what do you really think of m4/3?

[Texsport]

Like many here, I am blessed/cursed with curiosity and a collecting bug.

My 1st camera was a Nikkormat with 55/1.2 loaded with 800ASA film to photograph my first born as she slept.

2nd camera was a Linhof 617, and I went medium format crazy, using and collecting everything(6X6,6X7,6X9,6X12,6X17,4X5) and concentrating on landscapes and family portraits for enlargement.

Now, with more free time on our hands, and 6 grand kids, grandma wants lots of pictures, right now, for the internet! I bought her an OMD. She declared it too complicated, once she discovered her iPad.

The OMD was now mine,so, with still a few assigned tasks related to family photos, I began to use the OMD. Gradually, I experimented and found that it has a nice niche in my photography.

It's is now my special needs camera-----mostly using adapted non-native lenses:

- fast turnover portraits for social media - Biotar 58/2,Nikon 135.2, Canon 200/1.8

- macro photography - Vivitar 90/2.5, Vivitar 90-180/4.5 Flat Field, etc

- telephoto photography - Canon 70-300/4-5.6,Norita 250/4.5,Olympus 350/2.8,Zoomar 1000/8

- low light photography - Canon & Nikon 50-55/1.2,Voightlander 17.5/0.95,Voigt 10.5/0.95

- concert photography - several of the above.

So, it's my fast and crazy camera now. It's part of the walking around bags with XPan and Widelux, and a valued addition - even if accidental.

I have quite a number of medium format prints, duplicating something first discovered with the OMD.

It's not the perfect camera, but it may be all I need for lots of fun!

Texsport

 

[wojtek]

Haha, indeed. Let me ask you, do you spend a lot of time on WB in post?

No. Just tweaking a little. Perhaps 5 minutes per photograph a most? Unless some dodging/burning is required, obviously.

 

[Oscuro]

No. Just tweaking a little. Perhaps 5 minutes per photograph a most? Unless some dodging/burning is required, obviously.

Cool. Thanks. I'll have to look at the OMD.

 

[Ruhayat]

I still don't understand why Olympus hasn't come out with digital versions of their fixed lens compact cameras in the Trip / Pen / RC form factors. A 40mm Trip-D would do for me, and a 28mm would be a great second body for travel.

If they come out with a _real_ copy of the Pen F that looks like today's Pen EPL7 but with built-in viewfinder, I might just go back to the m4/3 platform. The reasonably new EM5 Mk II looks a lot better than my old EM5 did and more like an original OM, but (a) I find the grip on the right hand side still too cramped, and (b) it lacks the physical Aperture-Shutter-ISO trinity that makes me opt for Fuji XT10.

 

[grouchos_tash]

I just can't get into it. The Olympus E-M1 is a nice camera, and there are some really nice lenses, but I don't like the 4:3 aspect ratio. To get away from that, you need to use a cropped jpeg file. That's a no go for me too. I stick to APSC and FF 2:3 formats.

Me to, the aspect ratio is why I sold my bronica 645 as well.

 

[Lss]

I would also be interested in a fixed-lens compact with a 14mm or 20mm lens from Olympus (or Panasonic). I enjoyed the OM-D E-M5 most with the excellent 14/2.5.

With the post-processing experience the 5k iMac offers, though, anything less than 20 megapixels is not so nice. A 16-megapixel sensor is borderline due to the aspect ratios. Not that any of that really matters considering the end result.

 

[ampguy]

I think that after the Olympus EPL-1, they went to crap.

 

[paulfish4570]

25/1.8

 

[paulfish4570]

25/1.8 at f1.8 ...

 

[Archiver]

When m43 was first announced by Olympus and Panasonic in 2008, I was shooting with a Canon 30D and a Canon G7 or G10. The DSLR handled all the 'good' photography and the compact took care of candids, snapshots, and video. M43 seemed to promise a way to carry just one smallish camera that would handle both duties, but it wasn't until 2012 that I bought my first m43 camera, the Olympus E-M5. With that camera, m43 seemed to have finally fulfilled the promise it seemed to have made.

But.

I felt that the m43 format was a bit of a mixed bag. The image quality, while excellent when compared with a compact camera, still seemed more on the side of small sensor than aps-c or 35mm. I had 12mp cameras from Ricoh and Fuji which seemed to produce more rich, 'dense' files than the Oly. The E-M5 files also didn't play quite that well with Lightroom, and it wasn't until I used the awful Olympus Viewer processor that I began to get decent skin tones.

But the compactness, the beautiful and tiny sharp lenses, the handling, the speed, the build quality, the ability to have decent photos and video in one camera, it was a revelation.

About a year later, I bought a Panasonic GH3 for video work, and found that I liked the handling just as much, if not more than, the E-M5. The raw files seemed to play much better with Lightroom, and the video quality was way beyond the E-M5.

A Panasonic GM1 came along, and it became one of my favourite small cameras. Put on an Oly 25. 17 or 45, and it was an absolute pocket rocket, doing portraits that nothing else its size could touch. I liked the files from the GM1 even more than the GH3, and video was no slouch, either.

A few months ago, I bought a GH4 and the bar has been raised again. Great images and pro level video.

Now, having said all of this, do I still use other formats? Yes. I regularly pair the GM1 and the Oly 25/1.8 with either a Ricoh GR or Panasonic LX7, and this is great for when I don't want the weight and bulk of the Leica M9, or even the good old E-M5. The image quality of the GM1 and GH4 are good enough for a lot of my purposes.

 

[robert blu]

Interesting convincing photos, here, now that Pen F arriving on the market could be the right camera for me.
robert

 

[Archiver]

Interesting convincing photos, here, now that Pen F arriving on the market could be the right camera for me.
robert

You'll need some m43 lenses, and/or an adapter for the kinds of lenses you like to use.

