Bad News: My trusty Canon G11 dropped its flash function entirely. Refuses to acknowledge its existence, even. Not good when you're an adoring dad taking lots of interior photos of wee bairn.
Good News: N+1 opportunity. I'd been eyeing Butterfly's Fuji X10, and envying the quality and usability.
Bad news: I'd bought that on a bit of a bounce as the X20 came out, and the Fanbois dumped their X10s at bargain basement prices to get Teh New Shineh! Prices (already a little over the top end of what I'd want to pay, but I'd stretch to for the quality) have bumped back up to almost twice what they were back then.
Good news: Olympus (my fave brand) have come out with a funky new Micro four thirds camera, the EP-5, which will do everything I need and looks great too!
Bad news: It costs about a grand.
Good news: They also made the EPL1 about two to three years ago, which, while a bit more 'compact-y' in style, still has a lot of useful functions, and can be had with kit lens for less than half the price of an X10.
Bad news: There are a lot of lovely accessories available, and yesterday, as I was trying to take photos of a distant classic aeroplane, I was thinking of the very compact 40-150mm (80-300mm equiv) zoom. This is something I need to be careful of!
Good news: The EPL1 is sitting on my desk. Half an hour on the train was enough time, even with a dodgy arm, to get a few settings sorted out (including reprogramming the elephant trap (or single touch video record button, as it is known, placed directly under the thumb) to something less likely to have me swearing and throwing the camera across the street.
It's a lovely little camera, rather less toy-like than I'd feared for a lower range camera without control dials. It has a range of features suited to beginners, learners, and (as I flatter myself I am) the more advanced. I've shot with the silly 'art filters' this morning, set to mono, back to colour, close up (well, not very), done some street photography using the face detect, architecture using manual focus, and basically made sure all the functions I use regularly (and not so regularly) are easy to access in the maze of menus (including the flash). Actually, despite the menu complexity, which, alongside slow focus, was the key moan about the early Pens, the functions I need are a button push away (well, they are now I've reprogrammed the buttons). Only one I might need better access to is the ISO setting, but that's a quibble, as I tend to leave that on auto anyway for most purposes. I hope it's as good at choosing the ISO as the Canon was, which had an easy to use collar that rarely got touched.
I've noticed two things already: Firstly, someone ducked to get out of the way (they weren't in shot anyway). This doesn't happen when I'm using my rangefinders or the Canon, and I can't really recall it happening since I used to use SLRs. Perhaps having a lens sticking out the front of a camera makes it look more 'serious'. Secondly, it makes a noise. Almost all my cameras have a leaf shutter, which is, of course, whisper quiet, and great for street shooting (hipster that I am!
). But this, like my SLR, has a focal plane shutter. One of the first things I do with any camera or phone is to switch off any noises, bleeps, artificial clacks or whatever is supposed to enhance the photographic 'experience'. But the shutter sound remains. Sure, it ain't as loud as my old Bronica ETRS, with a mirror the size of a barn door that sounded like someone slamming a cell shut, or even the OM40 with a noise that made me blush when I shot. Not even as loud as my heavily damped OM2SP, but, of course, the Pen doesn't have a mirror to get out of the way. Still there, though, and I'll need to get used to it.
Let's see how it goes. For now, I'm pleasantly surprised. The stuff I'm not bothered about is a bit meh, but might suit others, but the stuff I use seems to be well thought out.
