Thinkings
The Contagious Camera
12:54
I've been asked time and time again what i use to take photos. I find the enormous amount of people taking photos on tablets disturbing, so i thought i'd make a quick post to share the info and hopefully heal the world of shitty high iso, grainy, washed out selfies...very hopefully.
The camera is called a Olympos OMD EM-5
On buying it, i prophesied: "New toy - i'd like to think its like me - tiny, old school charm, does wicked tricks and is made for travelling" and it is yet to be proven wrong
I like it because it is very small but behaves like a fully manual SLR camera. When I'm shooting photos i like to have access to all the bits that affect the photo without going into menus. It also has superhuman auto focus, black magic image stabilisation, a funky little flippy touch screen LCD, made of tough ass magnesium, doesn't mind a shower, takes 9 shots per second and looks like a styling old school camera.
So buy one, on line to save a few quid, then promptly throw the lens away. While Olympus make amazing cameras, their stock lens is a bit of a joke. luckily, this camera works on a common platform and you can get lenses from a bunch of other people. this is what use:
14mm 2.5 pancake lumix
This stays glued to my camera because it is so so so small. It has decent widish angle and its fast enough. makes the camera into a point and shoot size.
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25mm 1.4 lumix lieca
I would say i take about 85% of my photos with this lens. it is so fast, so clear, and at 50mm equivalent it is very similar to what our eyes see. a little pricey, but so worth it
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7.5 mm sanyang fisheye
fisheye lenses are expensive, apart from this one. I use it rarely, but it changed the way i look at photography. It really is a lot of fun. A totally manual lens, but i mainly shoot landscapes with this, so I set the apperture to 22 and leave the zoom at infinity. perfect!
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I keep all this in a small beaten up khaki shoulder canvas bag to keep away prying eyes. Camera bags are normally padded and that makes them huge, but my camera is tough enough and so it goes everywhere with me with the lenses fitting perfectly into a stubby holder at the bottom. i don't like branding on camera gear so swapped out the strap out for a woven brown one. Throw in a little leather case, a dozen memory cards, a gorillapod tripod and 7 inch tablet for editing and you have go everywhere semiprofessional kit.
I admit i could take better photos on my old 60D canon, but i had to go out with the plan to take photos and hope for things to happen. now its always with me; i believe in the old adage " set lens to f8 and be there" because at the end of the day,the best camera in the world is the one you have with you at the time.
Thats what i use, its plenty good enough for me, and now good enough for Sam, Michelle, Kenny, Marcin, Tara, Stina and a few more i can't think of.
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