Camera: D5300
Lens: 150-500mm f/5-6.3
Aperture: f/8
Shutter: 1/400
ISO: 3200

I was lucky enough to see this red panda being fed and I’m not sure I’ve met a more photogenic little creature (my children excluded). It was hard to chose a picture to go onto this blog because most of the ones I got were adorable. This just seemed to pop out a little more with the tongue and the whiskers out at the sides like this.

Camera: D5300
Lens: 50 f/1.4
Aperture: f/6.3
Shutter: 1/25
ISO: 3200

The soft haze and the haphazardly cracked pottery made this photo feel a little surreal almost as if seen from a dream. It is after all a remnant of a society long gone and has something of a dream like feel to it.

It can be quite complicated to remember what the equivalent focal lengths are for different lenses and camera systems. Full frame or 35mm cameras are used as a reference point when an ‘equivalent’ or ‘effective’ focal length is mentioned and crop frame is about 1.4-1.6 times that. Micro Four Thirds (MFT) is about double the full frame and so gets you closest per millimetre.

In these tables there are deliberately incorrect mathematical statements, these are to fit with common lens sizes (17mm MFT, 25mm crop, 35mm FF). This is to make it easier to pick up the right lens.

Here’s a table of what you get in equivalent focal lengths, in other words if you put a full frame lens of 35mm what is the ‘zoom’ that you have equivalent to in full frame terms.

Now a different table that’s just the same. If you want a specific angle of view what is the right lens for each format? A 12mm MFT lens will be about the same as an 18mm crop or 24mm full frame.

Hopefully that was useful, it does answer many questions I’ve been asked about ‘those numbers and those other numbers’.

One of my most recent purchases has been an Olympus OM-D E-M5. This came out of a credit I held with a large camera shop because my Nikon D5300 had been broken. I replaced it, repaired it, and returned the replacement for store credit. This left me with a credit and a functional camera.

In the long run I plan on buying a different Nikon with more direct button control (D7100?) however that’s not entirely practical at this point with two young children and not enough time for big kit-lugging photography treks.

Why Olympus? Olympus have been making cameras for a while, they’ve been making digital cameras for a while and in their foray into mirror-less they seem to be taking it really quite seriously. As well as a range of smaller point and shoot style cameras they have a range of SLR-like (or professional [like]) cameras with the E-M1, E-M5, E-M10 and their mark two successors. Their styling is nice but discreet and feels extremely solid. The build is especially good with the E-M5 given it is weather sealed and feels very well built. Olympus are using the micro four thirds system which was another reason to go that direction.

Why micro four thirds? Being a smaller version of a larger format system which is cross compatible and has multiple manufacturers creating lenses for it has undoubted advantage.

Why not the E-M1? Well, that’s a good question. It has some features I would have liked but it is bigger and more expensive even second hand. I may consider upgrading to it in the long run but for a journey into the land without mirrors the E-M5 seems to be a good compromise.

What are the top benefits to the E-M5?

• Small, light yet still study build
• Fast operation, easy feel to everything
• Grip available for better hold as well as a battery grip
• In built image stabilisation (five axis where the E-M10 has three axis)
• Colours look really good straight from the JPEG
• Weather proof
• Doesn’t look as scary with a 12-50mm as a D5x00/D7x00 with a 16-85 (or similar)

Having used it for a good six months now I can say that it was one of my better purchases. I carry it everywhere and with a small lens it really isn’t heavy.

If you’re looking for a good, small camera that you can control in the same way to an SLR this may be the answer.

I really enjoyed the lines all coming to a point with the left third of the frame mostly taken up with a closer tree. As part of a light show the trees were covered in a variety of coloured lights and this was a case of taking the right shot at the right time.

Camera: D5300
Lens: 10-20 f/3.5-4.6
Aperture: f/4
Shutter: 1/30
ISO: 3200

With a half second exposure I managed to capture some quite cool photos of this spinning flashing light performance. Any longer exposure and it looked messy, anything shorter and it looked insignificant.

Camera: D5300
Lens: 10-20 f/3.5-4.6
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/2
ISO: 3200