guillaumee
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I’ve been shooting with an EP3 for 3 weeks, and I’m delighted with the results. I moved from an EOS 7D / “L” lenses to a combination of EP3 + good quality primes, and so far I have no reason to regret the move (I shoot travel and family, portraits, pure amateur stuff).
While everyone would bemoan the “old” sensor and “low” high-ISO IQ, this does not bother me because :
a) I do not print beyond 20/30 cm nor use screen sizes beyond my 27’’ iMac. Under these requirements, resolution is largely sufficient, and I see no difference with the 7D (shooting in Raw).
b) Regarding high-ISO, clearly this is not the strength of the Pen. BUT : using the magnificent fast primes (45mm 1.8 and 25 mm 1.4) I did not feel the need to crank up the ISO, so no real impact for me.
An advantage (some would say inconvenient) of the m4/3 is that DOF is relatively higher, at equal focal size equivalent than with an APS-C or FF. As a result, when shooting a portrait at 50mm f1.4 on an APS-C is not always practical (eyes sharp, nose blurred), shooting at f1.4 with the Pen is possible in nearly every circumstance, with a good (to me at last) balance between DOF and bokeh. This more than compensates for the high ISO limitations.
Two of the prime lenses I have are marvelous (45 and 25 mm), super sharp with nice bokeh. The kit zoom is OK, but no very fast (which is an issue, regarding the high ISO limitations), and does not compare with “L” glass sharpness-wise. The 17mm 2.8 is still a mixed bag. It may be just me, but I don’t yet get results that please me as they should considering how much I like this focal length.
AF is in most cases as fast as the 7D's (no problem photographing kids, even inside with the primes).
A few unexpected and very pleasant surprises
- Using the VF2 (very good VF) you can set it up so what you see is what you get. This is great when you choose to shoot square black and white (makes composing a delight)
- I had never been happy shooting B&W with the 7D, I love shooting B&W with the Pen. Firstly because of the above mentioned capability of the VF, and also because the B&W rendering of the Pen is excellent, and requires very little post processing. Combined with the built-in profiles for Epson papers on the R-800 it yields very nice looking B&W prints (decently neutral and well contrasted, not pro quality but miles beyond anything I ever got from the 7D – I’m talking from the point of view of an amateur who does not want to spend the time and effort of calibrating all his stuff and going too far in working with profiles)
- I’ve gone back to shooting with primes, and it’s a joy. They’re so small you can easily change lenses by just having a spare in your coat pocket, and they make the body + lens package so small you really take it anywhere with you
- Moving to a tiny camera does change the way you take pictures, in particular of people. It is less intrusive, easier to handle, and allows you to get closer, physically and psychologically, to your subject.
- I did not anticipate the sheer “physical” pleasure of handling this small but dense piece of equipment. Feeling-wise, it really is the poor man’s Leica
Conclusion : the perfect tool for the amateur
Problems:
Cons : the lack of eye-detect on the VF is a bit of a bother. Also, the camera is less responsive when switched on or waking up than a SLR. It can take more than one second to have the unit ready to shoot (especially when waking up with VF on). Not critical, but definitely slower than a recent SLR.
The menu system takes some time getting used to, but it is not as bad as frequently described.
There is no direct way of rotating from one personalized setting to another (equivalent to the C1 C2 C3 on the the 7D on the PASM wheel.) If you have a custom setting you need to go to the menu and activate it (3 steps).
Battery life is not long : you'll need to purchase at least one but preferrably two additional batteries if you want to last a long day.
Accessories (lens shades in particular) are a rip-off.
The Olympus raw converter is super slow (I used to be happy with canon's DPP, but I'll definitely have to look into LR or Bibble). A shame because it is relatively easy to use and very convenient for printing.
While everyone would bemoan the “old” sensor and “low” high-ISO IQ, this does not bother me because :
a) I do not print beyond 20/30 cm nor use screen sizes beyond my 27’’ iMac. Under these requirements, resolution is largely sufficient, and I see no difference with the 7D (shooting in Raw).
b) Regarding high-ISO, clearly this is not the strength of the Pen. BUT : using the magnificent fast primes (45mm 1.8 and 25 mm 1.4) I did not feel the need to crank up the ISO, so no real impact for me.
An advantage (some would say inconvenient) of the m4/3 is that DOF is relatively higher, at equal focal size equivalent than with an APS-C or FF. As a result, when shooting a portrait at 50mm f1.4 on an APS-C is not always practical (eyes sharp, nose blurred), shooting at f1.4 with the Pen is possible in nearly every circumstance, with a good (to me at last) balance between DOF and bokeh. This more than compensates for the high ISO limitations.
Two of the prime lenses I have are marvelous (45 and 25 mm), super sharp with nice bokeh. The kit zoom is OK, but no very fast (which is an issue, regarding the high ISO limitations), and does not compare with “L” glass sharpness-wise. The 17mm 2.8 is still a mixed bag. It may be just me, but I don’t yet get results that please me as they should considering how much I like this focal length.
AF is in most cases as fast as the 7D's (no problem photographing kids, even inside with the primes).
A few unexpected and very pleasant surprises
- Using the VF2 (very good VF) you can set it up so what you see is what you get. This is great when you choose to shoot square black and white (makes composing a delight)
- I had never been happy shooting B&W with the 7D, I love shooting B&W with the Pen. Firstly because of the above mentioned capability of the VF, and also because the B&W rendering of the Pen is excellent, and requires very little post processing. Combined with the built-in profiles for Epson papers on the R-800 it yields very nice looking B&W prints (decently neutral and well contrasted, not pro quality but miles beyond anything I ever got from the 7D – I’m talking from the point of view of an amateur who does not want to spend the time and effort of calibrating all his stuff and going too far in working with profiles)
- I’ve gone back to shooting with primes, and it’s a joy. They’re so small you can easily change lenses by just having a spare in your coat pocket, and they make the body + lens package so small you really take it anywhere with you
- Moving to a tiny camera does change the way you take pictures, in particular of people. It is less intrusive, easier to handle, and allows you to get closer, physically and psychologically, to your subject.
- I did not anticipate the sheer “physical” pleasure of handling this small but dense piece of equipment. Feeling-wise, it really is the poor man’s Leica
Conclusion : the perfect tool for the amateur
Problems:
Cons : the lack of eye-detect on the VF is a bit of a bother. Also, the camera is less responsive when switched on or waking up than a SLR. It can take more than one second to have the unit ready to shoot (especially when waking up with VF on). Not critical, but definitely slower than a recent SLR.
The menu system takes some time getting used to, but it is not as bad as frequently described.
There is no direct way of rotating from one personalized setting to another (equivalent to the C1 C2 C3 on the the 7D on the PASM wheel.) If you have a custom setting you need to go to the menu and activate it (3 steps).
Battery life is not long : you'll need to purchase at least one but preferrably two additional batteries if you want to last a long day.
Accessories (lens shades in particular) are a rip-off.
The Olympus raw converter is super slow (I used to be happy with canon's DPP, but I'll definitely have to look into LR or Bibble). A shame because it is relatively easy to use and very convenient for printing.