Pros & Cons of Fuji X-A1 vs Olympus E-PL7 or E-M10

The Silver Fox wrote:

I dipped my toe last year into Fuji's X-System by buying an X-A1; it's a fine little camera. But I'm a bit disappointed with the slow auto-focusing, and the poor video capability; an EVF would also be preferred (but I knew going in I would not have that). I'm an occasional RAW shooter, primarily shooting JPEG's, and love Fuji's OOC JPEG's. So, I've been considering the Olympus Pen E-PL7 or E-M10 as perhaps better for my needs. I realize I'll be losing out on sensor size, but perhaps gain better auto-focusing and video capabilities.

The big question is whether it's worth making the switch. I'm not interested in going up to a Fuji X-T1 or an Olympus E-M1. I'll stay at this entry level, and probably get a few primes (35, 50, 90 mm FF equivalents, and maybe 150mm) within the system in which I settle. I'd appreciate your thoughts on thinking through the benefits of going into either system. Thanks in advance.

All of my MFT gear was stolen, so I took the opportunity to switch to Fuji (X-T1).

My MFT gear was an E-M1, but my best friend owns an E-M10.

In terms of AF speed, it's not even close: the E-M10 is much faster than the X-T1. Pretty much all Olympus lenses focus extremely quickly and silently. Fuji AF is loud and slow in comparison (whatever the lens or what people say).

If you're shooting moving people (like kids), the difference is very noticeable. The face detection works also much much better on the Olympus.

In terms of IQ, Fuji jpegs are much better IMO (although this is very subjective).

Although I'm a bit frustrated with the AF, I like Fuji IQ better, because I shoot a lot of portraits and scenes with shallow depth of field (DOF). Shallow DOF is harder to get with MFT and I prefer Fuji colors. For landscape work I think MFT is better (I find the sensor captures more details).

If I were you, I'll get an E-M10 with the following f/1.8 lenses trio: 17, 25, 45. For the price, it cannot be beat!