Travel photography and micro four thirds cameras – a perfect combination
I want to describe the 10 Best Olympus OM-D EM10 Mk2 Travel Photos I have taken. I posted these photos last week on my blog, but did not have time to write about them properly, so here is the full post, in which I tell you where I took the photos, the camera settings I used, the gear I used and also what I was thinking when I took the photos.
I hope that you like the photos and find the descriptions interesting.
I also want to make a point here. The point is that the camera that you use does not really matter. I have 10 great photos in this post taken with an Olympus micro four thirds camera costing much less than £500, and that is with a lens.
Who am I?
As I am picking up new readers to my photography blog all the time, I thought it would be good to start by telling you exactly who I am.
So for those of you who don’t know me I am Rick McEvoy – hi. I am a photographer and travel website creator based in the south of England. I specialise in architectural, landscape and travel photography.
And travel and travel photography websites.
I have been sharing weekly blog posts about photography stuff since October 2019. I posted daily for nearly three years, but the content was quite frankly rubbish. The weekly posts are good stuff and proving much more interesting to readers which is good.
I have been using Canon DSLRs for years, but this year took the plunge and invested in a micro four thirds camera.
What is a micro four thirds camera?
Micro four thirds cameras are smaller than DSLRs. The sensor is smaller too, but they pack a real punch with their image quality.
What micro four thirds camera do I own?
I started off with an Olympus OM-D EM10 Mk 2 which I took to instantly. I am talking about the photos taken with that camera here. I liked this camera so much so that I bought its big brother, the Olympus OM-D EM5 Mk 2, which is now my go to camera for travel photography. (The EM10 is not forgotten and is my back-up camera in case anything goes wrong with my EM5).
Why not a DSLR?
I noticed last year in Greece that I was leaving my camera in the hotel, or in the boot of the car, and taking more photos with my iPhone than usual.
Basically I was getting fed up with my DSLR, and could not be bothered with the size and weight of it with lenses etc. I know, the Olympus might be smaller but there is still all the stuff that goes with them.
And that is a post for another time.
So when I got back from that trip I started looking into alternatives. I spent a long time looking into this and ended up with the Olympus OM-D EM10 Mk 2 and EM5 Mk 2. I will add links to the posts about all of this at the end of this blog post – I want to get into the 10 photos right now.
And this time with the info that I failed to provide last week.
Where were these photos taken?
In British Columbia, Canada. We visited British Columbia to visit family earlier n this year, and this was the first trip that I went on without a full frame DSLR.
Did I miss not having a DSLR?
At first yes, but I soon got used to this little wonder!
A quick word on the camera settings
All the photos were taken with my Olympus OM-D EM10 Mk 2 and Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 Pro lens.
All the photos were taken using the auto bracketing feature on the camera, where three images are taken at the same time (with different exposures) which I merged together in Lightroom to create a master image which I edited.
So when I say shutter speed in the descriptions below I am referring to the first shot.
I had not learnt how to use the camera properly to be completely honest, so I used Auto ISO for the first time ever.
I used my go to mode, Aperture Priority – this is where I set the aperture and the camera sets the shutter speed. And the ISO is looked after by the camera which is nice.
OK – let’s get onto the 10 photos
Photo 1 – Spring colours in the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens
Location
Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Something interesting about the photo
Well, I wanted to capture all those lovely spring colours. The problem was all that stuff floating on the surface of the water. Too much to Photoshop, and as we were walking around the gardens this was a hand-held shot – I would have liked to have taken this photo with my 10 stop neutral density filter!
I decided to leave the stuff on the top in this shot as it was there.
But I have to say that the EM10 captured those summer colours really well!
Camera settings
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Focal length 12mm
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Aperture F6.3
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Shutter 1/4000th second
-
ISO 400
Photo 2 – Sculpture in the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens
Location
Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Something interesting about the photo
Well what can I say? This is a large sculpture, well over 2 metres in height.
I held my camera up as close to eye level as I could with the aperture wide open to blur the background. I could see the screen clearly with it tilted down so that worked a treat.
I love this shot – so different!
Camera settings
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Focal length 36mm
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Aperture F2.8
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Shutter 1/800th second
-
ISO 400
Photo 3 – Vancouver Skyline
Location
Granville Island.
Something interesting about the photo
I had not used the EM10 for any kind of architectural photography work, and here was my opportunity.
I liked composing the image using the large right screen on the EM10 and was very happy to get the Canadian flag in there flying proudly.
The detail recorded is pretty impressive I have to say, and I would challenge anyone to tell me that this photo was not taken with a full frame DSLR camera!
