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Ode to Micro Four Thirds - OM System OM-3

Photography as Meditation

5,982 views

I love Micro 4/3 cameras. I'm pretty new to them, unlike Emily from Micro Four Nerds, or Robin Wong or your favorites. Digging into M4/3 really helped me understand my photography goals, in some ways. I'll talk a lot about the OM System OM-3 in that regard, but all micro four thirds camera lovers are welcome. Are you a Panasonic lover or Olympus or... Let's talk!

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🎥 EQUIPMENT USED:

Insta360 Ace Pro 2: https://amzn.to/4jsW1JB
Nikon Zf: https://amzn.to/3LbcOEt
OM System OM-3: https://amzn.to/48d8ugz

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ABOUT THIS CHANNEL:
Photography is my form of meditation. I create content to help you put your phone in your pocket, pick up a camera, and find peace through photography. Whether you're interested in budget camera gear, vintage cameras, or using photography for mental health, you've found a community that cares about meaningful interactions.

Subscribe for conversations about photography, mindfulness, camera reviews, and creative healing.

#photographymeditation #mentalhealth #mindfulness #camerareviews #photographytherapy

Chapters:

0:00 Small Bodies
0:24 Small Lenses
1:15 The Micro Four Thirds Alliance
2:13 Configurable
3:10 Photo Examples and Ideas
4:18 More Examples and Reasons
5:03 Goals - The Most Important Part
7:42 GAS - Gear Acquisition Syndrome
8:08 I'm Blue
8:33 My Old Cameras
9:03 Goals Cure G.A.S.
10:00 A Demonstration
11:18 Why This Topic?
12:38 Outro

Music by Epidemic Sound: https://cbrogan.net/epidemic

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20 Comments

@ChrisBroganPhotos Creator 5 months ago Pinned

Are you a micro 4/3 shooter? Were you? What ones did you use? What's a favorite lens?

@prizepictures1 5 months ago

Thank you for keeping this camera format on the map!

@WaterfallJoe 5 months ago

Awesome video my friend. Micro Four Thirds needs more positive videos like these!

@sweden_ove2074 2 months ago

What a kind lovely video. No harsh words just humble worship and feelings. This ode to M43, I really like. I will be following you from now on.

@jessevardaman6208 5 months ago

I've been on the youtubes since almost the beginning. Over the years many of the channels I watched turned from educational, entertainment channels to nothing more than product review channels (you can see this with so many of the golf, woodworking, and many of the camera channels). Sure, I watched many channels to find out what the latest and greatest tool, golf club, pillow, mattress, keyboard or what have you was/is. All reviews all the time got real old real fast. I don't mind a review or shameless plug here or there but now I watch channels that inspire me to go out to do something, to better enjoy life, enjoy my surroundings more which is why I watch this channel.

@powerlink2000 5 months ago

Great points! Well done!

@KDis0815 5 months ago (edited)

A big strengh of Mft are the Super/Travelzooms. Panasonics 14-140 f3.5 is a great compact Lens, the oly 12-200 has great Reach, the oly 12-100 f4 is big, but great Quality.

@pmcbMadeInIreland 5 months ago

Completely agree with you. Goals are hugely important too. Love the form factor of Olympus/OM System and constantly amazed at what they throw out in image quality. I have a range of Olympus/OM System to meet my needs but funnily enough my E-M10 and E-M5 mark i (originals) are simply brilliant for their beautiful outputs (as standard) in such a small well-engineered package.

@76steps 5 months ago

Nice video Chris. Good to hear you no longer get filled with the wrong kind of gas. You have a great set up there. I actually enjoy the merry go round with camera systems. But also hear your words of wisdom. Love the way you looped back right back to the reason for your photography. As meditation such a great thing to use a camera for. Mft lover. I shoot Olympus omd em1ii and Olympus Pen EP5 such a great system for so many needs we all may have. Keep on snapping 👍🏾

@njp2k914 5 months ago

You randomly popped up as a suggested video :) keep up the good work! I used m4/3 for years then ‘upgraded’ and stopped enjoying photography as much. I went back to m4/3 after about 6 years away last year and I’m loving it again :D

@stevebrogan09 5 months ago

Nice video! It made me think of all the different places that we had lived during our lifetime together and my lifetime after you boys now men had moved away and started your own lives. Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and finally Nevada. Specifically Las vegas! The list could go on and on including apartment set we have lived in or houses we had rented or houses that we had purchased and sold. Computers purchased and sold, cell phones and replace that the end of their lives.....

