​What I’ve Learned After Six Months Of Shooting Almost Exclusively With Olympus Micro Four Thirds Cameras...

(And a bit of my own personal history with Olympus - Copyright Scott Bourne)

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DISCLAIMER: I will refer to crop factors in this post. It’s important to know that crop factor and the associated focal length multiplier only affects field of view. I prefer to reference this as effective focal length (EFL) but others use FOV. Feel free to use whichever term you like.

Olympus and I go way back. I got my first OM series film camera in the mid-1970s. While I started in 35mm with Nikon, I ended up using mostly Minolta and Olympus back in those days. I even carried my gear around in a silver Zero Halliburton camera case. (Those of you who are like me, on the wrong side of 60 will remember those fondly I am sure.) Then as it is now, the Olympus glass was both spectacular and reasonably affordable and the OM series had the first reliable in-camera light meter. It was a match-needle affair that I thought was the coolest thing ever. That pushed me into the Olympus gear for shooting motor sports.

Over the years I eventually migrated to Canon (and even back to Nikon for a while) because of advances in autofocus and stabilization that the old Olympus film cameras just couldn't quite match.

Fast forward to October 17, 2009, when I bought my first Olympus digital camera. It was the Olympus E-P1 and I remember the date because I wrote a post for Photofocus.com mentioning the camera.

In 2010 I picked up an Olympus E-P2, in 2011 I bought an Olympus PEN E-P3 and I enjoyed all of those cameras. Every time I used one of them the word “fun” came to mind. I got some great images from all of them, but was still shooting mostly Canon for my “serious” photography. Then something happened that really got my attention. In October of 2011 Olympus launched some lenses that really changed everything for me (and many others.)

First, I bought an Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f/1.8 Lens. It cost more than $400 back then and I thought that was pretty expensive for a M43 lens. But after using it I didn’t mind the price. Frankly, I was shocked at how good it was. With a field of view of 90mm, and a super fast f/1.8 aperture, I thought it might make the perfect portrait lens given how small and light weight it was compared to my big, fast, heavy, and expensive Canon 85mm lens.

And to make a long story short, for that time period, I was right. The lens is sharp, contrasty, fast to focus and unobtrusive. It fits in your shirt pocket and when you pull it out and put it on any Olympus digital camera body you have a great portrait lens.

Next up was another important lens for me. Olympus shipped the Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 12mm f/2.0 Lens. When it comes to landscape, architecture, street photography, documentary photography, Americana photography, etc., this lens was just what I’d been waiting for. With an EFL of 24mm at f/2.0 it is useful in many situations. It’s a full metal lens and super well-built. It’s one of the sharpest lenses I’ve used and it’s not even in the Olympus “pro” line.

Time went by and Olympus continued to innovate. As good as the 45 f/1.8 lens was/is, the Olympus M.Zukio 75mm f/1.8 ED lens is even better. While at 150mm EFL, it’s not a typical “portrait lens” that is how I used it and I consistently had some of the sharpest pictures I’ve ever taken from this lens and still had a lovely bokeh. I can’t stress enough how sharp this lens is. At the time it shipped, it was the sharpest lens I had ever used on ANY 35mm SLR or DSLR, Mirrorless or Micro Four Thirds system. It’s still available today, and while not mentioned all that often because it isn’t one of Olympus’ “pro” lenses, it’s a sleeper lens that I use every chance I get. Did I mention it's sharp?

These three lenses got me thinking about Olympus as a full-time camera system. But because I have been migrating to full-time bird photography (pun intended) the one thing that I really needed was a fast, prime, stabilized, super telephoto lens. I also need fast and reliable tracking autofocus and a high frame rate. These are just requirements for the kind of work I do.

As Olympus began to develop (what I consider to be) one of the best line-ups of professional camera lenses in the business, they didn’t stop innovating when it came to camera bodies either.

In 2013 I purchased an Olympus OM-D EM-5 - (Now the MKII version is available.) This was a ground-breaking camera in my opinion. It offered several advantages over other systems…

1. Stealth
2. Small size
3. Low weight
4. Easy to pack and carry
5. Amazing image quality
6. Lower overall cost
7. Options not available to DSLR users

I was so impressed with the Olympus cameras by this time that I authored a lynda.com title with my pal Rich Harrington featuring Olympus cameras called “Learning to Shoot With Micro Four Thirds Cameras.” I wanted everyone to know how good these little cameras could be.

By this time in my life, I wanted to switch to Olympus as my only system so bad I could taste it. My health was sliding in the wrong direction and as I approached my sixth decade on this planet, my tired, old bones were beginning to protest when I picked up a big, heavy DSLR/lens combo. And while the Olympus cameras offered amazing image quality, and amazing glass, the limitations on Micro Four Thirds sensors (related to their size) just couldn’t quite deliver for me when it came to the big prints I make. This is partly physics and partly technology.

While I have owned and used the Olympus gear on and off since the 1970s, occasionally shot with it professionally, written about Olympus gear, taught photographers how to use it, I still had a few problems that held me back from a full-throated endorsement. 

