Why Shoot With Micro Four Thirds?

Derek Smith • 11 March 2025
Many photographic commentators believed that the Micro Four Thirds small sensor digital camera format was dead and buried, especially after the Olympus brand was hived off to OM Systems, and Panasonic began producing full frame cameras. Lately though, the Micro Four Thirds system has had something of a renaissance, with Panasonic introducing the G9 mark ii, and OM Systems producing a new camera model the OM-3, together with some new lenses. OM Systems are continuing to develop, and innovate, contrary to industry speculation. 

My reasons for selling my Fuji X-T3, and buying back into the Micro Four Thirds system, with an OM System OM-1, are threefold; I want to create more landscape photos, macro photos, and some bird photography (not to Harry Kerman’s level but just some passable images). For bird photography I needed a lens with a longer focal length, and for a camera with an APS-C, or full frame sensor, the lenses get heavier, and more expensive. With the Micro Four Thirds OM-1, I have bought a 75-300mm Olympus lens which equates to 150-600mm on a full frame camera, giving the reach that I needed. For landscape photography the OM-1 has in-camera ND filters, and for macro photography the camera has in-camera focus stacking which should come in useful. 

The advantages of a Micro Four Thirds system are well documented, lighter compact lenses, with greater depth of field for macro, and wildlife photography. The professional Olympus / OM System cameras are rated IP53 weatherproofed, as are all the “Pro” range of lenses. There are also a dizzying range of lenses from Olympus / OM Systems, and Panasonic. 

Choosing my prime lenses for the camera has been relatively straightforward, the Olympus 17mm f/1.8 (34mm full frame equivalent) was a must have, having previously owned this lens, and taken some amazing images with it. The Olympus 45mm f/1.8 was another simple choice for portraiture. However, the Olympus 25mm f/1.8 (50mm full frame equivalent) lens has been a strange choice for me, as I usually prefer a wider focal length of around 40mm full frame, but the detail rendering, and micro contrast of this lens has really surprised me. Choosing a standard focal length “Pro” lens has been much more difficult, I’ve agonised over the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 “Pro” constant aperture lens, or the Olympus 12-45mm f/4 “Pro” constant aperture lens, finally deciding on the Olympus 12-45mm f/4 as it is smaller, and lighter, and the brighter apertures are provided by the prime lenses.

Owning the camera has been a steep learning curve, there is much to learn, and many buttons, and controls to configure. My post processing workflow has completely changed, the Olympus RAW files contain the Adobe DNG / DCP information, which was not available with Fuji RAW, so I always shot with JPEG on Fuji. Now, I always shoot RAW with the OM-1, the .ORF RAW images download to my laptop at around 20 megapixel, and the files are readily, and quickly processed in Luminar Neo by choosing from the DCP camera profile list. The resulting post processed images look very natural, and organic.  

