The Old Olympus

Trying out the camera on a moody Sunday afternoon

Back in 2012, I did get myself the Olympus OM-D E-M1 as I marvelled at its ergonomics and sheer audacity at miniaturising a DSLR while being able to execute most of its bigger sister’s functions. And from the reviews then, the photos were not half bad either.

I bought it as a kit with the 12-40 mm f2.8 Pro lens. Indeed, I was amazed at what it could do. I also had the X-Pro 1 at the time, but I had only had the Fuji primes - the zooms were yet to be available. The Olympus was intuitive, and I soon started raking up the shutter count with the new camera. I find it very easy in the hands, and the zoom was outstanding at its size. Plus, the files were 16 MP, higher than the original X100, which was also my favourite then.

But something was missing. I was using Apple’s Aperture as my main post-processing software, and the RAW processing was just not right. I tried using Lightroom, but again I felt that I could not get the colours as pleasing as from my Fuji.

After a couple of months, the Fuji was back as my main camera, and the Olympus was used sparingly.

Last weekend, as I was clearing my study to transfer some of the junk to our storage unit, I stumbled back onto the Olympus. I charged the batteries, and the thing booted up like new. I soon was snapping away again.

The camera was a joy to use, but the old problem returned. I could not get the RAW files to come out like I wanted. I may have to toy around a little more with the camera and hopefully get it right later. I might take it out for a spin soon - although Ramadan may cause a delay. I don’t feel I have the confidence to use it with low light yet. As one friend pointed out, I may have been spoiled with my Fuji and Leica. But I am willing to give the Olympus some time ...