New camera!!

(that deserves two exclamation marks, if not three!) Yes, finally I have made my purchase - a brand spanking new Olympus OM-D E-M5. Not a quick decision, as I have been thinking about a new camera ever since I bought my 'temporary' Lumix camera in June 2010.

I was going to go the traditional DSLR route, but just couldn't find a model (within my budget anyway!) that had what I wanted - but found that the new Olympus ticked more boxes than any of the Canon or Nikon models. And the deal decider was that I can buy an adapter to fit my old Minolta lenses (from my film SLR) so that they fit on the Olympus. I don't know if they would be considered 'good' lenses anymore or how well that's going to work (they were bought in 1999), but it's worth the cost of an adapter to try!

An interesting point for Aussies to note is that I was quite impressed by the people in my local Ted's Camera shop - I got a "price match" online from them and one in the shop today, to match to a HK price (from the online store I got my Lumix from, so I know they do send real cameras, not empty boxes!) and the shop price was only $60 more than the HK price, so I thought it was worth paying that extra to buy locally. Still $250 less than the RRP.

So, I'm impressed so far, from my very short photo session in the garden before the battery went flat and I had to charge it (must buy a spare as soon as I can!). I have compared this native iris to one I took of the same plant a few days ago on the Lumix and the difference is very noticeable!

Anyway, I have a camera manual to read now...

Oh, and please have a look LARGE and let me know what you think!