The weather was not good and I did not really know what type of subjects we would photograph with the E5. I decided to take my E-P2 with and to make it less complicated I fitted the 20mm Panasonic lens, dropped a spare battery in my bag and off I went. I met Martin in a lovely old town, Soluthurn in Switzerland. We decided to have a coffee first and to share a few thoughts on the hobby we both enjoy. He told me about his own venture over to Sony and I was speechless listening to all he was saying. After using absolutely top quality in the Sony camp he decided to sell again and to get the E5. There are many things we Oly folk take for granted and its only when trying something else that one enjoy things like multiple cross type focus points, top performing lenses and many more. I could not help but think back to my own brief look into the Canon world. Another thing that was clear while talking to Martin is that he knows exactly what he wanted from his SLR. Martin is a total enthusiast and he practice his hobby like a pro. Martin does for example not miss any of the elite air shows staged in Switzerland. One of these take place in the Alps on a annual basis. The fighter jets come over a mountain range in full attack and one literally has only a split second to get the focus in, to frame and press the shutter. Martin was telling how he just could not get those fighter planes on his memory card with the Sony full frame DSLR. With the Olympus very fast plus advanced focus system locking onto those fighter planes are not an issue.

After what felt likes hours of interesting and fun discussion we decided to go take a few images. Martin gave me the E5 fitted with the 14 - 35mm F2,0 lens. For those who does not know, the 14 - 35mm is a pro grade lens from Olympus with a f2,0 from 14mm right up to 35mm. Its physically bigger than the 14 - 54 which is also a top lens. To walk around and to use the 14 - 35 was an absolute pleasure, its a awesome lens. He took the PEN and we both were totally lost taking pictures, touching, feeling, trying different techniques and just enjoying two wonderful products out the Olympus camp.



The above image was taken with the E5. I selected the HDR art filter and afterwards I did a few basic adjustments in PSE 8. While back I sold my E3 because it was getting a little heavy for me to carry. I replaced it with the E620, a fine camera but not the E3. Having the E5 again in my hand felt like I was home again, the buttons are at the right place, the feel is right and its great using it. Olympus changed the menu and its more like the E-P2 now. Many more menus were added to accommodate the new video functionality.

The screen at the back is just awesome. The resolution is great and looks as if Olympus corrected the auto dim function on the E5. I could not really confirm but it did look as if the screen stayed bright and sharp while it displays the image, not like the E3 that dimmed to quick

The image quality is good. It does seem as if Olympus improved a little on the E-P2 image quality. The E5 has a much more silky look with loads of detail. I have seen a number of reviews in German camera magazines and as you can expect those guys measure everything. Very interesting is that I have not read one negative review on the E5 plus many seem to find that the E5 has a really high technical ability to read detail. More important to me is that Olympus did not design a technical masterpiece, its clear that they decided to build a very good photographic tool. One can clearly see that when using the camera plus the images are great. Will I buy one? Most definitely, the E5 is high on my wish list.

Its difficult to explain the expectation one has when having the chance to work with the “best” in digital photography. Big is the surprise when one realize that the differences are not that significant and that one learn it is not time to upgrade again. I told you folks before how I went about trying many different camera models using a process of buying and selling on the secondhand market. Over a period of 4 years I developed a good feel for different camera bodies and today the typical media hype when new models are launched has less of an effect on me;-) In the above picture you basically have the same offer from two different suppliers. The Canon has a full frame sensor based on the older film standard that build up from the ground upwards and on the other side you have the Olympus E620 full frame sensor that was build up from first principles when digital became an option. Both has a pro level lens fitted with similar characteristics. I will not claim that one can compare them because on paper the 5D has the better specs, there is no doubt about that. What does one really need as hobby photographer is open plus one can ask if one really need a 5D to take good images. The same is true for the 550D, is it really an inferior camera to the 5D? Absolutely no, each of the cameras listed in this article are more than capable taking excellent images, personally I think the photographer is the bigger risk and not the camera.

The day out was very interesting, I enjoyed working with the Canons, they are really good. I always liked the silky type image one get from these cameras. The 5D image is just packed with detail and image data. One can easily crop an image if needed and do not really have to worry about resolution. The 5D is a big camera and with the 28 - 105 L lens really huge and heavy. The 7D is not much smaller. This means that one should plan a shoot carefully, it will be no walk in the park to have a lens or a body in the bag that is not used.

Will I sell my Olympus gear to change over to Canon? I decided not to sell my gear and to change over to a Canon system. I am very happy wit the developments on the micro four-thirds series and I am satisfied with the results I get with my E620. Investigating a little closer and comparing the pro grade lenses between Canon and Olympus revealed a very interesting thing to me. I always thought that the Olympus glass is relatively inexpensive for what you get. That has clearly changed, Canon L glass is not that much more expensive. If Olympus thought they had a lead on the rest then they need to look again.