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If I Could Only Have 1 Mirrorless Camera?

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DrPartagas

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If you could only have 1 mirrorless 4/3 camera in your arsenal, which one would accompany you and why?

There are so many wonderful choices. Choose 1 camera and explain why.
 
My main reason for moving to m43 was to get a smaller and lighter package with good image quality. I currently use the E-M5 with 20mm f/1.7 as a pocketable setup and when I carry more I will add the 12-50 and sometimes 75-300 lens and a flash. I would never carry a second body if I had one.
 
The other camera is a Panny FT4 compact for underwater and rough stuff.

My mirrorless is m43, the E-PL3 with the VF2, 9-18, 14, 14-42, 45, and 40-150 lenses and a couple of flashes, c/u lenses, odd bits and pieces, and a tripod.

I went from the G1 (excellent but didn’t like the JPEG colors), to the E-PM1 (really good but limited in handling), to the E-PL3, because it was small, affordable, and more versatile than the PM1 and although less versatile than the G1, it had far better color.

I want small and I want pocketable, and I want light. Backin the day I used to carry two (yes, 2( Mamiya C330s with the full lens kit and a bloody great flash and eye levelVF and tripod and …


Look, i don’t want to talk about it, okay? It makes me tired.

i will be moving up to a 16 MPX sensor soon and had been thinking I would go straight to the E-PL5. However, having done my sums on real size and weight (i.e. wih lens and in the case of the E-PL3, the VF fitted), I am looking with more and more favor at the G5. Among other advantages, it has a built-in flash which I want for fill-in.

Cheers, geoff
 
Difficult to choose indeed. (I use always two cameras)

I have 3 candidates to choose only one.

Panasonic Lumix G5 (the probable one I choose)

Olympus EPL5 (Pleasant and good sensor)

Panasonic Lumix GX1 (Good sensor and a form that I like)

I guess I will take the G5, for being very complete, small, good sensor, built in EVF and good LCD.
 
Hen3ry said:
Hen3ry wrote:

i will be moving up to a 16 MPX sensor soon and had been thinking I would go straight to the E-PL5. However, having done my sums on real size and weight (i.e. wih lens and in the case of the E-PL3, the VF fitted), I am looking with more and more favor at the G5. Among other advantages, it has a built-in flash which I want for fill-in.

Cheers, geoff

--
Geoffrey Heard
http://pngtimetraveller.blogspot.com/2011/10/return-to-karai-komana_31.html
Click to expand...
The EPL5 is very good and a pleasant camera, but I think you are going to like better the G5, If you use the Vivid Photo Style you get appealing JPG colors, and other styles are also good.

One thing I always do is to fine tune the AWB and choose the right Photo Style, to the conditions I have when taking pictures, this works fine for me, I take about 50% JPG's, with my Panasonics.

Now I am going to be "bad", and if Panasonic launch soon in a few months a G6 or G7 or other model with the new sensor technology recently announced ? :)

Don't worry be happy, I still use a G2 and a GF1. (but I am going to move to a GH3 and a OMD, or GH3 and G5, but I will keep the "old" cameras because they gave lot's of good pictures and fun)
  • Here the Panasonic Lumix colors I get, in JPG and one RAW just a bit processed.



From JPG




From JPG


From JPG


From JPG


From RAW


From JPG


From JPG




--
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.


Pure logic is the ruin of the spirit.


Imagination is more important than knowledge.


God is the tangential point between zero and infinity.




Aleo Photo Site
 

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DrPartagas said:
DrPartagas wrote:

If you could only have 1 mirrorless 4/3 camera in your arsenal, which one would accompany you and why?

There are so many wonderful choices. Choose 1 camera and explain why.
Click to expand...
E-PL5. Has OM-D Sony sensor the best DR in all MFT.
 
DrPartagas said:
DrPartagas wrote:

If you could only have 1 mirrorless 4/3 camera in your arsenal, which one would accompany you and why?

There are so many wonderful choices. Choose 1 camera and explain why.
Click to expand...
OM-D.

IQ, EVF, Versatility.
 
