Best M4/3 combo

Guys,

could you reccomend me a best M4/3 combo. I've used P&S and DSLR's. The first are too weak in low light, and the later too big and cumbersome.

So, I need a small camera with the lens that performs well in low light. Zoom is not very important, I will use my feet The first big test will be a trip in June to my friend's wedding in Switzerland.

Thanks in advance

Neven

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/1041

Bruce

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruce-clarke/
Flickriver - view large on black as a stream:
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The only compact combination you'll get will be any of the Panasonic GF or Olympus E-P or E-PM or E-PL  models with a Panasonic 14-42 PZ lens ( note that PZ designation ).

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StephenG

That's a wide question that could get mutliple answers but for me the answer is the Olympus OMD. I have a couple of high end compacts that I can choose between to carry with me all the time and I have a Nikon D700 with several pro lenses, but I faced the same decision as you. I still want a system camera though so I have already bought 6 lenses. You'll have to work out which ones suit you best. The kit with the 12~50mm gets you a pretty useful zoom for not much extra money but not with a fast aperture. My first addtional lens would be the 17mm f1.8.

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www.andrewsandersphotography.co.uk

EPL-5 with panny 20mm (or new oly 17mm, or panny 25mm, although if your going that big you may as well get one of the cameras with a VF. Still considerably smaller than most DSLR's)

If you are going to a wedding and expect to be shooting at night or indoors you should consider an external flash which is capable of being bounced off the ceiling.  That is what a professional would use.

If you have been put off of flash because of the harsh light and red eyes produced by tiny built-in flashes you will amazed at the improvement in quality when you use flash bounced off the ceiling or a wall.

You will need a camera with a hot shoe and you will also need to learn how to use the flash.  It won't be a small solution though, the flash may well be bigger than the camera.

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Chris R

E-M5 is the best m43 wedding camera, because it supports viewfinder + external flash, and it has the best image stabilization, while the other Olympus cameras have iffy image stabilization that people keep turned off because it causes blurry images.
But if you want low-light on the cheap and don't mind IBIS problems, E-PM2 is a good bet.

Any Olympus EP/L/M-x camera body with 20mm f1.7 Panasonic lens.  Ignore criticisms of this lens about speed of focusing.  The quality in relation to its cost outweighs this consideration, even for a wedding.  And first kisses are notoriously long in duration!

If you wanted to take a chance on a new unreasonably expensive low-light lens, you could buy a 17mm f1.8 Olympus instead of the Panny.  I'd recommend against the 14-42X tiny Panasonic zoom.  Many users of this lens report it is outright blurry - forget fine points of resolution and contrast.

Have a good time.

The newer cameras--OMD, PM2, PL5--have a sensor that's at least a stop better in low-light, not to mentioned 16 vs the old 12 MP.  So, while the older cameras are all very good, the new ones are better. The PM2 and PL5, however, are around US$500 and the older ones can be had for around $300.

As for the lens, there's a very nice Panasonic prome 20 mm (40 mm equivalent) 1.7.  You said "zoom with your feet" and when I and a few followers of the old Canon sd20 had a 39 mm (35 mm equivalent) fixed focal lens lens we would zoom with our feet.  For me, I would usually zoom OUT! (Which is why I wish the next lens were a bit faster)

The 14 mm 2.5 Panasonic prime is not bad either.  Still very sharp but not as good as the 20 mm.

Finally, the 45 mm 1.8 Olympus is very nice if you need a 90 mm equivalent lens.

But even if you use the 14-42mm kit zoom lens, you can do well in low light vs point and shoot.  If you think about it, crappy P&S can only go up to ISO 200.  They don't have good IS.  And the lenses aren't fast.  From what I was using 10 years ago a m4/3s camera + the Pan 20 mm 1.7 lens gains me about NINE stops...about 6 stops over the Fuji F31fd I used for years.

Panasonic is making a 1.4 lens too but it's more zoomed and not out yet.

I'd get a PM2 with the 20 mm 1.8 Pan lens.  That will by my set up eventually as well.

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ysamail01-dpreview@yahoo.com

In a small package ?

Probably the EPM2 with the collapsing 14-42 kit lens.

Extremely fast lenses are not a necessity any more with these new cameras, there much better at coping with noise at higher ISO`s than they once where.

I used to think that way til I compared my compact XZ1 with its 1.8 lens against my EM5 with the 14-42 indoors in a restaurant. I'll still take the EM5 any day, but the XZ1 beat it that day.

EPM2 with the 20 mm f1.8, if the OP wants to zoom mit den fuben.

GX1 and 20mm/1.7

Sure a fast lens will be useful, but I`ve found I can get away with a slow lens today, when yesterday things were not quite as good.

I`ve found the 45mm to be just perfect, I have a set of lensbabys I used with my 4/3 system and a lensbaby 0.6 wide angle adapter, this has a useful 37mm thread and turns my 45mm into a 54mm equ lens.

