Panasonic vs. Olympus bodies with a bagful of Panasonic lenses

john isaacs wrote:

In my experience, Panasonic is more likely to blow highlights than Olympus. I usually have my Panasonic cameras set to -1/3 or -2/3 Ev for that reason. I nearly always have the camera set to display the image with highlights to check, so I can reshoot if needed.

Not sure Oly, but to my experience on GX85, it should likely be on the opposite, -2/3ev on zebra stripe area when it first displayed. i.e. a potential headroom to go +2/3ev before real highlight overblown.

Which is one reason I always shoot RAW. If you are a JPG shooter, then I suggest you shoot RAW+JPG (which I used to do), and then you can toss the RAW if your JPGs are okay, or use the RAW to recover if they are not. At any rate, I eventually stopped shooting JPG at all, and now shoot exclusively RAW.

The big difference (for me) between Panasonic and Olympus is that Olympus will show blown highlights/crushed shadows in live preview,

Latest Pany cameras also support zebra stripe alert for highlight, but nothing for the shadow yet.

allowing you to adjust the exposure before shooting. This is the Highlight/Shadow option for EVF and LCD. It applies to JPG, so you might not blow highlights in RAW even if it's indicated due to the increased headroom. But there is an adjustment for this; I set it to maximum because I shoot RAW. I shoot a lot of concerts/events where the lighting can be very harsh, and use this to ensure that my subject is not blown out even if there are a lot of bright lights that are.

BATTERY POWER: My Panasonic bodies can be easily powered by external battery using the dummy battery terminals that are used for AC power.

Now by relay case you might also use external USB power banks as well for added convenience. 

Olympus requires you buy the battery grip, and an AC adapter that plugs into the grip; it's no simple matter to provide external battery power with that solution. I don't know why they won't support this, since the Olympus batteries are total wimps compared to my Panasonic GH3 batteries. In fact, putting the camera in a cage where it's not simple to access the battery port means Panasonic is still the video solution.

REMOTE CONTROL: For me, the Panasonic remote control app is better than anything else I've used (Olympus, Nikon). My application is a bit specific, but I will shoot events where I put the camera on a boom and control with iPhone, then bring it down and immediately shoot by hand, and then back on the boom. I can establish iPhone connection and use either iPhone or camera controls without changing the connection.

alcelc wrote:

Now by relay case you might also use external USB power banks as well for added convenience.

Yes, provided your USB power banks can put out at least 5 volts and 2 amps of power (i.e. 10 watts).  I've measured that at 9 volts, both the Olympus E-m1 and Panasonic G-85 can draw up to 0.9 amps (8.1 watts) after the flash was fired, and 0.5 amps (4.5 watts) is the normal run rate.

The case relay system has a battery in it that in theory has roughly the same power level as either the Olympus BLN-1 or Panasonic BLC12 batteries.  You can hook it up to a USB power source for more run time.  In my initial tests, if the internal battery is fully charged, it won't recharge from the external battery, and I haven't run it long enough to drain the battery.

If you go Oly you will have some issues with some of your Pana lenses. You will have purple fringes and purple flare, which you will not have with a Panasonic body. Unfortunately Oly uses a weaker UV filter on it's sensor then Panasonic. This is a well documented problem. But if you didn't find it an issue with yourPM2 then don't worry. I did find it a problem with my PM2 and my 20mm and 7-14.