Groan. More Toy Cars. But This Time With A New Camera. And A New Trick!

The camera is an excuse to get out the toy cars and the toy cars are an excuse to get out the camera. It is probably the same with you - substituting landscapes or sports or wildflowers for toy cars. You might even be the family photographer who is always circulating at the parties. If you are, take heart - they may growl at you now when you make them look at the camera, but after a couple of decades those images will become precious. Just make sure you save the files in a number of places. If family members have been particularly un-cooperative at the holiday parties or weddings you can get your revenge later by Facebooking the worst of them and then demanding a ransom to hide them. You're the photographer and you get to be ruthless. The main feature that stands out in the new Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III besides a model designation that is far too long, is the improved user control system. Oh, they've added a bit more grip and a few more internal features with the processor - and you will always appreciate the help that the 5-axis stabilisation gives to any image - but the chief thing is that it is easier to understand and to drive. I read about that on the net reviews last week. But reading and using are vastly different things - and in the case of the Olympus it might well be that the IS system would entirely change the way studio work was done. Up until now all car shots have been taken with a heavy Gitzo tripod and either a ball head or a three-way head. Readers will be totally familiar with the different workflow with both types and will choose whichever works best for them. In some cases the tripod might be seen as overkill - since the general shutter speed used for tabletops is 1/180 or 1/25o, depending upon the camera system. This, and the tiny aperture means that even a lit studio is photographically black and any light effects are added by the artist himself. But what if I want to get into a position that the tripod cannot go to? Must I cobble up a cantilever arm to take the head further into the set and then try to counteract the torque and stresses as the weight comes off the centre of the tripod? Done that before, and didn't like it much. Or completely re-arrange the set to rebuild it around the camera on the tripod. Also done that and liked it less. Here is where the 5-axis system of the Olympus range and the tilting LCD screen come in as life savers. I can cradle the small camera in hand and fly it into the set with the image on the screen settling down magnificently as the shutter button is half-depressed. The final press fires the lights and the picture is in the card. It won't do for images that need three planes of focus repeated and levels cut out, but with the increased depth of field of the Micro Four Thirds system this is not needed as often. That's why I deliberately chose the 25mm f:1.8 prime lens when I took out the demo camera - it has over double the depth of field in comparison to a similar lens combo on and APS-C camera. Flower shooters, mushroom shooters, and bug shooters will all recognise what this means for their work. I tried their specialty today but was too late for the field of daisies - the council crew denuded our adjacent dog walk. I was very sad about this as the profusion of yellow flowers looked better than the end result. My lawn is going to fight back. I have enlisted the aid of the ants and the ladybugs as well. Note one fabulous feature in the special control section of the mode dial: a provision for getting rid of keystoning in building shots right there in the processor. For those who do travel architecture and do not want to spend their evenings in the hotel room Photoshopping images before posting them, it is a wonder. Here's two shots - admittedly a little under exposed - to show you the effect of the control turned off and on. It really was that simple in-camera.