I had the same translation issues a bit. Not too much of that these days once I got some cheat sheets together of equivalencies. The biggest issue was deciding how to reprogram several of the function buttons, such as the on off switch relocated so I can flip it on and off with my thumb. I also turned off the focus ring clutch on the pro lenses because it is way to easy to slide the ring into the clutch disengagement position when shooting quickly. The autofocus system works superbly for 99% of my photos.

I just got back from three weeks in Italy and Greece and ended up with over 4000 frames that used only the autofocus. Of those , I have only found about twenty that did not catch focus properly, and on examination they were either operator error or very low lighting situations that caused the focus to hunt.

As everyone has noted, hang in there. It is a steep learning curve but well worth the effort. I am a 45 year Nikon user that got converted 2 years ago. Wow what a difference in weight for travel use.

Don’t quit !

P.S. - I am still learning the system even after two years and thousands of photos. The capabilities of the camera are amazing.

P.P.S- the internet videos are your friend. Show and tell eases the transition greatly.

Now that we know it is a display hive, see if you can borrow a ring light . That will give even lighting. Good luck trying to isolate the queen. The display hives usually have a small inside display area attached via tubes or something of the sort to the larger external hive. Unless they have a queen excluder (a wire mesh the queen cannot pass through due to her greater thorax and abdomen diameter) keeping her in the display area she will have access to the external hive and be very difficult to locate and photograph.

By the way, none of those bees in your photos appear to be drones. They are all worker bees attending the queen and keeping her fed and groomed. They are quite amazing insects.

I keep bees. You can easily locate the queen by finding the frame with fresh eggs in unsealed cells. Look around or have the beekeeper find her for you and hold the frame in a suitable lighting situation around the hive. A shade area will give softer lighting. Unless it is a windy day or weather in the area the bees will not be disturbed by removing the frames. I usually do not smoke the hive when locating the queen because it causes a lot of activity with the bees trying to avoid the smoke and makes finding the queen much harder.

In reality if there are a lot of drone bees in the hive it usually indicates a new queen in the hive very recently or the hive is about to swarm. After the new queen is mated the worker bees (all females) eject the big fat male drones !

Another important thing; wear white or light color clothing. Bees will attack black or dark clothing pretty aggressively if disturbed. If you happen to get stung, do not try to pick off the white stinger sac with your fingers. Use your fingernail , or a pocket knife to scrape it off as if you are shaving. This avoids injecting the venom sac into the sting site. Do this fairly quickly because the stinger has muscles that will continue to drive the stinger deeper while injecting the venom.

Take the plunge. It is an Outstanding camera system that finally pulled me away from the Nikon system I’ve used for 45 years.

The weight savings alone is worth the change, especially for travel. I just spent three weeks on Italy and Greece with the EM1 MK II, the 7-14 and 12-100 pro zoom lenses. This setup covered every photo op I ran across. I mostly mounted the 7-14 which was perfect for the close-in nature of most cities we visited. I never regretted not carrying the 40-150 zoom. The 12-100 has the in lens stabilization system which in combination with the IBIS, makes hand held low light situations a non-issue. No need to carry a tripod or flash (many places I visited prohibit them as well as flash photography) and the photos are still amazing.

The pro series lenses combined with the EM1 MK II body make a weather sealed combination. When other around you are scampering to protect their cameras you will be amused at their situation while calmly shooting great photos in the rain.

As noted the camera has a steep learning curve but there are a number of books and videos available that make getting up to speed much easier. Once you get a feel for the menu system and all the available setup options you will be amazed what this camera is capable of.



This photo was handheld and shows the low-light and image stabilization in a rocking gondola.

An important thing to remember : Big Bend National Park is an arid desert area. Always carry water with you in case of breakdowns . If hiking take a couple of large water bottles or canteens with you. Always carry more than you think you will drink.

If you plan on hiking, carry some kind of GPS and know how to use it to mark your start position. Some have a backtrack function that can take you back to your start point .

It is worth your life.

Agreed 100% . Generally I shoot RAW+JPEG , the jpeg going to the second card which can be dumped to internet quickly if necessary. 99.9% or my stuff is stored RAW or DNG . All the good stuff is processed through Lightroom and exported to whatever the user format is needed.

Why not have him try the Apple Photos app built into the Mac system? Much easier learning curve for your friend, and is free.

Tough TG-5 is perfect. It shoots RAW so editing is easy if necessary. Last year I switched to the Olympus OM-D E-M1 MK II to save travel weight. A huge bonus is the fact the body and pro series lenses are weather/dust/moisture sealed.

I use the TG-5 as my diving camera because it is a very small package when in current. Photos and video are excellent, and even out of the dive housing it is weatherproof also, with a good zoom range.

The sunrise photos are full zoom and full wide to show the zoom range. They were handheld and give a great example of the in body image stabilization. Zoom in on the oil rig and note how you can see the leg braces clearly.

The underwater shots are at 80 feet on the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, lights are the SeaLife Sea Dragon 2500 video lights .

I can highly recommend the TG-5 as an excellent camera at a great price point. Buy it and you will not be disappointed.

I would still suggest taking your Canon camera setup. There are many photo ops that have no sand and you will regret not having the large format. For sure take a wide angle lens !

OK... a sample underwater shot. Brain Coral at Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary made with the TG-5 and video lights.

I can definitely recommend the TG-5. I purchased it because I use the Olympus E-M1 Mk II system, and the TG-5 has many of the systems and menus including in-body image stabilization.

I also purchased the Olympus PT-058 underwater housing to use at depths beyond what the camera is rated for.

The system gives great images and is a compact pocket camera with a great zoom range. It also ˜has accessory lenses for wide and telephoto use if you need the extra range of imaging.

A key point for me is that the camera can shoot RAW images which gives great control in post processing if necessary. The video capability is also excellent.

Highly recommend this camera. Sample shots showing zoom range and resolution . These were taken at sunrise 150 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico. It is same shot, full zoom and full wide. Note the resolution of the oil rig on the zoomed shot. The photos are hand-held and show how well the in-body stabilization works even on a moving boat deck.

The camera was mounted in the underwater housing when I took these photos.

I recently purchased an Olympus Tough TG-5 with the dive housing. It’s waterproof without the housing which is used for deeper dives and is very compact. It makes impressive images, has a good zoom range, and has many of the menu operations of my OM-D E-M1 II. I highly recommend this camera.

Welcome to the Olympus club ! I am a 45 year Nikon user and about 6 months ago got seduced by the EM-1 II. I absolutely love the camera and the pro series lenses. Much smaller form factor with excellent optics and a lot less weight. It has a steep learning curve simply because it has amazing capabilities. As noted, there are a lot of great resources on the internet for this camera. Grab some of the books specific to the system and read them thoroughly. Absolutely go shoot photos and videos, as that is the best way to learn the camera quickly, but there are a lot of features that are not apparent, and the menu system will be a bit cryptic at times. When you get it figured out it works well.

Tony Northrup has a great video that will give you a good overview and show how to set up some of the buttons with useful functions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVsC5SHfu-I&t=1267s

Have fun !

Doug

Well said !