We spent Saturday morning with Macaela as Matt was working and Magan continued to recover from a bad cold and needed some extra rest. Both mom and daughter have been ill, but little ones seem to be more resilient. Macaela is now seven months old and getting bigger every week.
Two trends in camera formats for 2012 and beyond: First, smartphone cameras will continue to improve at a blistering pace, approaching the imaging capabilities and features found in stand-alone cameras of a few years ago. Second, mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras will undermine sales of low-end DSLRs, satisfying users looking for DSLR-like quality imaging in a small camera body.
The photo in the illustration above is from a “test roll” shot with the Olympus E-PM1, a micro four thirds mirrorless camera.
I was thinking about a new “walking around” camera that would provide additional features and better low light performance. I currently have the Olympus XZ-1 point-and-shoot which I really like.
The Olympus and the Sony NEX C3 are both highly reviewed low-end mirrorless cameras, targeted at hobbyists wanting to trade up from point-and-shoot — and both are stocked by my local camera store. The Olympus E-PM1 would work with the accessories I already have for the XZ-1 and has the already extensive micro four thirds system to support it. The Sony has a larger sensor, better specs and a broader feature set. Both receive top rankings as budget mirrorless cameras.
But hands-on experience with a camera will highlight factors not mentioned in reviews and I found both cameras to be louder and slower than expected. The Olympus particularly had a “clunkiness” in the shutter release that I just couldn’t get use to. Both take great pictures and I wish I could try each over the weekend versus just a few minutes in the store. But for now, it’s time to keep looking for that perfect budget companion to my DSLR. Up next: the Nikon 1 system and Canon’s just announced G1X.
Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould me Man, did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me? — Paradise Lost, X, 743-45
The advice I remember most from my father when growing up was: Remember who you are. As I sought to be true to some sense of self that I had defined as a teenage boy, his advise inevitably helped shape the result.
Of course over the years, my roles and responsibilities have broadened and evolved. Experience has increased knowledge and tempered judgment. Around me much is different. Yet my basic sense of who I am, my primary values and beliefs, are surprisingly consistent with my youth.
For the most part I met expectations and seldom spend much time second guessing what might have been. We don’t control all of what comes our way, but we do choose how we respond to what does. Perhaps that response reveals our true character, that idea of who we are that my father urged me to always remember.
