Sunday, September 26, 2010

The all new Olympus E-5! Impressive is all I can say (to me anyway)

Hey guys!

First off... I take back about what I said about the Olympus being not what its cracked up to be! I'll explain in a while.

So lets see... On Thursday I went out to City Hall to buy my fan (below) as well as collect my first roll of Ilford film!


I came home, set up the fan, read the instruction manual and poured water in and WOW! It is seriously cooling! I can't remember what else I did on Thursday. Friday I woke up and didn't do much but when down to Holiday Inn to meet my friend to collect the Olympus E-5. As I was about to leave! I saw my secondary school classmate Mindy! What a surprise. She has grown prettier hahaha.

So I went home and immediately slap on my Zuiko Digital 7-14mm and insert an SD card into the E-5, went up to the 24th floor and fired some shots before it started to rain. I went home and well.. There wasn't an instruction manual. So the only thing to do? Go through the menu manually which is what I've been doing for the times I've been using the E-system.

After it stopped raining. I went out with my sling bag, my trusty 50mm, 14-54, 50-200 and 7-14 and went out to shoot. All in all, my new favorite filter is dramatic tone art filter which is a tough to use as its unpredictable unless you've spent time with it which since its new, not much time is spent with it.

Saturday I woke up and pretty much slacked until the afternoon when we went down to Little India to shoot. I didn't shoot much ,was kinda lazy. After which we proceeded to somewhere opposite Peace Center where we sat down to have the product manager and market director of Olympus Singapore to chat with us about the future. The 4/3 flagship will be here to stay as the m4/3 cameras aren't capable of taking over yet. Next year will have new m4/3 lenses and bodies. The new Olympus compact is meant to be a competitor to cameras like the Canon G11 and Panasonic LX5, from what I've heard, it is indeed going to be cool. Though I won't buy one, but I certainly won't hesitate to recommend it!

I walked back to Plaza Singapura with Jimmo and I bought Chippys! The vinegar sucks! Probably cause the guy didn't stir it properly. Jimmo sent me home by cab cause I guess he was rushing home to his wife. Oh! Another news, my other friend Aryanto's wife is pregnant! So probably next year will be due. Might not get to see his baby but most certainly will get to see Jimmo's baby!

So some shots from the Olympus E-5

Shot with Olympus E-5 Pre production set and Zuiko Digital 7-14mm hyper focusing

Shot with Olympus E-5 Pre production set and Zuiko Digital 7-14mm hyper focusing using Cross Process Art Filter

Shot with Olympus E-5 Pre production set and Zuiko Digital 7-14mm hyper focusing using Grainy Film Art Filter

Handheld shot with pre production Olympus E-5 slow shutter speed ISO 1600 noise reduction off

Shot with Olympus E-5 Pre production set and Zuiko Digital 7-14mm hyper focusing with Grainy Film Art Filter

Shot with Olympus E-5 Pre production set and Zuiko Digital 7-14mm hyper focusing with Sepia Art Filter
Handheld shot with pre production Olympus E-5 slow shutter speed ISO 3200 noise reduction off


My thoughts on the Olympus E-5... Image quality is definitely an improvement especially in the noise department. Though not in the color department. Processing... Wow... Its seriously fast! Art filters do not need time to process and are almost instant now! The design of the E-5 looks almost exactly like the E-3. I don't like the buttons cause they're smaller to accommodate the larger 3" screen. For example, the playback button is too close to the screen and the left button as well, making it uncomfortable to press. Lucky thing is that I only need to press the playback button before just shooting all the way, and I usually press right instead of left.

Ergonomics feels different as well. It looks the same and feels the same at first. And when actually comparing, the E-5 feels heavier but in use, it doesn't really matter much. And it feels a little nicer to hold then the E-3 after holding the E-5 for awhile.

The E-5 is a nice upgrade from the E-3 IF! Your E-3 is broken or you need the noise control. Otherwise, the E-3 suits one just nice. Like for myself and my mentor. Only time we see ourselves getting the E-5 is if our E-3s are broken. Otherwise... We'll stick to our E-3, but I'd set aside money for the E-5 in case my E-3 goes R.I.P.

The E-5 is pretty cool though.

  • 12 Megapixel sensor

  • Truepic Turbo V + processing engine

  • Built in image stabilizer

  • 920k dots 3" swivel screen

  • 10 Art filters including a new art filter: Dynamic Tone

  • New battery to go with the new camera, better battery life

  • Sensor below the viewfinder to dim the screen, saves power and extends no of shots per charge



Some things to say. The E-5 noise control is good. I'll definitely get one for myself next year when the price drop of when my E-3 goes kaput! Time so set money for these as well!

What else... I've order 3 books from Ebay. 2 from the UK and 1 from the USA. My 2 books from UK are "The Photographer's Guide To Light" and "The Photographer's Guide To Portraits" both by John Freeman. And the book from the USA is "A Walk To Remember" By Nicholas Sparks. Can't wait for them to be here!!!

That's more or less it, good night and sweet dreams!

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