flavor is stronger, maybe you should try it now.
Have a wonderful celebration, enjoy it a lot
I don't know if they will be better, but they will be easier to take.
I have the feeling that when plants flower, the flavor becomes more bitter - but not sure about mint in particular.
that type of well configured machines give incredible images, to that you have to add the eye of the photographer and you have
Much of that dear friend @tarazkp was appreciated in the way you see the photographs
The flowered mint is more intense, and I think it goes very well with the combination of powdered sugar and lime.
Enjoy the celebration
I wish you luck with the new camera, it looks great but we know the design is not the most important thing.
I like the close up photos, so far so good Id's say, but of course, as you said, there's a lot to learn, to play with and you're going to figure it out in the upcoming weeks. Good luck!
I had my other camera set up the way I liked it, but this one has an extra button or two that I need to work out, plus some settings I have never used before. It takes time and experimentation :)
How is your weekend going?
At least you have a new toy to play with, I bet it'll be fun. My weekend is going well, thanks, except for the rain. Have been to my niece's graduation party, have met my relatives I've not seen since the lockdown. Restaurants are allowed to host up to 20 people now, so we had a very small graduation party. Let's hope we won't get another lockdown.
Perhaps scaling down these kinds of events is a good thing - some of them have been getting crazy the last few years.
You're right, max 20 people are allowed in a restaurant. It's good though as you don't have to put your life on hold.
!ENGAGE 15
ENGAGEtokens.Sweet! :D congrats on the camera and hope it serves you well ^_^ The photos are awesome.
Cheers - I am looking forward to actually having some time to play around with it more - I am thinking I might even learn how to use it properly! :D
I was going to ask why didn't you give a try to Sony, but
That explains everything. Lovely shots, a bit of photoshop and they would pop out even more!
Yep, it wouldn't take too much tweaking - one day :)
Nice man!!! I’ve been looking hard at a Sony, I feel like I need something new!
It is nice to have the change or at least, the option. One of my brothers has a decent sony mirrorless and is happy with it.
Love the photos from your new camera.
Tha nks :)
Really very cool shot
Posted using Dapplr
Thanks :)
Pictures are really neat , I use my sister's Canon 5d and the pictures I take look almost the same quality. I have a big obsession with photography and visuals and I love these pictures
They are nice cameras. Hope you get some post pandemic freedom to enjoy it ;-)
Unboxing is overrated XD
I suspect I'm the only grinch who feels like unboxing posts/videos are overrated anyway XD
The camera looks like it's working out for you, some lovely shots here :) I'm sure the birthday photos will be awesome :D
Niice, I just got a new lens yesterday, will post about it today. I'm excited about photography again :D
That looks like a great camera! Very jealous here, but looking forward to seeing what you can do with it!