Cheap and cheerful: GM5 + 12-32 + 35-100 kit

[Tom Caldwell]

I often miss my GM1 + 12-32 pancake combo. So tiny and sweet. If Pana released GM1/GM5 type of body with current tech, I’d be the first one on the queue. Sadly mft is not about small size anymore.

I could not think of anything more effective at rejuvenating this ageing m43, than a GM5ii

For small camera bodies cubic millimetres mean a lot and surely with a simple but effective GM5II that could cope with the latest 4/3 sensor we would have a tiny powerhouse in a physical size that no larger size sensor format could compete with.

But would we give up the other firmware features of the larger camera bodies? Would we also still see this tiny camera body as only suitable for smaller lenses?

M4/3 is so far ahead of the pack in lenses provided for it that the GM series had a huge head start in lens versatility over the other competitors in the tiny camera body stakes.

Wonder cameras can only be appreciated by those that do not limit their capability by pre-conceived ideas of what they can be used for.

Only "pocketable" but surely the GM series are still too large to be comfortably pocketed even with the smallest lenses. It is not in the same category as the Mobile Phone Camera (MFC).

Easy to get tagged as a GM series nut case, but I do have a good selection of larger M4/3 camera bodies which I use regularly.

However my entire conversion to the joys of M4/3 has resulted from the purchase of a single GM1 with its kit zoom.

If Panasonic saw the GM series as being slow selling and hardly worth repeating I have to point out that the additional sales in other M4/3 kit, including not a few Olympus lenses were all generated by a purchase of a first humble GM1 and then purchasing larger M4/3 lenses to use on it.

I am sure that I was not the only person who climbed through the window into purchasing a full M4/3 system by first purchasing a GM1 or GM5.

They seem to think that new users must come from entry level users looking for something more interesting than their MFC. In truth I must have been a different market - someone looking for a very small full-function systems camera that was suitable for someone already seriously invested in photography.

They have discontinued one of the most exclusive sides of M4/3 simply because it has not sold well and by doing so they have shaved off a whole extension of what the 4/3 sensor is all about quite voluntarily and left it competing directly with the smaller size end of the larger sensor product.

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Tom Caldwell

 

[richj20]

Would we also still see this tiny camera body as only suitable for smaller lenses?

I submit that if a user balances the lens in the left hand supporting all of the weight, the size of the camera is irrelevant. All the camera does is to aim and click.







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http://www.rsjphoto.net/

 

[timo]

I use the Panasonic 12-32, 35-100 (cheapo), and 20/1.7 a lot of the time with my EM5iii. It's an excellent set-up. Those lenses may be 'budget', but they are surprisingly good, and I have made some very large prints with their output. I've never felt the need to splash out a lot of cash for more expensive alternatives. The Panasonic 12-60 is a good alternative.