My First Time Shooting Olympus (Fuji user) - OM-3 Review
When it comes to camera gear I feel like photographers are always questioning whether or not they’re shooting with the right stuff.
We already have our bodies and lenses figured out but we still fantasize about that other system.
I’ve shot on many different cameras in my lifetime: Canon, Sony, Fuji, etc.
One day, many years ago, I was taken by the Fuji system…and never looked back.
This didn’t stop the many questions I had about other cameras though:
whether they were as good as they looked
whether that sensor size was worth the trade off
whether the colors were actually better
whether the price was worth it
Olympus, in part, shares many similar qualities to Fuji.
The filmic body shape, the retro dials, the general philosophy.
I would never go out of my way to switch systems just to try it, but they did catch my eye.
So when given the chance to test out the new Olympus OM-3, I took it.
It was a good opportunity to confirm the thoughts I had on different gear and potentially close some doors or open new ones.
I’ll give you my thoughts on the camera in general, how it compares to the Fuji experience, and I’ll take you on a recent camping trip of mine.
This is my first time shooting Olympus.
Similar, But Different
When looking at new cameras, I always like to compare them to cameras I already use.
This is because I more or less have my setup figured out, and the real test is to see if this new gear can do what I need it to do, but better.
Otherwise an upgrade or change is system is unnecessary.
So currently, I shoot mainly on the X-T4 w/the 18-55 and an x100 series camera.
These give me both the versatility and range to capture most of what I need when traveling or exploring new places.
If you want a more detailed look on my current setup, go to: My Minimal Street & Travel Photography Setup for 2025.
To get a fair comparison to Fuji, I chose similar gear.
The OM-3 is a camera that already resembles the X-T series.
It has a digital slr film body shape with manual dials, fully articulating screen, and a switch to bounce between photo and video mode.
The 12-45, although it covers a wider range than the 18-55, is still good for comparison since it’s a standard zoom of a similar size and aperture range.
And the 17mm was the lens I chose to compare to the x100 series as the focal length and size of the lens are close.
The lenses and body all have a solid build to them with a good weight.
They neither feel cheap nor dinky and most of the operations move quite smoothly.
The 12-45 in particular holds form well, whereas the 18-55 tends to slide if you grab it by the top.
It is a much older lens though, so I’m not surprised.
There are a few differences on the OM-3 body itself, like the record button and the On/Off switch.
The record button I found to be quite useful for hybrid shooting, bouncing back and forth between photo and video.
I would sometimes find myself pressing the Fn button on accident, but it wasn’t a big deal.
The On/Off switch however, was quite annoying.
On Fuji cameras, the On/Off switch is placed with the shutter button on the right side.
This makes it easy to turn the camera on and off, and take pictures with one hand.
The Om-3 however, has to be turned on on the left side, meaning two-handed shooting.
Which made for slower awkward fiddling and missed shots.
Similarly, Olympus lenses don’t have aperture rings.
This is something I enjoy on Fuji cameras as it makes it easy to switch your settings while the camera is off.
Instead, the aperture ring is controlled through the same dial as the shutter button.
Shutter Speed is switched on the dial below it, and I custom set my ISO to the Fn button.
This took some getting used to and wasn’t that big of a deal except for the On/Off switch - that I found less practical.
I obviously have my preferences, but besides those, I’ll give the OM-3 points for it’s overall design and build quality.
A Smaller Sensor
The OM-3 is micro four-thirds.
Meaning the sensor size is smaller than APS-C and much smaller than full frame.
Therefore to understand full frame eq focal lengths, we must double them.
A 17mm on micro four-thirds is roughly a 35mm eq full frame.
And a 12-45 is about 24-90mm eq.
Not only are the numbers different, but the images are as well.
In photography, you’ll often hear people compare APS-C to full frame and full frame to medium format.
This is because the different sensor affects the image in more ways than I’d want to get into right now.
Just think about taking a picture with the small sensor of your smartphone versus the larger sensor of your camera.
