Olympus OM-D E-M5, E-M1, E-M10 - Mk1, Mk2 & Mk3 Owners Thread

EdwardL said:
More thank you's and thank you for your comprehensive post, Alan @woof woof

Got to be worth much more investigation now - you've convinced me it's a good idea!
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I cant part with my DX as i love doing BIF but i keep getting so tempted to move away from my Nikon 1 set up and onto this,will watch your progress and thoughts if you do it.
 
Being a newcomer to Olympus having just got an EM1, I am considering purchasing the new Panasonic 100-400 lens if it turns out to be as good as people are predicting. My question is, are Panasonic lenses a good option on Oly bodies? I can't stretch to the new Oly 300 f4 lens so am wondering if the Panny is a viable alternative and will interact well with my system?
I know to some extent it's speculative as neither lens has been released but I would be interested to know of people's experiences using other Panasonic lenses on Oly bodies, in particular with the EM1.
 
I can't see it being a problem - I use the P35-100 on my e-m1 with no issues. The lens is stabilised but I turn it off and use the in-body ibis
 
wardy07 said:
Being a newcomer to Olympus having just got an EM1, I am considering purchasing the new Panasonic 100-400 lens if it turns out to be as good as people are predicting. My question is, are Panasonic lenses a good option on Oly bodies? I can't stretch to the new Oly 300 f4 lens so am wondering if the Panny is a viable alternative and will interact well with my system?
I know to some extent it's speculative as neither lens has been released but I would be interested to know of people's experiences using other Panasonic lenses on Oly bodies, in particular with the EM1.
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AFAIK Panasonic lenses are fine on OM bodies as the Olly has built in stabilisation, as do the panasonic lenses.
On the other hand Olly lenses, not having internal stabilisation are not the best choice on a Panny body as they have no stabilisation either
Hope this makes sense
I'm waiting on a Panny 35-100 to use on my EM10 and there are a lot of others that use the OMD body/Panny 35-100 combo

PS...................welcome aboard the OMD train
 
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D40 Guy said:
AFAIK Panasonic lenses are fine on OM bodies as the Olly has built in stabilisation, as do the panasonic lenses.
On the other hand Olly lenses, not having internal stabilisation are not the best choice on a Panny body as they have no stabilisation either
Hope this makes sense
I'm waiting on a Panny 35-100 to use on my EM10 and there are a lot of others that use the OMD body/Panny 35-100 combo

PS...................welcome aboard the OMD train
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I'd noticed a few people recently were using or wanted thecPanasonic 35-100 lens with omd so assumed from that there aren't issues but spending just shy of £1400 on a lens, I wanted to be sure. I may wait a while anyway as I'm sure after the initial rush prices will drop and also by then hopefully there will some informed opinions of just how good or bad the Panny lens is. If it means then waiting a while longer for the Oly 300 + extender combination, then that may still be the way to go.
Don't tell the other half though, I've just caned the bank account to get this far with the new Oly set up!
Oh, and thanks for the welcome btw, seems to be really helpful people on this thread, nice guys!
 
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12-40 in WEX is probably mine they took all my gear from me for the A7rii so mint one
 
Have any of you shopped at SLR Hut before? The have the 12-40 pro at a good price and thinking of ordering it.
 
Who'd have thunk Facebook would be such a good place to source gear...In the last couple of weeks I've managed to bag myself a em10, Samyang 12mm and now I've just got a nissin i40, all at very reasonable prices to boot

Also had my new (to me) 12-40mm arrive today as well ☺
 
milster said:
Who'd have thunk Facebook would be such a good place to source gear...In the last couple of weeks I've managed to bag myself a em10, Samyang 12mm and now I've just got a nissin i40, all at very reasonable prices to boot

Also had my new (to me) 12-40mm arrive today as well ☺
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Sounds like you've had a great result, well done.
I'd never think of Facebook for buying gear but sounds like you've done alright out of it.
I need to get the Nissan i40 at some point, saving for a big lens though at the moment so that will have to wait.
 
HDEW does not charge import tax as such as it's in the price and you know you won't get stung
Panamoz will pay you back if you are stung
The rest I think you are on your own unless they have a shipping base here in the uk
Heard good things about Richmond Cameras on ebay
 
Slr hut claim the tax is inculded in the price. I thought i'd read posts on this very forum from people who have used slr hut in the past with good service.

Think i will stay away from slr hut and check some websites! Cheers
 
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joncro said:
Slr hut claim the tax is inculded in the price. I thought i'd read posts on this very forum from people who have used slr hut in the past with good service.

