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OMD vs NEX7 - resolution - discuss

Terry

New member
This is true, but bear in mind that I owned the EP2 and EP3 before and also the E5, so I think I am still pretty much used to the Olympus logics and way Olympus cameras operate. And in that regards the OMD brings a number of advances which I always had wished for the other Olympus cameras I had used.
It may have advances but it still has some really irritating operational aspects that I really can't fathom. I'm trying to set the camera up as simply as possible because that is the way I like to shoot.

Even little things like the SCP that everyone raves about is a bit annoying. You can touch the item but you still need to hit the physical OK button to start making changes to the item you've highlighted. Once you hit OK you are then out of the SCP and into the parameter being changed. Want to change two things...repeat the process.

I compare that to Panasonic when you touch the quick menu item, your options are then visible and you can then touch the value you want. Fuji you go to quick menu and navigate (no touch) to the parameter you want to change and then use the control wheel to make the change always staying in the quick menu.

Unless I'm doing something wrong you still need to cycle through different views to see highlight/shadow clipping. So wanting level and clipping can't be done together. Histogram can't be on all screens as well. You want to keep these things available, it incases the number of button pushes and screens you need to scroll through.

MySets - Sony is the worst with no custom settings. Panny on the mode dial (yeah). Fuji in the quick menu. Oly a convoluted process for setting them up and invoking them especially if you don't always want to use one consistently and even worse if you change a setting it seems to change the MySet.

Getting a smaller focus box, still don't have this working correctly.

Don't get me totally wrong here. it is the best Oly I've used to date but setting it up and getting through the gear menu is still very cumbersome.
 

Terry

New member
Charitable because as I said, I have Oly RAWs and only Fuji jpegs. You also need to use the best primes. The Panny 25mm f1.4 and 45 macro or 45 f1.8 would need to be part of your kit to get the best out of the OMD.


HI Jorgen


This was exactly my feeling about the Fuji - But it seems to me that it exists as a primarily AF competitor for the M9 - not really a member of the mirrorless camera group (well, as much a member as the M9 is).

Terry - I'm faintly surprised that the OMD comes close at low ISO, because I don't think it comes close to the M9 IQ at base ISO. But perhaps your 'close' was a charitable kind of close.

But as I say - it's an apples and oranges type comparison, whereas the NEX7vsOMD is definitely apples vs apples.
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
It may have advances but it still has some really irritating operational aspects that I really can't fathom. I'm trying to set the camera up as simply as possible because that is the way I like to shoot.

Even little things like the SCP that everyone raves about is a bit annoying. You can touch the item but you still need to hit the physical OK button to start making changes to the item you've highlighted. Once you hit OK you are then out of the SCP and into the parameter being changed. Want to change two things...repeat the process.

I compare that to Panasonic when you touch the quick menu item, your options are then visible and you can then touch the value you want. Fuji you go to quick menu and navigate (no touch) to the parameter you want to change and then use the control wheel to make the change always staying in the quick menu.

Unless I'm doing something wrong you still need to cycle through different views to see highlight/shadow clipping. So wanting level and clipping can't be done together. Histogram can't be on all screens as well. You want to keep these things available, it incases the number of button pushes and screens you need to scroll through.

MySets - Sony is the worst with no custom settings. Panny on the mode dial (yeah). Fuji in the quick menu. Oly a convoluted process for setting them up and invoking them especially if you don't always want to use one consistently and even worse if you change a setting it seems to change the MySet.

Getting a smaller focus box, still don't have this working correctly.

Don't get me totally wrong here. it is the best Oly I've used to date but setting it up and getting through the gear menu is still very cumbersome.
Terry,

you are right - but obviously I have become humiliate ;) sign of my age ....

I am already happy with what Oly in the OMD gives me today, not saying it could - and SHOULD - not be improved.

On the other hand, I almost never setup any custom settings, so I cannot even comment on these. I only found my Fuji X10 pretty complicated to operate, even setup the easiest and most straight forward things, not sure how much more advanced and easier the X Pro 1 is, but I assume it will use similar logics.

