You have probably noticed that I have been using my Olympus TG-5 camera a lot lately.  This is primarily for the convenience factor of its size and its ability to make close detail images.  It is an ideal “note taking” camera to record the state of the flowers or of Seth’s junk pile, etc.

The question I have been trying to answer is “why use it rather than one of my “better” cameras”, but the issue of “better” depends on lots of things.  The TG-5 is better in the sense that it fits in a pocket and is more rugged and can be used without worrying about the weather, or dropping it, etc.  The TG-5 is also better in that it has greater depth of field (DoF) which is of importance for record snap-shots.

The images below were taken to compare the TG-5 against the PEN-F for convenience.  I used them both in “P” mode and didn’t make any adjustments in LR except for WB and cropping.  I just wanted to see how they both performed when grabbed quickly and used to make a fast snap shot.  There wasn’t much difference other than the size & weight of the cameras and the difference in DoF.

But, in order to get a closer picture of the flower, the PEN-F couldn’t do it unless I put a different lens on it and that means carrying multiple lenses.  With the TG-5 I could make the following.

My problem is that I would rather use a camera with more controllability and better image quality for making better images; but, I keep slipping back to the TG-5 because I’m lazy and don’t want to carry a larger camera around.  I may look for an alternative that is easier for me to use.  I’ll continue with these thoughts in a week or so.