There`s a second wide angle adapter that will turn the 45 into a 35mm eqi lens. And there`s a telephoto adapter that will turn the 45 into 144mm equ lens (very close to the 75mm Olympus)

These adapters are pretty cheap.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lensbaby-Wide-Telephoto-Lens-Kit/dp/B000JK74HI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1360724053&sr=8-4

Here`s my 0.6 attached to my 45mm.



You would be forgiven for thinking that Olympus makes the only m4/3 cameras from that flood of pro Oly posts ...

But there are two major manufacturers and they ave taken rather a different approach. Oly uses in body stabilization and you would do well to remember that the OM-D is effective while the others get a lot of complaints. So if you plan to shoot primes a lot then you will want to consider the OM-D ... perhaps with the lovely Panny lenses -- 14 2.5,  20 1.7, 25 1.4 ... and of course the Oly 45 1.8.

If, on the other hand, you want to use an all in one then Panny makes a great stabilized 14-140 which is surprisingly sharp and obviously rather versatile. If you want pro-equivalent zooms (you did say that you wanted a more compact setup but these aren't that bif for pro lenses) you can get either or both of the Panny 2.8 pair -- the 12-35 (24-70 equ) and the 35-100 (70-200 equ) ... these are very nice from all accounts. But do remember that you are looking at subject isolation similar to a FF cam at 5.6 (2x crop factor.) Still, you will get lovelu shots from any of the primes of zooms, especially if you get close and take advantage of subject to background ratio.

Now ... I am a Panny user because I really don't like the feel of Oly bodies. This is the same reaction I have with Canon versus Nikon. The Nikons feel like a camera while the Canons feel like a brick in my hands ... Oly = brick and Panny = dSLR to my hands. I also really like the Panny touch interface, which by the way is going to be the secret to your wedding focus issues. Touch the face of the person you want to shoot and you get instant (depending on the strength of the light) focus ... and if you want it, you get the shot at the same time. Touch trigger is cool.

The G and GH series bodies are all excellent with great ergonomics. The G5 is the poor man's GH3 and it has the silent shutter that might be quite useful during the ceremony. The EVF allows you to brace the cam the usual (dSLR) way, which helps with steadiness as there is no in body stabilization. This is the one weakness of the system if you have toruble holding a fast prime steady. But since these are people, you want higher ISO and higher shutter speeds anyway.

The GX1 mentioned by another post is another excellent body with the 16mp sensor as well. I.e. very good in low light. In fact, you can grab the G5 new and GX1 used for less than an OM-D. Something to ponder since two instantly available lenses are definitely better than one at a wedding.

Anyway ... good luck.

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http://kimletkeman.blogspot.com

First of all,I would like to thank everybody for the response. Second, I am not the official photographer for my friends wedding, only a guest. But, I would like to capture some nice moments.

Your suggestions pretty much point to the kind camera i would like to have. I must tell you, other than DSLR which are too large, I have used P&S and none of them satisfied my need for low light. I owned Fujifilm X10 and still, I found it rather noisy in spite od above average ISO capabilities and fast lens. My last camera was Sony Nex 5N with 18-55. Small camera, very, very good sensor but with that slow lens-not enough. Plus, Sony doesn't feel llke a true camera, because of the menu driven operation and lack of VF. Maybe I ought to try 6 and 7 Nex

I also looked at Canon G1X which is impressive, but is too large for a compact.

So, Panny or Oly with slow kit lenses, no, only primes. The only camera I can imagine with the kit zoom lens is Fujifilm XE1 with fast 2.8-4.0.

Also, I used live view on DSLR's for manual focusing, but I prefer looking through the viewfinder.

One thing worth mentioning is that I am going to Europapark in Germany in the summer, I have prepared Kodak Playsport Zx5 for the wet conditions and  the camera I am searching for in this thread will be my primary photographing tool.

Thanks again

Neven

My recommendation would be E-PL5 + Panny 20mm / 25mm and VF-2.

Don't forget the GX1!

For small lenses there are the 14mm, 17mm and 20mm.

I just picked up a GX1 body for $319 at B&H to augment my GH2.

It's a nice little camera and a great place to keep my 20mm. I'm even tempted to get a 14-45mm or one of the new Panasonic 14-42mm lenses that was just announced… small and sharper than the current 14-42. It'll be interesting to see comparisons to the 14-45mm.

Nice, but I would rather have the same logo on a camera and a lens.:-)

Cheers

Neven

In this case you really should have specified it - for many users a Oly body + Panny lens is the best combo they have found; and I can understand your preference, but really it means giving up on quite a lot of aspects much more related to final results than logos on your gear...

My bad :-). So, the best m4/3 oly is PL5? I miss the VF on that one. I looked at Panny G3 and G5.

At the end, IQ is what it matters the most and of course-the price.

Neven