Olympus/OM System Tribute

Thursday 1 May 2025 1:58pm

My friend Tom Stirr has written an excellent perspective article—6 Years. No Regrets., on the value he places on having switched to Olympus/OM System 6 years ago. I encourage you to read it! Tom is the man behind the excellent SmallSensorPhotography blog and has written countless articles on how he pushes his equipment to the limit to capture in remarkable photographs.

Note: Click/tap on a photo to open full-size in another window.

OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 449 mm, efov 898 mm, f/6.3, 1/2500, ISO-1600, Pro Capture H, cropped to 2788 pixels on the width, subject distance 11.4 metres. Photo © 2023 Thomas Stirr. Tom’s work with ProCapture is legendary.

While Tom writes of the technical abilities of Olympus/OM System gear—the superb lenses, IBIS, and the various computational modes so unique to OM—he also describes how the equipment has freed him to confidently capture images that would previously have been ‘hit and miss’.

OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 90 mm f/3.5 PRO IS macro with M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter @ 180 mm, efov 360 mm, f/22, 1/250, ISO-6400, cropped to 4222 pixels on the width, subject distance 315 mm. Photo © 2024 Thomas Stirr. Note the settings in bold. Tom is able to capture high quality images from the most difficult of situations.

His words speak eloquently of the same feelings many Olympus/OM System users have expressed to me over the short two years since ‘joining the club’. There is an emotional connection to his gear that transcends megapixels and sensor size and the ‘bigger is better’ paradigm that is so pervasive in photography.

OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 285 mm, efov 570 mm, f/6.3, 1/4000, ISO-16000, Pro Capture H, cropped to 3718 pixels on the width, subject distance 4.1 metres. Photo © 2022 Thomas Stirr. Note the ISO and the fact this was shot through Tom’s kitchen window!

I encourage you to visit Tom’s site and have a read through, enjoying the dynamic and intimate images he has captured of the natural world around him. Needless to say, Tom’s technical abilities show through.

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2 Responses to “Olympus/OM System Tribute”

I admit that as much as I love my Olympus EM5 2, when OM Systems purchased the imaging arm, I had very little interest. With the release of the latest OM5, my curiosity is piqued. How do you see the future of the company? They seem to be doing interesting things in computational photography.

By moodywarlock on Wednesday 2 July 2025 at 12:31am

Thanks for your comment. Personally, I’m feeling really good about what OM Systems has done over the past few years and the direction they are going, focussing on being the best for outdoors, wildlife, macro, travel, etc. in a system portable enough not to be a burden. With the quality of lenses and bodies and the computational photography features, I am way ahead of where I would be if I had stuck with my Nikon gear. I feel energized every time I pick up my camera.

By luxBorealis on Wednesday 2 July 2025 at 4:50pm

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