@bobrbw1202 5 months ago

Om d em 1, and Markii, Pl-1, and a OM D EM 5 original. Would like a full frame eventually for my landscape photos but, i enjoy taking pano shots and blending then to get the bigger picture. Great video as always. If you need a video idea, i recently started doing short vlogs for the family to have some day and not very sure how to do video on the om d's. A video on how to use a camera and the proper settings for a Youtube video would be terrific and very helpful. Thanks for putting out such great content my friend.

@none941 5 months ago (edited)

I'm shooting an em-10 mk iv with the two kit zooms and third party manual primes. 😊

@davidmaskew 5 months ago

I've had my OM3 for a couple of months now and I love it. I take it almost everywhere. I currently use it with the kit 12-45 and the 40-150 both f4 lenses.
I just want a 17mm or 20mm prime and the 60mm macro and will have all I need.

@Martin-nu6ym 5 months ago

Glad you mentioned the bigger lenses. It is those lenses that convinced me that I will keep my Nikon system for the bigger lenses. Oddly, the 14-30 f4, 28-400, and 105 macro really makes it harder for me decide for a light carry (with the Zf, it is 2,500 grams). I have to decide by do I want to carry my gear in my pocket or in a bag. I'm more a OM gear person but sometimes Panasonic surprises me. I have the PZ 45-175, a little lens with internal zoom. And the now discontinued 20 pancake is my main lens to put on the OM-3 for pocket carry.

To this day, my favorite lens is the very one that pulled me into MFT - the M.Zuiko 90 macro.

@photoflooddays 5 months ago

Great video Chris! So many people for some reason hate small sensors but they all do their jobs and gear doesn't really matter as long as you don't plan to print large prints, I think. m4/3 def need some recognition!

@preom1987 4 months ago

I use a Cannon 7D Mark II for 8 years. I mostly do portraits and street photography. These days I dont carry it much for the weight. Now I am thinking about selling it and buy a Olympus E-M5 Mark II.

@TedHallII 5 months ago

Love my G7, it's wonderful with the MFT lenses, and it's amazing with my semi-pro 4/3 lenses from my older Olympus bag.
It takes two adapters, but I have a 40 year old Zeiss T* 50mm 1.4 that I can use in manual mode as well...

@sonderbass 4 months ago

I use the OM-3 for all of my travel and personal work. Use it as a backup to my Nikon Z6III when shooting concerts. I just have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying the M43 system, and have actually produced some wonderful large prints with it. It may take the place of my Nikon eventually. Going to France and Switzerland next week with the following kit.

OM-3
12-100 f/4 + 17mm f/1.8 v2

@isakohan 5 months ago

I got my first MFT camera yesterday!!! After a lot of consideration, I settled on the mouthful that is the Olympus OM-D E-M1 mark ii, with the newer 20 mm PRO lens. I have chronic tendinitis in my wrist, and by that I mean I manage it most of the time, but it flares up really easily. So ergonomics was number one priority for me, together with weather sealing. The E-M1 feels so good in my hand, I just want to hold it all of the time! I've had it for a little over 24 hours and I'm already more attached to this camera and lens than I ever was to the Nikon Z50ii kit that I had for a year! I think I'll quickly become a MFT stan, and I'm not mad about it.

My long-term goal is to extend the lens collection with some good zooms for wildlife photography (first priority is saving up for the 100-400 f/4), and also supplement with a lighter camera. I'd like the Tough point-and-shoot, but also the OM-5. I'm undecided, and I've got years to think about it.