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Goldilocks and the 3 cameras

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ahaslett

ahaslett

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I just upgraded my S20 to an S25 Ultra because the battery life was too short. I paid a bit extra for the Ultra with a big memory maybe the cost of an OK lens. I did manage to get a big discount and two freebies, so it wasn't that bad.

Now I need to know which of my smaller kit to take when and what compromises are involved.



GM1, S25, OM5
GM1, S25, OM5

I upgraded my old EM1.1 to an OM5 a couple of years ago, and it's become my EDC with a few hundred keepers. The GM1 has seen a lot less action as a result. The S20 really couldn't compete, but can the S25 U and its "100Mpix" main camera?

I tested the S25 at 12/50/100 Mpix on my favourite hedge and you can see a small advantage for the each resolution step.

I'm delighted with the improvement of the S25 over the S20 for recording daily life. Getting utility meter readings is much easier.

A couple of snaps.



3da9529c60f04e629596138dea6385bc.jpg



f821926d033f44df884268987a28181f.jpg

Back to the hedge (simulated landscape with distant foliage, detail on the horizon etc)



GM1 12-32
GM1 12-32



OM5 12-45
OM5 12-45



View attachment 711fa17ba12b4a9087eaf52b9a43f805.jpg
S25 main camera at 100Mpix



GM1 crop
GM1 crop



OM5 crop
OM5 crop



S25 crop
S25 crop

I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

A



--
Infinite are the arguments of mages. Truth is a jewel with many facets. Ursula K LeGuin
Please feel free to edit any images that I post
 
I don't think my answer will surprise you, but in addition to thinking the MFT photos just look better (the S25 photos look more digital/over-processed to my eye), I think the bigger differentiator is the experience. Of these, I would choose the GM5 as my daily because it is a better experience vs the phone, for the following reasons:
  1. It has a viewfinder
  2. It has more direct control over the image through dedicated dials - for exposure compensation, if nothing else
  3. Has a "real" shutter button with half-press focus and full release
  4. Has the computational photography modes which give a better balance of control vs. baked in processing
 
They all look fine on my phone, the biggest differences I see between both cameras and the S25 are WB, saturation, AoV and DoF.

However, no matter what phones can accomplish, I wouldn't/couldn't use them for 'serious' photography. Apart from lenses, it's ergonomics. If photography is hitting a nail, then a camera is a hammer, an (for me!) a phone is like a weight on a string. It might do the job when it hits the nail, but I don't feel comfortable/in control.
 
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Unrelated to your intent, but if you know, what is the car Andrew? Cute. My wife would love it and I am not ashamed to say I might too. We have a Mustang GT in the garage but it lacks the cute factor!

As to your post, there appears to be lots of detail in the image. I use my phone from time to time to take images when I don't have a 'real camera' with me.

Andrew
 
19andrew47 said:
Unrelated to your intent, but if you know, what is the car Andrew? Cute. My wife would love it and I am not ashamed to say I might too. We have a Mustang GT in the garage but it lacks the cute factor!
Click to expand...
Andrew , I believe it is a Nissan Figaro , I assume the paint job is custom

19andrew47 said:
As to your post, there appears to be lots of detail in the image. I use my phone from time to time to take images when I don't have a 'real camera' with me.

Andrew
Click to expand...
 
Sam Bennett said:
I don't think my answer will surprise you, but in addition to thinking the MFT photos just look better (the S25 photos look more digital/over-processed to my eye), I think the bigger differentiator is the experience. Of these, I would choose the GM5 as my daily because it is a better experience vs the phone, for the following reasons:
  1. It has a viewfinder
  2. It has more direct control over the image through dedicated dials - for exposure compensation, if nothing else
  3. Has a "real" shutter button with half-press focus and full release
  4. Has the computational photography modes which give a better balance of control vs. baked in processing
Click to expand...
On a related note, I just changed phones as well, and this year since 7 months on I’m still ecstatic about how the OM-3 has filled the EDC role I decided against going with the iPhone 17 Pro, despite it being a better photographic tool. Went with the base iPhone 17, saved some money and still have exactly what I need. 🤷‍♂️ I tried using the 16 Pro as my EDC and I just hated the experience and the inconsistent image quality.
--
Sam Bennett
Instagram: @swiftbennett
 
Thanks Jim!

I don't think it ever made it to our shores officially as I have never seen one before. 1991 though, so chances of finding one here are unlikely! Limited production of 20 000 units likely means big bucks too!

Andrew
 
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Did you use the raw file on the phone, you can tone down some of the processing to get somewhat better results. Though an ILC is the way to go
 
19andrew47 said:
Thanks Jim!

I don't think it ever made it to our shores officially as I have never seen one before. 1991 though, so chances of finding one here are unlikely! Limited production of 20 000 units likely means big bucks too!

Andrew
Click to expand...
Yep, i don't think I have ever seen one in real life it certainly looks cute
 
James Stirling said:
19andrew47 said:
Thanks Jim!

I don't think it ever made it to our shores officially as I have never seen one before. 1991 though, so chances of finding one here are unlikely! Limited production of 20 000 units likely means big bucks too!

Andrew
Click to expand...
Yep, i don't think I have ever seen one in real life it certainly looks cute
Click to expand...
Just occasionally, here in Norwich UK, they're to be seen in pairs...

