My first every day carry camera was actually an old film Hanimex AF film camera. It was a re-badged cheap film camera but worked well. I then went on to a Nikon S3 digital compact, but I was always on the lookout for a large sensor’ed compact like the Fuji X100 or Ricoh GR.
I have tested both of these but prefered the viewfinder of my Leica to either of them, the Ricoh having no viewfinder and the Fuji being a poor competitor in the viewfinder stakes to the Leica.
Over the years I have kept returning to and testing the Olmpus Pen range.
As I posted a while back, I went on a photo walk with the Olympus rep and a OM5. This was a great little camera but I prefer the styling of the Pen. I kept putting it off as none of them had viewfinders. When the Pen-F came out, I loved it but it was too expensive for me at that time. I did get the chance to play with the OM3 recently with is totally gorgeous, see top photograph I took with it at a show. The second shot is a portrait of the amazing photographer Gavin Hoey. This was a shot with the Pen-F and the 17mm f/1.8 lens at high ISO and at 1/3 of a second. Considering the bad artificial light its come out really well. Likely if I had been more familiar and experienced with the camera, this shot would have been much better.
My everyday carry at the moment is a Leica M, but sometimes I want something I can use one handed, especially as I am often out with Ted the Greyhound.
The original digital Pen keeps coming to mind and if I can find a VF-1 optical viewfinder that fits in its hot shoe I might pick one up second hand, there only £100 now and still a nice performing camera. It would be something you would not be to concerned with risking in environments where you would not want to take a more expensive camera.
I also tried out out the Pen F again last week, as they had a black one in the local London Camera Exchange. Its still very nice, but its a lot to pay for a secondhand camera and it also lacks weather sealing.
In many ways the new OM Pen announced this month would make a good option. I was in Lincoln on Tuesday and the local London Camera Exchange had the new pen in for demo.
Its got a really nice feel and for a lower end model the quality and feel in the hand was excellent. So I have pulled the trigger and have placed an order. I am going for the black one. I might add an original Pen in silver if I can find that viewfinder accessory.
Being a little late with my order its unlikely i get one from the initial batch but should not be too long. I have placed an order for the original 17mm f/2.8. This is a fun tiny lens, and i’ll also be using a 20mm f/1.4 pro lens on it as well as the zoom it comes with.