Think i will stay away from slr hut and check some websites! Cheers
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I've never used them but only ever heard bad things. The internet's skewed though ;)
 
D40 Guy said:
HDEW does not charge import tax as such as it's in the price and you know you won't get stung
Panamoz will pay you back if you are stung
The rest I think you are on your own unless they have a shipping base here in the uk
Heard good things about Richmond Cameras on ebay
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+1 for Richmond cameras, no hidden extras, Uk based and very fast delivery, usually next day. Great guy to deal with too.
 
Looking purely at across frame sharpness for landscape work, which is better - the Oly 12-40mm or Panny 12-35mm - or is there not much in it for real world shooting?

Cheers,

Simon.
 
srhmoto said:
Looking purely at across frame sharpness for landscape work, which is better - the Oly 12-40mm or Panny 12-35mm - or is there not much in it for real world shooting?

Cheers,

Simon.
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Not tried the Panny but the Olly is very good IMO for across the frame sharpness. But won't comparisons be skewed as Olly applies lens corrections to Olly lenses and not Panny ones and vice versa. Whilst not effecting sharpness directly it may have an impact on perceived sharpness????
 
snerkler said:
Not tried the Panny but the Olly is very good IMO for across the frame sharpness. But won't comparisons be skewed as Olly applies lens corrections to Olly lenses and not Panny ones and vice versa. Whilst not effecting sharpness directly it may have an impact on perceived sharpness????
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That's a fair point, especially as I would be using it on a GX8......
 
srhmoto said:
Looking purely at across frame sharpness for landscape work, which is better - the Oly 12-40mm or Panny 12-35mm - or is there not much in it for real world shooting?

Cheers,

Simon.
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Both are excellent zooms, I took a punt and sold my 12-35 f/2.8 for the 12-40 /2.8 a while ago.
In my experience the 12-35 exhibited just a small reduction in corner/edge performance in comparison to my 12-40.
 
Greytop said:
Both are excellent zooms, I took a punt and sold my 12-35 f/2.8 for the 12-40 /2.8 a while ago.
In my experience the 12-35 exhibited just a small reduction in corner/edge performance in comparison to my 12-40.
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Thanks Huw. It sounds like there isn't too much in it then in reality. Perhaps as a Panasonic GX8 user, I'd be better off with the 12-35mm f2.8 to take advantage of dual IS, DFD focusing and the auto distortion correction mentioned above?
 
I have the 12-35 which I use on my OMD - EM5ii it also gets used by my wife on here Panasonic G3 so best of both really. I handle any distortion in Lightroom 6, very pleased with lens
I will post a before and after shot later on just as a help to you.
 
Whilst on the subject of these wider zooms, can anyone back up what I've read about the Oly 12-50 - is it really a bad lens or are most of the reviews I've read incorrect?
It seems to have great flexibility, especially having the macro feature, which to be fair, has been said to be really good.
I just wondered if it's massively worse than the 12-40 pro as a general purpose lens?
Hoping for some informative real world comments from users of both as review opinions do differ quite a lot.
 
wardy07 said:
Whilst on the subject of these wider zooms, can anyone back up what I've read about the Oly 12-50 - is it really a bad lens or are most of the reviews I've read incorrect?
It seems to have great flexibility, especially having the macro feature, which to be fair, has been said to be really good.
I just wondered if it's massively worse than the 12-40 pro as a general purpose lens?
Hoping for some informative real world comments from users of both as review opinions do differ quite a lot.
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Reviews and forum feedback is 50/50 from what I've seen, and I've read quite a number. I think one of the reasons is people's varying levels of acceptance which is why it's always good to try for yourself if you can :)
 
snerkler said:
Reviews and forum feedback is 50/50 from what I've seen, and I've read quite a number. I think one of the reasons is people's varying levels of acceptance which is why it's always good to try for yourself if you can :)
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I guess that's true, some people accept that lenses comparisons are generally only valid when comparing like for like in price but there can be exceptions and I just wondered if this could be one of them. Accepted low light advantages would be obvious at f2.8 throughout the range of the 12-40 but I would imagine at the wider end, as there isn't a massive difference, as I believe there's only 1 stop difference here? Also macro is at 43mm from what I've read but at f6 so I guess that may be an issue too.
I bought the 12-40 pro lens but am now thinking that maybe I could have got away with the cheaper option.
 