4503080.jpg

Peter
 
Been giving my S20 the side eye for a couple years, since it's outlasted any mobile I've owned by a number of years and I presume is going to die at the moment zero incentives are available on a replacement. And since any replacement will approach a thousand bucks I'm not eager to take the step myself. Thus, the impasse.

Interestingly, firmware and app enhancements have vastly improved images from it over the years. They've coaxed a lot out of the humble hardware.

FWIW I credit the longevity mostly to a setting that halts charging at 85%. My prior smartphones all suffered from swollen battery syndrome that split the case open like a bad clam.

That's my story.

Rick
 
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James Stirling said:
19andrew47 said:
Unrelated to your intent, but if you know, what is the car Andrew? Cute. My wife would love it and I am not ashamed to say I might too. We have a Mustang GT in the garage but it lacks the cute factor!
Click to expand...
Andrew , I believe it is a Nissan Figaro , I assume the paint job is custom
James Stirling said:
As to your post, there appears to be lots of detail in the image. I use my phone from time to time to take images when I don't have a 'real camera' with me.

Andrew
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
It is and there are several currently on sale in the U.K..

A
 
James Stirling said:
Did you use the raw file on the phone, you can tone down some of the processing to get somewhat better results. Though an ILC is the way to go
Click to expand...
So far only point and spray. Next is downloading Samsung RAW and RTFM.

A
 
I can take my Xiaomi on holiday and come back with great photos. At night too.

The background blur is quite realistic unless you really look. They hold up ok on a 28 inch screen.

But it's all a bit boring for me. I need stuff to fiddle with and a viewfinder 😄
 
Even though smartphones have been excellent for years, I am still impressed with the progress we see from the newest generation of flagships. Personally, I switched my "EDC" to my phone years ago — even with humble midrange Android hardware (using Google computational chicanery in the form of a "Gcam" camera app port, of course). I'm not always super enamored with the SOOC results, but with a little tweaking I can always get an image I could proudly print and hang on the wall at A3/A4 11x14"/8x10" size along my dedicated camera photos and virtually no one would ever be the wiser.

That said, I greatly prefer the photographic experience (and, frankly, the still results after RAW wrangling and especially the video quality) with my G9 (or EM1X) and glass, so any time I head out with photographic intentions, dedicated cameras remain my go-to and likely will continue to be for the foreseeable future.
 
Interesting read. Funnily enough I’m currently deciding whether to upgrade my poor old Samsung S21 or just use my OM5 instead.

Used to use my phone for everyday and my OM5 for special or creative, but the more comfortable I get with using my OM5 for grab shots on the move the less happy I become with my poor old phone, especially for night shots.

Been thinking about it this week as we visited the Blackpool lights and my OM5 effortlessly managed long exposure hand held shots and lots of rapidly captured night photos. Far from perfect and just snapshots for the family whatsapp but still better than the grainy ones the phone produced.
But when I look at the prices of the latest phones they don’t look too different from the cost of the discounted OM1 + 12-40 on the OMS website……which I don’t need but have started wanting!

The shots from your S25 Ultra look fab and I’d be happy with that for my day to day use. Do you think it will replace your cameras for everyday use?

ps Severe Erigeron envy going on here - yours are still flowering so well - ours are looking sad and straggly!
 
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I can’t see the S25 Ultra replacing the OM5, but it will always be with me.

Not so sure anymore about the GM1. The OM5 has eaten into that’s utility quite a bit and the S25 Ultra does quite well at 12mm equivalent. Once you zoom, it’s less clear.

Andrew
 
Most of my photos are vacation snapshots and not anything I will enter in a photo contest. I prefer the advantages of my E-M5.3 such as (1) a true optical zoom, (2) excellent sensor-based image stabilization, (3) a viewfinder that works well in bright daylight and has a diopter adjustment so I can use it without reading glasses, (4) available telephoto lenses that are not possible on phones, and (5) raw files that have more flexibility in post processing. However, there are times when my Samsung Galaxy S23 phone can do things that would be difficult with my E-M5.3.

I was recently in a crowded museum in Istanbul, Turkey and wanted to be in a photo I was taking. While I could try to convince a stranger to take a shot with my E-M5.3, the fact is that most people have no clue how to operate a traditional camera any more. If you hand them a phone, just about anyone will agree to take a shot. However, I had my S23 on a compact selfie stick that day and was able to get a decent snapshot. For comparison, I also took a similar shot with my E-M5.3 a few minutes later. My cell phone won't replace my E-M5.3, but it is certainly a viable supplement that I am using more frequently.

Samsung Galaxy S23
Samsung Galaxy S23

E-M5.3
E-M5.3
 
Once upon a time we bought a phone and it had a camera of sorts in it. Now we are more likely to buy a pocketable computer with a quite good camera in it. But whilst mobile phone cameras were the death of cheaper and cheaper, but never cheap enough, compact cameras, we now have prospectively top of the range cameras in a phone-computer that price-wise would have made the cheap compact camera buyer truly wince.

Surely these once basic occasional camera users are not investing in top of the range computer-phone-cameras?

Are we at that point where pocketable (maybe) compact computer-phone-cameras are going to be more expensive than top-range quite capable stand alone cameras?

Goodness gracious me, how audacious ..... fie on you Goldilocks.

Compact cameras are completely forgotten, even top-drawer tiny systems cameras such as the GM5. (Well off-market, never to be made again, forgotten at least).
 
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