Moving on to Micro Four Thirds, and KLPF Olympus Shoot-Out Challenge!

69 Comments
I posted a while ago on my Facebook Page (yes I do have a FB Page, if you have not "liked" it, please do do) that I have bought some new gear (camera, lens and bag). Many have responded with rather interesting guesses, such as Fuji! Goodness, never have I in my blog stated my intention or interest in any Fuji cameras. And you should all know by now how loyal I am to Olympus, now that I am fully employed by Olympus Malaysia. 

The Olympus OM-D E-M1 will only arrive later next month, and I cannot afford the E-M1 anytime soon. I cannot even get staff discounted price now, since I am still under probation, and it will be about half a year before I can get my confirmation. I would really, really want to have the E-M1 but it just cannot happen anytime soon. However, at the same time I am facing the same question again and again wherever I go, whomever I have met "Robin, why are you not using an OM-D?"

The Olympus E-5 won't last me long. God knows what I have put it through, and all the tortures it has endured. I dare not even to check the shutter count. Although the E-5 is still fully functional, I cannot trust it to survive for long, and I am not surprised if it just suddenly decided to give up on me. Therefore, the only logical move now, is to go fully Micro Four Thirds. 

For now, Olympus OM-D E-M5 will have to suffice. 

My NEW Gear: OM-D E-M5, 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 and 45mm F1.8





Thankfully I found a great deal in the used market, and I was offered to pay the camera in monthly instalment, to ease my financial burden. I have just gotten my first pay check after 3 months of no salary, so I have to be extra careful on how I spend my money. The great deal and payment by monthly installment was Godsent for my current situation! The OM-D E-M5 came with the kit lens 12-50mm F3.5-6.3, and on top of that I purchased another lens, the MUST HAVE 45mm F1.8. 

Some will surely ask, what happens to the Sony now? I think it is not difficult to guess: I am selling ALL my Sony gear, and the reason is obvious, I am working for Olympus! It makes sense to fully use Olympus products from now onwards. Then what happens to my E-5 and Zuiko Four Thirds lenses? The E-5 will be there, and I will keep it for so many reasons (sentimental value being one). The Zuiko lenses? No way am I getting them on sale, I shall be able to fully utilize them once I have my E-M1! I do not know when that will happen, but eventually, the plan is to get an E-M1, and have the E-M5 as my second body. For now, since the E-M1 is unattainable, the E-M5 shall have to be my main camera. 

And yes, finally... I am an OM-D shooter. I know I am late to the party, but I am sure glad I am here now!

Some will question: why not just use Olympus Malaysia's E-M5 unit? I can, but I am also a photographer that shoots for myself, and it is unfair to use the office equipment for personal use all the time! 

So now I have the new gear, what was the first thing I shot with it? The Olympus Shoot-Out Challenge at Kuala Lumpur Festival 2013 of course! Boy and I glad to have the OM-D now, and gosh, such huge difference it made in comparison to my older Olympus E-5. Surely, you can see the huge gap, comparing the images in this entry to my previous one. The Day One KLPF was all taken with E-5, and all images in this entry for the Shoot-Out challenge on Day 3 were taken with the newly acquired E-M5. 

ISO3200, underexposed, and I pushed the exposure up, yet noise was so well controlled. I can get rid of them by post-processing, but I was lazy. I thought the image was still very usable. 
This was Sanjit, the amazing Olympus wildlife photographer. 



Our First Challenger, Steven Tan, using Canon 5D Mk2 full frame with 70-200mm F2.8 L lens. 

Our professional photographer Michael Yeoh, using the OM-D E-M1 in action



Steven the Full Frame Challenger's turn. 

Amongst the crowd was Luke Ding!


