#144

well, I think the dubious thing about Olympus is that they’re selling off their camera business and their future is uncertain.

As a recent Panasonic user, let me say that I really do like Micro Four Thirds as a form factor and system and wish I saw more love for it here too

#145

i see those Oly’s out plenty and they have a very positive review base and tbh great specs for the size and lens selection. id have a hard time switching from aps-c to m4/3 but they are fine looking and actually really small cameras.

#146

Just bought an EM1 Mk iii (a week or so before they announced they were selling out) plus 25mm f/1.2. I love them both, happy to answer any questions. I have been in the m4/3 game since the EP2 came out though, so for me it was a different proposition than someone investing in the system from scratch.

#147

Is there any particular reason that makes them getting out of the camera game a problem? Firmware updates, software support etc, I guess? Repairs I guess… Anything else?

#148

I started on LUMIX and highly recommend. Their G stuff is like the Suzuki of the camera world. Super efficient, inexpensive, rarely fails and gets the job done. I had the GF1 with the pancake 20mm, it was truly a dream. They still do a similar form factor, I think the GX9. Not sure if they’ve done another since then.

I also had the GH3 for a while, great too, although the little power zoom 24-42 (I think) with that setup wasn’t as fast as the pancake.

Now I have a A7sii, it’s very dreamy and again just have a small Zeiss 35mm permanently attached. I’d love the 24-105 as a next lens but it’s super pricey.

The Sony I’m enjoying, battery life is a bit pedestrian and menus are kinda fiddly. I actually gas’d pretty badly over the new Z6 which was coming out at the time I was in the market, but ending up going with Sony at the last minute due to the overall bang for buck.

I had all sorts of tables going of feature comparison and pros and cons between models before buying, but now that it’s at my place and waiting in a bag for the next shoot you realise a camera today only really does 2 things - shoot photos, or shoot video. Some shoot video worse than others, but most take good photos. Lenses is where the money is. But all the features u think u need at the time, will print size be enough, is the crop factor this or that, etc etc, in the end it either shoots great photos, great video, or both.

Portability is probably a key factor for most, it is for me. Sometimes I just think I’d be happier with a G7Xmkii or iii. But I’m happy with the Sony. My phone does carry most of the weight these days but the mirrorless is there for when I need it.

I think camera companies try so hard to sell u on the specs, and many of them are great, but if you’re a hobbiest, most of it is pretty irrelevant. I have a friend who shoots on film in old reflex cameras and I swear his stuff is often more endearing than a lot of the sharp digital stuff.

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#149

I think you’ve covered the main ones, also potential future unavailability of official back up batteries, back up bodies and accessories is another one. Not a huge concern from my perspective.

The other nagging thought I guess some people could have is, why buy now (at “full price”) when there may be a “firesale” in a few months time. Who knows if that will happen? Again not a concern for me.

#150

To update with some experience from this afternoon - I went to a friend’s house with my family, and didn’t feel like carting the 25mm 1.2 (which is big and heavy for a m4/3 lens). Instead I put the Panasonic 14mm 2.5 on the EM1, and the combination of lens plus camera slipped into my shorts pocket without too much trouble. No wrist strap /neck strap /camera bag needed. Not hugely bigger than my phone either.

That’s the beauty of the system - the tiny (but still good quality) lenses are there if you want to travel light and unobtrusively, but they also have bigger “Pro”-grade lenses available if you are going out specifically for photography rather than socialising.

I just scrolled up in this thread and saw my previous post about the Sigma FP, which I had forgotten about - I looked at that camera for a long while, but once you add the additional weight and size of the lenses + viewfinder into the proposition, and take into account the compromises in ergonomics plus lack of IBIS in the FP, the EM1 seemed a better deal for my travel light MO, even considering the trade-offs in IQ.

#151

honestly, unless fairly professional video was your goal, the FP probably doesn’t make sense. while it’s a full-frame ILC, it’s really not prioritized for someone who wants to capture stills primarily. you’re right about lens sizes too.

#152

Yeah, I have seen some really nice stills come out of that camera, but I get that that is not the camera’s main focus.

As I say, the form factor reminded me a lot of my Rollei 35s, which is a beautiful, beautiful camera and work of art.

I also see some really nice and slim boutique manual focus L-mount wide angles coming out of Japan.

