ROBIN WONG

I know I have been quite harsh in my previous post commenting on the Olympus E-M1X being a mistake, but I did review that camera, and it was a fairly capable Micro Four Thirds camera, perhaps the best performing during its launch. I was in an Olympus Visionary trip to South Africa, so I managed to use the E-M1X with long lenses to shoot some wildlife images, and I supplemented those with even more sample images taken all around Kuala Lumpur at various locations and different scenarios. Insect macro, cityscape, street shooting, night shooting and even a music live performance, I tested the E-M1X in every possible shooting scenario I could do. Sometimes, looking back at these images, I can get impressed by the intense amount of effort I put into my reviews, I am not sure if I am able or willing to do such extensive review again for any camera in the future. It was fun, I enjoyed shooting with the E-M1X, I still think it is too large and heavy for Micro Four Thirds and its existence brought more issues than necessary. Nevertheless, it is a camera, and it can shoot great images. 

Olympus OM-D E-M1X was released in 2019, it became the first camera to break away from the Micro Four Thirds principles of making small, portable cameras yet delivering high performance. In fact, the E-M1X was larger and heavier than most cameras, whether DSLR or mirrorless. It was a daring attempt by Olympus to target a separate user group altogether, and it could have worked with the intended vision of what E-M1X was designed for, but somehow it fell short. Consequently, the E-M1X was the beginning of a series of mistakes that led Olympus to their downfall. I want to take a closer look at the E-M1X and share my thoughts on why this was a mistake that could have been avoided. 

Old CCD compact cameras are all the rage now, and that can be seen with the increasingly ridiculously high selling prices in the used market. I personally think these old compacts are super fun and can deliver great results, if you know what you are doing. There is something about using a truly small, pocketable camera with minimalist control and simplicity that encourages more fun while shooting images. After all photography isn't all about technical obsession, if you can put aside the chase of crazy megapixel numbers, impossible dynamic range and fantastic clean high ISO images, maybe for once you can actually enjoy the process and magic of making images happen. However, I also don't believe in spending unnecessarily for an old piece of gear, and it makes no sense that these older cameras are selling higher than their original retail prices during launch. If you can find an old CCD compact at a cheap bargain, or if you already have one lying around and is still pretty much alive, or if you can borrow one from a friend just to play around, I think it can be a break from normal routine that you may just need to refresh your photography experience. Otherwise, it is indeed a waste of time and money!

I must confess an uncomfortable truth, I bought the Olympus PEN E-PL1 due to peer pressure back then, I was asked to join an Olympus PEN group to help out and I did. The qualification to become a member? You have to own an Olympus PEN camera. What a mistake I have done, and a hard lesson that I have learned. Of course, nothing good came out of caving into peer pressure and trying to please people around me, I know that now. Things did not go well, the group (well, the top leaders and founders) were at each other's necks and not long after the arrival of Olympus OM-D, the group disbanded and that was the short story of a short-lived photography group that was created out of personal ego and not for the love of photography. I got burned for being honest and staying true to myself, things got really ugly, and I am still traumatized by this incident until today. But hey, that is a story for another day. I did regret buying the Olympus PEN E-PL1, it was not ready, and Micro Four Thirds format needed more work, and I consider the first true camera to be ready from Olympus mirrorless system was the OM-D E-M5, which was indeed a WOW camera and took the imaging world by storm. I still kept the E-PL1 around, and I shared these set of images during my last week's Live Stream on YouTube. While I had no love for the E-PL1 (ugly design, slow AF, poor screen, nothing to shout about), I do love these set of images that I have taken about 4 years ago, some time after the pandemic lockdown was lifted. 

I admit, I have been browsing Wotancraft's website for several years now, looking at their various beautiful camera bags, but I never hit the purchase buttons. I already have several well functioning bags that served their purposes very well, and I see no need to splurge on another bag. When Wotancraft reached out and asked if I wanted to try one of their bags, I immediately said yes! They sent me their Pilot 7L bag, which is a shoulder/messenger styled camera bag, and I thought this was just the perfect bag for my street photography adventures. I made a video to share my thoughts on why I love this Pilot 7L so much, you can find the video here (click). 

The biggest mistake Micro Four Thirds players did was trying to beat the full frame big boys by making larger, heavier, ridiculously overpriced cameras with bloated tech and features that 98% of the consumers do not even use or need. Everyone is fighting the latest and greatest tech war, better AI computational features, faster burst rate, faster sensor readout, global shutter, advanced pro video features like internal RAW recording, which honestly do not make much of a difference for an average hobbyist, besides having more bragging points when owing such "flagship level" products. When you fight against the larger players with deeper pockets and much spare resources to burn for R&D and affording a few failures in their trial-and-error process along the way, you lose. Instead of fighting head on making bigger, bloated cameras, why not go back to basics, rediscover what makes Micro Four Thirds so great and amazing in the first place, the philosophy and art of making really small yet powerful cameras. You don't need to be the best to beat the rest. You just need to play smart and listen to what the people want. 

I have had the Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1 and I enjoyed using that camera quite a bit for my street shooting sessions, so when I found a used E-PM2 at such a good price in good condition, I just could not resist. The PEN Mini camera was the smallest Micro Four Thirds camera made by Olympus, sits at the lowest entry level to the PEN series, with stripped down features and capabilities, made to be extremely compact, minimalist and easy to use for beginners. However, the E-PM2 features an updated 16MP image sensor, newer processor and better AF performance compared to the original E-PM1, and it is now effectively replacing my E-PM1. I did a video to share my thoughts on why OM Digital Solutions should bring back the PEN Mini series, you can find the video here (click).