KLPF Olympus SHOOT-OUT Challenge

For this year's Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival (KLPF) Olympus has set up the Full Frame vs OM-D Shoot-Out challenge. A Full Frame photographer may come and challenge our E-M1 in a professionally set-up studio environment, with professional lighting provided by Profoto Malaysia, shooting a professional model from Mexico (with professional make-up done). The shooting was done with all settings set equally, same shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and aperture, with same lights. Michael Yeoh, a professional commercial photographer was coordinaring the challenge. After the challenger and Michael were satisfied with the images they have shot, they immediately transferred their images to a professional digital operator (also a printer specialist) for immediate live printing. Large format printer was sponsored by Epson Malaysia. 

It took about 30 minutes for the printing process, and once the images were up, we hung them side by side for the crowd to witness the large prints of Full Frame DSLR vs our OM-D E-M1. 

We did two full days, Saturday and Sunday, and each day we had three separate sessions with different challengers each session. On Saturday we had a Canon 5D Mk2, and two Sony Alpha 99 users. On Sunday, we had Canon 5D mk2, Nikon D3s and a Canon 6D. On this blog entry, i only showed images covering events and happenings on Sunday sessions only. 

The whole purpose of this shoot-out challenge was to show the public the capabilities of Micro Four Thirds system as a whole. There is still this misconception by general public that the small sensor size of the Micro Four Thirds system posed many limitations, and one of them being not able to print large. In fact this idea was not our first, it was carried out in Photokina in Germany and The Digital Show in Australia. Through large prints the photographers were able to really scrutinize the quality of the images from respective cameras. No, we are not saying our cameras are better than the Full Frame system, that was not the point of the challenge. However, from the general crowd reaction, when asked which image was taken with which camera, looking at the large prints side by side, about half of the time, the audience could not differentiate which was taken with OM-D or Full Frame camera. 

The results were so close that half of the crowd mostly got it wrong! 


Iskandar Ibrahim, local high profile professional photographer, having a session with us. 





Interview with Iskandar Ibrahim. Iskander switched fully to our OM-D system, from previously Full Frame Canon system. He has sold off all his Canon gear. 

Hello John Ragai!

Khong comparing OM-D E-M1 to E-M5

Lam and Lily, checking out Olympus OM-D

Many complained OM-D E-M1 being large. I never heard anyone complaining about NEX-7 being large. They both looked roughly the same size to me. 

We also had Iskandar Ibrahim, a local wedding and commercial professional photographer, sharing with us how he decided to switched fully from Canon Full Frame system, to our Olympus OM-D Micro Four Thirds system. He has many wonderful stories to tell, and many compelling and valid reasons to switch over. He has no regrets, and stated that the OM-D E-M5 he has been using for the past 8 months has served him well, and proved to be trustworthy and reliable to produce professional results for his photography work. He has many funny stories involving his clients not having good impression of him when he showed up for an assignment with his tiny E-M5 and even tinier lenses. However when he showed his photography results, the clients had no choice but to keep their mouths shut! Iskandar was an inspiration, and a very convincing living proof that the Olympus OM-D E-M5 can deliver for professional environments!

On the main stage of KLPF, we also had Ming Thein, an international photography blogger who shared his presentation "We are here". I did not stay long for his presentation, as I was stationed full time at the Olympus booth. It was also great seeing Ming Thein again, and having him to share his experience with OM-D!

The Second Challenger (can't remember his name, my bad really! Was it Faizal?)



The second challener was shooting with a Nikon D3s.




Hello Yee Kang! Good to see you again. 

As always, models never failed to grab some attention. 



So which was D3s and which was E-M1?



Using the Olympus OM-D E-M5 was quite a great experience. This was the first time I was shooting an "assignment" driven session with the E-M5. It did not disappoint. In fact the E-M5 lived up to its expectations. Focusing was dead-on accurate and superbly fast. The Auto White Balance was amazingly accurate. In my previous shooting (Day one KLPF) with E-5, I needed to tweak the white balance settings manually in post-processing, but the E-M5 in Day 3 managed auto white balance rather accurately, with colors resembling real life as what I remembered seeing. It surely saved me plenty of time post-processing, correcting the white balance. 

