Falling in Love With My Olympus

Anyone who knows me at all knows I'm a total Canon guy.

Up until recently you could be sure that if I was out of the house I either had my Canon S90 or Canon 50D with me and was taking photos with it. While my iPhone does a great job taking snapshots for me, I still like having a more traditional camera with me as well.

Then about a month ago I got an Olympus PEN E-P3 and I've been shooting none stop with it ever since.

I was suppose to go Africa next year and I wanted a smaller, but powerful camera as a back up to my 50D while I was there. After reading this review of the E-P3 from Scott Bourne and then holding one in person I had to get one. A close friend helped make that possible and now it goes everywhere with me.

Here are a few of my favorite shots I've taken with it so far.

Of course, like any photographer, I got dreaming about new lenses but didn't want to buy any right away.

Somewhere along the line I saw mention of an adapter to attach other manufacturers lenses to the camera body. Could I really do that? Take my beloved Canon Lenses and mount them on the Olympus?

In fact you can! For only $23 I bought at Fotodiox Lens Mount Adapter and it works like a charm! Sure I have to use manual focus since there is no electronic connection between the lens and the camera, but that is a small price to pay in exchange for not having to buy new glass.

Of course, in another strange twist of fate, I was chosen to take part in the new Penready Campaign from Olympus. This means they sent me (and 999 other lucky individuals) a free Olympus Pen E-PM1 which is sort of the little brother to my E-P3.

It doesn't quite have all the manual power of mine, but it is a neat little camera that takes some amazing photos. You can see the ones I've shared if you are interested and I'll be posting more. The agreement is they give us the camera to keep and we agree to share at least 20 photos with them. The kids have really liked having a new camera to play with.

Both cameras have shown me that Olympus is a serious contender in the photography market. While I knew their name from the glory days of film, I had never considered them in today's world.

How wrong I was and how excited I am to keep on shooting with both of them.

Disclosure: Olympus provided me with a free E-PM1 as part of the Penready campaign. The E-P3 I'm talking about was not given to me by them. This post is full of affiliate links and ALL opinions are my own.