With the brand new OM System OM3 being announced today, street photographers can know that a brand designed a camera for them. The company is specifically targeting this camera to city photographers — which is pretty much where some of the most famous street photography happens. Most importantly, though, it has features that other brands often completely forget about because they instead state that their autofocus is just that good. But with the diversity in lighting situations being so stark in cities, that’s not always the case. This new camera has a few great things that make it wonderful for street photography. So let’s discuss.
Table of Contents
Preset Manual Focus: Zone Focusing and Walking Meditation
The new OM System OM3 has a fun feature called preset MF. This essentially is zone-focusing — where you focus the lens out to a set distance, stop it down, and then shoot. My favorite distance is around 5 and a half feet away and stopping a lens down to f2.8. And since the sensor is a Four Thirds sized device, the depth of field is around f5.6. That means that all I need to do is wait until a subject moves to within 5 and a half feet of me, and then I point and shoot. For the best results, I often shoot with a burst mode activated.
Most importantly, this is so much better than simply manually focusing a lens out because some companies don’t let you lock the focusing of the lens at all. So, if you accidentally turn the focusing ring out to 7 feet, your setup is all gone. On top of that, many modern autofocus lenses don’t have zone focusing markers on them. But with this system, you can rest assured that the system won’t change the distance unless you tell it to.
I recently became certified to teach vipassana meditation, and one of the types of meditation we speak of is the walking meditation process. Colloquially, you’d focus on your inner world when doing a walking meditation. But you can expand that to a certain distance away from you to the point where something at around 6 feet away from you becomes part of your inner world. “Resist the urge to look around and take in all the sights, at least, during your early sessions,” is what many modern teachings say. “Keep your attention turned inward. Keeping your head straight and watching the path five to ten feet in front of you will help you stay focused.” But when you combine this with mindful breathing, a sustainable walking pace, and letting the moments pass in and out of your zone, you’ll find that the OM System OM3 can help you make beautiful street photography.
Forget About RAW: Color and Black and White Film Simulations
Embracing the idea that you should, “get it right in-camera” the OM System OM3 lets you dial in specific film simulations in the form of color presets and black and white presets. We found that you can combine this with specific white balancing or by simply telling the camera to automatically white balance either cooler or warmer. When you do this, you get images that you’ll be super excited with. Most importantly for your mental health though, it will teach you to be content with what you have because the JPEG files will deliver something to you that you probably couldn’t even have imagined.
I often used the most vivid color film simulation and shot at higher ISOs to stop fast-moving subjects. I couldn’t get over how cool the results where in my process to document one of the most vibrant communities in America.
Reliability: Durability and Battery Life
Lastly, the best part of the new OM System OM3 for street photographers is the durability and the battery life. Often you’ll want to shoot in the rain — and as long as you have a durable lens attached to the camera, it will resist the elements with ease. We’d know, we tested it! Beyond that, this is some of the best battery life we’ve experienced with a mirrorless camera. You’ll barely ever need to charge it up.