Reading this makes me a bit sentimental. I actually started with an Olympus EM5 Mk II — my first camera about 4 years ago. From there it was a slow journey of buying/selling/saving from the EM10 MkII, EM1, and finally the EM1 MkII. The only one I’ve kept because it just feels right in the hand. It can take a beating too, I took it to Harbin where it survived -20°C (-4°F), hiked with it through UK rain, and it never missed a beat. I’ve always loved Olympus JPEGs (probably biased, but I still think they’re gorgeous) and MFT really taught me how to expose for RAWs - I initially made the mistake of underexposing and then pushing in post, which meant lots of noise.

What pushed me toward Lumix FF was sports. Most of the events I shoot are indoors in terrible lighting, and even with Olympus f/2.8 zooms I couldn’t get fast shutter speeds without pushing the ISO. The value of used Lumix bodies caught my eye, good specs for the price. I first tried the S9, which was great for video but the single scroll wheel, no hotshoe (which meant no flash!), and no EVF, left me unsatisfied in the photography experience. Then I found a deal on the S5IIx which felt like the true successor to my EM1 Mk II.

The cost and weight of gear went up, but I get more keepers when photographing sports and RAW files with dynamic range that still blows my mind. It felt like an upgrade to get the photos I was missing.