It's Time to Get a New Digital Camera

Filed under: camera, canon, nikon, olympus, panasonic, technology

A little time with a Micro Four Thirds digital camera was enough to convince me it's time to trade up.
Content with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel's 6 megapixels and large 18- to 55-mm lens, I've resisted the siren song of more powerful, multi-megapixel cameras. My Canon was the most expensive camera I'd ever bought. It was also my first and only digital SLR. Prior to owning it, I'd taken analog film shots, with an excellent 35-mm Minolta.

It's not that I haven't strayed now and then. When I go on business trips, I often take a point and shoot—usually one of the excellent Canon PowerShots we have on hand—because they're so much smaller. I've fallen in love with their zoom capabilities, which are better than my D-SLR, as well as their ability to shoot video. I've also tried more than a few high-end D-SLRs, including some awesome models from Nikon. They take amazing photos, and Nikon usually outfits them with powerful telephoto lenses, which came in handy a couple of years ago when I used one to take some shots at the New York Mets' last home game at Shea Stadium. Yet, despite all of this high praise, I never wanted to dump my Rebel in favor of a point-and-shoot or D-SLR camera. Typically, the point and shoots didn't offer me enough control (I often go off program and shoot in shutter- or aperture-priority modes). Plus, I can't change lenses. As for D-SLRs, yes, they can now handle video, but they're also big and heavy.
More recently, however, I've been trying out some of the new Micro Four Thirds cameras from Olympus and Panasonic. At 12 megapixels, each camera, by the way, more than doubles the megapixels in my trusty EOS Digital Rebel. In case you haven't heard, Micro Four Thirds is a digital camera innovation that applies some D-SLR characteristics to point and shoots. These new cameras share many of the characteristics of full Four Thirds cameras, including SLRs, but they're considerably smaller. So while you can change the lens on a Micro Four Thirds camera, there's no prism (or the signature SLR shape on top of the camera). And like an SLR, the camera is fully configurable, offering, essentially, equal the number of photography controls in far less space and with image quality comparable to any D-SLR.
I liked the idea of SLR-ness without all the bulk and was eager to take a Micro Four Thirds model for a spin. Last year, I walked around New York City with the $900 Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1. It's not actually as small as a point and shoot. Rather, this Micro Four Thirds camera is roughly the same size as the SLRs of the 70s—the ones that did not feature the big battery-powered film winders. The GF1 took decent photos and offered a lot of control, but I just didn't have enough time with it to get, well, inspired.
It wasn't until recently that I tried another Micro Four Thirds camera, and, this time, things were different.
Olympus' $1,099.99 E-P2 didn't get a stellar review from PCMag's digital camera Analyst PJ Jacobowitz, but I was immediately impressed by the look and feel of the camera. I took it with me on a trip to Sanibel Island, FL. I thought I'd try it out with some beach shots. Neither the Olympus nor the GF1 feature a viewfinder, which, for someone who's been using an SLR for more than half his life, takes some getting used to. The Olympus did come with a viewfinder attachment that slipped into the hotshoe, but it looked ridiculous and bulky, so I didn't use it. One big difference between the Panasonic and Olympus is that the latter does not feature a built-in flash. This seemed like a major oversight, one that Olympus appears to recognize; the company offers a very old-school-looking hot-shoe flash. Again, I didn't like the bulk, so I avoided using it.
As soon as I got to the beach, I started shooting photos. At first, I was shooting three at a time—until I figured out how to get the camera to do single shots. Both Micro Four Thirds cameras have lovely, large LCD screens, which makes navigating their menus easy. I did notice, however, that it was somewhat easier to find my way around the Olympus. I shot in Auto and Program, and then shutter- and aperture-priority modes. There were remarkable presets in the camera for shooting effects like "grainy black and white film." The images on the large LCD looked pretty good. But I really hadn't seen anything yet.
One morning I got up before sunrise to collect shells on the beach. I'd been told that low tide and sunrise were prime shell hunting times. Plus, we'd had a storm the day before, which turned "prime" into "excellent." Of course, I took my camera in case I encountered any amazing shells or wildlife. I did on both counts, and I also witnessed an amazing West Coast sunrise on the Gulf side of Florida.
Soon I was snapping away, trying every setting and adjustment I could think of, but, ultimately, Auto was the most intelligent and best setting for capturing the cacophony of colors lighting up the morning sky.
I had so much fun that I repeated my morning sojourn the next day—with even better photo results. Later that day, I looked at my wife and told her that this camera had convinced me it was time to upgrade. I now felt certain that I could capture pretty much any image I wanted with a Micro Four Thirds (though I was pretty certain I'd want one with a built-in flash).
What's more, for the first time, I realized that I wanted more megapixels. Actually, that point was driven home for me a few days later when a Twitter follower showed me how he could take one of my sunset photos and make it better by zooming and cropping so the final shot better represented the "rule of thirds." Had he tried that same trick with one of my old 6-megapixel shots, the resulting images would have been awash in grain. This image is simply gorgeous.
I have to admit, I feel guilty about giving up my Canon EOS Digital Rebel; it's what I used to document my daughter's first 11 years. But foolish devotion is no match for progress, especially when progress is so spectacular.
(from internet)

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It's Time to Get a New Digital Camera

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