Even if you matched focal lengths and bokeh, there’s still a different look to it.
Now, it’s of my opinion that you can take great images with whatever you have, disregarding the sensor size.
But sensor size is still important in the sense of preferences: how you want your images to look and the benefits or trade-offs you get from a bigger or smaller sensor.
Bigger sensors generally have larger file sizes and larger camera bodies.
And smaller sensor cameras tend to be smaller, but can also pack more features into it.
This Olympus setup for example, is pretty impressive.
Not only does it have more range than the 18-55 on Fuji but the lens is also smaller.
And for someone who cares about size and portability, that’s pretty cool.
Now I’ll be honest and say I was a little worried that some of my images would look crappy.
I know the logic behind it, a smaller sensor doesn’t matter as much as you think it does, but I still couldn’t help it.
And looking back on some of these images, I can tell a difference.
The look of M43 is different than APS-C.
This doesn’t mean that the image quality is bad, but things feel a little flatter and the compression is different.
Again, I’m not gonna get too technical about it, but it’s something I can feel and see in the pictures.
As for the shooting experience, it did take some time getting used to.
The numbers were a bit confusing and it was hard to convert the focal lengths in my head to know what I was shooting with.
I constantly had to remind myself to double the focal length.
And most of the times I ended up zooming in and out to the right frames, kind of like how a beginner would, instead of intentionally picking my focal lengths.
Overall, I think the benefits of M43 depend on the user.
The IBIS and autofocus for this camera was good, the video specs were decent, and the size and range of the lenses was great.
A lot of the problems that I’d struggle with on other cameras vanished.
But it just came at the cost of sensor size - which begs the question:
How much does sensor size really matter to you?
Camping w/the OM-3
The OM-3 is a systems camera: meaning it’s suitable for a wide range of photography.
It’s similar to the X-T series in the aspect of being general purpose, great for hybrid stuff, and allowing photographers to explore genres before niching down.
Olympus markets it as something for urban exploration, i.e street photography.
I have no doubt that it’d be good for that, but I personally didn’t get the chance to take it on any major street photography sessions, save for a few hangouts here and there.
What I was really looking forward to however, was a camping trip I had lined up in summer.
It was there that I really got to test the full range of this camera.
Every now and then, we take a trip out to the Sequoias.
This year in particular, was special, since it’d been a long time since our last visit.
There, I was actually surprised with how the system performed:
Sequoias trees are really tall so you need something fairly wide to capture them fully.
In many of the shots I was able to frame much more than I expected with minimal bending or distortion.
Tall trees that would usually be cropped, I could capture in their entirety.
Furthermore, when zooming in on the 12-45, I could still get decently close.
On our first night, a small-medium sized black bear showed up at the river we hang out at.
We kept our distance of course, but I was still able to capture some stills of the bear from across the river, fully zoomed in.
Plus both the lenses and camera bodies are weather sealed so water splashes weren’t a big concern.
The slomo on this camera is also pretty good, and I got decent footage of friends jumping into the river.
Aside from the many pictures I took of my friends, I really liked how a lot of the nature and scenery shots came out.
Morning walks and soft exploration led to neat little viewpoints and angles of the mountains around me.
And sometimes, I’d get lucky and wake up at the right time, when the morning light cast itself upon the campgrounds.
Sunny meadows, flowing water, and the lifestyle vibe of play and fun I captured on this trip.
Overall, when it came to function, the OM-3 performed very well.
Like I mentioned earlier, getting used to the camera took some time, but I don’t have many complaints beyond my personal preferences.
At it’s price point, it felt like the camera should be able to do all this stuff - and it didn’t disappoint.
Olympus Colors
If you’ve flip flopped between different camera brands before, you’ve probably taken into consideration color.
It’s a common point of discussion and people tend to claim that one camera has better colors than another.
Because of that they’ll use it as justification to shoot with a certain system.
Me personally, I am a little biased towards Fujifilm.
