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Re: [OM] Smaller camera advice needed

Subject: Re: [OM] Smaller camera advice needed
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 21:18:21 -0700
On 3/27/2014 7:10 PM, Paul Braun wrote:
> I've decided that as soon as we can afford it, we're getting my brother
> an early Christmas present.  His only digital camera is 10 years old,
> and wasn't that great to start with.  Otherwise, they've just got on
> older 35mm P&S.
>
> With all of the kids still young and growing, I want to make sure he and
> my sis-in-law can get plenty of good photos of the family.

Based on my own experience and that told here by others, buying family/friends 
cameras above their experience, 
expertise/interest level mostly just wastes money.

If he's now using a cell phone as camera, absent real interest in more involved 
photography, he's probably going to 
continue to do so if you get him a 'real' camera. An idea might be to upgrade 
him to a phone with a better camera, if he 
has an older model.

The better phone cams aren't great, but to put them in perspective, the results 
are generally better than the 35mm P&Ss, 
disposables, and so on with which most family memories have been captured in 
the past.

> I'm seeing prices on the 'bay for E-P3's and E-PL3's with the kit lens
> that look reasonably affordable.  I'm not sure of the difference, but
> the 3 seems to have gotten good reviews, and he can still get a
> different lens or two.

The E-P3, E-PL3 and E-PM1 are the same picture taking innards in bodies of 
different sizes with different features. My 
summary is here. 
<ftp://moosemys@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/www/www/Temp/Misc/The%20Olympus%20Pen%20Story.doc>

If you are going to buy such a thingie, check Cameta.com for Oly refurb offers 
with one year warranty. Or check with me, 
as I have too many Pens. :-)

> Anyone here using a PEN (the digital kind) who can give me some
> first-hand commentary?  He's not necessarily a photographer, but could
> learn some more-than-basic skills.
>
> I'm thinking the camera and the kit lens (usually the 14-42), an extra
> battery, and a small bag to keep it in would be something the entire
> herd would benefit from.

The real question is still whether it will be used for the purpose you imagine. 
Parents with growing kids at home are 
incredibly busy. Unless there's a real interest in a 'real' camera, it's just 
one more complication in already crowded 
lives. When my kids were young, I used real cameras, mostly an OM-2n, a couple 
of zooms and a T32. Had I not had from 
youth had an interest in photography, and a Nikon F2a before son #1 was born, 
I'm sure it would have been a P&S.

As it is, there was a great hiatus from anything much more than family event 
and vacation snaps while the kids were 
young. Depending on your brother's personality and interests, a quality P&S 
might be more useful.

One of my brothers is an avid and very involved grandfather of four. He used to 
use an early Canon digicam, then an A710 
I gave him. I recently got the dusty camera back. All their endless grandchild 
pics are taken with his and his wife and 
children's iPhones, and they are very pleased with them. He's seen my 
photography, and knows the difference, but it 
doesn't matter to him

> Thoughts?  Since this will probably happen late Summer or maybe even
> Fall, prices on E-P5's may have dropped into the same range by then...

The E-P5 is mostly an E-M5 sans viewfinder. The E-PL5 and E-PM2 are the same 
image making engine with the older IBIS and 
fewer other features.

Pen Moose

-- 
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
-- 
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