Olympus E-M5 + 8mm Fisheye On the Bike in the Mountains
It can be loads of fun shooting a fisheye as I did today using the Olympus OMD-D E-M5 along with the Panasonic Lumix G 8mm f/3.5 fisheye. I also shot the Olympus 12mm f/2 with superb results, and the Panasonic 45mm f/2.8 and the Olympus 75/1.8. I’ll be posting examples from all of them and more in my Guide to ALLVIEW when I return from my trip in a week or so.
In an expansive space, a fisheye can help preserve the sense of wide open space. It can be overused, but it’s darn fun too.
Approaching White Mountain Peak, the space is about as open as it gets with wide open areas and a view of the California Sierra Nevada to the west.
I like the Panasonic 8mm f/3.5 a lot, and I definitely recommend it to Micro Four Thirds users. At about $629, the price is in line with fisheye lenses for 35mm DSLRs.
The Olympus O-MD E-M5 is a *real camera*. Great fun to shoot, and the image quality is quite satisfying. A whole kit fits into a small hip pack while cycling. Video is the best I’ve found in this type of camera, due to the superb in-body image stabilization. Finally, a real camera with interchangeable lenses that makes the image quality cut. Now if Olympus can just ramp it up to 24 megapixels (perfectly reasonable with another year or two of sensor development, judging by what Sony and Nikon are doing).