As a bird photographer I needed a very sharp, fast, quick-focusing, stabilized, super telephoto lens. I also needed a camera capable of shooting with tracking autofocus and high frame rates. I also needed very good image quality because I often make 40” prints. Lastly, I needed a professional service and loaner program like Nikon’s NPS or Canon’s CPS to back me up. 

When I started looking for mirrorless cameras to lighten my load and before I made the switch to Olympus, I spent a year shooting Fuji. Frankly, I had some of the worst service experience of my career with them and at least back then, they had no reliable system for pros to gain access to the quick turn around times and loaner gear necessary for us to know we could count on having gear when we needed it for a paid shoot. That caused me to look elsewhere.

Then the stars in the universe aligned for me because all the aforementioned problems were solved.

The advent of the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 300mm f/4 IS PRO Lens with an EFL of 600mm, and the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II Mirrorless Micro Four Thirds Digital Camera changed everything for me. And I mean everything.

I was literally at the very point in my life where I thought my time as a photographer had come to an end. My doctors were telling me they couldn’t do any more work on my shoulder and knees because there was nothing left to work with. These days, I simply cannot carry, transport, lift and accurately use large DSLRs and big telephoto lenses for more than a few minutes at best. I really needed something smaller, lighter and more manageable if I was going to keep shooting.

But having had the luxury of at least testing if not owning and regularly using the very best cameras and lenses in the world, my need for something light and small just couldn’t be allowed to trump my need for very high-quality gear that produced professional results. Unfortunately, the type of photography I do requires the top-of-the-line cameras and lenses. In other words, I need the best gear that money can buy because frankly, even with the right gear, bird photography is just stupid hard! Without the right gear it's just stupid :).

I am happy to report that I didn’t have to lower my standards a bit to switch to Olympus. 

Fortunately the new system offers more than enough image quality for me to get marketable images. I have printed 30x40” prints that look great and already licensed several images from the OM-D E-M1 Mark II system.

I am also extremely happy to report to you that Olympus does indeed have a new program called Pro Advantage which is similar to NPS and CPS. I immediately joined. For under $100 a year it’s an amazing bargain and while I have not needed to call on Olympus for help, knowing I can get the fast turnaround I need in case of repairs or other issues is great peace of mind. The program comes with two free clean and checks and once I returned from my Palouse workshop with Gary Hamburgh I sent my gear in for those free checkups.

Like any new camera system it took me a while to fully understand how to coax the best images out of it. But now I am confident that I can do that. I’ve now spent six months with the new flagship Olympus gear. I’ve traveled more than 15,000 miles with these new cameras and lenses. I’ve used them to photograph eagles in Alaska, cormorants and pelicans in La Jolla, ducks and migratory birds in Arizona and shorebirds in Washington. I’ve used this gear in extremely cold conditions (-9 degrees wind chill in Alaska) and in extremely warm conditions (92 degrees) in southern Arizona. I’ve shot in bad weather from a boat in five foot seas near Kachemak Bay and along the Pacific coast in the fine sea spray on La Jolla cliffs in California.

I’ve flown on large jets, regional jetliners and even a helicopter carrying Olympus cameras. I’ve driven on roads only passable via four-wheel drive vehicles. I’ve even hiked (okay not very far but I did hike) with the gear on my back. 

No matter what I’ve thrown at the new Olympus system it has performed like the pro cameras I’ve been used to. 

All the glass is sharp. All the camera bodies operate as expected. Battery life is amazing for a M43 system. I’ve never experienced any freezes or lockups in the camera bodies. I’ve also never noticed any dust spots on my sensor (something I constantly struggled with as a Canon shooter.) Olympus has already updated the cameras and lenses I purchased with new firmware making them even better. Tracking autofocus with the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II Mirrorless Micro Four Thirds Digital Camera actually works and all the autofocus modes are both fast and accurate.

The cameras are infinitely customizable and I have practiced enough with the new OM-D E-M1 Mark II to get a working setup for bird photography that produces reliable results when the camera is in the hands of a capable operator.

Also of note for me is the amazing stabilization of both the new camera body and some of the lenses. When I pair the IBIS in the Mark II together with a lens that is also stabilized, I am handholding shots at unheard of shutter speeds with incredible results. The fact that I am handholding at all is a miracle. When I put the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital MC-14 1.4x Teleconverter on the 300 f/4 lens, I have an EFL of 840mm. I have never handheld an 800mm lens in my life before this. But thanks to the stabilization (that really, really works) I can do it for extended periods of time.

So that I can offer a balanced report I want to address two issues that I see talked about in the forums regarding M43 cameras in general. First there is the noise issue. It's simple physics. A smaller sensor will not be able to deliver files that are as "clean" as a larger sensor. But it's not an issue and here's why. On the Mark II, the noise is well-controlled by the camera's on-board computer system and at very high ISOs, the noise is easily fixed in post with any of the various one-click noise reduction programs on the market like MacPhun's Noiseless. (USE CODE PHOTOPLUGINS to get 10% off.)

