E-M1 vs. A7II Thoughts

Helen wrote:

Jacques Cornell wrote:

SonyArtisan wrote:

The bad:

• Menus are about as poor as Sony. I felt that I preferred the Sony menus but probably only because I'm so used to them.

Most reviews I've read indicate that Panasonic's menus are more user-friendly than either Olympus' or Sony's.

It's funny how this is such a personal thing. I use all three makes and I'm always most comfortable with Olympus, then Sony, then Panasonic, as far as menus go.

• I hated how when reviewing an image and placing your eye to the EVF the camera exits playback mode. Perhaps there is a setting I missed for this.

This does not happen on my Panasonics.

This is an odd one and I agree it's annoying on the Olympuses. I recall that they specifically introduced this behaviour in a firmware update "in response to user demand" back in the time of the E-P2 and E-PL1, when using the VF2. I was always baffled by that and wished they hadn't. Intriguingly, if you read this week's news piece on the firmware update for the Leica Q, you will notice they have done exactly the same thing, for the same reason!

One thing that Panasonic does in playback when switching between EVF and LCD, which always annoys me and which no other brands do, is reset the view to the full frame - irritating if I've just zoomed in and scrolled, then decide I could do with a closer/clearer look by swapping between LCD or finder. My position is instantly lost.

• The "whirring" IBIS noise is super annoying. I've never experienced a noise like this in a camera except for some noisy AF in certain lenses.

With certain Panasonic OIS lenses I can hear a very faint whirring. I do not hear any whirring from the IBIS in my GX7 bodies.

The type of IBIS in the GX7 is silent during live view, as was the 2-axis type on Olympuses up to the E-PL6 and E-P3 - they are more similar in general design. The GX80/85 5-axis IBIS is more equivalent to the magnetic levitation type used in the 3- and 5-axis Olympuses, and both brands tend to have an operational hum, though I wonder if the OP is referring to the ramped-up hum the Olympuses have at default settings when the shutter release is half-pressed - it fully activates stabilisation to steady the live view and is noticeably louder than the background hum, which I wouldn't have thought is too bothersome. The Panasonic tends to sound like the Olympuses in their background hum state, most of the time.

I'm surprised if the A7II doesn't make some kind of background hum, as it has what appears to be a similar levitation system for its IBIS - but I've never handled a II-series A7 model of any type.

Yes, the half-shutter press is the hum I'm referring to. The A7II is silent to my ears. Very impressive considering the size of the FF sensor and partially why I was disappointed to hear such an audible hum when using the E-M1