Category: Photography

my olympus e-p2 shows its age

whbeebe1 Comment

My E-P2 has developed a critical error with its internal body image stabilization system, or IBIS. The screen on the back of my E-P2 displays a red IS1, indicating that image stabilization won’t work. The rest of the camera still works; it still takes properly exposed photographs. But the ability to take photographs hand-held in low light are severly compromized.

I have kept my E-P2 because it represented the second interation of a game-changing camera from Olympus. The first micro four thirds camera Olympus released was the E-P1. The E-P2 added an electronic port to the hotshoe so that external devices could be added to the camera, such as a top-level viewfinder. None of the electronic Pens came with a built-in viewfinder until the release of the Pen F, at which the port was dropped.

Olympus E-P2 with 14-42 collapsible kit lens mk2 and VF-2 electronic viewfinder

I purchased this camera Christmas of 2009 (I did a lot of camera purchases around Christmas to take advantage of the sales). It’s worked solidly ever since, and would still come out to work after having been left on the shelf over the past four years. I still enjoy the charm of the camera as much as I did when I first saw it, and later purchased it. It came with a 12MP sensor, which when I compared it to my E-3’s 10MP sensor via DXO, was every bit as good as the E-3’s sensor. Even today when held up against the Pen F’s 20MP sensor, the E-P2 still holds its own.

I won’t send it in for repair as I don’t even know if the repair centers are still in business and the cost of repair would be prohibitive. I mean, it’s a thirteen year old camera now; would they even have the parts to fix it?

This is one of many photos I took with the camera, back in 2010. I’d found this injured pigeon while out of my office for a walk. I’m certain it injured itself when it flew into the glass on the office building complex in which I worked at the time. This photo was taken with the E-P2 and the m.Zuiko 17mm/2.8. I remember holding the camera down to the pigeon’s level on the ground and glancing down at the non-tilting screen to compose the image as best I could. The E-P2’s autofocus did the rest. I didn’t realize it at the time but that 17mm was probably my favorite of all the pancake lenses. That’s why I bought, and hang onto, the Panasonic Lumix 14mm/2.5 pancake.

I will return the E-P2 to its place of honor in my cabinet, and I still intend to take it down and use it until it won’t even produce photographs. When that day comes I’ll still keep it.

solstice caturday 2023

whbeebe
Beauregard

Cat

Playing around with an older camera with a macro lens used wide open and as a short telephoto. Beauregard is part of the first pair of kittens I ever adopted (his brother is, of course, Luke). They were both twelve weeks  before I could get them into the house. The year they were born (2015) I had to travel to Japan in December to support a military training exercise. After two-and-a-half weeks overseas I came back to celebrate Christmas. When the first of January finally arrived I picked up the little critters.

They came to be known as the Ginger Snaps, a nod to Scalzi’s two gray Mackerel tabbies he’d named the Scamperbeasts, a.k.a. Sugar and Spice. Luke and Beauregard were the first of the second generation of cats to come live in this house.

They are both the elder cats now, and both act interchangeably as the alpha male (Beauregard was born two hours after Luke in a litter of five). They like to eat, sleep, and get scritches on demand, though not necessarily in that order. They like to find places to park so that they can watch what Dad does around the house. The house is big enough (especially with the screen enclosed lanai) with plenty of cat furniture (trees, cloth tunnels, scratch pads and posts) to keep them happy and provide them with exercise. So far the only chonky cat is Luke, who is a good fourteen pounds trying his dead level best to add even more. It’s too bad his human dad and mom won’t let him.

Beauregard, on the other hand, is a svelte twelve pounds. They both eat the same food (a non-prescription low-ash urinary dry food). And they both get lots of attentions from their humans. You would think that both Gingersnaps would have a weight problem, but Luke is the only one so far.

Camera

I’ve been reading about using old cameras (old defined as at least ten years old). As it so happens I own a number of old digital cameras, one of which was used today. It’s the Panasonic GH4, released May 2014. A digital mirrorless camera over nine years old. I picked up my copy on very heavy discount from B&H Photo and Video out of New York back in 2017, the year the GH5 was released. Although I thought of using it for its video features, I’ve only used it as a stills camera, such as today.

The lens on the front is the Panasonic Lumix 30mm/2.8 macro lens, introduced in 2015. I purchased it because it has built-in lens stabilization, making it the perfect walk-around lens for the GH4, which does not have in-body image stabilization. I’ve used the 30mm across all my micro four thirds cameras, and it’s performance has always been top notch. I purchased it on heavy discount as well from the same company mentioned earlier.

I like the GH4 because of its all-magnesium heft and the quality of the images it still produces.