CHOOSING A CAMERA

Last week I posted a blog post and video about my unboxing of the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II and today I wanted to share:

How I chose which camera to buy
Why I picked the Olympus system
Why I chose the EM1 Mark II over the Mark III

Scroll down to the bottom if you’d rather watch a video!

When I started the journey to find the “perfect camera” I poured over YouTube videos watching everything and anything that would tell me what camera to buy - of course everyone had a different opinion.

I realized later that depending on what you want to shoot and what your photography niche is certain features of a camera are going to be more and less important to you.

So I made a list of what I wanted to photograph:

Travel photography - streets, landscapes, culture, food, and architecture
Storytelling photography - families and couples
Social impact photography - events and companies that are doing great things for the world

I then made a list of what I wanted in a camera:

Mirrorless camera
Light and compact for travelling
Budget hovered around $2000
Front facing screen
WiFi connection
Use it professionally
Solid lens selection
Good quality reviews
Aesthetically pleasing
Produce amazing quality images

The four companies I looked at were Canon, Sony, Fujifilm and Olympus.

I watched several reviews on Youtube and researched Instagram accounts and what I ended up finding was that:

I didn’t care for the mirrorless lens and camera selection for Canon
I did have my eye out for the Sony A7III but I really wanted a camera with the front facing screen and the price point was hard to justify without this feature I really wanted
I did love the Fujifilm aesthetic but I had hesitations on using it professionally

The Olympus System

The Olympus system ticked more boxes:

It was a mirrorless system
It had a front facing screen
It was within my budget
I was happy with my lens selection and camera lineup
There were good quality reviews of the camera
I could use it professionally
I could upgrade easily
It was light and compact
Aesthetically looked good

Why I chose the EM1 Mark II over the Mark III

The primary reason why I chose the Mark II over the Mark III was because of my budget for the camera. Here in Canada a Mark III on Amazon would go for about $3400 and on Best Buy or the Olympus store would be around $3200.

The Mark II that I bought with the 12-40mm f/2.8 was on sale for $2000 at Best Buy.

To get the Mark II it would have been an additional $1200 to $1400 investment that wasn’t in my budget.

I also really wanted to purchase the 12-100mm f/2.8 so instead of waiting to have enough savings for a Mark III and an additional lens which would have taken a while I decided to purchase the Mark II.

I did spend a lot of time debating between the two because I wanted to produce that magic that I have seen other photographers create with the Olympus system. Although I watched a lot of YouTube on what camera to buy I didn’t find the numbers and technical details super helpful because I’m a visual learner/person so I wanted to see images of what this camera could do - so I found websites like The Wander Lens and Instagram accounts like Brooke Little Bear more helpful.

Of course, if the opportunity came along to upgrade to the Mark III I definitely would, but I am more than happy with my current purchase.