I've recently fallen a little out of love with photography. One of the reasons is the urge to maintain SLR-like quality in my images but not wanting to carry my 7D everywhere. Don't get me wrong; I love my D-SLR, but it's not something I'd want to carry all the time!
I've been looking in to the micro four thirds cameras, namely Panasonic's GF-2 and Olympus' E-P2 (as well as the E-PL2). I can't recall anybody on here using these cameras, so I wonder whether anybody owns one (or the previous models - GF-1/E-P1/E-PL1), do you enjoy using it and are the images truly close to SLR-like quality? Please mention anything else I should consider!
PS: I am only interested in the truly compact models of micro 4/3 cameras, not the larger more SLR-like models with built-in viewfinders, or any other compacts.
I have the E-PL2!!! and omg do I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! The different on camera effects are cool, the lightness is SO much easier to use...in fact almost all of my pictures from the end of march on have been with my e-pl2 instead of my nikon. It has an on camera macro setting that I am in love with, pop art makes some gorgeous nature/flower shots and the dimensions setting makes some pretty dang awesome cloud shots. is the macro setting is the dimensions setting
Feel free to look through my shots :)
@vikdaddy small enough that I have been preferring my Olympus, I have the Nikon d5000 though SOMETIMES I will use one of my husbands Nikon's (not often I find them WAY too heavy)
Really atm, the only nikon I find worth using over my olympus, because of all the cool on camera effects (I suck at post processing) is the new nikon 5100 because IT has on camera effects, but the olympus is WAY smaller, the lenses are smaller its more portable and I honestly dont feel its a big enough drop to not use...
in fact I dont think my nikon could have taken that dandelion shot because the olympus has the on camera macro setting (and a nanture macro setting) and the nikon couldnt have gotten close enough for the water droplets to be crisp
Panasonic Lumix FP3 Digital Camera - Black (14.1MP, 4x Optical Zoom) 3 inch Touchscreen LCD
A lot of my pictures are taken with this wee Panasonic .... and its predecessor .... I like it a lot. Picture of it on today's 365 which I took with the Canon.
I took this close up with it yesterday ....
GH2, these are some photos from it... Love the camera. Don't know if GH2 is too big for your taste though it feels small compared to all DSLR I have handled.
There are many good lens for m4/3 to choose and the picture quality is good. The only thing I don't like about m4/3 is the lack of DOF of most lenses. If you need real shallow DOF, you may need the manual focus vintage lenses with adaptors or a Voigtlander 25mm f0.95 for m4/3.
@vikdaddy I'm using an E-PL1. I like it for various reasons, most importantly the portability and interchangeable lens. Current Fav is the 20mm Panasonic Lumix 1.7. Pretty awesome glass at a great price. Take a look at the exif info - you'll find them among the nikon stuff.
I'm a recent - and a proud - owner of Olympus E-PL2 - in a dashing red color. I still have a lot to learn but I do enjoy it. I never had a DSLR, so I can't really compare the quality of the images, but the images do have a great quality. Micro four-thirds cameras are prominent for images taken under low light, which I agree with.
Here are a couple of SOOC shots I took using the Olympus E-PL2 and perhaps you can judge the quality for yourself:
I have the GF-1 and it's a great little camera, but I do get consistently better shots with my Nikon D300. I grab the GF-1 when I don't want the heft of my dslr. I have just the 20mm pancake lens, so it does force me to move around more. :)
@emsabh@lintbrush Thanks for the advice, I've read that the pancake lenses are really good, are they sharp and can they achieve good (narrow) depth of focus?
@vikdaddy I have two, and love them! I have a pro full frame nikon system, and wanted something lighter and more packable yet still with good image quality....bought the oly epl1 last year and fell in love with it. It has it's limitations...slower to focus and lag time being the biggest, and no optical viewfinder unless you buy the external one (vf2). .if you want action shots this is not the best cam probably. That said, the image quality is fantastic, and that cheap plastic kit lens it comes with is amazingly sharp and fun to use. Many times looking at the files I would be hard pressed to tell sometimes if I used my $500 Oly or my $5000 dollar d700 + lens kit. That tells you how good the files are! I'm typically a raw shooter, but the oly jpegs are truly beautiful, and many times I'd find myself using them. In fact, at high iso's the jpegs are better than what I can do in raw. At first I thought the art filters built in were just a gimmick, but they are fun to use too sometimes.
I recently bought my second micro 4/3 camera, the Panasonic GH2. It is a wonderful camera, much faster to focus, higher megapixels (16 vs 12), built in electronic viewfinder, swivel LCD, PHENOMENAL video (which is the primary reason I bought it). I'm very impressed with it's high ISO noise characteristics, and general handling is wonderful too. The downside to it compared to the oly is it's a good deal larger, and the jpegs are not nearly as nice, so its primarily a raw shooter for me. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask!
Another great thing is you can use just about any lens ever made on these cams, as you can get inexpensive adapters on eBay. That said, my fav lens on these is the panny 20 f/1.7---- super sharp, tiny, fast with nice shallow dof. Also love the panny 100-300 lens for wildlife, effectively a 200-600mm lens!
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Feel free to look through my shots :)
Really atm, the only nikon I find worth using over my olympus, because of all the cool on camera effects (I suck at post processing) is the new nikon 5100 because IT has on camera effects, but the olympus is WAY smaller, the lenses are smaller its more portable and I honestly dont feel its a big enough drop to not use...
in fact I dont think my nikon could have taken that dandelion shot because the olympus has the on camera macro setting (and a nanture macro setting) and the nikon couldnt have gotten close enough for the water droplets to be crisp
A lot of my pictures are taken with this wee Panasonic .... and its predecessor .... I like it a lot. Picture of it on today's 365 which I took with the Canon.
I took this close up with it yesterday ....
There are many good lens for m4/3 to choose and the picture quality is good. The only thing I don't like about m4/3 is the lack of DOF of most lenses. If you need real shallow DOF, you may need the manual focus vintage lenses with adaptors or a Voigtlander 25mm f0.95 for m4/3.
Here are a couple of SOOC shots I took using the Olympus E-PL2 and perhaps you can judge the quality for yourself:
I recently bought my second micro 4/3 camera, the Panasonic GH2. It is a wonderful camera, much faster to focus, higher megapixels (16 vs 12), built in electronic viewfinder, swivel LCD, PHENOMENAL video (which is the primary reason I bought it). I'm very impressed with it's high ISO noise characteristics, and general handling is wonderful too. The downside to it compared to the oly is it's a good deal larger, and the jpegs are not nearly as nice, so its primarily a raw shooter for me. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask!
Another great thing is you can use just about any lens ever made on these cams, as you can get inexpensive adapters on eBay. That said, my fav lens on these is the panny 20 f/1.7---- super sharp, tiny, fast with nice shallow dof. Also love the panny 100-300 lens for wildlife, effectively a 200-600mm lens!