Now that I’m planning to do backcountry hiking and skiing, I need to re-think my gear. The long skiing trip in March has high demands on my packing, I mean the food alone will weigh a lot, plus all the extra clothes to help me survive the snow storm, which is not such an unlikely thing up on the tundra in March. With all of that, the thought of carrying along a big SLR and lens(es) and a tripod gets a bit much. At the same time, it’s unthinkable to do such a trip and not have a camera with me. So while I’ve been thinking about this dilemma, my priorities have started to shift a little bit which has now led to some surprising choices that I really didn’t see coming a year ago when I got my fullframe 6D.

Here’s my (r)evolution: Olympus OM-D E-M5, a mirrorless system camera (or compact system camera, CSC). The sensor is half the size of a full frame (micro 4/3) and the body has stabilisation built in, which means that the lenses are small and light. I got two lenses with the camera, a 9-18/4-5.6 wideangle zoom and 40-150/4-5.6 telephoto zoom. With the telezoom attached, the combo is lighter than the Canon 24-105/4 lens alone (as seen in the picture). And with the two lenses together, the kit is still lighter than the 6D+lens (any of my lenses!) and the bonus is that I can use a flimsy tripod that is only about half the weight of my Gitzo. With this kit, I’m ready for almost any opportunity without having to break my back. You’ll have noticed that my lens combo has a gap between 18 and 40 mm, but I will have to manage for now. I did consider getting the 14-150mm superzoom but it was over five times the price of the telezoom (Cyberphoto had a special offer for it) so I figured that I will get started with this combo and then see how I get along with the camera and consider my lens options later.

The first question that needs to be answered is what I think about the image quality, because that’s what it really comes down to. Having been a fullframe shooter for the past year, it is a bit surprising that I’m suddenly willing to sacrifice all the benefits of a large sensor, but you have to consider that against the background I explained above – having to carry a lot of non-photography gear and shifting my priorities from photography to the side of activity and experience.

I should hasten to add that I’m not giving up on the 6D. There are some types of shooting where the big sensor wins the day, and that’s the situations where shallow DOF is required. For me, it means macro and animals. Not to forget night photo – high ISO on the 6D will not hurt me nearly as bad as high ISO on the small Olympus.

So that’s what I’m thinking right now. Let’s see what happens tomorrow when I actually start using the new camera! Image quality wise, I’m expecting something in between the Canon Powershot S95 that I used to have, and the 6D. I’ll be happy with anything that’s better than the S95 and the more it’s better, the happier I will be!