Some Micro Four Thirds Mountain Bike Action

[Photo-John]

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the recently announced Panasonic Lumix G3 Micro Four Thirds camera. In that article I expressed some interest in the camera's new touchscreen LCD and claimed improved auto focus performance. I said - and I still say - that auto focus performance is the main weakness of mirrorless cameras and that I wouldn't choose a mirrorless camera for serious action shooting because the continuous auto focus isn't up to snuff. One of our members, Asmarlak, challenged me (article and comments, here)and I've been thinking about it ever since. I think he was either trying to stir things up or misunderstood me because anyone who is a serious sports shooter knows that the continuous auto focus on a mirrorless camera won't keep up. However, that's not to say that you can't successfully shoot action with an EVIL camera. It's just not the best tool for the job.

So - I've got a trip to Italy coming up (honeymoon) and I like the idea of traveling really light. Last year I took the Olympus E-PL1 with me on a trip to Mexico (my Olympus E-PL1 review) and it was wonderful not having to lug around my big camera backpack. I'd love to have that same simplicity when I'm in Italy. The big difference is that in Mexico I wasn't shooting any sports and the Italy trip is going to feature some serious mountain biking. So I've been going back and forth about it in my mind. Like I said, you can do good sports photography with a mirrorless camera - I actually do it all the time. You just have to change your technique. Basically - no continuous-auto-focus-spray-and-pray. All shots have to be carefully planned and pre-focused. With that in mind, I took the Olympus E-PL2 out yesterday for some serious mountain bike shooting. And based on the photos below I'm pretty pleased. I'm going to do some more rides like this before I commit, but right now I'm really leaning towards taking the E-PL2 camera, 9-18mm, 14-150mm, 17mm and 75-300mm Micro Four Thirds lenses to Italy and leaving the Canon 7D at home. That whole Olympus Micro Four Thirds kit will take up about as much space and weight as my Canon, the 18-200mm IS lens and a flash.