My next step - OMD 5.3 or Pen F

Hi folks, I wonder if I could ask for your views.

My digital DNA started with an E500 -> E510 and then into m43 with an EPL2 and for the last 7 years or so an EP5. I live in the UK and typically take family / holidays / family event type of shots.

Low point was probably the E500, the other cameras in their own ways I have really enjoyed and got - for a rank amateur - some wonderful digital memories.

My sister has just moved from Panasonic to an OMD 5.3 and it is a lovely thing and of course it gives me an itch to scratch.

Apart from a couple of Canon compacts years ago, I have really only been an Olympus kind of guy - two reasons (1) it keeps choices simpler (2) my Dad bought an OM1 all those years ago and when I was younger, I so admired it's look, build and compactness, all characteristics that epitomise m43 today. I see no reason, for my purposes, to stray outside of m43. The lenses I use most are all Oly - 45 f1.8 / 25 f1.8 / 12 f2. I have a 75-300, it is the lens I least enjoy, the 45 when I got it was a revelation.

Using the EP5 over many years now, particularly with a compact prime, it is very unobtrusive and - I think - I have got some good shots because it does not intimidate in any way. No hump = no problem?

Am tempted with a new OMD 5.3 (around £999 in the UK at the moment) - clearly a very competent piece of kit. When I sit it alongside my EP5 (with VF2 viewfinder), the 5.3 is every bit as compact and of course it has the latest tech.

On the other hand, I would probably have bought a PEN F sometime back if the prices were more reasonable. I have found a couple on eBay with shutter actuations around 2,000 in very decent condition for about £650. I can buy new from the Netherlands for about £860.

What to do folks? My guess is that the majority of "better" in both the 5.3 and the F are the 20 mp sensor when compared to my EP5. Am sure the 5.3 will do some peripheral things better / faster / smarter, but do I need best / fastest / smartest in reality?

My ideal would be a PEN F2, but I just don't see Olympus doing that and think that the F may well be end of line for this style of camera. I could of course just stay as I am!

TIA

Edward

Depends if you prefer a rangefinder or dslr style camera?

Only the 5.3 is weather sealed, that also might make a difference to you.

MPB have a fair few Pen F for just under £600, so cost might also be a factor.

The Pen-F is lovely to look at and to use, with one exception: its continuous AF is much poorer than the M1ii or iii, or the 5iii.

if you want to photograph things that move I think you’ll soon get very frustrated with the Pen-F. There are work-arounds, but they all slow you down and/or involve zone-focusing to get a wide dof and raising the ISO.

Many thanks - I rarely if ever use C-AF on the EP5 - so I guess that would not be a deal breaker for me.

I never buy anything based on how it looks, am only interested in how it functions. Except the EP5 which I just had to buy on style alone!

Trolleyman wrote:

Depends if you prefer a rangefinder or dslr style camera?

Only the 5.3 is weather sealed, that also might make a difference to you.

MPB have a fair few Pen F for just under £600, so cost might also be a factor.

Thanks Mr Trolley - love the rangefinder style. That may be it right there!

Weather sealing - not been an issue for me this far. But clearly an advantage for the 5.3 in terms of body.

MPB good people to work with?

Yes, several friends of mine love their Pen-Fs (and one has just bought a second body on special offer for when his #1 breaks!).

However, all of them do little action photography, while I do mainly wildlife, field sports plus often the sort of street shooting that uses narrow dof to get subject isolation of individual moving people.

Sounds like you’ll be fine with one.

The day after the 5.3 was announced Olympus had a demonstration, so I had a play with it.

I was so disappointed, I immediately bought a second PEN F body.

The Pen F has four MySets on the top plate, which on the 5.3 have been replaced with infrequently used options. The Pen F also has the front dial, giving another MySet. They also dumbed down the software and the tripod socket appears to be a little delicate.

The Pen F does have minor problems. My 75-300 projects below the base of the body, so it interferes with my tripod QR plate (I had to take a small lump out of it) and when wearing gloves, the screen is a little awkward to pull out.

Peter Del

The PEN-F is a camera I really, really want to like and looks great.

However, there are two issues:

Trivial but annoying - I shoot RAW so the front dial is completely wasted.

Really annoying - there is no sensible way of setting up Back-button Focus (BBF). I've tried assigning AF to different buttons but none of them are satisfactory. Every other camera I use has an AF button where my thumb can hit it while my finger is on the shutter button. I just cannot do this on the Pen F.

If you are not into BBF then its fine, but if BBF is an intrinsic part of how you shoot then this camera eventually drives you nuts.

I've had two at different times (I told you I wanted to like it) but sold them both after a short period of ownership.

This is an easy one - 100% em5.3.

Pen-F is mediocre - all looks with no substance.

...and they are two very different cameras.

The E-M5 III is my all around, versatile, do-most-anything, smaller than my E-M1 II, camera.

My Pen F is my street and festival, mono JPEG shooting, take on a date instead of my wife, camera.

