Got a New Camera- Olympus E-PL5

The Fujifilm X-100 is a beautiful looking camera. I Leica it a lot;


picture courtesy of http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/FujifilmX100

...and I would have gone for it, but I wanted a little more versatility where lenses were concerned. Still, it would make a wonderful back-up or spare camera. Maybe one day.

The Fujifilm X-10;


picture courtesy of http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilm-x10

...was another contender, but the reported "white orb" issues scared me off. Although, there are rumours of a new version which should address this problem. Still, a nice camera.

This Nikon P7700 was another possibility, but I found the design looking a little more like modern cameras. Nice camera, though.


picture courtesy of http://www.dpreview.com/previews/nikon-coolpix-p7700

In the end, after much reading up, I settled on the Olympus E-PL5 (compact system camera).



I opted for the predominantly silver bodied version because my current stable of cameras is a little top-heavy with black. This model doesn't have a built-in flash, but instead comes bundled with a flash that can be slid onto the hot-shoe mount on top. This mount will also accept an electronic viewfinder. If I have one small regret about this camera, it is the lack of a viewfinder. Holding a camera up to your eye is the true way to take a photo, as far as I'm concerned.
And the design of this camera reminded me of the Trip 35 film camera from Olympus' past;

The Olympus OM-D EM-5 was another one I looked at, but the price was higher than I was looking to spend. But this camera absolutely screams '1970s OM Series'. This too was a Micro 4/3rds system camera.

picture courtesy of http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/02/olympus-om-d-e-m5-the-first-micro-four-thirds-camera-aimed-at-replacing-a-dslr/

But I suppose enough talk for now. Here are some pictures. Actually, here are a LOT of pictures.
The E-PL5 takes a nice standard photo of some punk tearing down my street on his trail-bike;

And here's a shot out of the window of the most poorly lit room in the house;

But it's when you start playing around with the Art Filters that you start getting interesting results. Here is the 'Dramatic' filter, picture taken on a sunny afternoon;

This setting can even make a pair of glasses look sinister;

The 'Diorama' setting is pretty nifty;

Makes my local train station look like a model. Wish there was a train arriving;

The usual 'black & white' and 'sepia' settings are there.
Grainy black and white;

And good old sepia;

'Soft focus' for pictures of the cat, doing what she does best;

'Key Line' produces a cartoonish effect;

However, I've found myself using the 'Dramatic' effect often;

It tends to bring out the detail in wristwatches;

This setting definitely shows a difference from a standard photo;

To one taken in 'Dramatic' setting;

A last shot of this Olympia SM2 typewriter. I haven't used it in so long that I forgot what a joy it is to write with.

I had it clamped to the bottom half of its case, sitting on my lap. It's no light-weight, I can tell you.

Thanks for reading, all!

###  Special thanks to http://www.dpreview.com/ for their fantastic and in-depth product write-ups. Really minimised the stress of searching for a camera. Their reviews were detailed and clearly written and were of immense help during my hunt. Sterling work!  ###