Which M43 camera should I get if 13 of them have similar Image Quality?

VideoPic · Jan 8, 2025

This is a M43-only discussion.

The reason for this post is simple. I do not see much of an image quality difference between camera A and camera B. It doesn't matter if I fit my EP3 or my EM5 III to my MZuiko 40-150mm f2.8 or my 12-40mm f2.8, the final image is almost the same for the following Olympus cameras.

So what is the difference between M43 cameras? What would your advice be if a friend like to purchase a used M43 camera from the large global supply of 2nd hand M43 cameras...

We saw some very interesting comments plus amazing wildlife and other examples from M43 photographers over the past two weeks.

My question is: What advice and examples would you discuss with your friend asking advice about buying into the M43 segment?

The following images were taken with 13 different M43 Olympus cameras. I used the same settings to convert the different Enhanced Raw Files in Workspace. I made tiny adjustments in Photoshop while prepping them for the web...

I used the MZuiko 60mm f2.8 Macro lens on each camera.

--
Hobby photographers love taking real pictures with real cameras...
https://myolympusomd.blogspot.com/

Bast Hotep · Jan 8, 2025

IMHO that's nothing to complain about. Now you can choose among them based on price, shooting features, handling, weight/size, and how much each one speaks to you. You know...the way people used to do things before everything apparently became an arms race (or specs race, or however you want to call it).

Guy Parsons · Jan 8, 2025

VideoPic said:
My question is: What advice and examples would you discuss with your friend asking advice about buying into the M43 segment?

The very first thing is to ask the friend what the heck they like to photograph and if they are wanting to make video clips That may determine how far up the $$$ tree they need to go to get the results expected.

In my case for my occasional travel wanderings and recording projects at home my minimums would be...

Must be 16MP or 20MP sensor as the old 12MP one has poorer dynamic range and too much noise at higher (or any) ISO. (My experience is with E-PL1, E-P3, E-PL5, E-P5 and E-M10 Mk2, of that lot way prefer to use the E-P5).
Must be 3 or 5 axis IBIS as the old 2 axis IBIS causes more problems than it fixes.

My personal taste is never to use EVF and only use the screen, that where a tilt screen is more desirable and has less chance of damage than the slow to use flip out sideways and twist screen on some later bodies.

If someone needs an EVF (maybe 80% do) then the only sensible startup camera would be the E-M10 Mk2 last of the old comprehensive menu with MySets assignable to the mode dial, avoid the more limited E-M10 Mk3 and go to the E-M10 Mk4 as the next startup choice.

If chasing birds and wildlife then they had better start to think about spending a lot more money on a later body and appropriate lenses.

But it should all start with determining what the friend likes to shoot.

Tom Caldwell · Jan 8, 2025

Olympus gear is good but they are not the only game in the room when it comes to selecting gear. Apologies if you only have Olympus year on your shelves but how can we clearly select if we only read one half of the story?

However do we really need another brand turf war to make up our minds?

My GM bodies are now verging past 10 years old and I would have no hesitation taking one or their big sibling GX7 our for a trot - none of these older camera bodies has been retired from my "studio" or otherwise shelved.

If I need a tiny capable body there is always a GM5 body available and the GX7 remains as sweet to use as it ever did.

Do we really need to pursue endless digital camera body updates when they have certainly been quite useful for most purposes for years now?

If we must always have the latest and greatest in our hot hand then surely we must go for it. The last thing we need is the photographer-disappointed for lack of new-gear in hand excitement.

--
Tom Caldwell

StefanSC · Jan 8, 2025

Panasonic G9 if wanting best bang for buck and not caring about shooting BiFs.

OM-1s if mainly wildlife.

GH "what is the latest" for video

GX9 for small/street.

Palombasso · Jan 8, 2025

This is a well lit, controlled scene.

Maybe in a lower light or higher dynamic range scenario you would see more differences.