This is a tough question to ask and the reason why I have more than 1 u43rds bodies. I have the Panasonic G5 (which would be the one I would pick if I could only have one) and Olympus OM-D EM-5. The reason is simple:

I find the Panasonic easier to use due to the articulating LCD. I use it a lot in portrait mode and I can have the LCD sticking out perpendicular to the body, hold it next to my torso, and look down into the LCD to compose. Other than the LCD though I would have had to pick the OM-D EM-5 for sensor IS and image quality which is slightly better than the Pany G5. I particularly like the sensor IS. If the OM-D EM-5 had an articulating LCD like the Olympus E-5 that would clearly be number one. The E-7 coming out later this year will probably have it.

So, it is a hard choice but the choice comes to a very close decision:

1a: Panasonic Lumix G5;

1b: Olympus OM-D EM-5
 
If I can only Pick One Mirrorless Model among every mirror-less ever made (including every m43 model as well as Sony NEX-7, NEX-6, NEX-5n)

It would be Olympus OM-D:
  • Great High Iso as good as my NEX C3 (render my decision to buy NEX useless)
  • Ultra-FAST AF (easily match my Canon T1i dslr in 90% of my photography)
  • Great EVF (...impressive since I actually HATE most EVF)
  • Customization Grip (..you can make it tall and grippy if desire)
  • yet retain the Small Size advantage of m43 (...no Panasonic GH3 here)
I do not like Olympus layout and have resisted most Olympus models so far. OM-D really is a once-in-a-lifetime camera. My friends let me play with his OM-D for a day, and I have been hooked since. I don't own an OM-D yet, but I find myself drawn to it instead of my NEX.
 
I liked my G3 so much I went out and bought a second one plus the 25 mm lens. Now I am done for a long time to come. I like my gear and have all of the lens that I want. Now it is time to really learn my camera.

www.photosbypike.com
 
DrPartagas said:
DrPartagas wrote:

If you could only have 1 mirrorless 4/3 camera in your arsenal, which one would accompany you and why?

There are so many wonderful choices. Choose 1 camera and explain why.
Click to expand...
Oly OM-D E-M5. Tidy. Does everything. Great IQ.
 
DrPartagas said:
DrPartagas wrote:

If you could only have 1 mirrorless 4/3 camera in your arsenal, which one would accompany you and why?

There are so many wonderful choices. Choose 1 camera and explain why.
Click to expand...
I only have one. Why would I want 2?
 
There are so many outstanding cameras out there - including many from the past that still hold their own today, regardless of their "classics" designation.

Having said that - at this moment in time - I'd have to say the E-PL5.
 
FrankyM said:
FrankyM wrote:
FrankyM said:
DrPartagas wrote:

If you could only have 1 mirrorless 4/3 camera in your arsenal, which one would accompany you and why?

There are so many wonderful choices. Choose 1 camera and explain why.
Click to expand...
I only have one. Why would I want 2?
Click to expand...
Some are smaller and some are better featured? Some are better for stills and others are better for video? Or the value of the old models drop so fast it is hardly worth selling them?
 
DrPartagas said:
DrPartagas wrote:

If you could only have 1 mirrorless 4/3 camera in your arsenal, which one would accompany you and why?

There are so many wonderful choices. Choose 1 camera and explain why.
Click to expand...

Cheap, versatile, has onboard tiltable flash, IBIS, excellent ergonomics, good enough IQ, takes a remote release..



leaves enough in the budget for an arsenal of legacy lenses:

2065588


Tedolph
 
E-M5 without question.
 
tedolf said:
tedolf wrote:
tedolf said:
DrPartagas wrote:

If you could only have 1 mirrorless 4/3 camera in your arsenal, which one would accompany you and why?

There are so many wonderful choices. Choose 1 camera and explain why.
Click to expand...
Cheap, versatile, has onboard tiltable flash, IBIS, excellent ergonomics, good enough IQ, takes a remote release..

leaves enough in the budget for an arsenal of legacy lenses:

2065588


Tedolph
Click to expand...
I'm curious. . . what would your 'unlimited budget' system be?




--
...Bob, NYC

"Well, sometimes the magic works. . . Sometimes, it doesn't." - Little Big Man
.
 
Last edited:
Pretty darned bem, Aleo, and obrigado for the advice. My camera swapping time is in early or mid-April -- that's when i have to be in Australia again from PNG.

If a G6 comes out …

But the G5 is looking good.

Cheers, geoff
 
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