The Olympus OM-1 (In the future it will be called ‘OM System’) immediately brought my 68-year-old brain back to the days when I bought my first Olympus OM-system film camera. That camera changed my life. And if I were still a practicing, professional, bird photographer I have no doubt this camera would do likewise.
Mirrorless
When I first tried cameras that relied on EVFs I wasn’t impressed. I was used to big, bright, beautiful, optical viewfinders.
But then something happened – EVF builders listened to the criticism that electronic viewfinders brought and made better EVFs.
I used to primarily rely on Canon or Nikon DSLRs for bird and wildlife photography but my health and my age have made both impractical. Thankfully, Micro Four Third (M43) cameras and lenses have improved over the last five years to the point where they have significantly closed the gap with many DSLRs. I now use M43 gear from Olympus as my only camera system.
Olympus and I go way back. I got my first OM series film camera in the mid-1970s. While I started in 35mm with Nikon, I ended up using mostly Minolta and Olympus back in those days. I even carried my gear around in a silver Zero Halliburton camera case. (Those of you who are like me, on the wrong side of 60, will remember those cases fondly, I am sure.) Then, as it is now, the Olympus glass was both spectacular and reasonably affordable and the OM series had the first reliable in-camera light meter. It was a match-needle affair that I thought was the coolest thing ever. That pushed me into the Olympus gear for shooting motor sports.