M 4/3 - The pros and the cons?

JohnN

JohnN

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Is there a straight to the point site out there that gives this sort of info - especially vs a DSLR.

As you can see from my sig I have a pretty decent setup, however even with all that it still refuses to do what I want at time or can just be too big to lug about.

Recently I took some movies of my girl's first day without stabaisers - what a botch I made of it, in part because the follow focus on the Canon's just plain suck (I hear the 650 with (currently) one lens will do this), but come on, I know its not the primary function of a still camera but surely it shouldn't be last place to a point and £60 point and shoot?

Anyway rant aside would it be worth picking up a M4\3 as I don;t want to give up too much quality but could sometimes just do with something that just works and can act the way I need at the time.

Oh, and no I don't want a dedicated movie camera as I really wouldn't use it that often.

PS - I hope I don't come across as being really angry in this thread (well I am at the moment,but not about this stuff!), so please take it the way the question is meant, not by the tone.
 
There are loads of posts on here discussing the pro's and cons.

I love M43 and now use it exclusively - have owned/used high end DSLR kit for years.

Here are some useful articles that a quick Google turned up..

http://www.mu-43.com/f51/those-who-...3-do-you-miss-your-previous-setups-why-27267/

http://www.quora.com/What-are-pros-and-cons-of-the-micro-four-thirds-format

http://e-p1.net/micro-four-thirds-general-discussion/how-many-of-you-have-gone-from-dslr-to-m43/

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=8804.0

http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/archive/2011/10/moving-to-micro-four-thirds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Four_Thirds_system

http://forums.steves-digicams.com/panasonic-micro-four-thirds/194319-dslr-micro-four-thirds.html

http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/micro-four-thirds-evolution-of-the-dslr.html

http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2012/01/04/dslrs-are-a-dying-breed-3rd-gen-cameras-are-the-future/

As for the video side of things - stills cameras with video funtionality are still nowhere near as good as dedicated video cameras for the focusing
 
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Ex full frame Canon user now exclusively m4/3 here. The lens sizes win hands down.... Very little in it quality wise unless you are pushing the boundaries where the larger sensor wins for light gathering.
 
Thanks guys - that's a fair few links to get through Alan :)

Andy, do you mind me asking what you moved from? EDIT - Just checked the blog, it was a 5DII

Also did you do any of the more range dependent stuff such as wildlife, birds in flight or macro - I really don't expect M4/3 to be any good at these but worth asking.
 
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JohnN said:
Thanks guys - that's a fair few links to get through Alan :)

Andy, do you mind me asking what you moved from? EDIT - Just checked the blog, it was a 5DII

Also did you do any of the more range dependent stuff such as wildlife, birds in flight or macro - I really don't expect M4/3 to be any good at these but worth asking.
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The 2x crop factor means that the 100-300 is actually 200-600!! So great for stationary or slow moving wildlife

The new 60mm macro lens is a cracker, or you could use the macro mode on the om-d 12-50mm lens but not true 1:1

Birds in flight could be the challenge but only if they are going like the clappers - provided they are just about to drop out of the sky you'll be fine
 
Funnily enough I'd just seem an image with the 60mm macro - not bad closeup at all.

I'm a little worried about jumping to a OM-D though as the cost of those even on import is pretty high and without seeing if it ticked all the boxes (ie follow focus in movie, good IQ (okay I know that bits fine) and good autofocus for moving subjects such as my kids where I like to get the eyes spot on on a fairly narrow DoF while running (not done great yet but I try!))
 
JohnN said:
more range dependent stuff such as wildlife, birds in flight or macro - I really don't expect M4/3 to be any good at these but worth asking.
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For wildlife and birds in flight etc m43 is not there yet when compared to a dslr - getting there (and the technology is improving with each new camera) but not yet.

The m43 forum linked to above is an excellent place to ask any questions (lots of OMD owners there), although obviously as a gathering place of m43 enthusiasts there may be some degree of bias. :) I think most people there are able to be fairly honest about the shortcomings though as well as the positives and many have moved from a similar dslr set-up as you or still have both systems.

My main problem with the OMD (aside from the price) is the ergonomics - I would like the Nex 7 body with the OMD innards (the m43 range of lenses and AF speed is superior to the Nex system). So make sure you handle one enough to ensure it's a good fit for you before a possible purchase. The other obvious difference with a dslr is the evf on m43 vs optical vf on dslrs - again some people love the evf, others not so much. These too do seem to improve as the technology advances.
 
I had a quick play when I was in London and liked the Nex, but now I've had a chat with a mate who suggested the Sanyo Xacti CA100 for video, and from what I've read I think you're right and I should keep to DSLR for what its good at then get a small vid cam
 
JohnN said:
I had a quick play when I was in London and liked the Nex, but now I've had a chat with a mate who suggested the Sanyo Xacti CA100 for video, and from what I've read I think you're right and I should keep to DSLR for what its good at then get a small vid cam
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If you need fast AF tracking and do a lot of wildlife and/or sports etc, then yes.

The Sony investment in Olympus may result in some interesting future products - certainly an interesting time to be a photographer with the developments in mirrorless cameras and lenses though.

The m43 (and Nex) bodies do seem to have very short life cycles though 10-12 months and then the next model comes out! At least this does mean you can pick up the last generation bodies very cheaply - the Pen EPM1 bodies were selling for £129 recently, which is cheaper than most compacts - you still need to add the cost of at least one lens though obviously.
 
John,

Small Video Cam is always going to be easier to handle than using either dslr or m4/3 mirrorless systems.

I find having dslr is great and give me 80-90% keepers, m4/3 are great light weight system which I'm getting better photos than point and shoot but I guess not as effective as focusing and low light than dslr.

That's is the reason why I have FF, 1.6 crop, m4/3 and video cam.
 
Interesting article, although it did make me laugh that they couldn't tell the 5D II from the 5D III - I typo I hope! Still testing anything against a 5DIII coupled with the 70-200 IS II is certainly stacking the odds.

I would have liked them to have done some real world comparative too - not just charts, but see how quickly they focus on erratic objects, plus real (non-chart) images.
 
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I find the AF of my aging G1 to be perfectly adequate and certainly upto the standard of any DSLR I've owned and any moving thing would have to be on fire and with pepper up it's bottom to be moving so quickly that the minute lag between EVF and the real world would matter, IMVHO.

Anyway, I just wanted to add another thought to be considered... focus reliability... With CSC you don't get any of the front / back focus silliness that seems to plague some people / Canon DSLR / lens combinations. That's got to be a massive plus.
 
woof woof said:
I find the AF of my aging G1 to be perfectly adequate and certainly upto the standard of any DSLR I've owned and any moving thing would have to be on fire and with pepper up it's bottom to be moving so quickly that the minute lag between EVF and the real world would matter, IMVHO.
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:lol::lol:

Anyway, I just wanted to add another thought to be considered... focus reliability... With CSC you don't get any of the front / back focus silliness that seems to plague some people / Canon DSLR / lens combinations. That's got to be a massive plus.
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Very true and a massive plus compared to some of the DSLR lenses/bodies I have had
 
You might have seen that shot I posted in the other thread some time ago, a horse galloping on the beach with all four hooves off the ground? I got that shot first time :D and although I can't claim it was a triumph of AF as it was a manual lens and involved some guess work / judgement at least it tells me that the EVF to real world lag is insignificant :D
 
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