Last year I sold my Nikon DSLR and replaced it with an Olympus OM-D M5 micro four-thirds camera. While I’ve had a few of the micro four-thirds cameras, the Olympus OM-D camera was the first one where the image quality seemed on par with my DSLR, not just for outdoor photos with tons of light, but also for low-light photography as well. As a former wedding and concert photographer, it was a bit challenging to go from my Nikon and Canon gear (where most of my lenses were f/2.8 or faster) to my micro four-thirds lenses, where most zooms are f/3.5 or slower. The lack of a built-in flash on the OM-D ...

In August I decided to finally upgrade my Olympus E-PL2 micro four thirds camera (henceforth referred to as u4/3). While that camera had served me well for a few years, there was still something that really bothered me about its performance, and that was how it handled low light. If you have no idea what a u4/3 camera is, then read on. Basically a few years ago some of the major camera manufacturers decided to come together and agree on a specification for a camera system that would have interchangeable lenses. Why this is important is that with the u4/3 system you can buy the camera body from ...

I originally wasn’t going to bring my SLR along at all on my trip, mainly because it would take up a pile of room. As the departure day loomed in front of me though, I just couldn’t bring myself to travel the world with only my point and shoot. As a compromise I decided to bring along the Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 lens, which I bought right before coming. On a 1.6x crop factor it acts more like a 44mm lens, which is close to a standard lens but slightly wider. I was hoping that would be a useful field of view for most situations. I find it a little long for walking around the city, but it’s decent enough ...