Louth Photographic Society

by Graham Harrison 5 April 2026
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held a Local Nature and Open PDI competition, members Dave Turner and Steve Chapman kindly offered to judge the competition, thank you to you both, it was a good night and the entries were of a high standard giving you both quite a task. The results are on our website, but the two winners on the night were, Local Nature Tony Gaskins and Open Harry Kerman. This week, Wednesday 8th April, Tony Gaskins, one of our members is showing us Coast 3, a PDI presentation. Tony is an excellent photographer and spends many hours photographing our coastline. Aprils Print competition, Circles and Open is fast approaching, you can send your titles to Dave Turner when your ready and bring your prints in the week before the competition. Regards Graham
by Derek Smith 2 April 2026
It was no April fools, when we held our PDI (Projected Digital Image) competition last night. The images submitted into this competition were off the highest quality. Dave Turner judged the Open category, which I think is always one of the hardest categories to judge, pitting landscapes, against nature, and still life, but Dave did a magnificent job, offering well founded critique of the images submitted. After the break, Steve Chapman judged the Local Nature category, (nature images taken within a 25 mile radius of St. James' church, Louth) Steve "held back" 10 out of the 18 submitted images, and gave those 10 images very careful consideration until he finally arrived at the 3 highest placed images. Steve commented that the submitted images were indeed of high quality, and he took his time to evaluate the submitted images and offered useful critique on each one. The competition made for a very interesting evening, and all members deserve praise for the quality of the submitted images. The website Competition page has been updated with the full results, and the top three images from each category. On this post is 1st placed Sedge Warbler, Cleethorpes by Tony Gaskins, in the Local Nature category, and 1st placed Hudson Bay Wolf, (Lincoln Zoo) by Harry Kerman, in the Open category.
by Graham Harrison 29 March 2026
Good Morning, All, Last week at the club member Chris Birchmore gave a presentation on MPP cameras which included some of Chris's collection of cameras and prints taken. There is a report on the evening on our blog page. Thank you Chris for an interesting evening. This week, Wednesday 1st April, we are holding a local and open PDI competition the local subject being nature, please if you haven't already, send your entries to Harry before midnight tonight. Members Steve Chapman and Dave Turner have volunteered to judge. Also on the Wednesday 1st April our Louth Photographic Society 70th anniversary exhibition will be open to view at the Louth Museum. Regards Graham
by Derek Smith 26 March 2026
Chris Birchmore gave an informative, and interesting talk and demonstration of his medium format film cameras. at the beginning of the evening Chris gave a potted history of the origins of the MPP cameras he was showing us. The cameras take a 5 x 4" film stock, and looking at the cameras it seems incredible that photographers in the recent past could take excellent photographs with these. The MPP cameras were often used by the British Armed Forcies during the Second World War, and throughout the 1950s, and 60s, and some of these medium format were still being manufactured in the 1970s. The prints that Chris showed taken with these cameras were of excellent quality, with an amazing depth of field. Many thanks Chris for a fascinating evening.
by Graham Harrison 22 March 2026
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held a committee meeting, which was very productive, we made the final arrangements for the exhibition, charity night, and studio evening as well as other items on the agenda. We are holding an Exhibition opening night at Louth Museum on Friday 17th April celebrating 70 years of Louth Photographic Society. There will be a small buffet and cold drinks available, if any member would like to donate a bottle of wine to the occasion please hand it to Harry at one of our club nights. This week, Wednesday 25th March, member Chris Birchmore will be giving us a presentation. The following week is a local competition, with the categoriess of "Local Nature" (up to 25 miles radius from St James church) and "Open" (unlimited mileage) please send your entries to Harry before midnight, Sunday 29th March. Members Steve Chapman will judge the Nature category, and Dave Turner the Open category. Regards Graham
by Graham Harrison 15 March 2026
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held our monthly PDI competition judged by Martyn Wrigg, the standard of entries was very high and well done to Tony Gaskins for a first in the Architectural Detail and Derek Smith for his first place in the Open. All the results are on our website under competitions. This week, Wednesday 18th March we will be holding a Committee meeting, just committee members for this one. The following week Chris Birchmore is the speaker for the night. Harry is now accepting entries for the PDI local competition, with the categories of "Local Nature" and "Open". We judge this competition in house so if you would like to judge one of the subjects please let me know. Regards Graham
by Derek Smith 12 March 2026
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by Derek Smith 12 March 2026
A PDI (Projected Digital Image) competition was held last night with the categories of "Architectural Detail", and "Open". Martyn Wrigg was our judge for the evening, and he competently judged the submitted images, although he diid surprise with some of his choices of placing, but that's a judges perogative. Martyn complemented members on the quality of the images presented, which had made some of his decisions difficult. First placed was "It's a Fixer Upper" in the Architectural Detail section, and "Dervish Musician" in the Open section. Congratulations to Robin Begley, who as one of our newest members submitted some impressive images, achieving a 3rd place in "Architectural Details", and 2nd in the "Open" category. All the results are now posted to our website Competition page.
by Graham Harrison 8 March 2026
Good Morning All Last week at the club member Steve Chapman gave us an insight into his life and especially his time at Ilam Park in Derbyshire photographing for the National Trust. Steve showed us many photographs he had taken of the people involved with the trust and the Peak District. The second half was dedicated to Steve's own work, some superb aircraft photography as well as many other subjects. There is a report on the evening on our blog page. This week, Wednesday 11th March we are holding a PDI competition, with the categories of "Architectural Detail " and "Open" to be judged by Martyn Wrigg of Barton. The following week is a committee meeting for the committee members only on that evening. For newer members we have two committee meetings a year. Regards Graham
by Derek Smith 5 March 2026
Last night Steve Chapman presented a selection of images from his archives. Steve had previously been a volunteer photographer for the National Trust, and he showed many photos from the Ilam Park Estate, Dovedale, it was interesting to see some of the "behind the scenes" photos. The Jacobite reenactment battle scenes were amazing, the uniforms showed great attention to detail, and there were some real characters among the reenactors. After the break Steve showed some of his general photography, he has a great photographic eye, as some of his photos showed with different colours, shapes, and leading lines. Steve has taken many photos of agricultural machinery, and risked life and limb to create some close up aircraft photos. For atmosphere, just look at these horseriders at the top of the hill on a cool early morning. For heartstopping imagery look at these children on the side of a building, the children are photos on the side of the building, however, Steve wasted no time in capturing this stunning image. Many thanks to Steve for a fascinating evening.