For all the shots in this entry, I used three lenses: 12-50mm kit lens (only for wide angle shots), 45mm f1.8 for close up shots, and also the 17mm F1.8 which I borrowed (well, I am an employee now, and I can use any lens I want as long as it is available for me). I am starting to rethink my stance of the 17mm focal length which was not my preference. I somehow thought the lens worked well in this particular shooting session, and the extra width (versus my usual 25mm focal length) was quite useful considering in many situation I was working in tight shooting space. And the images of the 17mm F1.8 lens in this session turned out a lot better than I have initially anticipated. The lens was quite useful for the coverage of subjects that are being close to me. 

The 45mm F1.8, as usual, did wonders. It was one lens that I will surely recommend to anyone who is new to Micro Four Thirds system.

The 12-50mm kit lens, though not a stellar performer, did good enough job to cover wide angle shots. The ability of E-M5 to shoot higher ISO was good enough to stretch the kit lens a little bit. 

I can really feel the huge gap between the E-M5 (and of course now, the new E-M1) against the older E-5. I am so glad now I finally have the E-M5 at my own disposal. 


Our last challenger, Jason Lioh







So guys, what are your thoughts of me finally owning an E-M5 of my own? 

I know, FINALLY, right?




69 comments:

  1. You will love it. I am waiting for my EM-1. With the Nikon D3 shoot out was EM-1 on the left?

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    1. hey Larry, we had so many prints that I could not remember which was which!

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    2. Yeah.... That one had me guessing too. The colours of the one on the right had me guessing that it was the Nikon, but this Oly is full of surprises, so who knows which one it was. The Canon shoot out was even tougher to call. I really had no idea which was which. I saw some of the shoot out results during the Melbourne, Australia shoot out. I near had my nose touching the prints and I couldn't tell what shot what. But in reality, we are only viewing these pictures on out computer monitors, and even my old Canon G2 (4mp) looked good on the screen, but anything over a 10x8 print was quite noticeable from close up. Personally, I am having trouble deciding which system to go with. I have seen, felt, played with, shot with the OMD E-M1, and I am no professional (but I want to be), but I can't decide between the 5DIII and the E-M1 (currently a D7000 shooter and the Oly blows it out of the water). I have spoken to many professionals and they all come up with conflicting conclusions. Full Frame seems the obvious choice for a professional, but this Oly is so darn good. Robin.... How large were the shoot out prints??? They're big, but I have no idea of their size sorry. Great write up mate, and great shots too!!!

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  2. Well done Robin. I am also finally going to upgrade from my E-Pl1 with the E-M1. Hopefully in stock for a reasonable price by Christmas! Am going to add the 40-150R lens, I understand it will be reasonably good in C-AF for sports....

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    1. Thanks Tom. I have not tested the new 40-150mm R yet, but surely the C-AF of E-M1 itself has improved dramatically.

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  3. go robon om-d shooter go :-)

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  4. so if using the same aperture, that one with more sharpper and details is EM1.

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  5. Congrat Robin..with y new Em-5.

    Take care ,

    Jan Broekema, The Netherlands.

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  6. With the coming of the EM1, I hope that the price of the EM5 will come down... hoping to get one too.

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  7. Oh my I actually got the same thought! Get EM5 first while waiting EM1 drop price :/

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  8. Hi Robin, welcome to the club of om-d owners :)

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  9. Well congrats Robin. And I upgraded as well - from the E-PL1 to the E-PL5, which my wife also has. Same sensor, same greatness, even smaller price. Together with the Panny 14 and 25mm and of course the Oly 45mm I pretty much have my dream setup for now. It's like a mini Leica with 28, 50, and 90mm lenses, but of course Olympus has that wonderfully fast Autofocus ;-)

    Oh, and those challenges? First one, OM-D right, second one, OM-D left? Just my guess. But the fact alone that there is/was a comparison should get some people thinking...

    Good photos as always Robin!