But mostly the difference between cameras are on haptics and functions that influence shooting experience, not always final quality. AF speed, grip size/comfort, screen size/technology, quick access buttons, etc.

If you are always shooting tripod macro with external lights it won't matter much.

I currently have Panasonic GM1, GX7, GX9 and G9.

The ones with 20MP sensor have a bit better color and flexibility in post, but that's rarely why I choose one over the other...

VideoPic · Jan 8, 2025

Tom Caldwell said:
Olympus gear is good but they are not the only game in the room when it comes to selecting gear. Apologies if you only have Olympus year on your shelves but how can we select if we only read one half of the story?

...a G100 and a GX800.

VideoPic · Jan 8, 2025

I did a handheld series of images at f2.8 and 1/30 sec and the IBIS performance of these cameras did a great job.

A bigger challenge is the different AF options of each camera. This could be an interesting discussion with a potential buyer...

Another interesting thing is the EPL7 & 8 can take an EVF and the EPL9 not. The EPL9 has other options that are not available with the EPL6, 7, and 8.

I guess the challenge is matching features with needs...

Best

Siegfried

:-D:-D:-D

R Liewenberger · Jan 8, 2025

VideoPic said:
VideoPic wrote: Hobby photographers love taking real pictures with real cameras...

Exactly!

Little toy cameras for little toys, but real cameras for real pictures of real Ferraris! :-D :-D

An old one from 2012, E-520 with Nikkor ED 180/2.8 AIS

RL

jalywol · Jan 8, 2025

LOL.

-J

MNE · Jan 8, 2025

I can get perfectly satisfactory images from my E-M10 II and E-M1 II, especially when using the same lenses. There is no significant difference in image quality. Now, CAF and fps is a different story.

shinndigg · Jan 8, 2025

I understand your desire for a consistent test, but these are all at iso 400. The IQ difference starts showing more pronounced at higher iso's. I've have owned cameras with all three of these different sensors and really started seeing a difference at 800 and above, though even at lower ISOs I could see the differences, in particular in contrast straight out of camera.

And then the differences in features are another matter. The IBIS is much improved from one generation to another as well.

--
shinndigg
www.pbase.com/shinndigg

Bassam Guy · Jan 9, 2025

VideoPic said:
This is a M43-only discussion.

The reason for this post is simple. I do not see much of an image quality difference between camera A and camera B. It doesn't matter if I fit my EP3 or my EM5 III to my MZuiko 40-150mm f2.8 or my 12-40mm f2.8, the final image is almost the same for the following Olympus cameras.

So what is the difference between M43 cameras? What would your advice be if a friend like to purchase a used M43 camera from the large global supply of 2nd hand M43 cameras...

If all my friend wanted to take photographs of were car models indoors with controlled lighting at ISO 400 then I'd recommend the cheapest 16+ MP model they could find.

VideoPic said:
We saw some very interesting comments plus amazing wildlife and other examples from M43 photographers over the past two weeks.

My question is: What advice and examples would you discuss with your friend asking advice about buying into the M43 segment?

The following images were taken with 13 different M43 Olympus cameras. I used the same settings to convert the different Enhanced Raw Files in Workspace. I made tiny adjustments in Photoshop while prepping them for the web...

Always use SOOC for comparisons.

VideoPic said:
I used the MZuiko 60mm f2.8 Macro lens on each camera.

Regor250 · Jan 9, 2025

So you pick a scene with hardly any textural details and hard contrast to demonstrate subtle minute differences between cameras? And the real intent was?

Buy the camera that functionally suits your needs. IQ improvements over the years was never a determining factor, especially given the subject you selected, which requires at most 3MPix.

Ask you friend what he/she/it wants the camera for.

--
Roger

Eric Nepean · Jan 9, 2025

Any modern camera equipped with a decent lens can get excellent images of a static subject with no background in good lighting (like the images you posted)

You should probabaly refrain from offering advice to beginners on photography.

