The little things Olympus gets right

[Internaut]

Thanks to the weather, it's been a slow start to this fair weather shooter's shooting season. I treated myself to a cheeky Lanzarote break, late March/early April, and last week I picked up a Ricoh GR (lovely camera, BTW) which I took out with me, for the first time, yesterday. I got some good photos, but it's shortcomings made me reflect on what Olympus does well. Now this is going to make me sound a bit like Steve Jobs, but:

OOC JPEGS: Good enough to use (professionally, if that's how you make ends meet). It just works.
Auto White Balance: It just works. It hardly ever gets it wrong, in daylight,cloud or shade.
Black and White that just works (hats off to Panasonic, too, in this respect). Just select what filter you'd have used, I'd shooting film, and job done.

I'll certainly be keeping the Ricoh. The files are lovely; just require more work. But it's been a lesson in the grass always looking greener, on the other side. In the case of the Ricoh, it sometimes looks a hell of a lot cooler :-/.

In Lanzarote, I set myself a JPEG only challenge, with the E-P5. I'll let you know how I got on.

Why the Ricoh though? I wanted a large sensor compact, with a fixed 28mm or 35mm lens. I've concluded the Olympus Trip Digital just isn't going to happen (and if it does, it might struggle to compete with the GR'a physical handling).

[pdk42]

Re: The little things Olympus gets right

Having dipped my toe into Sony's A7rii recently I can 100% agree with that. From a features, lens choice and usability perspective, I doubt there's a better camera system on the market. Now if the E-M1ii improves noise some, and maybe AF, I really think Olympus will be onto a long term winning platform.

Don't forget either the excellent level of support from Olympus. It was telling at The Photography Show that they were the only company offering FOC cleaning and service advice. Maybe Canon and Nikon have a more complete professional support package, but compared to Sony, Fuji, Pentax and Panasonic they are well ahead amongst the mirrorless camera companies..

[JonSchick]

Re: The little things Olympus gets right

I agree there's a lot that Olympus gets right, and the m43 system is pretty compelling from a lens choice perspective too. Not sure I entirely agree with Paul though. I think Fuji are up there with some great JPEGs that are good enough for professional use and leave raw as optional for many users. And Fuji also really look after their customers - the way they have continued to issue significant firmware updates for models long after their introduction, so they benefit from nearly all the features introduced to newer models, is exemplary and a very good way of building up long term loyalty. I think recently Olympus has been showing signs of doing the same thing eg with its major E-M1 firmware update a few months back - but I'm not sure they're unique in the support they offer.