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    1. Thanks Wolfgang, and yes, it was like a dream setup with the lenses you have there!
      I honestly cannot remember which was which. The only way to really tell, is to go very close to the prints.

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  10. The E-M5 is a wonderful camera. I hope you were able to get the grip too for a decent price.

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  11. Robin: How often were people able to correctly guess the FF camera? I've been thinking about switching fully to M43 from a Canon Rebel. I borrowed a friend's EM-5, and in side-by-side shots at ISO 1600 I couldn't really see much of a difference with my 5-year-old XSi. However, the size differential was enormous. I tried to do some close-up work with bees and butterflies but couldn't quickly track these moving critters like I can with my DSLR. How did you manage to get successful macro bug shots with the EM-5 and EM-1?

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    1. Hey Patrick,
      I don't think at such huge magnification the C-Af will be useful. even single AF won't help with the insects, and they were not even moving. I used manual focus for my macro shooting.

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  12. I've got the HLD-6 to let go if you are interested :D

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  13. good job robin yr word touch my heart ... I'll get the em1 full set... grip and the 12-40mm f2.8 as well.... I am the full frame user.. canon 5d mark2 switched to em5.. no regret at all.. weight and size huge difference but the image quality even better in sharpness.. Olympus lens sharp sharp sharp.. even heavily crop... still get sharp image.. em5 Focusing much accurate in dark area compare 5d mark2.. haha maybe same as Iskandar Ibrahim story too.. so em5 become my second body soon... anyway thanks for yr midnight update robin.. I hope Olympus give you an em1 as a hard worker reward... :p

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  14. Good choice...looking forward to the next shutter therapy session!

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    1. Thanks Khong, yes we must make something happen soon.

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  15. Congrats on the new gears, Robin. For me, E-M5 is a huge 'upgrade' from E-5 in image quality department.
    Looking forward for your many to come photoworks with your new one :)

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    1. Thanks Edwin. Hoping to see more photos from my E-M5 too.

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  16. Thanks for coming Jason. Dinner one me. One of these nights. And please come Tuesday.

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  17. Hey Robin,

    For some reason, I always thought you had an OM-D E-M5. Silly me.
    Will you get more primes or get the 12-40 F2.8 pro and skip the prime lens within that range?
    Congrats on getting your own E-M5.

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    1. Thanks Ju Wu! I'm not decided on the lens choices yet. Will do more thinking when I am doing my next purchase.

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  18. Are you able to get Panasonic lenses? My favorite lens by far is the Leica 25mm! If I had to solder one lens to my E-M5, that would be the one. Definitely worth a try, unless, as an Olympus employee, it would be frowned upon.

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    1. Nathan, the Panasonic 25mm is great, but it is also costly. Not something I can afford now. Surely would be nice to have one!

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  19. I think you are selling yourself short Robin.
    With the amount of publicity that you generate for Olympus, you should be getting not one E-M1, but a boat load of them. When the E-M1 was announced, your site generated more hits than the established sites like dpreview. Heck, my decision to jump and pre-order the E-M1 was based mostly on your first 2 reviews of the E-M1. I am sure the same applies to a lot more people who went and created such a huge demand for this camera.

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    1. Thanks Cajie for the kind words! Nonetheless, it would be great to have my own camera that I bought, rather than something given! I am glad that you find my reviews useful to help your decision. That itself is a good enough reward for me.

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  20. I'm thinking that people should have been able to decide between the photo prints because of the dynamic range.

    I've noticed that processing files from the E-5 requires more work than those from the E-1, so hopefully, it will be that way again with the E-M1. However, I didn't use raw files at the time I had the E-M1 in my hands because Capture One 7 Pro didn't support the body yet. The JPEG files looked good, though.

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    1. Indeed the JPEG looked very good, and optimized straight out of the camera. That is the strength of newer Olympus cameras.
      Dynamic range is not just the deciding factor, when it comes to large prints, every single flaw is magnified. If the camera does not measure up, it will show.

