After 30 years of film (OM1 and OM3) I finally gave in and purchased a Digital SLR, not that the process proved to be straightforward or did not take a long time and one day I may enter the full story on this blog but for now suffice it to say I settled on an Olympus OM-D (E-M5), to give it it's full name, a relatively new micro 4/3'rds camera which unlike traditional DSLR's (and SLR's for that matter) does not have a mirror between the the sensor/film and the lens which allows it to be smaller than traditional DSLRs and to make lenses smaller as well.

Bodies for this m4/3 standard are currently made by both Olympus and Panasonic with other perhaps following soon (Kodak?). They use different approaches though with Olympus using in body image stabilisation (IBIS) and Panasonic using in lens "optical image stabilisation" (under the terms Power OIS or Mega OIS). Debates rage over which is best but it is possible to use nearly all either companies lenses on each others bodies.

Lenses for the m4/3 standard are also made by Sigma, Samyang, SLR Magic, Tokina and Voigtlander with others following soon (Tamron is rumoured to be producing a 10:1 zoom soon) but the strength of the standard is because there is no mirror in the way many other manufacturers lenses can be used in manual mode via the use of low cost adaptors. Nikon, Canon, Yashica, Leica, Konica, Pentax all being popular but many more are possible including M42 types and telescopes which means many older manual focus lenses from the pre-digital era (including my own Olympus') and even enlarging lenses and CCTV lenses can be seen to produce results.

We have now updated Adrian and Stephanie from point and shoots to m4/3 cameras so we can share lenses flashes etc. and with Deborah holding the record for being the longest user of a digital camera that makes up the four of us in "PADS".

Digital post processing and sharing images on line are new to us all so please bear with us as we try and learn how to use these tools more effectively and I will try (and not promise) to update this blog with what we have found works or does not work.

For more information on what is possible with micro 4/3'rds cameras I would recommend the forum on www.mu-43.com. There are stunning images to admire, lots of technical information and a some of the most friendly and helpful forum members you could hope.

Thanks again for looking

Paul Middleton