My Experience Moving to Olympus M43 System

Welcome to m4/3 and I'm glad you are enjoying it.

For what it is worth, the first picture of the Nikon camera looks much better than the one using the purchased profile. The second one looks very green, perhaps your monitor is not calibrated? Also, be careful when you chase after clipped shadows/highlights - are they really adding to the photo? Of course, if your monitor needs calibration, then you might not be seeing what others are seeing with respect to shadows and highlights, anyway.

Would love to see more images of your wildlife!

BillyNZ wrote:

Hi yes I know how amazing that lens is, it was one of the reasons to choose this system. Sadly here in NZ we don't get those amazing deals you get in the US, but usually around Christmas time they offer a cash back deal so I'm patiently (not) waiting for that....

Thanks!

I got my 12-40mm on cashback here in NZ,  after the E-M1 came out. The good deal purchase price in the US at that time was about the same cost, by the time you added the hefty freight cost and 15% gst. And the peace of mind of a local guarantee.

If you do buy an E-M2 here, I also recommend the extended warranty. It was not very expensive, and has saved me hundreds of dollars after three returns.

Cheers,

Don

BillyNZ wrote:

Hi everyone, I’m new to M43 system. In 2012 I bought my first “real” camera, a Nikon D5100. With that camera I learned all the little I know about photography and my love for this art grew. 2 years ago I decided to upgrade to a better camera, so my first thought was to move to full frame to get that better image quality I was dreaming of and hopefully better controls, autofocus and viewfinder. To get all those nice things I will have to spend a lot of money as there is no point to pair a good “full frame” sensor with average quality glass. To make things worse a full frame camera plus a good quality zoom equals big and heavy and for more that I dream of going to amazing places out in nature just to take photos the reality is that most of the time I travel I’m going with my family so I’m already carrying a lot of other stuff. Staying with an APSC Nikon camera made more sense, but I really wanted to get good quality glass and within the Nikon system that means most of the time pricey and bulky full frame lenses. So there I was totally stuck with my decision, but then lucky for me my brother decided to step up from p&s and bought a Panasonic GF5. To my surprise with that tiny camera plus that amazing 12-32mm lens he got after, his photos straight out the camera were so much sharper than the ones I was getting with the kit lens on Nikon. After playing around with that camera I realized another huge benefit, being able to take photos all the time with live view meant that I was nailing the exposure nearly all the time, so even the dynamic range was less than in my Nikon most of the time I didn’t need to push the exposure too much in PP so it wasn’t a problem for me. Since then I’ve been checking this forum and learning about this amazing system. I decided to get the EM1 mkii with the 12-40mm f2.8 when it gets released. As I was sure that going for M43 was the best decision for me I couldn’t wait anymore to start using it so I bought a second hand EM10 with the pancake lens and the 60mm macro while I wait for the EM1 mkii. So far I can’t be any happier. I’m totally aware that if I pixel peep I can see the difference between M43 and full frame, but for me photography is just a hobby, I have only printed 4 canvases and the rest of my photos 99% of the time go only to FB to share with my family and friend overseas.

So after playing around for a bit with the camera this was my first “serious” photo, a photo of my Nikon camera to put for sale on internet ;). I confirmed what I have read so many times, the Jpeg engine of the Olympus is for my taste MUCH better than the Nikon. Now I will not need to post process every single photo, what is great news for me as I’m too busy. For the final photo I used a different background, but I’m sharing this one because I noticed that the colour of the fabric was off even I used calibrated lighting and custom white balance. The colour was the same for both OOC jpeg and Lightroom, so I bought the huelight camera profile and the colour was now totally accurate. I also noticed that the profile tend to clip less the shadows as you can see in the crops (even I dialed down shadow recovery).

Only slight contrast and exposure adjustment in Lightroom. Camera Profile Natural. What a sharp lens the Oly 60mm macro is and I didn't need to sell a kidney to buy it

Huelight EM10 camera profile applied, this is the real colour of the fabric.