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    2. Of course, but I was selling 13x19 prints from the E-1 way back in 2005. It took much more to get a camera body released in 2003 to print that size. I'm glad there has been a lot of progress. Then again, the majority of "Full Frame" fanatics (not professionals) likely use either the kit lens or a cheap lens which likely can't resolve enough detail to make use of the 135 format sensor size.

      Thanks for taking the time to keep us informed!

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  21. Robin. Have loved your blogs since getting my own EM5 back in february.Since then it has never left my side. It suits me for street, landscape, travel and those family moments. All the GAS on the EM1 has me salivating however my budget won't go there as the EM5 is meeting almost every aspect of my needs.
    I am sure you will love it, aswell.
    Given your move to Olympus can you put in a word to the product developers for a horse shoe connector that will give the EM5 the smartphone remote shutter connectivity of the EP5 and EM1. The lack of wireless remote shutter options available is the main thing missing on such a wonderful camera.
    Keep up the great blog even with your new found career move.

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    1. Thanks JSM for the kind words. I am glad you are enjoying the E-M5 and find many good use for it.
      I understand the lack of remote shutter release. I don't think that development will be made for E-M5, but surely the issue was solved in the new E-M1, you can control the camera remotely with your phone via wifi connection.

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  22. congratulations ! i am delighted that u now weild an EM-5!

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  23. Congratulations on the new camera, Robin! It certainly is not a punishment to work with the M5. Lovely shots as always!

    The models (and the pictures of them) look great too. I am sure one will be very hard pressed to see any difference between the full-frame shots and the M1, even at really big enlargements. And who prints murals every day anyway? Most cameras are excellent these days, and the new Oly is spectacular. Together with those superb Oly lenses one can expect the very best.

    Looks like a lot of fun (and hard work!) to me. Keep up the good work, Robin!

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    1. Thanks Andre, indeed I had plenty of fun last weekend, though very exhausting as well.

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  24. Hi Robin,
    You are a true ambassador for Olympus not just Malaysia but worldwide. The publicity you have generated for Olympus on your site is what every other camera company should have done.
    I can truthfully say based on your work, i am comfortable to switch to Olympus system without hesitation.

    Thanks again for your fantastic contribution to the photographic community worldwide.

    TH

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    1. Hello TH wong,
      Thank you so much for your kind compliments. I am sure you will not regret coming to Olympus system. I am not exactly an ambassador, but I was glad to be able to play a part.

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  25. Hi Robin,
    Glad to see you at the event and more happy to see you with your own OM D E-M5 around your neck.
    Awesome images as always. Love the perspective of 'Hello John Ragai' image. Thank you for the capturing the moment.
    Though many times I said that I won't come for the event but indirectly I have hinted to my wife every now and then that I must be there. She read my words well. I have learned new stories during the event that touched me which involved my dream tools for the future. (My dream tool was 5D Mk 3 and it sound funny, right, I am a Nikon shooter. It's my dream.)
    I have spoken to my wife about this dream and she gave me a very good respond.
    Thank you again for this wonderful posting.
    May you have a great evening.
    John Ragai


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    1. Hey John!
      Glad to see you at the event. Thanks for coming! You have a very understanding wife.
      Indeed we all have our dream system. The 5D mk3 is a great camera, surely.

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  26. Hi Robin !
    WHile I am delighted that u have acquired the EM-5..u need not have to feel so vulnerable about the E-5 ! I do not have the E -5 but I am given to know that they r built tough ..! I mean u could get the shutter assembly changed and give your beloved machine a new lease of life :).....please tell me if I am wrong ....!

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    1. Thanks for the kind words, and do not worry I love my E-5 still, nothing will change that.

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  27. You and Ming influenced me a lot to buy my EM5 8 months ago, they should give you one or put ads in your site.
    Greetings from Mexico.

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    1. Thanks Omar! Ming is a great photographer, glad he was there at KLPF too!