WRT smaller focus box, this is a feature i also would like to have easily available on the OMD and it is a bit rust rating it is not there from the first release already.
 

Terry

New member
Terry,

On the other hand, I almost never setup any custom settings, so I cannot even comment on these. I only found my Fuji X10 pretty complicated to operate, even setup the easiest and most straight forward things, not sure how much more advanced and easier the X Pro 1 is, but I assume it will use similar logics.
The x-pro1 and the X10 are completely different beasts. Formatting a card and turning off the sound (when shooting in a church) so far have been my only visits to the menu. Anything for shooting is in the quick menu.
 

Paratom

Well-known member
Another advantage for the Nex is the shallower DOF. The kit lens for the Nex allready allwos to isolate the subject somewhat from the background, and the 24/1.8 Zeiss has the same effect like a 17/1.2?? would have on the Oly.

Some weeks ago most users agreed that the dx-sensor size of the Nex has a clear IQ advantage over the smaller m4/3 sensors. Has the Oly sensor improved so much?
And if so - how good would be the next generation dx sensor?

Overall, if we keep in mind that many of us use this kind of camera as a light/small alternative additional to a bigger camera system I would think the Oly makes maybe more sense-because it is smaller lenses, weather proof, and with the fast AF more flexible.

Saying all this my prefered walkaround camera has been the x100 lately. Why?
Because of the OVF.
 

ustein

Contributing Editor
>Have you tried the Olympus 14-150?

No.

1. I have the 14-140mm
2. Need IS for the GH2 because of video
3. Video on the OMD showed very bad aliasing (may be improved by lower in camera sharpening and contrast)

Still one of my questions is how does the OMD compare to the GH2 at lower ISO in pure image quality terms.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
>Have you tried the Olympus 14-150?

No.

1. I have the 14-140mm
2. Need IS for the GH2 because of video
3. Video on the OMD showed very bad aliasing (may be improved by lower in camera sharpening and contrast)

Still one of my questions is how does the OMD compare to the GH2 at lower ISO in pure image quality terms.
I looked at the OM-D/GH2 video comparison at Vimeo, and to me, the GH2 seems to be vastly superior. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up using one of each: an OM-D and a GH3 (or maybe even my GH1 if Panasonic will ever get around to fix it, or at least give me a quotation for the repair).

But that's the sweet thing about m4/3; the best of two worlds, and apart from batteries, most things are interchangeable.
 

marlof

Member
Have you tried the Olympus 14-150? it's quite a bit smaller than either the panasonic or the Sony. I had one in the autumn with the EP3 and liked it, dithering about buying a replacement - I didn't much like the 14-140 - of course it was important with panny because of the stabilisation, but the Olympus body really does seem to take care of that!
My copy of the 14-140 is significantly sharper than my copy of the 14-150 was, especially at the wider end. The 14-150 did fit a Pen body much better than the 14-140 though, but the EM5 is just large enough for a 14-140 IMO. Still wondering if I should sell my GH2, and if, then body only, or with the 14-140...
 

Terry

New member
What is interesting for me in this process is what happened this weekend in trying to test out the different systems. But first I will start a little further back. When the NEX7 came out, I thought I would keep and NEX 5N side by side with the NEX7. However, what I found was that the two cameras were sufficiently different and both unique enough that it was too hard to remember what functions I put where. So, if I were to have two camera bodies I found it would have to be two NEX7's.

For me with the Fuji everything is where it is supposed to be.

I hadn't shot the Sony in about two weeks and I felt like I was fumbling to find things and it was frustrating to me. So, I'm feeling a bit like the Sony is great if it is your only camera and you use it a lot and you have muscle memory of where the controls are. However, as a secondary system, that you don't pick up everyday once you need to venture past aperture/shutter/ISO you can start to fumble around.

The Oly to me is a middle ground. Lots of button are user configurable so you can forget things but you do have the super control panel as a fall back.

So, while I was never one of the naysayers about the Sony interface, I am finding it a little less likable when you use more than one camera system at a time.

YMMV.
 

ustein

Contributing Editor
They are my small kit now---with G3 for the time being.
Would be mine too. But I don't own the 25mm yet.