Camera settings
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Focal length 21mm
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Aperture F8
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Shutter 1/1250th second
-
ISO 400
Photo 4 – Market Stall, Vancouver
Location
Granville Island Public Market
Something interesting about the photo
This is not the type of photography I do normally, but I did enjoy walking around the market with my camera in hand and just grabbing shots one handed.
This picture tells the story of the fantastic public market on Granville Island, with all that lovely bright colourful food.
Camera settings
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Focal length 12mm
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Aperture F8
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Shutter 1/13th second
-
ISO 400
Photo 5 – Stunning Light In The Forest
Location
Forest near Shannon Falls, British Columbia, Canada.
Something interesting about the photo
What, apart from the fact that I absolutely love it?
I would travel all the way back to Canada to walk in this stunning forest, capturing natural wonders like this to my heart’s content.
In fact if I was on my own I would probably still be there!
Shannon Falls are located just south of Squamish on the Sea to Sky Highway.
This photo is all about the light and the wonderful moss (I think it is moss) on the branches, and how the two interact. I took rather a lot of photos here, loving the light, but this is my favourite shot.
Camera settings
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Focal length 16mm
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Aperture F8
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Shutter 1/40th second
-
ISO 400
Photo 6 – Shannon Falls
Location
Squamish, British Columbia, Canada
Something interesting about the photo
Well it’s a stunning waterfall, and the EM10 has handled the capture of the highlights and shadows nicely.
And those lovely colours are all as I remember them.
Basically this photo is the wonderful scene I remember looking at, and if I can achieve that in a photo I am very happy indeed!
Camera settings
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Focal length 23mm
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Aperture F8
-
Shutter 1/1000th second
-
ISO 400
Photo 7 – Spring sunshine in the mountains
Location
Looking at Mount Currie, Pemberton, British Columbia
Something interesting about the photo
I used F22 to get the star effect in the sun. Well why not? This photo is taken looking at Mount Currie from the wonderfully flat glacier bottom. The clouds obviously add to this scene, constantly moving and changing.
A wonderful mountain scene that the EM10 has captured perfectly.
Camera settings
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Focal length 12mm
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Aperture F22
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Shutter 1/80th second
-
ISO 100
Photo 8 – Rural Mountain Scene
Location
Pemberton, British Columbia, Canada
Something interesting about the photo
This is my type of thing to photograph. Leading lines, bright colours, interesting background.
I used the tilting screen to help me take a photo from low level, which is a bonus when you are getting old like I am!
I love this scene – I do believe that this is a mountain vineyard (but I might be wrong).
Camera settings
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Focal length 17mm
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Aperture F11
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Shutter 1/160th second
-
ISO 100
Photo 9 – Mountain Forest, British Columbia, Canada
Location
Somewhere in British Columbia, Canada near Pemberton.
Something interesting about the photo
I wanted to convey the size of the trees, which I think I have done here. They are truly massive trees.
I wish I had a wider lens for this shot but moving back a bit and pointing up worked just fine.
Camera settings
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Focal length 12mm
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Aperture F8
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Shutter 1/160th second
-
ISO 100
Photo 10 – Lake at dusk
Location
Nicklaus North Golf Club, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
Something interesting about the photo
We were out bear hunting. Well bear spotting is more accurate – the only shooting was going to be with my camera!
I managed to capture this lake at dusk, a lovely peaceful setting with that spectacular mountain backdrop.
And the shutter speed was 1/8th second handheld!!
Camera settings
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Focal length 12mm
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Aperture F5.6
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Shutter 1/8th second
-
ISO 100
A word on my Olympus OM-D EM10 Mk 2.
I bought this to get into micro four thirds photography. I wanted to try something different. And that is what I did.
And I loved it.
So much that I bought the EM-5 Mk 2, the next camera up in the range, which I have written about previously.
Check out the post Is The Olympus OMD EM5 Mk2 The Best Travel Photography Camera?
And if you are interested in buying one of these little wonders here are Amazon affiliate links – if you buy anything having used one of these links I get a small commission.
Further reading
I have written a few other posts about micro four thirds photography, which are these.
Micro Four Thirds Explained – A Beginners Guide
Micro Four Thirds – Small Cameras For Travelling
My Micro Four Thirds Travel Kit – Travelling Light In Style
Professional photographers who use micro four thirds – really?
And the video for this blog post will be published tomorrow on my YouTube Channel.
How to follow me
If you want to keep up with everything I am doing you can do the following
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And lets not forget the video for this post!
Talking of YouTube you can check out the video for this post on my YouTube channel – My 10 Best Travel Photos Taken With My Olympus OM-D EM10 Mk 2 In A Lightroom Slideshow!
Summary
I hope that you found this post interesting – next week something completely different on my weekly photography blog.