Firstly I am not a gear head when it comes to digital cameras - mine are good enough, but I wanted something to sit between my gorgeous and still capable Fujifilm X30 and my workhorse Nikon D7000 with 120k shutter count. Mainly as a travel and everyday carry camera, so I don’t have to carry a big DSLR and selection of lenses, but more flexible than the Fuji.

Don’t get me wrong the little X30 is a wonderful little camera, even though it is only 12MP and over a decade old - I have captured some great images and memories with it, and still has it’s place in my digital line-up, but I felt it wasn’t ‘good’ enough to be the camera for foreign adventures. It has been on trips where I’ve travel hand luggage only so couldn’t take the Nikon and it has been fine 80% of the time, but has missed too many shots.

I opted to go Micro Four Thirds for the size of the cameras, and tiny little lenses. The camera I actually got is the Olympus E-M10 Mark II with 14-150mm, 17mm f2.8 and 9mm fish eye pancake lenses. All of these weigh less than the Nikon body!

First impressions are really positive, the build quality is nice, the shutter sounds nice (good shutter sound is a must!), and the reach of the 14-150mm lens is quite impressive. I did a side by side comparison shot over the woods, and it was far superior than the Fuji, but not as clear at 100% than the Nikon. I guess that is what I was aiming for! When you look at the sensor sizes, it is what you would expect with Micro 4/3 sitting between the Nikon APS-C and the Fuji’s 2/3”.

With a two day trip to Germany coming up, I was a bit nervous about solely taking the E-M10, but it performed excellently…

The vast majority of the images were really good considering it is an oldish camera, and was quite cheap. It is not until you zoom in to an image that you can see the difference from what a DSLR could have captured, but let’s be honest do you need the analyse an image pixel by pixel.

There is no way the Fuji would have been able to get shots like this, and yes the Nikon would have been cleaner, but for that small percentage of instances the extra weight of the Nikon isn’t justified. I had the Olympus around my neck for two days covering many thousand walking steps and had no fatigue (well except my legs from all the walking!)

Obviously I did mess up a few times, being a new to me camera, but that is not the cameras fault, and a lesson learnt for next time.

As an everyday carry it really does fit the bill. I do love a good walk in the local woodland, and I have tended to grab the E-M10 for these as well…

Even after only a month, I am loving using this camera, and that is the main thing - the enjoyment is as important as the images. Obviously the E-M10 will not suit every situation, for example the next trip is to Finland in deep winter, and it is not weather sealed so it will be staying home in the warm and giving the Nikon an opportunity to shine. I have taken the Nikon to Iceland and Norway and it has always survived! Even in minus twelve with eighty mile per hour winds and driving snow, so I am pretty confident it will be fine.

To sum up, I made the right choice with the Olympus - it fits the criteria, without breaking the bank. Yes it would be nice to go for a brand new OM-5 that’s higher spec and weather sealed, but then I don’t want to worry too much, and my cameras get USED (but not abused). I like to have some wear on them.

One month with Micro Four Thirds…

Impressions of the Miranda Sensorex