Around ten years ago I sold all of my SLR and DSLR equipment and for a decade have been happily using compacts, starting with the Olympus C-8080, going through several Canon models, and now being generally satisfied with the Nikon P7800. However, recently I began to feel I was missing part of the pleasure of photography that comes with better equipment. To check this out, I successively rented four cameras with appropriate lenses from LensRentals.com. Although it cost a bit, rental is cheaper than buying the wrong camera.
The four cameras were the Fujifilm X-E2, the Sony RX10, the Olympus E-M10, and the Panasonic GX7. All of these are extremely good cameras; the number of excellent choices now available is remarkable. The most astonishing item to me was the RX10 lens: constant f/2.8 and sharp edge-to-edge from 24mm to 200mm equivalent. However, the RX10 is too large for my current objectives, and although the X-E2 is small, the APS-C lenses are too big and heavy.
And so this left the E-M10 and the GX7. All reviewers seem to love the E-M10, and they also agree that the GX7 makes good pictures. But the different reactions of the DPR and IR reviewers as to the handling of the GX7 show why we still need more than one kind of camera design. The former was tepid to negative about it and the latter was almost gushing with enthusiasm for it. The first difference I noticed was the grip. I was always afraid I might drop the E-M10 whereas I never gave a thought to that possibility with the secure grip of the GX7. And the left mounted EVF suits my right-eyed vision. One comment on this forum by a left-eyed person complained that with the GX7, his nose was always pressed against the LCD. A center eyepiece makes both eye types equally uncomfortable. I worried about shutter shock. Although this is reportedly fixed on the E-M10, I didn't know about the GX7. However, after testing extensively with the 14-45mm zoom on the GX7, I didn't notice any sharpness problems. Maybe it will turn up later. Disturbing on the E-M10 was an extremely tight lens mount which made me worry about breaking the rented 25mm f/1.8 when I installed it. This made me wonder if Olympus priced the camera too low to cover adequate quality control.
After integrating all of my objective and subjective judgments, I finally chose the Panasonic GX7. Any one of the other three might be better suited to a different person with different preferences. From now on my results will be limited by my ability, not by my camera.
The four cameras were the Fujifilm X-E2, the Sony RX10, the Olympus E-M10, and the Panasonic GX7. All of these are extremely good cameras; the number of excellent choices now available is remarkable. The most astonishing item to me was the RX10 lens: constant f/2.8 and sharp edge-to-edge from 24mm to 200mm equivalent. However, the RX10 is too large for my current objectives, and although the X-E2 is small, the APS-C lenses are too big and heavy.
And so this left the E-M10 and the GX7. All reviewers seem to love the E-M10, and they also agree that the GX7 makes good pictures. But the different reactions of the DPR and IR reviewers as to the handling of the GX7 show why we still need more than one kind of camera design. The former was tepid to negative about it and the latter was almost gushing with enthusiasm for it. The first difference I noticed was the grip. I was always afraid I might drop the E-M10 whereas I never gave a thought to that possibility with the secure grip of the GX7. And the left mounted EVF suits my right-eyed vision. One comment on this forum by a left-eyed person complained that with the GX7, his nose was always pressed against the LCD. A center eyepiece makes both eye types equally uncomfortable. I worried about shutter shock. Although this is reportedly fixed on the E-M10, I didn't know about the GX7. However, after testing extensively with the 14-45mm zoom on the GX7, I didn't notice any sharpness problems. Maybe it will turn up later. Disturbing on the E-M10 was an extremely tight lens mount which made me worry about breaking the rented 25mm f/1.8 when I installed it. This made me wonder if Olympus priced the camera too low to cover adequate quality control.
After integrating all of my objective and subjective judgments, I finally chose the Panasonic GX7. Any one of the other three might be better suited to a different person with different preferences. From now on my results will be limited by my ability, not by my camera.