Next I want to talk about the depth-of-field issue. There is a great deal of misinformation on the Internet about the way M43 cameras handle DOF. Yes it is true that when it comes to DOF, an f/4 lens on a M43 camera delivers the same DOF as an f/8 lens on a full-frame camera (given the same focal length, and the same subject-to-camera distance,) BUT what’s not true is that less light reaches the sensor. When one purchases a fast lens, say an f/2.8 lens; One often does so because of the need to shoot in low-light conditions not just because of the need for a nice bokeh. When using M43 cameras there is absolutely no penalty in this respect. It’s a simple rule. In every case, without exception, f/2.8 is f/2.8 is f/2.8 on a M43 camera, an APS-C camera and a full-frame camera. The same amount of light passes through the aperture no matter what. The DOF is indeed impacted. For some, in a negative way. But not for me. For me it’s just the opposite. There are lots of times when I need more DOF. The increased depth-of-field over larger sensors suits my needs perfectly. And when I do need a smooth creamy, bokeh, I just get closer to my subject. As I’ve said before on many forums and in many articles, it’s easy to prove to yourself with a simple test that as subject to camera distance decreases, so does DOF. If I need a smoother bokeh, I just get closer. In any event I have never been disappointed with the bokeh of any Olympus lens and that includes the combination of the 300 with the 1.4 TC.

Speaking of getting closer, the close focusing distance of the Olympus lenses is nothing short of stupendous. I can work three times as close with my Olympus 300 (EFL 600) f/4 as I could my Canon 600 f/4. This offers many advantages including the heretofore mentioned ability to create a smooth, creamy bokeh in the background. It also allows near macro-like capability in some of the longer lenses. The ability to fill the frame with a bird’s eye for instance without cropping is amazing. I am like a kid in a candy store with a pocket full of quarters. I am not sure I will ever get used to how much fun this is.

And fun is the operative word. While sometimes the discussion on the camera forums varies from NOT fun to downright nasty, I think we should all remember that photography is indeed supposed to be fun. If it’s NOT fun for you, I’ve got news for you. You aren’t doing it right. Carrying this lightweight, but highly capable gear has made photography fun again for me, even when I am shooting for money.

​I've always been willing to make changes in my gear as new, improved items become available I have been known to completely switch brands or to work with multiple sets of gear, most recently with both Canon and Nikon as well as Tamron, Olympus, Panasonic and Fuji. I have enjoyed many aspects of all this gear. I will always shoot with the best tools available to me. But this recent change is different. It's the kind of change I wouldn't/couldn't make or take lightly because of my current circumstances, i.e., primarily my health. For me, this is a required, but welcome sea change.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I am hooked. For the first time in many decades I only own one camera system. I sold all my other gear and Olympus is the only brand in my camera bag. 

Nothing I have written here is meant to indicate that I don’t think there are plenty of fine camera brands out there. If you shoot with something else don't be offended or concerned. We live in an era when almost all cameras you can buy are very, very good. I am just saying that for me personally, based on my personal needs and use case, the Olympus is the right choice.

I am grateful to Olympus for taking the time to engineer and create this new gear. It gives me hope that I can still go on making the photographs that are important to me for many years to come. I also wanted to write this to assure anyone else who is thinking about making such a switch (whether to save money, (I sold two Canon lenses and purchased EVERYTHING I might need from Olympus) or to save size/weight, you can do it and everything will be fine.

I hope this article is helpful and encouraging, but if anyone still has concerns that I didn’t address, or needs more information feel free to contact me directly at [email protected].

Thanks for reading.

Post Script - Today I was named an Olympus Visionary. All the gear I list here I bought with my own money before that agreement was made. I didn't write this post at their behest. It was in fact written before I knew I was being selected for the honor. But it doesn't change anything. I love the gear and am honored to help represent it.
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For those who may be interested, below please find a complete list of my current Olympus kit.

Camera Bodies

Olympus OM-D E-M1 MK II  x2
Olympus Stylus Tough TG-Tracker Action Camera

Lenses

Olympus M. Zukio Digital ED 300mm f/4.0 Pro Lens
Olympus M. Zukio Digital ED 40-150 f/2.8 Pro Lens
Olympus M. Zukio Digital ED 12-100mm f/4.0 Pro Lens
Olympus M. Zukio Digital ED 7-14mm  f/42.8 Pro Lens
Olympus M ED 75mm F/1.8 Lens
Olympus M ED 60mm F/2.8 Macro Lens
Olympus M.Zuko 30mm f/3.5 Macro Lens
Olympus MC 14 1.4X TC

(NOTE: I no longer have the Olympus E-P1, E-P2, PEN E-P3 or OM-D EM-5 camera bodies because I have upgraded to the flagship Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II bodies. I also no longer have the 45mm lens or the 12mm lens that I wrote about above - I don’t remember where they went but I hope to replace them and even add additional lenses soon. I am particularly anxious to try the new Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 25mm f/1.2 PRO Lens.

Accessories

Olympus LH-61F Hood M.75 MM Lens
Olympus FL-LM3 (dust & splash-proof flash) x2 
Olympus EE-1 Dot Sight
Olympus LH-49 Hood 60mm Lens
Olympus HLD-9 OM-D Battery Grip
Olympus  BLH-1 Spare Battery
Pro Advantage