"OK" but much cheaper camera body and invest in a good lens or good body with kit?

G Rash wrote:

Mike:

I agree with the "good lenses first" approach. You can obtain excellent image quality out of the older bodies. The EP5 is an excellent camera, I still have mine. For indoors and low light, a 20mm f/1.7 Pany or 17mm f/1.8 Oly are very good, and the 25mm Pany and Oly lenses are good as well. While the A6000 will have better sensor performance, lens costs might be a problem given your desire to keep the budget down. The 6000 does have a built in EVF, but that won't be as important for lower light work than if most of your shots were in bright sun light.

I'm a fan of Sonys as well as m4/3rds; I use an A6300 for sports and m4/3rds for most everything else. I think the 6000 is at a bargain price right now, but the kit lens isn't great. If you go with the 6000, you could opt for the Sigma 30mm f/2.8 for a small, low light budget alternative to compliment the kit lens and it would be pretty close to the output you'd get from the EP5 with one of the f/1.7 or f/1.8 primes. Keep in mind that the Sony doesn't have IBIS like the EP5, but if your subjects are people who are moving around, you don't really need to be able to shoot at super slow shutter speeds anyway.

Both are excellent cameras, but I think the right choice is to figure out the lenses you'd need and look at overall costs comparing the two systems.

As to the OMD EM10, I'm not knowledgeable enough on it to comment.

As to your GF2, have you adjusted the white balance setting to alter the colors a bit? I recall some found that worked well on the GF2, and that is what I did to get better results when I had a GF1. Not perfect, by any means, but I got the GF1 adjusted to where I was happy with skin tones.

Good luck.

Thanks for this! Great to hear both sides. And yes, ibis is something to  consider loosely since people have mentioned it doesn't do much if the subjects are moving.

For your comment on the GF1, does pre-setting or adjusting balance before taking the photos differ from post-processing the white balance? (obviously just getting started haha but thank you for the help)