Olympus OM-D and Lightning

I recently sold my Sony NEX-5, and purchased an Olympus OM-D for my carry around camera. Nothing bad about the NEX-5, I just could not get used to not having a viewfinder since I mainly shoot with Canon DSLRs (5D MK3, 7D, T1i). The menu's on the NEX-5 were, in my humble opinion, TOO HARD to get to the good stuff (manual controls)... and no wired intervalometer/shutter release. 

The Olympus OM-D really intrigued me with the images it made, the electronic viewfinder (which FEELS like you are looking through a DSLR), the two dials to QUICKLY change settings on the fly, and the bulb mode with updates.

I ordered the OM-D last week and it arrived Tuesday. I have been reading David Busch's Book on the OM-D and after using Canon's menu systems, Olympus's seems archaic and not very intuituve. The great news is once you get it set up, it is a lot easier to use.

The in camera Image Stabilization, LCD and Electronic Viewfinder are AMAZING and the OM-D seems to be built like a tank (solid feel and well made) so I have been playing with it for around 4 days so far. Just playing and seeing what it could do. I have a Lightning Trigger made by MK Controls that I use on the 5D MK3, 7D and T1i so I ordered one for the OM-D (it arrived today after I took this picture).

A note for those who want to use the Olympus OM-D and the Lightning Bug Lightning Trigger, the Lightning Bug will fit in the hotshoe mount on the OM-D which is really nice.

This afternoon was humid and the storms were expected to roll in. Around 4 PM I noticed the sky was dark and I decided to take the OM-D out and hunt for a spot to get some lightning shots. I had to anticipate the strikes and in 15 minutes I had captured 3 decent lightning shots.

I am REALLY impressed with the Olympus OM-D and I have only begun to explore it's capabilites. Will I switch over to Olympus DSLRs and get rid of my Canons??? NO WAY!! However, I really enjoy having an awesome tool in my tool kit to make images. With the OM-D, I will not have the excuse of not having a camera with me!

More to come as my work schedule allows.

Mark

Lightning during the day

Having purchased a lightning trigger a few Summers ago, I have never been able to get it to work. So the other day I opened up my Lightning Bug Trigger and resoldered a few loose connections. I then put it on the camera and fired off the flash and the thing worked!

Today, as the storms came rolling in during the later afternoon, I was able to capture this image as the storms were dying down. Glad to know it works and I now have a whole new word of opportunity to shoot some daytime images versus my usual method of long exposures at night.

Great device, The Lightning Bug, as it was out of warranty I opted to repair it myself. No fault of theirs, just never had a chance to test it out until after the warranty expired so I was hoping it was an easy fix and it was. 

Mark

Last Weekend on Round Bald

Got to love when the day starts like this!

Mark

The Grandfather in the Mist...

I attended the Grandfather Mountain Nature Photography Weeked 2013 and had some fun shooting with some phenomenal photograpers for a few days. I took this shot as the clouds and fog blew over the top of the mountain. What fun!

Mark

Finally, some more Lightning!

We finally had a decent storm here on the farm and it produced some lightning that I was able to get one decent shot with the Canon 7D.

Taken with Canon 7D ISO 100 F5 @ 60 second exposure, focal length 24mm, Lens Canon EF 24-70mm F 2.8 Lens.

Looking forward to the next round!

Mark