I just have to praise the micro43 system!....

Isabel Cutler wrote:

I invested heavily in micro43 bodies and lenses starting with the Olympus EPL1 with the Panasonic 20mm lens.

I had been using a Canon 7D and was tired of heavy equipment.

Someone on one of my groups posted images she had taken with the EPL1 and I was blown away by the color and quality, so I had to buy one to see how I would like the micro43 system.

The interface of the EPL1 was kind of primitive when you compare it with that of today's current micro43 bodies - but undaunted, I moved up to EPL5s and then a Panasonic GH2, Panasonic GX7 and EM 10 ii. I loved them all...and also loved just about every lens I bought for them.

Yup, my path also . The EPL1 was definitely primitive! The GH2 was a truly wonderful camera, except for its color rendition issues. Panasonic pretty much took care of that in all of their bodies after the GH3. however. And the lenses really are the star features of the system.

Having to do quite a bit of event work and often finding myself in dark venues I was attracted to the high ISO noise handling of the Sony mirrorless cameras and bought an A7iii and Tamron 28-75 lens. It was my first experience with a full frame camera.

Oh dear....

I was immediately frustrated with the shorter reach of lenses on a full frame body. I had been spoiled by the reach of my 35-100 Panasonic lens, equaling a 70-200mm reach! I kept finding too many people out of focus when I used the rather open apertures I was used to using with my micro43 bodies.

Longer tele options on a FF are its Achilles heel, no doubt. It's why I have a smaller sensored body AND the FF. In my case, after using a 70--300mm on the Sony A7 exclusively for a year or so, I ended up getting a GM5 again, at the time, and put the Panasonic 100-300mm on it for my long uses.

Yes...at wide apertures there's no doubt that I can get nice smooth bokeh in my portrait-type shots with the Sony A7iii...BUT...

I have to tell you, it took me months of shooting to get used to using a FF and having to stop down to get the DOF that I was used to on M43, esp for landscape work. AND, I never, ever got used to the Sony color rendition. By all accounts the color on the current gen Sony bodies are much better than the original A7 I had, but their output is still very..."digital" looking to me.

HONESTLY...the high ISO performance of the Olympus EM10 ii (and that of the Panasonic GX7) is nothing to sneeze at. Took this picture this morning in a high-ceilinged fluorescent + yellow tungsten bulb lit huge room with Auto White Balance. It's just an out of camera cropped and sized town image, taken at ISO 2500. The skin color is great. The Sony's auto white balance is not as good as that from the EM10 ii. Lens was the Olympus 12-40.

Sony's AWB is execrable. Just frustratingly, badly, inconsistent, and inaccurate. I stopped using it entirely, and went to custom WB and color temp presets instead on the A7. I'd never know from one shot to another in the same light what I would end up with when I pushed the shutter...and outdoor overcast lighting situations were a special challenge for it.

I've used a heck of a lot of cameras in my decades of love for photography, and none have pleased me more than my micro cameras. (The Sony RX10 iv is in another category with a smaller sensor - but its 24-600mm equivalent reach is greatly appreciated. It does not do nearly as well with high ISO images.)

I got rid of my A7 a few years ago after arguing with it for 2 years. I went back completely to M43. However, at higher ISOs, especially in low light, FF really does do a better job in terms of noise and detail retention, and I was hoping someone other than Sony would come out with a smaller mirrorless one that I could try. This year, Canon came out with the RP, which was small, cheap, and nice to handle, so I bought one.

Of course, the hand-wringing fanboys immediately wailed that the sensor was terrible because it's the same one as in the 6DII, and at base ISO it's noisier than the Sony competition. What they failed to mention is that at anything other than base ISO, it's on par with the best of the rest of the FF offerings out there....So, when I shoot this camera, I can use it at ISO 3200 in poor light and not even have to think about the output turning to mush from noise control. Detail is fabulous, and color is terrific, even up at high ISOs in dim light. It's refreshingly good.

I'm still on the FF learning curve, but for what I bought the camera for (low light, wide, and some macro work) I am finding it a very good fit, FAR better than the A7 was. It's a lot more enjoyable to use overall, AND its AWB and color rendition is so vastly better than the Sony's that it's a joy to work with.

I'm also currently exploring a Canon M50 as an alternative to my M43 for my long tele options. I still have my GX8 and 100-300mm and the GM5 and 12-32mm and tiny 35-100mm f3.5-5.6, and a couple of other basic lenses for them. (I sold all of my upper end M43 lenses to fund the RP).

I have no plans to give up my GM5 and the smallest lenses for my ultimate travel kit, but I'm going to switch to the M50 for use with the adapted Canon 70-300mm. (Reason: To get long tele coverage while not having to carry two entirely different systems at once). This way, I can use the same EF 70-300mm on both the FF and the crop body, without having to carry an extra set of lenses with the second body (which I would if I kept the GX8) to accomplish close to the same long end coverage.

The only thing I will miss, that the M43 ecosystem does far better than Canon's M system, is that the native lenses for M43 are stellar, and the native lenses for the M system bodies are dreadful. (Adapted lenses are fine... but larger).

For the R system, I have one native RF lens, and the rest are EF with the adapter, which works fabulously. (Sony's adapters NEVER worked that well). There's a LOT of great glass out there for Canon FF that can be had used for very good prices, and which works spectacularly well with their EF-R adapter (as well as the EF-M adapter), so that's a bonus that I have been taking advantage of, too.

Anyway, this was a long ramble. If you got this far, here's my advice: Rent one of the FF Canon mirrorless for a week and see if your objections to some of the issues that come with the Sonys are addressed. The Canons have far better color and AWB than the Sonys, and much better lens options overall. Their output is just...nicer. AND, they have much of that lovely M43 ease of use thing, that Sony seems averse to putting in their cameras .... (The RP is lovely to use, and the M50, by the way, has a lot of the "joy" of use that M43 does. It's small, very friendly and feels great in hand, even with adapted longer lenses on it. Sonys? Not so much )

-J