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Suprising little camera, and looking forward to the M2

Started Oct 3, 2013 | User reviews thread
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WT21 Veteran Member • Posts: 5,471
Suprising little camera, and looking forward to the M2

I laughed this one off when it first launched, but gave in after the price drop and the AF update to make it a bit snappier.

I am delightfully surprised at how well this little camera performs. The build quality is excellent, the touch LCD for controls are highly functional, and it's a great size and price.

I am also please with the native lenses. I don't have the kit lens, as I don't tend to enjoy kit lenses, but I have the 22mm lens, which is nothing short of stellar, and just got the 11-22, which is quite a nice size. On the 22mm, it's got great bokeh, a nice aperture, sharpness in the center frame, and even does wonderful star bursts when stopped down. Add in the price and size and the $300 for body + lens that I paid was worth it just for the lens.

The AF is acceptable to me, as I use it mainly for landscape and hiking. I would not recommend it for action and moving things. Also, Canon's APS-C sensor is not the cleanest at high ISO, but it carries to 1600 well enough, and 3200 is useable with some processing.

I got an EOS to EOS-M adapter recently, and am very pleased with the AF speed of the native lenses. They aren't fast, but they aren't as painful as I expected.

I hope the M-2 continues to be priced affordably. I know $300 with lens won't happen again, but I hope they don't go the way of other mirrorless cameras, looking for $1,000+ body only. If they keep the body only around $499, I think they will continue to build a following for the M series.

My 4 star overall rating is based on the price/performance ratio. If I had to pay the original MSRP, I'd rate this 3 stars.

I also rated down the "for flash photgraphy" rating because the body is pretty small, so it doesn't really handle on-camera flash well, and there is no built-in flash.

 WT21's gear list:WT21's gear list
Panasonic Leica 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 ASPH Panasonic 100-300mm F4-5.6 II Olympus E-PL7 Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 Panasonic Leica Summilux DG 25mm F1.4 +6 more
Canon EOS M
18 megapixels • 3 screen • APS-C sensor
Announced: Jul 23, 2012
WT21's score
4.0
Average community score
4.1
bad for good for
Kids / pets
okay
Action / sports
mediocre
Landscapes / scenery
great
Portraits
excellent
Low light (without flash)
good
Flash photography (social)
mediocre
Studio / still life
excellent
= community average
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