Both are great, but if you already have a grab and go shooter then treat yourself to a Pen F.

dlinney wrote:

The PEN-F is a camera I really, really want to like and looks great.

However, there are two issues:

Trivial but annoying - I shoot RAW so the front dial is completely wasted.

Really annoying - there is no sensible way of setting up Back-button Focus (BBF). I've tried assigning AF to different buttons but none of them are satisfactory. Every other camera I use has an AF button where my thumb can hit it while my finger is on the shutter button. I just cannot do this on the Pen F.

If you are not into BBF then its fine, but if BBF is an intrinsic part of how you shoot then this camera eventually drives you nuts.

I've had two at different times (I told you I wanted to like it) but sold them both after a short period of ownership.

Thanks Derek - I tend to use RAW + JPEG. I mostly edit the RAW's in LR, but also like some of the filters on the EP5, particularly the grainy film, so my finished pictures are mostly RAW with some JPEG's generated in camera.

BBF - that's a new one on me, will reasearch.

Many thanks for your post.

Dennis1972 wrote:

This is an easy one - 100% em5.3.

Pen-F is mediocre - all looks with no substance.

Really? What is it missing?

Edward Lowy wrote:

Trolleyman wrote:

Depends if you prefer a rangefinder or dslr style camera?

Only the 5.3 is weather sealed, that also might make a difference to you.

MPB have a fair few Pen F for just under £600, so cost might also be a factor.

Thanks Mr Trolley - love the rangefinder style. That may be it right there!

Weather sealing - not been an issue for me this far. But clearly an advantage for the 5.3 in terms of body.

MPB good people to work with?

Indeed Edward, MPB have been fine in my dealings with them, likewise for WEX, LCE and Camera Jungle (Jessops used dealer)

All offer no quibble return and warranties of differing lengths

AllFlawed wrote:

Edward Lowy wrote:

Dennis1972 wrote:

This is an easy one - 100% em5.3.

Pen-F is mediocre - all looks with no substance.

Really? What is it missing?

I would hope 4 years of development or the m43 system is really standing still.

Saying the Pen-F is mediocre is harsh but it was a camera when I saw it in the flesh rather than posed in photographs it was a bit underwhelming.

Given the obvious merits of the EM5.3 then the retrospective charm of the Pen-F the obvious sentiment for the camera can be a bit of a siren call that needs cold analysis.

Same sensor in both, and would think IQ very similar?

What are the obvious merits of the 5.3 that your cold analysis throws up?

Edward Lowy wrote:

AllFlawed wrote:

Edward Lowy wrote:

Dennis1972 wrote:

This is an easy one - 100% em5.3.

Pen-F is mediocre - all looks with no substance.

Really? What is it missing?

I would hope 4 years of development or the m43 system is really standing still.

Saying the Pen-F is mediocre is harsh but it was a camera when I saw it in the flesh rather than posed in photographs it was a bit underwhelming.

Given the obvious merits of the EM5.3 then the retrospective charm of the Pen-F the obvious sentiment for the camera can be a bit of a siren call that needs cold analysis.

Same sensor in both, and would think IQ very similar?

IQ comparison is meaningless if camera can't nail focus.

What are the obvious merits of the 5.3 that your cold analysis throws up?

Superior continuous autofocus (pdaf vs cdaf only).

Dennis1972 wrote:

Edward Lowy wrote:

AllFlawed wrote:

Edward Lowy wrote:

Dennis1972 wrote:

This is an easy one - 100% em5.3.

Pen-F is mediocre - all looks with no substance.

Really? What is it missing?

I would hope 4 years of development or the m43 system is really standing still.

Saying the Pen-F is mediocre is harsh but it was a camera when I saw it in the flesh rather than posed in photographs it was a bit underwhelming.

Given the obvious merits of the EM5.3 then the retrospective charm of the Pen-F the obvious sentiment for the camera can be a bit of a siren call that needs cold analysis.

Same sensor in both, and would think IQ very similar?

IQ comparison is meaningless if camera can't nail focus.

What are the obvious merits of the 5.3 that your cold analysis throws up?

Superior continuous autofocus (pdaf vs cdaf only).

IQ comparison is everything. The purpose of the device is to take pictures.

Interesting, I haven't read that the PEN F can't focus. Haven't found that to be an issue on any previous Olympus camera.

OMD 5.3: newer, faster, weathersealed, faster AF

PenF: perfectly old-fashioned, rangfinder-style, more artistic because of the many and simply to reach art-modi, very small, love mine very much

If you like the rangefinder-style and/or the artistic approach to photography and/or you like enjoy the feeling of taking photos, take the PenF. If you want the more modern and "better" camera (in the sense of technically a little bit better), take the 5.3.

The 5 iii has performance and weather sealing. The PEN-F has great style.

Thats essentially the choice in my mind.

Both great expressions of very different choices, bravo olympus for being able to do both justice, shame they havent released a new F.