Positioning, ISO settings, shutter speeds and all that stuff aside, I thought I would mention white balance. I shot a lot of different sports in gyms when my sons were in high school and in those days (15-20 years ago) most gyms had nasty lighting that your Auto setting for white balance would never know what to do with. Not sure if they have gotten any better.

Once I figured out how to set a custom white balance I was good to go... my preference is using an ExpoDisc. I would make sure I was at the gym ahead of the game so I could have everything set and ready to go before the action started.

Indeed ... seems to be pretty much a cover of Disturbed's cover

We are doing the same cruise in July ... look forward to seeing some pictures from your trip to inspire me :)

Looks like a wonderful spot. Unfortunate that it is "lonesome" ... at this time of the year, just coming out of a week in the deep freeze, I'd be happy to keep it come and company (particularly if there are fish in that lake :) ).

The type of PDFs you have, and what type of editing you want/need to do with them, will affect what tool(s) might work the best. At work (engineering office) we use a PDF editor called Bluebeam ... I don't think I could get by without it now that it is engrained in my day-to-day work. I have tried a number of cheap and/or freebie programs and none of them come even close to being as "robust" and user friendly IMO.

I too found the Olympus bodies (both EM5 and now EM1 MkII) feeling too small in my hands ... always felt like my "pinky" finger was lost down at the bottom of the grip without anything to hold onto. Adding the battery grips onto both of those bodies made a world of difference in terms of feel for me, and they now never come off when shooting. They also add the extra controls for portrait shooting as a bonus :)

I have been hooked on the Olympus brand since the mid 1970s and have nothing negative to say about them at all. Recently acquired the EM1 MkII and the 12-100 lens and have been floored by how much clearer and faster everything is compared to my "old" EM5 (which I was quite happy with for many years ... it now moves into "backup body" role). Also, build quality is fantastic in my opinion, particularly on the pro series lenses. The 12-100 lens is my first with the sliding ring for switching into and out of manual focus ... "best thing since sliced bread" IMO :)

As for the menu system, I have no complaints but then I have never delved into the menus of any other brand for comparison. Once you get everything set the way you want it (including deciding on functions for the generic "Fn" buttons available to you) there is not a lot of need to regularly go digging through menus anyways. I have found that the EM1 MkII has far more settings directly available from buttons on the back or top panels and the multiple adjustment dials/wheels at your index finger and thumb than I have on the older EM5.

Thanks for checking into that ... even though I chose not to pursue, it seems like the "cost to ship to Canada" research may have helped someone else :)

I am near Calgary, Alberta ... postal code is T0J 1X3 (would be simpler if we also called ours "zip codes" but we do have to be different up here :) ). Other aspect is any cross border issues with Customs (extra $ ?) AND I suppose I also have to figure out where our dollar is at relative to yours. So many questions ... I wonder what happened to "free trade" ?

I would still have to really commit to getting used to manual focus again after so many years of AF ... so certainly not a "done deal" even if the shipping works out.

Tempted ... but located in Canada. Not sure how shipping would work out.

Very nice Ed ... pictures like this always remind me that I need to get out there more often! It amazes me sometimes how often we tend to overlook stuff that is close to home like this and yet plan and take vacations to places based on (in part) the photo opps abroad.

Love the shot! :)

Just curious ... what light source is there off to the left of the frame? The shadows on the posts suggest a pretty strong light over in that direction.

I am so glad you asked ... not because I have any answers for you (sorry!) but rather because I am looking at exactly the same options and just haven't gotten around to posting the question.

Looking forward to tracking any replies on this one :)

Too true Jerry ... but the real question (just to stir up controversy) is whether those cameras should be DSLRs or mirrorless?

We do have a few of those intersections in downtown Calgary, and I believe they have pedestrian push buttons (however, push buttons are typically not used in downtown Calgary as the downtown signal system runs on a fixed time plan with pedestrians automatically accommodated during each signal cycle). Can't recall if the Banff ones have push buttons but will be out there in the next week or two and will have a look