All sound smart advice ,my main gripe with my otherwise { for me
} near perfect GX8 is the IBIS I do a decent amount of video and it is a bit of a disadvantage in thate area . It is hardly a matter of life death , really only a desire for a better performance mainly in this one area. I will think about it for a while. The problem these days is finding a bad camera
I hear you. Really, I have started to find that differences are more nit-picky than anything else, at least with how and what I shoot.
I have decided that my FF kit will be dedicated to landscape and macro , I am waiting to see what nikon can do with their upcoming { who knows when
} 14-24mm Z lens . The 14-24mm g along with my wee Panasonic 20mm are my most loved and most used lenses . i have had the 14-24mm since it came out in 2007 and it was a big jump in UWA at the time. So given the larger mount, mirrorless and 13yrs newer tech I have very high hopes for the z version I have the 90mm Sony macro from my dabble in Sony land and it works wonderfully on the TZE-01
Oh, I loved my 90mm Sony macro. It was the only thing about the A7 kit I had that I regretted not being able to use on anything else when I sold that system. My favorite macro ever, actually. Of course, when I sold it, the Z series was over 2 years off, still....
So m43 will be my general use for everything else including video. Most of my lenses like the 12-35 & 35-100mm F/2.8 pair, 14-140 and 100-300mm are all first gen versions. So i may take the opportunity to rationalise my lens options at the same time. I tend to put things off , I still have half a dozen Sony FF bits to sell off they sit on the shelf next to me waiting for some attention since the Z7 came out . I appreciate yours and everyone else's take on the matter lots of well thought out pros and cons and a few wee snippets that I had not noticed in the reviews.
M43 really is pretty versatile for a general use small system. Really can't beat the lens options for a small system, too; I think that's its real strength.
As to the lenses...I had all of those first gen ones except the 35-100mm. Sold every one of them off (the 14-140mm went a long time ago, but the other two went last year). I DID just rebuy the 12-35mm, Mk II this time, and it is just as good as I remember the old one, but with perhaps a little bit tweaked color and faster AF. Still has flare though in just the right light
but that never bothered me on the old one, so hey...Definitely a lens I am happy to have back in the fold. As to the 100-300mm? I have to say, the Mk II, at least my copy of it, is a whole lot better than the original version. MUCH better OIS, but also less CA and at least my copy is sharper out at 300mm than the old one. And faster AF.
Not going to replace the 45mm macro or 25mm f1.4, though, even though there are upgraded Mk II versions of those, too. I have other macro options and I just never used the 25mm focal length, so...The hardest lens to get rid of, for me, was the PL 100-400mm, by the way. However, I decided that even though I love long shooting, since this was going to be my lightweight second system, I would sell it and just use the 100-300mm II instead. Oddly enough, no regrets. I prefer to keep my lens weight and size down, and that was a major consideration when I sold it (not to mention needing the $ to pay for the RP system at the time....)
I did just spring for the PL 50-200mm f2.8-4, however, as there was a huge deal on it with the 2x teleconverter. I am not sure if I will like it or not, however, as the reviews of the 2x TC are pretty awful with it (and the 1.4tc is no longer available in the US). However, if it DOES work for me, its size is much closer to the 100-300mm than the 100-400mm, and it might be a very versatile option in a focal range I don't already have. And, if not, I can return it (although I really don't like to do that). If it does work out, though, I will definitely need to get that M system gear up on Ebay....gotta pay for it somehow
Good luck with your decision! I know the video aspect does make waiting a lot harder...but I'd still think about holding off til at least there are some announcements of what might be in the pipeline.
-J
