Anyone Use MFT Cameras? EM10 vs EM5?

[thettareddast]

I had an E-P5. It was quite compact for its days, but moving forward, low-light is piss poor and size-wise, Sony APS-C mirrorless is getting more compact as well (with larger sensor to boot).

I don't think there are any significant improvements in MFT bodies over the past decade, so any that you an afford will be just fine. I would consider Panasonic models though. Not sure about the recent models, buy my Olympus E-P5 suffers from shutter shock, and it can be highly annoying.

Olympus introduced a pre-shutter option (diamond icon on the drive mode) that accompanied every shooting mode (single, burst, self timer, etc). It eliminates shutter shock at zero expense to the shooting experience.

The Olympus also "outshot" the contemporary APS-C and FF cameras I had in low-light because the ultra effective image stabilization system allowed me to shoot multiple stops longer handheld. Its not so much of an advantage now because IBIS are becoming more common...although theyre still not as good as Olympus'

 

[ian87w]

Olympus introduced a pre-shutter option (diamond icon on the drive mode) that accompanied every shooting mode (single, burst, self timer, etc). It eliminates shutter shock at zero expense to the shooting experience.

The Olympus also "outshot" the contemporary APS-C and FF cameras I had in low-light because the ultra effective image stabilization system allowed me to shoot multiple stops longer handheld. Its not so much of an advantage now because IBIS are becoming more common...although theyre still not as good as Olympus'

The pre-shutter option introduce lag, at least for my experience, and it's quite unusable for me unless I use timer.

And I have to disagree. Cannot beat physics, and APS-C sensors are physically larger. My EP5 is quite noisy from ISO400 onwards, with ISO800 and higher being quite unusable. Again, shooting daylight sceneries is not an issue. Indoors for events with humans moving, you cannot just use slower shutter speed. High ISO is the necessary evil, and my EP5 just didn't cut it. Try shooting ISO1600 against a full-frame at 1/200 shutter speed.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

The pre-shutter option introduce lag, at least for my experience, and it's quite unusable for me unless I use timer.

And I have to disagree. Cannot beat physics, and APS-C sensors are physically larger. My EP5 is quite noisy from ISO400 onwards, with ISO800 and higher being quite unusable. Again, shooting daylight sceneries is not an issue. Indoors for events with humans moving, you cannot just use slower shutter speed. High ISO is the necessary evil, and my EP5 just didn't cut it. Try shooting ISO1600 against a full-frame at 1/200 shutter speed.

Yes, but you are talking about an old 16mp sensor from 2013. The em5.3 has a different sensor and is pretty good with noise up and over 1600 ISO. 3200 and 6400 can even be acceptable. I just spent a month or two with the latest 26MP APS-C X-Trans sensor from Fuji, and while it handles noise better, sharpness at higher ISOs is still a wash versus the 20MP from Olympus.

The IBIS on the Olympus cameras are indeed fantastic. 1s handheld is a snap, and if I’m leaning against something, I’ve been able to do 8s handheld of night sky. Yes, larger sensors can take in more light, but that’s not the end of physics. “You can’t beat physics” is a common argument, but if biggest sensor wins the day, then OP needs to go buy a MF camera.

 

[mollyc]

the op has been pretty clear about wanting an mft camera. listing the seeming detriments to it doesn’t seem overly helpful. there are trade offs for every system. he has specific parameters he is trying to meet.

 

[Ray2]

I'll start with the Mac. If photography is the main load, totally over spec'd. Your money but it’s a statement rather than a tool for m43. I shoot 26mp Fuji which requires more processing than my old D800 files and far more than my m43 files. I use LR, PS, Iridient XTransformer, Fuji XRaw Studio and Topaz DeNoise AI. They all run very well on an 8-core, M1 MBA with 16GB of ram and a 2TB internal. Display is a Dell 25” 2560 X 1440 UltraSharp. It’s not pretty but it does the job.

My m43 use case is totally different than yours, Panasonic, street and travel. The EM5 is a lovely small body that embraces m43. A broad range of excellent small lenses, excellent IBIS and WR. If it wasn’t for the swing out lcd, I’d be shooting one. $3k should work and leave some room for less task specific lenses.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Yes, and DXO PureRAW v2 uses the Neural Engine on the M1 line, which I think makes it perform the same across the board. This can be great in that you don't have to buy one of the best M1-based Macs to get the performance out of that program in particular. I still have version 1, where one 20MP file takes 20s using the M1 GPU, where v2 (did the 30 day trial) will run through that same file in 8-9s, which is a huge boost in performance out of the exact same hardware.

 

[robgendreau]

Yes, but you are talking about an old 16mp sensor from 2013. The em5.3 has a different sensor and is pretty good with noise up and over 1600 ISO. 3200 and 6400 can even be acceptable. I just spent a month or two with the latest 26MP APS-C X-Trans sensor from Fuji, and while it handles noise better, sharpness at higher ISOs is still a wash versus the 20MP from Olympus.

The IBIS on the Olympus cameras are indeed fantastic. 1s handheld is a snap, and if I’m leaning against something, I’ve been able to do 8s handheld of night sky. Yes, larger sensors can take in more light, but that’s not the end of physics. “You can’t beat physics” is a common argument, but if biggest sensor wins the day, then OP needs to go buy a MF camera.

I've used an E-P5 and it's definitely not as good as recent M43s re noise. And IBIS.

The thing is you cannot defeat physics, as ian87w noted, but that's also why the superior IBIS sometimes allows me to shoot with less noise than my full frame. If I can shoot at 1/30 instead of 1/120 due to IBIS, I get less noise, and even my R6's sensor alone maybe doesn't give me two stops of NR over my M43. Doesn't work if the subject is moving since IBIS won't help there, but in landscape? the IBIS really helps. And it is somewhat better than my R6.

 

[Cliff3]

Curious if any of you use micro four thirds cameras and which model you use?

I'm considering an EM10 and an EM5 as my next camera (upgrading from an ancient canon t2i)

Not sure which would be better. Im interested in telephoto small or distant bird and animal/wildlife photography (using the oly 300mm perhaps) and macro photography for insects and snowflakes and leaf veins (perhaps using the oly 60mm macro). Also want to explore astro landscapes but have no idea which lens I'd get for that.

Camera and lens suggestions would be appreciated.

Curious if anyone also uses a studio display for editing and viewing and how you like it, and which mac/how much ram you need? (I have a 14" on order with 32GB RAM and 2TB, ...it is super delayed and I'm wondering if its overkill)

If you want to shoot birds in flight then you'll need the phase detect autofocus system in the EM5.3 at a minimum. I like to shoot motorsports and the subject tracking capabilities in my EM1.2 have been disappointing. I've played around with the various AF system parameters and never got the AF performance I was used to in my old Nikon D700. I considered buying the new OM-1 body but decided instead to switch back to Nikon after my 5+ year MFT experiment.

In terms of lenses, the Oly 40-150/2.8 is a sweet lens and works well with Oly's teleconverters. I have this lens, plus the 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters in my kit. My walk around lens is the Panasonic-Leica 12-60/2.8-4, and I also have the Panny 7-14, Panny 20/1.7, and Oly 45/1.8. I'll be selling all of this stuff to KEH in the next few days, so look for some very mint MFT gear to show up for sale on their site soon.