Budget recommendations. These lenses are inexpensive, but they take great images.

- Sigma 18mm f2.8 (36mm eq)
- Sigma 30mm F2.8 (60mm eq)
- Panasonic 14mm f2.5 (28mm eq)

Mid range. These cost more but give you wider aperture and excellent image quality.

- Olympus 17mm f1.8 (34mm eq)
- Olympus 12mm f2 (24mm eq)
- Olympus 25mm f1.8 (50mm eq and my favourite m43 lens)
- Olympus 45mm f1.8 (90mm eq and gorgeous images)

Expensive. The zooms are about $1000 or more, but their image quality is great, and they will give you the flexibility that only zooms can.

- Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 or Olympus 12-40mm f2.8
- Panasonic 35-100mm f2.8 or Olympus 40-150mm (loads more range with the Oly

I use a Novoflex Leica M adapter, and my favourite lenses on m43 cameras are the Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 Nokton and the Zeiss C Sonnar 50mm f1.5. Both lenses are relatively compact and handle well on smaller bodies.

If I was using the Pen-F, I would have a couple of primes like the Oly 12/2 and 25/1.8, and maybe the Voigtlander 35/1.4 on an adapter.

 

[Bingley]

I still don't understand why Olympus hasn't come out with digital versions of their fixed lens compact cameras in the Trip / Pen / RC form factors. A 40mm Trip-D would do for me, and a 28mm would be a great second body for travel.

If they come out with a _real_ copy of the Pen F that looks like today's Pen EPL7 but with built-in viewfinder, I might just go back to the m4/3 platform. The reasonably new EM5 Mk II looks a lot better than my old EM5 did and more like an original OM, but (a) I find the grip on the right hand side still too cramped, and (b) it lacks the physical Aperture-Shutter-ISO trinity that makes me opt for Fuji XT10.

So why wouldn't an E-P5 with a Pany 20/1.7 and Pany 14/2.5 meet your requirements? That gives you 40 and 28 from great lenses with something closer to the classic Pen form factor.

 

[Bingley]

The little Oly 17/2.8 pancake lens has been a revelation. Inexpensive, sharp, not as fast with AF as the 17/1.8 but fast enough, and I like the way it renders. Here it is in action on an E-P5:

Rijksmuseum by bingley0522, on Flickr

 

[Bingley]

Others have mentioned the excellent Zuiko 45/1.8 for m4/3. I really like that lens too. In concert with the Zuiko 17, it makes an outstanding two lens travel kit.

Bookseller by bingley0522, on Flickr

 

[traveler_101]

E-P5 is a great little camera - except for the problems I have with the control dials skipping. Otherwise solid camera with a quality feel and takes great jpgs. Have the 17/1.8 on order now to replace my Panasonic 20/17 - used that for years with the E-P1. Also have the 25/1.8 which is a very good lens. Would like to move up to the Pen-F largely because of the built-in EVF.

Reading over this thread, in the first couple of pages is like reading of an archive - lack of subject isolation, slow focusing, shutter shock. All these issues have been dealt with successfully over the years. Nice photos from everyone who posted on this page!

 

[Archiver]

Panasonic GM1 with Olympus 25/1.8:

GM1 - Beats [explore 2014 07 05] by Archiver, on Flickr

GM1 with Olympus 45/1.8:

GM1 - Two on the Table by Archiver, on Flickr

 

[xixi_gelly]

Hi m4/3 users, I was wondering if anyone had experience with the Olympus M5/M10 series versus Fuji X100 series and could comment on their relative SPEED.

I've tried X100S (owned and borrowed) and X100T (borrowed) multiple times each for street and documentary photography but ultimately just couldn't get along with them-- they felt very sluggish to me. Fuji's AF was never fast enough, and I felt like there was shutter lag with the aperture opening and closing. Even the new X100T or S firmware upgrades didn't feel fast enough even though others online seem satisfied.

I've tried MF zone focusing with the Fuji to speed up the focusing and it's not a very satisfactory experience at all compared to the film M6 with tabbed lenses I'm used to -- and even then I still feel like the Fuji has some lag, maybe because of Auto ISO.

So my question is if I were to use the Oly m5 or m10 could I achieve DSLR-like AF speed and is it much faster than the Fujis? The olys seem promising messing for 5 mintues in a store but I'm reluctant to judge them solely based on that. Everyone raves about X100 series and they're undoubtedly beauties -- my dream camera on paper-- but I just can't accept the handling speed and don't understand why everyone else seems okay shooting streets with them. Is everyone just enamored by the physical aesthetic and xtrans color etc etc and willing to overlook the sluggishness?? Or maybe I just shoot differently and have unreasonably high standards for how a compact should realistically handle??

For reference I'm accustomed to Canon 5D2 DLSR AF speed and Leica (instantaneous) pre-focusing and that's what I'm judging these cameras against. I also had a GRDIV and was okay with the speed -- I'd just prefer an EVF!

 

[Gregm61]

All the doubters need to go taking some photos with m34.
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Nah, they really just need to get over it and go take pictures with their cameras. The micro four-thirds system is quite good, whatever they think. I rotate between an Olympus E-M1 and Leica outfit constantly. They're both excellent.

 

[raid]

I use my two digital Leica cameras, plus the E-P2 and E-PL1. I don't feel the need to go beyond what I currently have as I get back images that I like seeing. I use mainly my three Zeiss SLR lenses on the M 4/3 camera: 35/1.4 Distagon, 50/1.4 Planar, 85/1.4 Planar. The lenses are more important to me than the cameras.