Not too long ago, I switched to the Nikon D800E with a series of prime lenses for all of my primary photography. I love the Nikon, and it’s proved to be a fantastic system, capably handling just about everything I’ve thrown at it.

The downside is that it is, truly, a system. A big, heavy system. I quickly found myself looking for a smaller, carry-around camera for some of my more photojournalistic endeavors, and immediately turned to the family of mirrorless cameras out there for an answer.

Of these, there is no shortage. You have the awesome Sony NEX-6, which I’ve raved about in the past. There’s also the Sony RX-1, the Panasonic GF3C, the Fuji X-Pro1, and the subject of this article, the Olympus OM-D E-M5.

Olympus OM-D

I’ve had the Olympus OM-D E-M5 for the past few weeks now, and have been using it as my primary “take everywhere” camera. It’s small size, lens selection, and great image quality combine to provide a system that’s flat-out my favorite in this category. In this article, I’ll present my experience shooting with this little thing, rather than a full-on technical review.

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David Kingham is a lanscape photographer who focuses on the night sky. He field-tested some of our fisheye lenses to see which one is most suitable for this kind of work.

Welcome to Cool Stuff, a weekly feature where we post our favorite links from the past week, including our favorite articles and how-tos, videos, images and more.

• This week, we start with the trailer for an upcoming documentary on Alexandre Deschaumes, called Ethereal Photographies. Have a look at the trailer and you’ll see why.
  
• From one French photographer to another and from the wilds of the earth to the streets of France, we next bring you the work of photographer Philippe Echaroux, who came up with an awesome project to photograph strangers on the streets as though they were celebrities.
  
• Back here in the US, one of our absolute favorite photographers rediscovers that most humble of lighting modifiers – the umbrella. Joe McNally tells us of the return of said umbrella – and once again, schools us mightily.
• Winter is coming. And while that Game of Thrones reference might leave some scratching their heads, here’s a great little tutorial from our friends at Digital Photography School that won’t leave you scratching your heads about how to create great snow photographs.
• And finally, from our friends over at Profoto comes a truly magnificent collection of lessons from some of photography’s masters. Masters like Gregory Heisler, whose Time Magazine cover of Rudy Giuliani is an absolute marvel of contextual lighting (see the embedded video below). Other masters in this series include Jeremy Coward and Matthew Jordan Smith, to name a couple. Go check this collection out – it’s worth every second of your time.
  

That’s it for this week’s Cool Stuff. As always, questions and feedback are welcome in the comments below.

The Induro AT413, an excellent tripod for outdoor shooting.

This is how the life of a photographer goes sometimes. You’re driving home on Highway 13, right around dusk. You glance off to your left and note that the moon, at an 8% crescent is going to set shortly, and it’s probably going to do so right behind the San Francisco skyline.

So what do you do? Well, if you’re me, you step on it and race for Grizzly Peak Road, a scenic, meandering two-lane stretch of tarmac that winds through the hills above Oakland and Berkeley while offering some spectacular views of the Bay Area, including the Bay Bridge, the San Francisco skyline, Oakland, Berkeley, and sometimes, the Golden Gate Bridge, too.

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After about four weeks of shooting with the Leica M9 and various lenses, I came to a dismaying conclusion.

I am not a street photographer. I don’t like street photography. I get nervous, am unsure, and take terrible street photos.

And, for most of the time that I had the M9, I was trying to be a street photographer.  (more…)

The M9 with a 50mm f/2.5 Summarit-M lens

In this part, I’ll look at a couple of unexpected things I ran into when shooting with the Leica.

Most people who shoot with a Leica assume that the lenses available for it, like the 50mm f/2.5 shown above, are primes. And, for the most part, this is true. I’d certainly had no reason to think otherwise.  (more…)

Andy Biggs

Welcome to Episode 3 of BLCast, the official podcast of BorrowLenses.com.

Taking a photo safari through the African wilderness is something that every landscape and wildlife photographer thinks about. Andy Biggs was so taken with the idea that he eventually left a cushy job to spend more time exploring the continent with his camera in hand. Today, he’s a premiere landscape and wildlife photographer specializing in Africa, leading extensive photo tours through countries like Tanzania, Botswana, and South Africa.

Elephants and Clouds, from Andy's "Timeless Africa" gallery. Image Courtesy and Copyright © Andy Biggs.

I caught up with Andy just before he left for an extended series of back-to-back safaris that would start in South Africa and eventually end in Namibia. Andy was kind enough to talk turkey about his photography, his travels, and his company Guragear, which makes some of the best photo bags on the planet.

Andy Biggs’ website is http://andybiggs.com. His blog can be found at http://www.theglobalphotographer.com/. His company, GuraGear, makes some amazing photo bags, so be sure to check them out as well. Andy is also active on Twitter as @andybiggs, so be sure to follow him there.

Lion Siblings, from Andy's "Timeless Africa" gallery. Image Courtesy and Copyright © Andy Biggs.

You can listen to the podcast right here via the embedded player, or you can subscribe to the BLCast feed in iTunes here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/blcast-official-podcast-borrowlenses.com/id509556349.

Android users (and iOS/RSS users using third-party podcasting apps), we have a feed for you too: http://borrowlenses.libsyn.com/rss.

As always, questions and feedback are welcome in the comments below.