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Fun with the EP3
- Thread starter Amin
- Start date
Brian Mosley
New member
I'm guessing you'll have much better NR capabilities with your Lightroom setup Amin, but ISO 3200 certainly looks fine above... are you looking to get the mZD 45mm f1.8?
Cheers
Brian
Cheers
Brian
Amin
Active member
I'm satisfied with the high ISO performance and general sensor image quality. I'm not sure about the 45/1.8. It's the lens I always wanted for the system, but I got the PL45 in lieu of it and have grown to love that lens. No sure if I want to give up the macro capability for a smaller, lighter lens with an extra 1 1/3 stops of speed, and I don't like having mostly redundant lenses. I'm looking forward to seeing more samples and having a chance to try the new lens.
Brian Mosley
New member
How is the PL 45 on the E-P3? any faster to focus than on the GH2? did the GH2 have touch to focus/expose? how about face recognition? does it focus on eyes?
Cheers
Brian
Cheers
Brian
Amin
Active member
With all of my lenses (Pana 14/2.5, Pana 20/1.7, PL45), AF speed with E-P3 is not noticeably different than with GH2. In good light the E-P3 may be a hair quicker, while in low light I think the GH2 was unusually good (not only compared to the E-P3 but also compared to the Canon 5D II and the Pentax K-5, both of which I have used quite a bit).
The PL45 focuses quickly and quietly on both E-P3 and GH2, especially with the focus limit switch set to limit. It's really a brilliant lens - sharp, low color fringing (very little bokeh fringing), lovely character, 1:1 macro, fast focusing, compact - it will be a hard one for me to give up.
E-P3 gives you the option to focus on the nearest eye, which is pretty cool. The GH2 had face recognition but not eye recognition. I don't yet have a sense as to whether or how well the E-P3 meters based on detected faces. The GH2 was really good at that.
Touch AF was good with the GH2, but I prefer the light touch implementation with E-P3. I rarely find myself photographing with gloves on and would just as soon use the LCD or EVF/OVF at those times.
It's now officially August, and I expect you and Jono to join the fun in this thread
.
The PL45 focuses quickly and quietly on both E-P3 and GH2, especially with the focus limit switch set to limit. It's really a brilliant lens - sharp, low color fringing (very little bokeh fringing), lovely character, 1:1 macro, fast focusing, compact - it will be a hard one for me to give up.
E-P3 gives you the option to focus on the nearest eye, which is pretty cool. The GH2 had face recognition but not eye recognition. I don't yet have a sense as to whether or how well the E-P3 meters based on detected faces. The GH2 was really good at that.
Touch AF was good with the GH2, but I prefer the light touch implementation with E-P3. I rarely find myself photographing with gloves on and would just as soon use the LCD or EVF/OVF at those times.
It's now officially August, and I expect you and Jono to join the fun in this thread
.
Brian Mosley
New member
I'm getting there Amin, got my X100 yesterday and had a play with the 12mm f2.0 on the E-P2 (my local store had sold the only E-P3 without informing me it had arrived!)... looking for a 2 lens kit with the 12mm f2 and 45mm f1.8 - looks like the 45mm prime lens will be in this month also!
In the meantime, I have my hands full with the delightful X100
Cheers
Brian
In the meantime, I have my hands full with the delightful X100
Cheers
Brian
jonoslack
Active member
HI BrianIn the meantime, I have my hands full with the delightful X100
Cheers
Brian
I'll be interested to see how long you find it delightful - could be me of course, but I ended up finding it irritating and limiting - even though the IQ and high ISO was good.
@Amin
Just stop talking about the 45 PL will you - it used to be my favourite lens with the E_P2 last summer . . . . . I guess I'll have to get it back again:loco:
jonoslack
Active member
Okay Okay
My EP3 arrived today - first I thought it was broken as there is an issue with the VF2 clashing with the touchscreen, but now that's sorted I'm a very happy bunny.
The touch shooting is really good fun (and really good too) - it's going to take a bit of time to get used to, but it definitely is NOT a gimmick.
Here are a couple of 'touch snap' shots with the 14-150:
and here two with the lovely (lovely lovely) 12 f2:
Finally, an obligatory wall test with the 12 f2 - shot at f2 - slightly overcooked leaves as all these are from in camera jogs:
My EP3 arrived today - first I thought it was broken as there is an issue with the VF2 clashing with the touchscreen, but now that's sorted I'm a very happy bunny.
The touch shooting is really good fun (and really good too) - it's going to take a bit of time to get used to, but it definitely is NOT a gimmick.
Here are a couple of 'touch snap' shots with the 14-150:
and here two with the lovely (lovely lovely) 12 f2:
Finally, an obligatory wall test with the 12 f2 - shot at f2 - slightly overcooked leaves as all these are from in camera jogs:
Brian Mosley
New member
Just a bit quirky - I don't have an M9 to compare it with
And yes, the touch to focus/expose combined with fast autofocus/short shutter lag must surely be the game changer for the Pen.
Cheers
Brian
Some nice shots from you guys here. What is the attraction of the EP3 over any Panasonic that has a built-in VF?
I don't get how people can see the LCD well enough in bright sunlight (yes we do have it sometimes) to know what you are shooting at. Maybe it is me and my funny old eyes but I usually can't see anything properly on rear of camera LCDs.
What am I missing here?
Lee
I don't get how people can see the LCD well enough in bright sunlight (yes we do have it sometimes) to know what you are shooting at. Maybe it is me and my funny old eyes but I usually can't see anything properly on rear of camera LCDs.
What am I missing here?
Lee
marlof
Member
I'm not Amin. Did I ever tell you how much I like that 45 PL?
Terry
New member
Congrats on the new camera! I do like the 12mm lens especially the way you move it to manual focus (even if focus is now fast enough to not need to).
As for touch focus and touch shot that's what I've been using with the Panasonics for a while now and I think it works well and has been seriously underrated as a feature. Apparently (according to the reviewers) with slow shutter speeds it can induce some camera shake but I'm just careful in my shutter speeds. I went to the zoo to practice with touch shutter to see how it would work with the 100-300 on my safari and the results shooting that way were very encouraging.
Enjoy
Brian Mosley
New member
Terry, I suspect the screen on the E-P3 being 'skin sensitive' rather than 'pressure sensitive' will reduce the chances of camera shake.
Cheers
Brian
Cheers
Brian
Terry
New member
I still haven't had a camera shake issue at any shutter speed I was probably being overly cautious based on reviews.
Way too much noise about one being capacitive vs. resistive. it does not take much of a touch to trigger the touch screen on the Panasonics (I think the G3 is better than G2's screen but don't have them side by side). So, little pressure that if you go back to the reviews when the first "touch shoot" camera came out reviewers and users were turning it off because they came home with too many "unwanted" shots. Very little difference in pressure between shooting with my iphone vs. G3.
Either way it is a great feature that purists dismiss but simply works well in many situations.
Where touch shutter works less well is on the old slow focusing lenses. I just got an Oly 14-54 II to have a faster midrange zoom and the less than instant focus is a bit disconcerting with touch shutter.