Hello,

There was a photography thread, but it got closed, I don't know why...

http://lebgeeks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=5697&p=1

Can we please reopen it? In the meantime, I'll post here for photography hardware. If the other thread stays close I guess I'll reopen another one in the Lobby to post photos and discuss photography proper, as an art.

Anyway, I've tried to hold back but I guess it's difficult... :) so allow me to brag about my new acquisition. I know there is a handful of "photo geeks" here. (Aren't we geeks in many things, after all!)

I was able to got my hand on one of these:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympus-e-pm2/1

(same color - I know - but it's not that bad actually, gives it some original style)

... with the help of the famous and coveted "guy coming from the States" (or Canada, in this instance).

It's a real bargain now, but stock is running, it seems that it's been discontinued.
It does all what the "big guys" (bigger DSLRs) do, sometimes better, at a smaller and more compact size, and also weight a little less.

There are some tradeoffs, though - as it is always the case in photography:

- The inteface is frustrating, quirky, and sometimes maddening. Olympus have a bad reputation on that topic, but in this case it was compounded by the fact that this was clearly designed to be firstly a point-and-shoot camera for the "automatic crowd", so there's just one dial, and one proper customizable (a couple more "semi-customizable buttons) function button, although there are a couple of buttons that just sit there, and which would be great candidates... but it wasn't implemented in the system. I was expecting something like that but I didn't expect it to be so bad. Why they created a camera with such good specs, and such an un-professional interface, I don't know! I am taking advantage of it, anyway (from the specs) and after days of fumbling, I'm finally finding my ways and working around the limitations.

- On top of that, the grip is awkward and uncomfortable. I was also expecting that, but I didn't expect that my hand would almost start to hurt... well I guess that would keep me from holding the camera when not necessary and discoourage me from taking pointless pictures.

- The lens choice is not on par with Nikon and Canon DSLR lenses. Although it is arguably the best choice for smaller mirrorless systems, among other mirrorless systems such as Fuji XE, Canon M or Sony, it still is more expensive and less varied on average. Sigma and Tamron contribute a lot to the DSLR lens choices, and their contribution to Micro Four Thirds lenses is still very limited. I expect it to get better within a couple of years, as the newest lenses get cheaper.

I did a lot or research, so I knew the pros and cons of most options, it was just hard to measure how much these would impact me.

So yeah, these are the things I'm missing, compared to, say, a Nikon D3200. There is one more tradeoff: the lower megapixel count and lower image quality at high ISO. The difference is not that big though, and that's one thing that I was fully expecting and have no major problem with, so far.

Other than that, it's performance is on par with bigger and more expensive cameras and is very impressively responsive while staying inconspicuous and discrete, to some extent.

I've been taking gigabytes of photos (I shoot raw), I'm not sure if I should post some here and samples.

I hope this post will find interested ears and is not too hard to read. Maybe I'll hear from others here with similar interest, and let me know if you want more details about a specific aspect.