Its been quite some time since I’ve posted here on my blog, over the last year I’ve mostly been posting quick updates and pictures on my Facebook page. I do hope to start using my blog more over the coming months.
It was almost exactly 12 months ago I went on a photography trip to St Kilda with my friend and photographer Bruce Percy and so far I’ve not posted anything about the trip. I did start writing update about the trip a while ago however I decided to hold off until the films from the trip developed. The films have now been processed and I’m quite glad I waited as there are a few pictures that I would like to get scanned to include in the article alongside one or two digital shots. All I can say for now is that I will have  the full post about the trip online later in the summer.
So what else has been happening? I entered the 2012 Scottish Nature Photography Awards competition and for the second year running I was shortlisted which I’m very pleased about. The image which was short listed is “Where the river meets the sea, Mellon Udrigle”
In February I purchased a new camera. I have been keeping an eye on the newish class of interchangeable lens camera which are more commonly known as Compact System Cameras (CSC). The Micro Four Thirds system is the one that I have been most interested in, the sensor is slightly smaller than the one in my Canon EOS 400D and doesn’t have a viewfinder which means that the cameras are generally quite small.
I ended up purchasing an Olympus E-PM1 with the standard 14-42 kit lens. I could have gone for one of the more expensive models but as I was not 100% sure I was going to like the Micro Four Thirds format it made sense to just try the E-PM1 because at £189 brand new it was quite a bargain. In addition to this the E-PM1 has the same sensor and image processor as the more expensive models from Olympus that were part of the same generation.
The camera is substantially smaller than my Canon however the smaller size does not mean a major compromise in image quality, in fact I would say that it is easily on par with the Canon – probably helped by the fact that the technology in it is a few years younger than my Canon which is now almost 7 years old. Unfortunately since getting the camera I’ve not had that many opportunities to get out taking photos with the camera but over the last two or three weeks I’ve been able to try it out properly in between spells of heavy rain! So far I’m pretty happy with the camera and have rarely wished that I had the Canon with me. Part of me wishes I’d gone for one of the newer 16 Megapixel Olympus cameras because the image quality is a fair bit better than what I’m getting with the E-PM1 and EOS 400D but that would have meant spending a good bit more money on a camera system I wasn’t sure that I would like.
I’ve posted a handful of images that I have made with the E-PM1 below.
I’m going to stop talking about gear now….there are plenty of other websites on the internet where you can get a gear fix!
Just one more thing before I go – I’ve not forgotten about film! I do intend to shoot some film over the next few months with my Mamiya 645 camera.