But overall the FP has too many compromises for my particular use case at the moment.

#153

This is coming from a filmmaking perspective since that’s what I do and teach, but I also take various cameras along for travel (still mostly video but also stills) and if I had to stick with one “take along” camera forevermore it would be the Lumix Gh5 (not the 5s, despite it having better low light - the lack of IBIS, which is SO well implemented in the GH5, makes it less of a “does everything” magic machine).

But if your primary use is stills (it’s fine for stills but its video that shines), you care about having the best/fastest auto-focus (I don’t), or you are in love with full frame, you probably want to look elsewhere. Fuji, Sony and Canon all make great stills cameras, some that are mentioned above even come close to the wonderful knob-per-function immediacy of film cameras. If you opt for one of those and still hope to shoot good video, though, make sure you can live with the rolling shutter artifacts on the model you’re considering. They can be pretty awful.

Likewise if you are ONLY about video and don’t need IBIS, the BlackMagic Pocket 4k and 6k are great (other than terrible battery life).

M43 is such a wonderful, flexible format. I hope it doesn’t end up dying.

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#154

I only recently picked up an FP and while it might be a limited camera for many, Sigma cameras have been a favorite for a while now. The image quality is amazing and their quirky approach to making cameras pleases me.

I’d love to hear more about the lenses you mention here. Shoot mostly with the 45mm 2.8 on the FP, but am looking for a compact 28mm lens for the FP.

#155

ms optical lenses - this was the one i was thinking of - sorry i misremembered, they are actually m mount, but the m to l adapter doesn’t seem to add much to the size / weight!

enjoy your fp, looks like a great camera to me.

#156

looking for opinions on the fuji x100v. on first glance: emphatic yes to usb-c, but ugh to the tilty screen. nice that the video is now usable, even though what i’m looking for is a lightweight, enjoyable camera now that my phone has sufficiently degraded and i’d like to give proper respect to more intentional capturing of my surroundings.

i expect the older x100’s all become more affordable with each iteration as well.

#157

I haven’t used the x100v specifically, but I absolutely love the Fuji line in general, and the previous x100’s are so great. I use an X-Pro2 as my main and daily camera.

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#158

I second the Fuji love. My preferred carry around camera is the X100f. Fuji’s color science has an undeniable mojo. I haven’t used the v, but I think that they’re producing very well-measured camera bodies right now.

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#159

I still have the original X100 and it’s a darling, albeit a bit weathered now. Will be upgrading shortly, no doubt. I wouldn’t go anywhere else in mirrorless

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#160

I love the x100 line in general and I think I’d endorse the 100v over older generations if you have any interest in video capture at all. usb-c is nice and the lens performing quite a lot better close up and wide open is welcome.

fuji’s nice color profiles plus video capture makes a really compelling low-stress video capture workflow without agonizing over color grading later, which I think is worth a lot.

I will offer an alternative, because I was recently in the same place (still rocking a phone I’ve had since 2016 and looking for a good lightweight camera to supplement) and I didn’t get an x100.

I opted for a ricoh gr iii.

you get 24mp, usb-c charging/image transfer, and a fantastic lens in a camera that’s less than 50% the volume of the x100 (and 60% of the weight). the interface is straight forward and super capable. it’s cheaper new and I got mine lightly used for less than most of the x100f I’ve seen.

you don’t get killer video and the battery life is a bit worse (and you have to compose on the rear screen), but you do get something that’s actually pocketable and just feels super purposeful in use. I absolutely love it so far.

3 Likes
#161

Speaking of video and X100v: Will the HDMI output send sync to a Mixpre 10II and automatically start the audio recording? I’m having a hard time figuring out which cameras will do this.

#162

i’ve posted up in this thread enough that I’m a Sony APS-C user and am very fond of the Fuji series and think @tehn would do well to get the Fuji he likes that he can afford BUT the only digital camera I actually, constantly have GAS for is the Ricoh GR. insanely discreet, pocketable boss of a camera.

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#163

just some thoughts on the tilt screen: i own a fuji x70 which has a similar (but apparently easier to grab) tilt screen, and i really love it. It is very useful to take pictures from the waist or for low angles. It is not unlike removing the prism on the nikon F4 or using an old twin-lens (minus the dizzying inversion of picture), only more practical. It feels sufficiently solid too.