Cameras etc
Thanks for visiting my tiny corner of the internet. I live near Edinburgh, the surprisingly sunny capital city of Scotland. Sometimes I run and make photographs in the Pentland hills, which lie just south of the city. When I can, I go north to the Highlands and Islands, sometimes to rock climb whilst lugging a camera and lenses, or over to France.
Photographs in the Portfolios are available as high quality prints. I print these at home on a modern pigment printer (Epson 3880). If you’re interested, get in touch.
Like many photographers I have on occasion spent time contemplating gear, but for many years now I’ve used the Micro 43 system (I like the Panasonic GX8, and most recently the Olympus E-M1 mk III) and haven’t seen the need to ‘upgrade’. I used to make photographs with medium format film gear such as the Bronica SQ system, and some of my images are from scans of those luminous 6x6cm negatives and transparencies.
A few brief comments on the M43 ecosystem:
- I not a fan of the 3×2 aspect ratio prevalent in modern photography systems. Micro 43 uses a ‘squarer’ 4×3 ratio, which I find much more pleasing, and indeed easier, to use. It also permits a non-destructive in-camera 1×1 aspect ratio, which I enjoy as a reminder of those medium format days. And by ‘non-desctrictive’ I mean that the full sensor data is captured, but in-camera you see a 1×1 crop (which helps with framing), and a metadata flag is stored with the file so software such as Adobe Lightroom will default to a square 1×1 crop when you import the file.
- The GX8 has nice ergonomics, with a grip that is substantial enough to impart confidence, along with several customisable buttons and functions. The viewfinder is particularly great, both in resolution/clarity, and usability. The tilting function puts me in mind of my old medium format film gear, which is definitely a good thing. Super practical for use on a tripod below eye level (i.e. most of the time).
- In the Summer of 2024, I picked up a second hand Olympus E-M1 mk III, mainly for its supreme in-body image stabilisation. Other than the viewfinder, it’s an even nicer camera to use than the GX8, with great tactile buttons and customisability. It’s also absurdly fast and responsive. The ‘high resolution’ mode works surprisingly well. For the price you can get one from MPB, it’s a remarkable tool.
- I have several nice lenses for my Micro 43 system, including small and lightweight primes (12mm f2, 20mm f1.7, 45mm f1.8), and high quality zooms (OM System 40-150mm f/4 and 8-25mm f/4). A three prime lens kit, including the E-M1 body, weighs considerably less than 1kg. Given the state of my knees, this is a good thing. Even with a pair of zooms the total weight is around 1.2kg. The 40-150mm f/4 is probably the sharpest lens I’ve ever used, and at barely 300g for an 80-300mm equivalent field of view, it’s perhaps my favourite to take into the hills.
- Micro 43 is plenty good enough on technical grounds for my purposes, which involves printing up to A2. The extremely expensive full frame systems out there, such as the Sony E-mount, are no doubt fantastic, but for me fall down on an least three important points (sensor aspect ratio, extortionate price, and large/heavy lenses).
I like single malt Scotch whisky (Clynelish is good, or anything from the SMWS).
I used to write blog about fly fishing, over at Tamanawis. The word Tamanawis is the name of a fictional river in the book The River Why by David James Duncan.
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