Phones these days are so great, you have an amazing camera in your pocket 24/7. But an iPhone is never going to replace a camera for my travelling pics.

Don’t get me wrong, iPhones will take perfectly good photos of landscapes, buildings, people, and selfies – but I don’t want good photos – I want great ones. I believe photos are really important on holidays, as important as keeping a diary/journal, your itinerary, tickets, and souvenirs that you buy… Actually, I’d rather have amazing photos to keep forever, in a box or on my walls (or blog) over a trinket you have to buy, carry and then dust when you get home!

My camera of choice has always been the Olympus Pen, I first bought the E-PM1 and am now on the E-PM8. I bought it in 2011 for around $400AUD and as I have updated the price has crept up around the $800 mark. I’ve also bought a few lens kits and accessories for it but they are relatively low-cost when you start looking at photography as a hobby. Olympus will update models every few years, which is good because it keeps the price of older models low. And because it wasn’t too expensive, I don’t have to be precious about asking someone to take a photo for me, or leaving it in my bag at hotels. I write this, but I was heartbroken when I dropped it on day 3 of our two month holiday in South East Asia. But let me talk a little more about why it’s soo good.

I bought this model because I wanted higher quality images than the typical point-and-shoot camera (or phone) but I didn’t want to spend a load of money on a DSLR. The Olympus Pen E-PM1 came with a detachable flash (not pictured in the image above) and I lost it. Then I bought a new one for about $70 online. It came with two interchangeable lenses, a portrait-landscape and larger zoom lens. I the day I dropped my OG pen the portrait lense never really recovered. I have bought a pancake lense which is yet to arrive.

The portrait-landscape will be what most of my photos are taken on, I will use the zoom for shows or particularly packed attractions or when I’m taking sporting pics.

The  E-MP1 is super small too. To carry around I have an Alife Design ST-WRAP and it just pops into my handbag so easily (or hangs around my wrist).

Here are a couple of photos I took this afternoon:

I also like to borrow Jono’s GoPro because we get some good photos from that – especially if you strap it to your dog.