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Manual Focusing - E3 - G1 - E-P1 ??

JMaher

New member
I have an E3 and an E-P. If I am using legacy lens (Nikon at this point but thinking about others) which camera lends itself to better manual focusing? The E3 has a nice bright viewfinder but no magnification and the E-P1 has so much magnification on a small body that the image tends to move in my view substantially if its not on a tripod. How does the G1 compare? Would I be better off with a G1 and an E-P1 for this purpose? I know I would miss the weather sealing and the 12-60 but it's all about compromises isn't it?

Jim
 

Ocean

Senior Subscriber Member
Jim,

I am looking for a E3 myself for travel use. How does E3 IQ compare to that of E-P1? Many thanks,

Kind regards,
 

JMaher

New member
The E-3 takes great pictures that I would say are about the sames as those for the E-P1 except for:

EP-1 - seems to handle high ISO better
E-3 - the ease of use with a higher quality lens such as the 12-60 produces (my opinion) better shots than the Pen with it's typical lens choice. Sure, you can put a 12-60 on an E-P1 but it a little large and unbalanced.

If all were equal and with the same lens in reasonable light I would be hard pressed to tell the difference.

Jim
 

Ocean

Senior Subscriber Member
Jim,

Thank you! The weather sealing of E-3 is the main feature that I am looking for as a travel DSLR. I have read that IQ of high ISO for E-3 is really lacking compared with Canon and Nikon. But I am not too worried about that since I intend to use the E-3 in relatively 'good' lighting. Thanks again.

Kind regards,
 

RichA

New member
I have an E3 and an E-P. If I am using legacy lens (Nikon at this point but thinking about others) which camera lends itself to better manual focusing? The E3 has a nice bright viewfinder but no magnification and the E-P1 has so much magnification on a small body that the image tends to move in my view substantially if its not on a tripod. How does the G1 compare? Would I be better off with a G1 and an E-P1 for this purpose? I know I would miss the weather sealing and the 12-60 but it's all about compromises isn't it?

Jim
The G1 is easier to focus manually with its EVF than my D300 which has a better viewfinder than the E-3. By all accounts, the low resolution LCD on the E-P1 does not lend itself the manual focusing. Also, LCDs have no dioptric correctors meaning if you need glasses you must wear them.
 

pellicle

New member
Hi

The G1 is easier to focus manually with its EVF than my D300 which has a better viewfinder than the E-3. By all accounts, the low resolution LCD on the E-P1 does not lend itself the manual focusing. Also, LCDs have no dioptric correctors meaning if you need glasses you must wear them.
I would second RichA's comments and say that even without the zoom that I can manually focus 28mm and 50mm legacy lenses very very well with the G1, if you resort to the zoom tool its even easier.

The weight of the G1 makes it very attactive as a travel camera but I would guess that its lack of weather sealing makes it less attractive as an outdoor rainy weather camera.

Just working on a neopreen case for mine
 

PeterB666

Member
I have the E-P1 and a variety of manual focus lenses from 40mm to 200mm with a 28mm on the way. I rarely use the magnification on my 40mm f/1.9 lens most of the time, my 50mm f/1.4 when using wide apertures to ensure focus is close enough but when you get to lenses like the 200mm, it is simply not needed. I do find that faster lenses are much easier to focus which is why I went for a 28mm f/2 rather than say a 24mm f/2.8 for similar money.

I don't like the manual focus of the fly by wire Panasonic or Olympus MFT lenses. While they are easy to focus, there is far too much turning of the focus ring for my liking. I would much prefer a direct mechanical link.
 
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