02/09/2026
https://www.jeffmcpheeters.com/Travel/China
I have needed for some time to clean up my photo library and organize online albums for friends and family, mostly. We have a lot of travel photos I have not organized into albums, so I randomly picked China from 2013 to go through and arrange, partly because it was the first major trip we took where I had replaced the large Canon DSLRs with two much smaller Olympus OM-D E-M5 cameras.
I brought along six lenses and the whole batch was smaller and lighter than what I had taken previous years. I will put a photo in the comments to give a visual comparison of size differences.
The first thing I began to notice when pulling out favorites from 2013, was how well they hold up to today's standards. The signal to noise ratio was actually quite good in those older sensors, up to around ISO3200. I had none of the pro lenses I use today. I did have a couple of small prime f/1.8 lenses, one of which I still use today and is a favorite: 75mm f/1.8. The 4x3 format was very flexible for taking 3x2 horizontal or 4x5 vertical crops out of when wanted. Dynamic range was passable and the color fidelity, mostly shot in auto white balance, was spot on in most cases, and especially in indoor venues with wildly variable lighting (performances and that sort of thing). jpegs out of camera were great and raw images could easily be corrected for white balance issues if needed. I used a small TTL flash at times, and Olympus handles TTL like a pro, it seems.
My lenses were the m.Zuiko 12-50 f/3.5-6.7 kit zoom, an excellent lens and one I have currently, attached to an E-M5 I still use; the m.Zuiko 40-150mm f/4-5.6 zoom lens, also quite good and small, a 7.5mm Rokinon fisheye, f/3.5, manual lens, m.Zuiko 45mm and 75mm f/1.8 primes (outstanding lenses - not weather sealed), and a 75-300mm II f/4.8-6.7 wealther sealed zoom. The largest lens is the size of a soft drink aluminum can about as heavy. I also used an iPhone 6 at that time and some iPhone images are in these albums.
Any of these would be fine today. Were I to return, I might get by with a modern iPhone for snaps and video, and an OM-1 with a 12-100 f/4 for 90% of the shots along with the 8mm f/1.8 fisheye. I would also have my Olympus TG-5 tough camera for macro as it's pocketable.
Newer sensors handle much higher ISOs and noise reduction in Lightroom is very capable. For countryside/zoos/distance, the 40-150/2.8 is still my favorite lens of all time, although the 75-300II is still a decent and small lens for day travel. I'd bring along the MC20 2x Teleconverter just in case. And a Godox flash.
Freelance photographer specializing event photography, fine art landscape, nature, and portraiture.
