A few thoughts about Olympus vs Panasonic for wedding photography

I have used many Panasonic and Olympus m 4/3 cameras over the last few years and see pros and cons in all of them to the extent that overall I don't think either brand is the clear leader, apart from Panasonic in terms of video, where clearly the video in the GH3, GH4, GX7 and G6 is miles better than the video in any of the Olys. My experience is that the AF is indeed a bit faster in the Pannies than with the Oly cameras, but then my experience is also that the 5-axis IBIS in the OMD line is better than the IBIS in the GX7 and often better than the OIS in some Pannie lenses, and I like the colour output by the Olys more than that from the Pannies, even in raw.

Either way, since I also have Sony SLTs, I'd rather shoot a wedding with that system since the phase detect AF is still better in my experience with non-static targets than the AF in m 4/3 cams at present.

Marco Cinnirella wrote:

...experience is also that the 5-axis IBIS in the OMD line is better than the IBIS in the GX7 and often better than the OIS in some Pannie lenses...

In most situations I would totally agree with you. Having the 5-axis stabilization on the E-M1 working in the viewfinder is such a pleasure for the eye, that I can hardly describe it.

Still, there's an interesting observation that I had a few months ago: I was shooting some dishes in extremely low light - f2.8, ISO 2500, 1/10" with the Panasonic 35-100 @ 100mm. I had about 10% keepers from multiple attempts with the 5-axis IBIS. Then I switched to the Panasonic OIS and had about 70% keepers at the same settings. It turns out that in extremely low light the Pana OIS is more effective but for video I like the 5-Axis IBIS more because it looks like it's floating. The OIS tries to nail the subject in frame until it reaches the maximum movement of the OIS elements and then it sharply bounces to the center when you move the camera. This is quite abrupt.

Actually this is the exact reason for having such a high success rate with the OIS - at 1/10" keeping the subject nailed in the frame while the stabilization is working full time is what produced sharp images. On the contrary the floating nature of the 5-axis IBIS is what couldn't provide sharpness.

I'm a long time former Nikon user & have always prefer lens OIS to IBIS. But having the built in IBIS on my GX7 & E-P3 is really nice to have.

Bots_Revenge wrote:

@Jeanadriane - I'd like to thank you for stimulating me to dig deeper to find the flash exposure compensation. I did find it and set it as on one of the on-screen Fn buttons. So I take back my statement on that note as well.

It's even MUCH easier than that! I don't have the GX7 any longer (having two GX1s proved to be sufficient for my needs), but what I loved  about it, was that I could have flash-EC at one of the two controlwheels on the top. Really, really brilliant! It took me some time and manual-digging to discover it, tho, and I've forgotten how... Sorry! But best of luck to you in finding it!

Bots_Revenge wrote:

...

3. Panasonic's track pad AF (adjusting the focus point by dragging your finger through the screen while you're looking through the viewfinder) is so far the most comfortable way to move the AF point that I've seen so far.

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I couldn't agree more! Not only most comfortable, but also incredibly quick & efficient. Especially on a swung-open, fully articulated LCD such as the G6. Don't know why this revolutionary feature doesn't get more love.

It ticked all of the boxes in my needs list, other than weather seal, even adding IBIS which I didn't think would happen on a Pany body.  That being said great comparison, side by side real world usage.  Would love to see a link or images for pleasures sake.

I continue to see the value inm4/3 increasing with each generation of body and added lens.

[quote]Shooting in difficult lighting conditions with the Panasonic and the long primes is a pure joy compared to the struggles I have with Oly[/quote]

This kinda of surprises me I thought for sure the superior stabilization in the Oly cameras would give an extra stop or two performance over the Panasonic using the 45 or 75 1.8.

Jason1500 wrote:

[quote]Shooting in difficult lighting conditions with the Panasonic and the long primes is a pure joy compared to the struggles I have with Oly[/quote]

This kinda of surprises me I thought for sure the superior stabilization in the Oly cameras would give an extra stop or two performance over the Panasonic using the 45 or 75 1.8.

The 5-axis stabilization in the Oly does indeed give good results in the dark because it makes it easier for the AF to focus on a steady object instead of a shaking one. What I meant about the Panasonic making using the long primes a joy was that the Panasonic focuses a LOT faster in the dark. When I use the 45mm f1.8 and the 75 in low light, the focus hunts a lot, it becomes very slow and is a PITA to shoot moving people.

In contrast using the GX7 with the stabilized 42.5mm f1.2 the system focuses with blistering speed and confidence. This allows me to relax and be sure that I will not be on edge whether I'd be able to take the shot or not. The camera just locks focus and fires away.

You need to try the gh4 I feel more confident at focusing quickly with it over any camera I've owned including the gx7 even more so on moving subjects ,

paul cool wrote:

You need to try the gh4 I feel more confident at focusing quickly with it over any camera I've owned including the gx7 even more so on moving subjects ,

So I shall try the GH4

Yohan Pamudji wrote:

Fascinating stuff! Thanks for sharing. I'm very surprised at the AF speed differences in low light. It almost makes me want to reconsider a GX7, but reading your impressions also reminded me of why I decided against one in the first place: the sequential EVF's rainbow effects would give me headaches (I'm very sensitive to rainbow effect) and IBIS doesn't work for video. Too bad--I'd love to have more confident AF in low light, but that rainbow effect is a killer for me.

Thank you!

Thankfully I rarely notice the rainbow effect. My bigger issue is with the size of the EVF. I do get used to it and stop noticing it... until I look at the VF-4 viewfinder on my Pen which is even larger than E-M1's.