Box Of Chocolates

Well, that's what the pack reminded me of when I saw it on the Olympus shelves - the Micro 4/3 specialists have decided to make an especial offer for people buying their OM-D E-M10 MkII cameras - three matched lenses in one box. This is both wonderful and dangerous... Wonderful: No agonised decision process at the sales counter. No chance of getting a mis-match - instant compatibility. Three specific lenses for pretty much all that the average photographer does. a. M. Zuiko ED 14-42mmF/3.5-5.6 EZ This lens can sit on the camera for most daily tasks and holiday journeys. It's one of the compacting ones - by which I mean it retracts into itself when you turn the camera off. You can get a very small travel package that way. The wide end of it is sufficient for most city shots and the long end is good for single people shots. It's small ( well most things in the Micro 4/3 system are compact ) and has a small filter or hood size - 39ø. The lens zooms smoothly for video work. b. M. Zuiko ED 40-150mmF/4.0-5.6R This takes over from the 14-14mm and goes out to a respectable medium telephoto length. Think field sports and motor racing. And large animals. It's a lightweight lens as they have kept the mount to a polycarbonate style and the front element is not a monster - you can certainly pack it for overseas travel without stretching the overhead locker allowance. c. M. Zuiko 45mm F/1.8 This is the prime portrait and detail lens of the kit. Opening to f:1.8 and working with the high ISO capability of the E-M10 Mk II and the on-board stabilisation, this should remove most of the need for a tripod in dim situations. This would be a perfect theatre or studio lens...if the purchaser was ambitious. And that brings us to dangerous: A kit like this is aimed at people starting out in digital photography who want to go further than the one-lens compact camera - but they may not know how much further they can go. Thus it may broaden their horizons and cause them to come back into the shop seeking more lenses and accessories. Goodoh. That's what the accountant likes to hear. But the lenses in one box may prove to be all the purchaser will ever need - literally. And they may go away and be happy ever after and not come into the shop again. In which case we have shot ourselves in the foot. It leaves us in the philosophical quandary of loving photography ourselves but kind of hoping that the customer will only love it so far and then get dissatisfied and come in again to buy more love. We're still pondering this one. In the meantime, come in and buy the camera and lenses and help to prove us wrong...or right...