So I received the camera. First impressions:
Initial impressions are good. Build quality seems great, love the size and feel of the lenses. I used the camera for about an hour in shade and direct sunlight. Here are my thoughts so far:
Pros:
- Touchscreen is a great addition (never used one on a camera other than the 70D). Touch to focus is useful
- Shutter seems snappy. I was a bit worried after hearing lots of complaints but I've also only used it at high shutter speeds so far
- Lenses are superb for the money, size and weight. I'm seriously blown away pixel peeping in LR considering this is a 16mp M43 sensor with an AA filter. Side-by-side with the Sony Zeiss 55mm mounted on an A7II the Olympus 45mm holds its own very well and even appears sharper to me wide open. The 14-42mm is very respectable, better at 14-25mm but usable at 42mm as well. The 40-150mm seems almost as good or better than my Canon 55-250mm STM that I have been using on the A6000 and A6300. This is easily the thing I'm most excited about and the reason I jumped into this system. I already feel like I want a better body/sensor so I can take further advantage of this glass. The new Panasonic GX85 is intriguing with its 16mp sensor with no AA filter.
- Colors looked natural out of camera and I actually preferred the rendering of greens and skin tones over the Sony which looked too yellow.
Cons:
- The interface is terrible. That's saying a lot coming from Sony. Perhaps I just need more time with it. Hard to complain at this price though and it's also a very old model
- The handling of the camera is awful as expected due to the lack of buttons/dials and lack of a grip (haven't tried the included grip)
- The LCD resolution is pretty low but usable. I don't think I'll be buying another camera without a viewfinder but can't fault the camera as I knew that going in. Very hard to view the LCD on a sunny day like today
- The fully tilting screen for selfies is not as useful as I thought it would be for random snaps with the girlfriend. It doesn't tilt enough to be at an effective viewing angle and is partially blocked off buy the hotshoe. It appears they completely redesigned this on the EPL7
- The DOF control compared to FF and APS-C is poor as expected. This could be a deal breaker for me in some instances (portraits) because I'm one of those photographers that likes abusing shallow DOF and subject isolation. Luckily the 45mm f1.8 offers pretty great bokeh with the subject close enough (portraits). I also may consider the Panasonic 42.5mm f1.2 down the road if M43 becomes my main kit.
- Dynamic range is lacking when compared side-by-side to the A7II, especially when recovering shadows. However, it is still quite good for most situations.
- Haven't tested low light performance but I think I have an idea of what it would be like. I'm hoping a newer Olympus or Panasonic body with 4-5 stop IBIS would compensate for this in situations without moving subjects.
Based on my impression today I think I will be sticking with the Micro 4/3 system in some regard for the foreseeable future. These lenses are just too good to sell. On the other hand, the body is not quite as usable as I had hoped. The lack of an EVF makes it difficult to use in direct sunlight (more-so than expected) among other issues like the lack of controls, etc. that others warned me about in this thread. The dynamic range and 4:3 aspect ratio may be undesirable for landscapes but only time will tell. Overall, I do not regret the purchase and am most impressed by the lenses. I'm even considering the tiny Panasonic GM5 which is now at a great price. I believe this is the smallest capable m43 camera with an EVF on the market. I ran across it after seeing that Chris Niccolls (host of the camera store TV in Canada) uses one as his main travel camera. But I think ideally I want something with more functionality (IBIS, more controls, etc) while still maintaining a small size. Right now I'm most interested in the GX85, EM5ii, and EM1. I will likely pick something up in the $500-800 range soon and then see what the EM1 replacement looks like in a few months.
Thank you for all the input
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