It has been a long time since I’ve been excited about a new camera. There was a period about 2 or 3 years ago when I would buy a new (old) camera nearly every week. I have since sold a lot of my vintage cameras and have kept only the ones I see myself using. The pick of the crop as it were.

My most exciting purchase, apart from the Canon 5DMk2, has been the Olympus OM-1. It embodies the true meaning of ‘camera’. It is without a doubt the most pleasurable experience to shoot with an OM-1 and anyone that has owned one will tell you the same thing as they reminisce the beautiful simplicity and functional perfection. If you think I’m exaggerating for impact, you haven’t looked through the viewfinder nor have you turned the rings and clicked the shutter to hear the ka-klunk. A couple of nights ago I was shooting blank just to experience it again.

It goes without saying that I am very excited to see Olympus release a new digital mirror-less camera designed with the OM family of film cameras as its inspiration. It looks fantastic and the image quality from the samples released so far make this a perfect little street camera.

As you can tell I’m really excited and best of all, my beautiful partner only hesitated for a few seconds when I told her how much it costs. I’ll take that as a sign of her approval.

Enough talk though. Here’s some photos of this little powerhouse micro four thirds Olympus OM-D E-M5. The last two photos are a comparison to my Canon 5DMk2 which I currently use and the Panasonic 20/1.7 lens I’ll be buying for street use.