VideoPic · Jan 9, 2025

Bast Hotep said:
IMHO that's nothing to complain about. Now you can choose among them based on price, shooting features, handling, weight/size, and how much each one speaks to you. You know...the way people used to do things before everything apparently became an arms race (or specs race, or however you want to call it).

Good points to discuss, thanks for your feedback.

VideoPic · Jan 9, 2025

Guy Parsons said:
VideoPic said:

My question is: What advice and examples would you discuss with your friend asking advice about buying into the M43 segment?

Click to expand...

The very first thing is to ask the friend what the heck they like to photograph and if they are wanting to make video clips That may determine how far up the $$$ tree they need to go to get the results expected.

In my case for my occasional travel wanderings and recording projects at home my minimums would be...

Must be 16MP or 20MP sensor as the old 12MP one has poorer dynamic range and too much noise at higher (or any) ISO. (My experience is with E-PL1, E-P3, E-PL5, E-P5 and E-M10 Mk2, of that lot way prefer to use the E-P5).

Must be 3 or 5 axis IBIS as the old 2 axis IBIS causes more problems than it fixes.

My personal taste is never to use EVF and only use the screen, that where a tilt screen is more desirable and has less chance of damage than the slow to use flip out sideways and twist screen on some later bodies.

If someone needs an EVF (maybe 80% do) then the only sensible startup camera would be the E-M10 Mk2 last of the old comprehensive menu with MySets assignable to the mode dial, avoid the more limited E-M10 Mk3 and go to the E-M10 Mk4 as the next startup choice.

If chasing birds and wildlife then they had better start to think about spending a lot more money on a later body and appropriate lenses.

But it should all start with determining what the friend likes to shoot.

Thanks for your feedback, Guy. I wouldn't exclude any of them. The EM10 III has a few exciting strengths that would benefit specific needs...

Siegfried

VideoPic · Jan 9, 2025

Palombasso said:
This is a well lit, controlled scene.

Maybe in a lower light or higher dynamic range scenario you would see more differences.

But mostly the difference between cameras are on haptics and functions that influence shooting experience, not always final quality. AF speed, grip size/comfort, screen size/technology, quick access buttons, etc.

If you are always shooting tripod macro with external lights it won't matter much.

I currently have Panasonic GM1, GX7, GX9 and G9.

The ones with 20MP sensor have a bit better color and flexibility in post, but that's rarely why I choose one over the other...

Thank you for your good points. I agree that the shooting experience is important. That means matching the right camera to the user is also more challenging.

Siegfried

--
Hobby photographers love taking real pictures with real cameras...
https://myolympusomd.blogspot.com/

VideoPic · Jan 9, 2025

R Liewenberger said:
R Liewenberger said:

VideoPic wrote: Hobby photographers love taking real pictures with real cameras...

Click to expand...

Exactly!

Little toy cameras for little toys, but real cameras for real pictures of real Ferraris! :-D :-D

An old one from 2012, E-520 with Nikkor ED 180/2.8 AIS

Agree. Love the image, thank you.

R Liewenberger said:
RL

--
Hobby photographers love taking real pictures with real cameras...

VideoPic Blog

Micro Four-Thirds, Photoshop, and Olympus Workspace articles. Olympus O-MD and Panasonic cameras. Discussing photography, video, editing techniques.

myolympusomd.blogspot.com

VideoPic · Jan 9, 2025

MNE said:
I can get perfectly satisfactory images from my E-M10 II and E-M1 II, especially when using the same lenses. There is no significant difference in image quality. Now, CAF and fps is a different story.

I agree with your comments about IQ. AF is another story. AF is one of 3 or 4 main differentiators between the tested cameras. The more I learn about Olympus cameras the more I think Olympus applied a unique strategy of creating specific cameras (features) for specific target markets. For example, seems like they used different 16MP sensors and not only one for their 16MP cameras.

Best

Siegfried

Which M43 camera should I get if 13 of them have similar Image Quality?

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