The OMD is the better camera. Not sure you can see any image quality diff at lower ISO to GH2/G3. If somebody sees a difference let us know.
 

Paratom

Well-known member
And to get back on topic (and sorry to got off topic before) - I didnt spend too much time but I could not tell which of the samples posted by Jono I would prefer. Which kind of tells me-at least in this sample-there might be no IQ advantage of the Nex vs the OMD here (again just for me)... which I dont like because I own the Nex and not the OMD :loco:
 
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jonoslack

Active member
And to get back on topic (and sorry to got off topic before) - I didnt spend too much time but I could not tell which of the samples posted by Jono I would prefer. Which kind of tells me-at least in this sample-there might be no IQ advantage of the Nex vs the OMD here (again just for me)... which I dont like because I own the Nex and not the OMD :loco:
I think that was my (unspoken) point as well.
 

Terry

New member
OK, I've now hacked up this thread and gotten rid of the M9. Hey, it is time for some spring cleaning to make way for the Magic M10 anyway.
 
V

Vivek

Guest
If I get hold of an OM-D, I will certainly check it against my GH-2 without its AA filter. I do not expect to see anything "better" in terms of resolution.

My NEX-7 is clearly better than the modified GH-2 (which is slightly better than a stock one) when it comes to resolution.
 

jonoslack

Active member
If I get hold of an OM-D, I will certainly check it against my GH-2 without its AA filter. I do not expect to see anything "better" in terms of resolution.

My NEX-7 is clearly better than the modified GH-2 (which is slightly better than a stock one) when it comes to resolution.
Hi Vivek - I'll be interested to see how you fare . . . I'm not sure that my tests show that the NEX7 is clearly better than the OMD (of course, defining 'better' is a tricky thing!)
 

250swb

Member
The Fuji is a niche camera (and so is the NEX 7 at the moment), made to compete as an 'enthusiasts' rangefinder, and while it obviously is possible to compare sensors with the E-M5, it isn't comparing like for like if you want to buy a camera outfit.

I don't want something to mirror or replace my M9, I want a camera system that can do things my M9 can't do (and it can't do much actually, except produce superb images). And compared with the E-M5 I'm sorry, but the Fuji can't do much either. Two different camera design philosophies are not supposed to be compared head to head except to feed idle curiosity. It doesn't matter which has the best sensor if some other apsect of the camera can't work for you.

Steve
 

jonoslack

Active member
The Fuji is a niche camera (and so is the NEX 7 at the moment), made to compete as an 'enthusiasts' rangefinder, and while it obviously is possible to compare sensors with the E-M5, it isn't comparing like for like if you want to buy a camera outfit.

I don't want something to mirror or replace my M9, I want a camera system that can do things my M9 can't do (and it can't do much actually, except produce superb images). And compared with the E-M5 I'm sorry, but the Fuji can't do much either. Two different camera design philosophies are not supposed to be compared head to head except to feed idle curiosity. It doesn't matter which has the best sensor if some other apsect of the camera can't work for you.

Steve
HI Steve
I quite agree about the Fuji - different thing - Terry thinks so as well, she's trying to decide what to have as well as the Fuji - just like I'm trying to decide what to have as well as the M9.
However, I don't think the NEX7 is a niche camera - it's part of a successful range, and if the native lenses available are not as complete as m4/3, there's no reason to believe they won't be in a year or so.
From my point of view the NEX7 and the OMD cover very similar ground. This test was to try and discover whether the sensor of the NEX7 showed a huge advantage over the OMD at base ISO . .

all the best
 
V

Vivek

Guest
It doesn't matter which has the best sensor if some other apsect of the camera can't work for you.

Steve
I used to think that way until I tried the lowly NEX-C3 (no EVF, shot gun shutter, ergonomic nightmare, an endless list of unpleasant things...). But, the way it works with tiny wides and ultrawides changed my mind. The sensor does matter and it makes all the difference. I am pretty sure the Panasonic NMOS sensor in OM-D (once the hardware is hacked) will deliver the goods (as in the GH-2) in infrared and ultraviolet. :)
 
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