But that’s more because I like the cameras, and less because of the “color science”.
I have a small theory that…every camera has good color.
Fuji is good, Olympus is good, Nikon is good.
It’s just us, the users, that are making it seem like one is better than another based on our personal impressions.
But if we did a true side by side comparison, they probably wouldn’t be as different as we think.
Because of this many photographers can switch camera systems and still get good images - because it was never the color science to begin with.
But that’s just my theory.
Now when using Olympus, I honestly didn’t see as big of a difference as I thought I would.
Many of the shots here are edited JPEGs.
This is because I accidentally shot in JPEG only, because I got confused in the menus.
It wasn’t that big of a deal though since the JPEGs themselves have a pretty high image quality and resolution.
And many of the colors still looked good.
Now, I did bring along with me the x100vi, just to have something lighter and with flash for “those moments”.
With it, I shot in Reala Ace and the shots came out great.
But if we’re being fair, this is the system I’m used to, and I do have a preference for the Fuji camera.
The browns and greens especially, have this appeal to them that I’m just now taking notice of.
But this doesn’t mean that Olympus’ colors were bad.
Rather, I got many good shots with it and probably wouldn’t have noticed a difference if I didn’t bring the VI.
Something to note is that the OM-3 has a neat little color profile dial.
I don’t know if this exists on other cameras, but it’s similar to Fujifilm in the sense that you can switch between different looks and even adjust various settings.
You’re a bit more limited in options, but there’s color wheels, tone curves, sharpness, etc.
And there’s also a mono profile for Black and White images.
I like this aspect since it’s similar to the workflow I already have.
I enjoy going back and forth between photo editing and adjusting certain settings in camera to see if I can get a good SOOC look and also just learn more about how I’m altering images.
I wish I had the time to play around with these settings more, but I chose to stick to one standard style for this trip.
It just makes more sense since doing multiple looks per trip will only make things more confusing.
So a small tangent, but the point is, your current camera’s colors are probably already pretty good.
And you’ll benefit more from learning how to work with them rather than trying to pick the camera with the best colors.
Fuji has good color, Olympus has good color.
Pick the one you prefer, but don’t think one is better than the other or presume your images suck because of the system you use.
Worth the Switch?
All in all, shooting with the OM-3 and these two lenses taught me a lot of things.
I had a fun time trying a new system and it allowed me to confirm a few thoughts I had about sensors and different systems.
I found that, although the camera is nice, I personally wouldn’t switch to M43.
The sensor size does make a difference and I’d prefer at least APS-C.
Plus, the benefits I’d get from dropping to M43 are things I don’t currently need.
And I’m more intrigued by how different my shots could look if I stepped up into full frame.
Similarly, I already have most things figured out on my Fuji cameras.
They feel molded to my hands and I’m more focused on taking photos and understanding visual patterns rather than learning the camera itself.
In particular, the lack of an aperture ring and right handed On/Off switch on the OM system is big for me.
Those I feel are practical features and make the shooting experience easier, so I prefer Fuji for that.
Not to mention that there’s no option to add a soft shutter release - something that I think makes taking photos feel better.
Still, the benefits of M43s are noticeable.
You get a bunch more stuff in a smaller size and the zoom capabilities, compactness, and image quality did surprise me.
And the colors from the camera were very good.
What most people should consider here is price.
The OM-3 is about $2000 new, while the 17mm f1.8 is $550, and the 12-45 is $700.
These are great pieces of gear, but they aren’t cheap by any means.
And when compared to the prices of other cameras on the market, I can’t definitively say you’re getting a better deal.
At the end of the day it comes down to which trade-offs you prefer, what features you need, and what you don’t.
I can’t make those decisions for you, but those were my thoughts.
For now, I’ll be sticking to Fuji - not because Olympus is bad, but because Fuji suits me better.
So, I hope you found this useful or interesting - if you’ve shot Olympus before, let me know your thoughts in the YouTube comments and how you think it compares to other systems.
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