I would appreciate some opinions about which MFT body to buy. Backstory is, i would like to have a bit more reach to capture birds and stuff thats runs away, when it notices me.
It’s just for the occasional use, - not to say the body should be cheap, but I’m not giving a budget here - I’m interested in opinions.
I do have some older lenses I would like to try on the MFT body - for example my 200mm prime would give 400mm reach, without the 2x teleconverter. I think I’d like that. Looking at the size and price of 400mm+ lenses, I think a MFT body could be more versatile? Maybe also better DoF for Macro shots, or am I missing something?
I should say, I have a mirrorless fullframe and an APS-C here (but the APS-c won’t mount the older lenses without extra glass, I think (?), don’t like that).
The MFT body doesn’t need many features. I’m shooting completely manual - so all the shiny stuff (auto focus, metering modes, eye focus , and so on…) doesn’t interest me much, just the raw sensor power… yeah and IBIS would be needed (to get the handheld shots).
This thing for sure doesn’t have glass. Problem is I have currently mostly Minolta SR (MD/MC), plus Pentax and older Canon FD lenses here. But maybe I’m wrong there also? Which would be nice, and a cheap solution!
Gonna have a look immediately!
edit: Interest in MFT persists anyway, the 80D here has no IBIS and I find the MFT crop factor attractive for the reach.
I used to have an em10 ii and a em1 ii and there’s not much difference between the two image quality wise, the features was what I was paying for when I bought the second camera. The em1 is bigger and better to hold so better for wildlife etc… The em10 was a great small holiday etc… camera.
Aaahhh @Claes … you sure about that? Sorry, probably I’m a bit thikk… but as far as I can see there are two kind of adapters for MD lenses → canon EF Mount. The ones without glass , which can not focus to infinity, or the the ones with glass, which can focus to infinity.
For the non macro stuff I would probably need the ones with glass, but maybe worth a shot nevertheless - I mean… its not that expensive and “Probieren geht über Studieren”.
Anyway that would be two negative points for my 80D… -no IBIS -extra glass in trhe adapter.
Looking at the em10 ii @Nathan_Crabtree , maybe about 250€ on the used market. Looks attractive to me. Not sure about the IBIS , though - any experiences you could share?
Yes, concerning MD lenses (and a few others), you are quite right.
Then, additional glass is needed. I referred to the lens mounts
we talked about yesterday, i.e. M42, Olympus, Hexanon AR, Leica-R
and similar.
I have the E-M1 II and can warmly recommend it. Ergonomics-wise, I think it’s the best one of the cameras I’ve had (or even ever held). The great thing is that you can get used ones for roughly 600 € or even less.
It’s also one of the first Olympus MFT bodies to have the PDAF autofocus, and it certainly makes a difference in wildlife continuous autofocus. Overall it’s an absolute beast of a camera body.
BUT… More recent Olympus flagship bodies have better animal tracking (at least for Birds-In-Flight). Might want to research those before deciding to buy.
All of the MFT will have the same reach since they have the same sensor size. Reach will be dependent of lens.
IBIS is great to remove your camera shake, but it won’t remove the subject moving.
So then research what features are important to you. I’m using an em10 because it had the flash, but I barely use it. Mainly as a fill flash during family vacations.
The idea is, to use the MFT body as a kind of 2x teleconverter for my manual focus primes. That would safe me from buying longer (and heavier) lenses above 400mm for the full frame.
So, regarding features - I really don’t need any features besides a good sensor and the IBIS (and some kind of manual focus zoom assistent…thing).
The e-m10 ii is probably be a good option to try this all out. I think with a bit patience it should be available for <200€. But then again, the resolution is less than half of my sony FF - so, the real gain wouldn’t be 2x but only about 1,4x - i think. And if the iq isn’t as good even less…
so, is this all just castles in the sky?
I still have one of the small PENs, an E-PL7, and had also an E-M10 Mk II. Image quality was identical as was the IBIS. the IBIS on my little PEN is amazing and it fits into the palm of your hand.
I think the one to have is the E-M5 MkII or MkIII. It’s weather sealed, very compact, has 1 or 2 stops better IBIS than the E-M10, and it also has the pixel-shift / hi-res mode like the E-M1. Not good for BIF or action, but great for landscapes and macro work. The MkII was a solid little camera and is reported to be pretty rugged. Ditto for the E-M1.
A family member has a Panasonic G85 (at my recc) that they’ve enjoyed, and it’s a great little camera with good IQ, a nice grip, and lightweight. If you want to shoot heavier glass and are worried about the grip, it could be a good option. The G90/95 updates are all pretty good as well.
If you want a rangefinder style, the Panasonic GX8 is the one to have - it’s a bit larger body and carries glass better than it looks like it should, it is also weather sealed, and the image galleries for this camera all seemed to show something just a bit extra in the IQ. The GX9 took a few steps the wrong direction IMO.
All in all, I’d still be shooting for an E-M5 MkIII if I were shopping for another m43 body, but the E-M10 MkII - MkIV is just as good IQ and has essentially the same features as Nathan said earlier. The great thing about m43 system is the lens selection. There are so many good ones between Panasonic and Olympus both. Light, small, and fast - can’t beat it for reach or portability.
If you are in the 16MP market of Olympus, you should also have a look at the original E-M1. Here in Germany it’s usually in the same price range as the E-M10II, but has better ergonomics.
Please keep in mind that firmware updates are only via the Olympus Workplace software, which is available only for Windows and OS X. Olympus/OMDS officially stated that they choose this method is for security reasons.
I asked them via support ticket how to update an Olympus camera from a Linux system and they answered: set up a virtual machine, install a Windows evaluation image and on top of that the Olympus Workplace.
Nevertheless the Olympus camera hardware is good, especially in the E-M1 series.
Newer cameras can be updated with Oi.Share. I updated my Olympus OM-D E-M1 MIII a month ago using the phone app (Oi.Share). This method is also reported to be supported on the newer OM-1.
All interesting. FWIW, I have an EM5ii. I bought it secondhand a couple of years back with a 14-150mm lens, with the intention of it being a kind of super-point&shoot, and while it does do a pretty good job at that, that lens definitely doesn’t show the camera at it’s best. More recently, I got an adapter to mount Nikon F mount lenses on it, and I did some experimenting, but not much more.
It’s got plenty of customizable buttons, so focus zooming works fine - I think i allocated it to the DOF preview button… IIRC!
Here’s a couple of raw files, @qmpel in case you’d like to have a look. All licenced Creative Commons, By-Attribution, Share-Alike.
The butterfly was with a Sigma 18-35 f1.8, the heron was a Tamron 70-200 f2.8. I’ve got loads more images from this camera if they’d be any help!
At least partly why I didn’t persist further with adapting tele lenses is because I have 24mp APS-C Nikon body, so the 16mp MFT wasn’t giving a massive resolution advantage. In your case though, you have the Minolta lenses which I’d imagine are a bit hard to use otherwise, so that’s an added bonus.
back to the drawing board!