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wardy07 said:
I guess that's true, some people accept that lenses comparisons are generally only valid when comparing like for like in price but there can be exceptions and I just wondered if this could be one of them. Accepted low light advantages would be obvious at f2.8 throughout the range of the 12-40 but I would imagine at the wider end, as there isn't a massive difference, as I believe there's only 1 stop difference here? Also macro is at 43mm from what I've read but at f6 so I guess that may be an issue too.
I bought the 12-40 pro lens but am now thinking that maybe I could have got away with the cheaper option.
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TBH I've never been totally blown away with the sharpness of the 12-40mm, although it is undoubtedly a very good lens and also renders nicely. It is the best m4/3 zoom lens I've used though, although admittedly haven't used them all. The 14-42mm EZ, 14-42mm II, and 12-32mm pancake lenses are all surprisingly good and not far off the 12-40mm sharpness wise. They don't render quite as nicely, and of course there's the aperture difference and weather sealing.

With the 12-50mm you have to accept the aperture limitations as you do with the pancake zooms, but for some reason it's the sharpness of the 12-50mm that gets conflicting views. Some say it's poor, some say it's pretty decent. A while back I found some RAW sample photos from the 12-50mm online somewhere and they were 'ok'. Not as sharp as the 14-42mm's or 12-32mm though. However, as I did not take the shots with the 12-50mm myself I could not rule out user influence on the sharpness of course. Best option is to try one out for yourself.

So back to your comment about the 12-40mm, I'm sure you could have "got away with the cheaper option" but I'm also sure it wouldn't be able to deliver what your 12-40mm can. Purely in terms of sharpness then it wouldn't be far off, but rendering, out of focus areas, micro contrast, and of course weather sealing* would be better on the 12-40mm (except for the 12-50mm which is also weather sealed IIRC).
 
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snerkler said:
TBH I've never been totally blown away with the sharpness of the 12-40mm, although it is undoubtedly a very good lens and also renders nicely. It is the best m4/3 zoom lens I've used though, although admittedly haven't used them all. The 14-42mm EZ, 14-42mm II, and 12-32mm pancake lenses are all surprisingly good and not far off the 12-40mm sharpness wise. They don't render quite as nicely, and of course there's the aperture difference and weather sealing.

With the 12-50mm you have to accept the aperture limitations as you do with the pancake zooms, but for some reason it's the sharpness of the 12-50mm that gets conflicting views. Some say it's poor, some say it's pretty decent. A while back I found some RAW sample photos from the 12-50mm online somewhere and they were 'ok'. Not as sharp as the 14-42mm's or 12-32mm though. However, as I did not take the shots with the 12-50mm myself I could not rule out user influence on the sharpness of course. Best option is to try one out for yourself.

So back to your comment about the 12-40mm, I'm sure you could have "got away with the cheaper option" but I'm also sure it wouldn't be able to deliver what your 12-40mm can. Purely in terms of sharpness then it wouldn't be far off, but rendering, out of focus areas, micro contrast, and of course weather sealing* would be better on the 12-40mm (except for the 12-50mm which is also weather sealed IIRC).
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That's a very comprehensive run through and I really appreciate it. I'm new to M43 having only recently acquired my system and I went for the EM1 / 12-40 kit package and some other lenses, having looked through many posts here and reviews. I'm finding the whole thing pretty daunting at the moment, the camera is no doubt a great piece of kit but the menu & features are so complicated for me - maybe because I'm so used to Canon DSLR which I am very familiar with and know like the back of my hand, at least up to my own abilities and photographic style.
I'm hoping I can sort my way through it at some point but am feeling that I've made a mistake and should have stayed with the 'big stuff'!
The reason I was asking about the lenses is that IF I decide to chop this lot in and go back to DSLR, I may consider a lesser M43 system but it's all hypothetical at the moment.
I really want this to work but it's going to be an expensive 'point and shoot' system if I don't get on with setting it up properly!
 
alfbranch said:
I have the 12-40 f2.8, 12-50 EZ 3.5-6.3 and the 12-42 EZ f3.5-5.6

I use them all but mostly the 12-40 f2.8

Here are a cuple to comapre

E-M5 and 14-42 handheld

Beach-sunset-pool-E-M5 by Alf Branch, on Flickr

E-M1 and 12-40 tripof and ND grad filter

Beach-sunset-pool by Alf Branch, on Flickr
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They're all really nice shots Alf, and the info is much appreciated.
As I've just quoted in my response to snerkler' post, I'm struggling with the complexity of the camera at present and am considering some of my options. I really want M43 to work for me but have some reservations at the moment...running scared probably!
 
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