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    2. Aha, you've finally upgraded your therapist eh, Robin? You're going to love that new E-M5! Like Omar, I too was heavily influenced into joining the m4/3 system overall and grabbing an E-M5 specifically due to the generous spirits and sharing natures of you and Ming.

      A couple of quick thoughts as you become more intimate with your new E-M5 therapist. First, I'd like to share a really great E-M5 feature with you which I only discovered by accident after about 6 months of using my camera. The fantastic super control panel (SCP) is even more amazing when you use it in conjunction with the control dials. One dial scrolls through the SCP menu options while the other dial scrolls through the settings within the actively highlighted menu option. It makes for incredibly fast alterations to your settings (i.e., much faster than using the 4-way D-pad) and I am so very grateful to the Olympus engineers who came up with the idea!

      Second, just today, Ming and I were corresponding on the ability to review pictures in the EVF instead of the rear LCD screen. While it is possible, it's a got an extra unnecessary step. You always have to push the play button first, but once it's up on the rear LCD you can then push the EVF/LCD toggle button on the right side of the EVF to shift the picture over to the EVF. This is easy enough to do, but it be even better if a future firmware update either allowed the camera to remember the last location of picture review (either LCD or EVF) or gave users the ability to modify the default location for the picture to appear when pushing the play button. This latter idea might work well as an option in either the D (display) settings menu or the J (EVF) settings menu. As I previously mentioned to you, it would also be incredible if a future E-M5 firmware update allowed for the customization of one or more of the mode dial settings like in the E-M1. I'd love to see the MySets be options to replace the Scene and/or Art Filter options. I just figured maybe some of the great folks in the Olympus firmware R&D lab are readers of your blog now that you're in their family ;-)

      Cheers,
      Hal

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  28. Hi Robin. Finally :)
    I am so happy for you. But the images you managed to extract from E-M5 really makes me wonder whats wrong with mine. haha!
    You truly made the difference and manage to get the best out of the camera. :)

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    1. Thanks calex!
      I still have your Minolta lens, shall I pass it back to you when you are in KL?

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  29. HI Robin,

    you should keep the Sony gear. It give you more cred, now that you are an Olympian. Besides, you need to know how the competition is doing, right?

    I'll continue to enjoy your blog regardless of what you do with your non-Oly gear.

    Peter

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    1. I still have a huge group of friends from Sony. Do not worry.

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  30. I so missed KLPF 2013 - was on the way back from USA :-( Anyway, great job as always Robin !

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  31. Thank You Robin for your excellent work.
    Greetings from an huge E-P5 enthusiast from Italy.

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    1. It was my pleasure to share! Would love to visit Italy one day.

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  32. Hi Robin.
    I saw the demo Olympus had going on during the Melbourne, Australia Expo, and mate.... am I impressed !!!! So impressed I have decided (after quite a bit of research) that this camera will be replacing my D7000, and quite frankly, there is no need to upgrade to either the D800 or D610. This camera will be my workhorse! And I will be proud to fly the Olympus flag!
    However, I have 2 questions.... 1. How large were those prints at the expo??? I could not tell the difference between the full frame and the EM1. Even with my nose almost touching the pictures. They were impressive shots! And i believe they were JPEG's as well, which goes to show how good the Olympus is.
    My second question is in regards to the ZN 12-35 f2, and the ZN 35-100 f2...... I (think) I have read that these two heavy weights are the pinnacle as far as lenses go. They deliver the very best that the EM1 can produce. Is this true? Or have I got it all wrong??? Take the extra weight out of the equation as this would be a non issue. My second choice of camera system is the Canon 5DIII with 24-70 and 70-200 f2.8's which would be a similar, if not heavier setup. But I believe that the Olympus has won this fight for me with it's 5-axis stabilization and the option to go light weight whenever I choose to .
    Great review.... Great pictures...... Great camera :)
    Well done Robin, and thanks mate :)

    Kind Regards

    Jason Muir

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