You can see dark areas clipped even I did quite a bit of shadow recovery.

With the Huelight camera profile I dialed down the shadow recovery and I still get more details in the shadows

I kept 2 Nikon lenses, the 50mm AF 1.8 and the 55-300mm. I’m really enjoying using these lenses with adapter, actually I think I’m getting better results at 300mm with the Olympus than with the Nikon, I don’t know if due to the Ibis or if it was front or back focusing with my Nikon.

Hera are few shots from the Travis Wetland in Christchurch taken with the Nikon 55-300mm. Not the easiest lens to manual focus but till I get another zoom lens it will do

Pukeko

Black Swan

I apologize for my English (this is not my first language) and for the extension of this post but I hope my experience may help others like me deciding to move to M43.

Cheers!

Welcome!  I had bought the D5100 (twice!)  and made many very nice photos.  But I kept returning to these M4/3 cameras, of whic I've owned 9, along with 12 lenses.  I spent about 20 months with a D750 and 9 big lenses, a remarkable camera, but have sold them off now.  I definitely prefer mirrorless, and in addition to the wonderful compromise=m4/3, have a sweet old RX1.  I am also impressed with 1' Sony sensors.  I loved/but gave away an FZ1000 and the lovely RX10i (to my sisters).  [So many great cam's out there!]  I have heard mostly great feedback on the 12-40, however have chosen instead the more compact 12-35.

BillyNZ wrote:

Hi Don

Can I ask you why did you have to return the camera so many times?.

Definitely I will get the extended warranty, thanks for the tip.

Cheers!

Hi Billy.

First the electronics failed, and I think the main board may have been replaced. A year later the black vinyl (or whatever) peeled off the back and was replaced. This is not uncommon, and there are threads here somewhere. Last year S-AF stopped working, and again electronics were replaced. All problems were fixed without question. The 3 year warranty must nearly be up, so fingers crossed.

I don't think my experience is typical. Ironically, I am very fussy with my cameras, and have never had anything like this before.

My wife is in Namibia just now with my E-M1 and 12-40 plus 75-300, and I hope it all survives!

Cheers,

Don

BillyNZ wrote:

Wow Don it sounds like you were very unlucky, at least I'm pleased that the extended warranty covered it all. I will definitely get it as well.

Thanks!

In spite of that, I'm pretty sure I will get an E-M2

Rssrsvp wrote:

BillyNZ wrote:

Hi Don

Can I ask you why did you have to return the camera so many times?.

Definitely I will get the extended warranty, thanks for the tip.

Cheers!

In the US the extended warranty is $99 for 2 additional years of coverage if you purchase it directly from Olympus USA. Some large retailers like B&H have been known to sell it for less. Also I read in a post on this forum recently that someone received an email where you can extend it for an additional 2 years if you wish and he took advantage of that offer.

Out of curiosity, how many years do you get and how much does it cost in NZ?.

I just checked it out. I bought the E-M1 on 25/10/2013, 3 year extended warranty, equivalent us$70. We do not have  competitive dealers here in NZ for that sort of service.

I have certainly had my moneys worth. Runs out this October, yikes!

Don

BillyNZ wrote:

Hi everyone, I’m new to M43 system. In 2012 I bought my first “real” camera, a Nikon D5100. With that camera I learned all the little I know about photography and my love for this art grew. 2 years ago I decided to upgrade to a better camera, so my first thought was to move to full frame to get that better image quality I was dreaming of and hopefully better controls, autofocus and viewfinder. To get all those nice things I will have to spend a lot of money as there is no point to pair a good “full frame” sensor with average quality glass. To make things worse a full frame camera plus a good quality zoom equals big and heavy and for more that I dream of going to amazing places out in nature just to take photos the reality is that most of the time I travel I’m going with my family so I’m already carrying a lot of other stuff. Staying with an APSC Nikon camera made more sense, but I really wanted to get good quality glass and within the Nikon system that means most of the time pricey and bulky full frame lenses. So there I was totally stuck with my decision, but then lucky for me my brother decided to step up from p&s and bought a Panasonic GF5. To my surprise with that tiny camera plus that amazing 12-32mm lens he got after, his photos straight out the camera were so much sharper than the ones I was getting with the kit lens on Nikon. After playing around with that camera I realized another huge benefit, being able to take photos all the time with live view meant that I was nailing the exposure nearly all the time, so even the dynamic range was less than in my Nikon most of the time I didn’t need to push the exposure too much in PP so it wasn’t a problem for me. Since then I’ve been checking this forum and learning about this amazing system. I decided to get the EM1 mkii with the 12-40mm f2.8 when it gets released. As I was sure that going for M43 was the best decision for me I couldn’t wait anymore to start using it so I bought a second hand EM10 with the pancake lens and the 60mm macro while I wait for the EM1 mkii. So far I can’t be any happier. I’m totally aware that if I pixel peep I can see the difference between M43 and full frame, but for me photography is just a hobby, I have only printed 4 canvases and the rest of my photos 99% of the time go only to FB to share with my family and friend overseas.

So after playing around for a bit with the camera this was my first “serious” photo, a photo of my Nikon camera to put for sale on internet ;). I confirmed what I have read so many times, the Jpeg engine of the Olympus is for my taste MUCH better than the Nikon. Now I will not need to post process every single photo, what is great news for me as I’m too busy. For the final photo I used a different background, but I’m sharing this one because I noticed that the colour of the fabric was off even I used calibrated lighting and custom white balance. The colour was the same for both OOC jpeg and Lightroom, so I bought the huelight camera profile and the colour was now totally accurate. I also noticed that the profile tend to clip less the shadows as you can see in the crops (even I dialed down shadow recovery).

Only slight contrast and exposure adjustment in Lightroom. Camera Profile Natural. What a sharp lens the Oly 60mm macro is and I didn't need to sell a kidney to buy it

Huelight EM10 camera profile applied, this is the real colour of the fabric.

You can see dark areas clipped even I did quite a bit of shadow recovery.

With the Huelight camera profile I dialed down the shadow recovery and I still get more details in the shadows

I kept 2 Nikon lenses, the 50mm AF 1.8 and the 55-300mm. I’m really enjoying using these lenses with adapter, actually I think I’m getting better results at 300mm with the Olympus than with the Nikon, I don’t know if due to the Ibis or if it was front or back focusing with my Nikon.

Hera are few shots from the Travis Wetland in Christchurch taken with the Nikon 55-300mm. Not the easiest lens to manual focus but till I get another zoom lens it will do

Pukeko

Black Swan

I apologize for my English (this is not my first language) and for the extension of this post but I hope my experience may help others like me deciding to move to M43.

Cheers!

The colours look a little iffy to me.

If your going to use profiles your far better off building your own, that huelight profile is just a guess, it may not even be close to the real set of shooting conditions.

Rssrsvp wrote:

KiwiDon wrote:

Rssrsvp wrote:

BillyNZ wrote:

Hi Don

Can I ask you why did you have to return the camera so many times?.

Definitely I will get the extended warranty, thanks for the tip.

Cheers!

In the US the extended warranty is $99 for 2 additional years of coverage if you purchase it directly from Olympus USA. Some large retailers like B&H have been known to sell it for less. Also I read in a post on this forum recently that someone received an email where you can extend it for an additional 2 years if you wish and he took advantage of that offer.

Out of curiosity, how many years do you get and how much does it cost in NZ?.

I just checked it out. I bought the E-M1 on 25/10/2013, 3 year extended warranty, equivalent us$70. We do not have competitive dealers here in NZ for that sort of service.

I have certainly had my moneys worth. Runs out this October, yikes!

Don

I am confused as you originally said, "I bought a second hand EM10 with the pancake lens and the 60mm macro while I wait for the EM1 mkii" and you now mention the E-M1 in this new post.

Not me.

You must have replied to the wrong email, or referring to someone else s reply.

Cheers,

Don