Why the camera matters

[Jorgen Udvang]

Here's an article written by a great m4/3 shooter, Jacob James. Apart from being a fine photographer, he's written a few words about why he chose to go with m4/3 and Panasonic cameras. Since his reasoning correspond almost 100% with my own (we all like to have our opinions confirmed by somebody respectable, don't we ), I post it here:

https://petapixel.com/2017/02/25/camera-matters-not-way-youre-thinking/

And here's his website. He doesn't seem to see many limitations using m4/3, does he?

Jacob James - Travel and Cultural Documentary Photographer

 

[k-hawinkler]

These 3 points

Silent shutter
Flip out touch screen
Small kit size.

fit his style of travel photography.

To me it seems that can be accomplished with MFT, APS-C, and FF cameras.

The one area where MFT might have an advantage over the other formats is tele lenses provided the MFT sensor is fast enough in focusing and can handle well high ISO conditions. For me these conditions are finally met by the E-M1.2.

Everybody has to judge for him/herself which camera meets their needs.

 

[Knorp]

These 3 points

Silent shutter
Flip out touch screen
Small kit size.

fit his style of travel photography.

To me it seems that can be accomplished with MFT, APS-C, and FF cameras.

The one area where MFT might have an advantage over the other formats is tele lenses provided the MFT sensor is fast enough in focusing and can handle well high ISO conditions. For me these conditions are finally met by the E-M1.2.

+1 Everybody has to judge for him/herself which cameras meet their needs. :grin:

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

+1 Everybody has to judge for him/herself which cameras meet their needs. :grin:

Obviously. I posted this because my situation and experiences are similar to those of the author. His photography is vastly superior though, and that shows how much I have left before I reach the limits of the equipment. The fact that I can now take most of the photos that I used to take with my D810 without anybody noticing much of a decline in image quality, and with a setup that is around half the weight and size of the Nikon helps a lot when travelling. At the same time, I can bring my best gear in situations where I would earlier use a compact or even a phone. All in all, I gain image quality.

 

[biglouis]

I agree with all of you that everyone has to judge what works for them.

I just remain completely surprised that after abandoning the format a few years ago I then did a complete about-face when I bought a GX8 and Lumix 12-35/2.8 in an Amazon January sale (in anticipation of getting the announced 100-400 for birding). What did it for me was a side by side test with my main kit at the time a Sony A7R and associated lenses.

What I discovered was at the pixel level up to iso800 I could not see any difference. Yes, there were more pixels in the 36mpx sensor but when I checked the actual definition of elements at 100% they was no difference to me except one was larger than the other.

Obviously, above iso800 there was a big difference due to noise.

What absolutely made a difference was the quality of the lenses. The Lumix 12-35/2.8 was considerably better than the Sony Zeiss 24-70/4 and for a lower price actually was a faster lens. The 35-100/2.8 is ten times (I exaggerate but a lot, lot better) better than the dreadful Sony G 70-200/4 which I owned for a week and then sent back (soft and mushy even stopped down and a heavy b*st*rd as well).

On Friday I walked about 3 miles around central London shooting photographs of monuments and statues for a friend. I carried by GX8, the 100-400 (which is great for statues, btw), 12-35/2.8 and 35-100/2.8 all in a small Think Tank backpack (and I mean small). To take the same lenses from, say, the Sony system would have been impossible - or at least not for a man of reasonable health but with legs entering the 7th decade of service.

Horses for courses. As I say, I am still as surprised as anyone that I can take photography which is suitable for mass distribution on a m43rds camera - but my body is very happy indeed.

Just my two cents

LouisB

PS Unfortunately, I do suffer from GAS. I would really like to buy back into Hasselblad MF film cameras but I think my back would finally give out one if I did.

PPS I'll be contraversial and say that the last men standing in the photography industry will be Panasonic, Olympus, Pentax and Fuji (the latter two for MF mirrorless). None of the FF mirrorless contenders offer much of an advantage of m4rds and Nikon and Canon are going to go bust unless they embrace mirrorless with backwards compatible offerings.

 

[ptomsu]

Since the appearance of the Olympus EM1.2 there is for me no longer a real advantage of FF Nikon or Canon. And I count the upcoming Panasonic GH5 in the same category. There are more MP offerings from Nikon and Canon but this is actually one of the reasons I do prefer current m43 top of the line offerings with 20MP as this is so much on the sweet spot for what I am shooting and anything above pure overkill.

A big advantage of m43 today is also that once you start shooting 4k video you do not get any crop as you do with larger formats - APSC and even more so FF. And while I am not frequently shooting 4k today, 1k video has become pretty much a must for my work and this once more can be don much easier with EM1.2 or GH5 - speak top notch EVF and dual IS in both systems available, which is like a dream function for enabling smooth and great video.

Add to that the high res shooting modes of the EM1.2 and you easily get into 80MP territory for selected genres aka stills or landscapes if you really need without having to invest into cumbersome and expensive MFD.

I have already stated at multiple occasions in this forum as well as on other sites that for my feel and acceptance level Nikon AND Canon have missed the boat as they have arrogantly waited far too long to show some honest investment and products in the mirrorless area, although that would have been more than easy for both - aka mirrorless plus adapter for their existing native FF DSLR lens range. Not having the balls to potentially corrupt their DSLR sales by any means has brought them now even deeper into sh...

I am not so sure if Sony will not be one of the future big names in the photo/video industry of the next decades but I am also pretty sure about Fuji, Panasonic and Olympus - ... and not to forget Leica although they will play in a different league. But for Nikon and Canon I am not seeing the big glorious future. There will also be Phase One as kind of the top of the range system and who knows before they will come out with a mirrorless system as well. Or even Hasselblad which I would especially love to see survive - they were one of the finest MF companies around and I really wish them all success with their new owners and the X1D platform.

Anyway I am so happy being at home in m43 land today, a feeling that I get back whenever I touch and use my new EM1.2.

 

[drofnad]

Size & weight are often cited as a "pro" for m4/3 system, but usually comparisons are per-item (lens vs. lens, body vs. body, or l+b vs. same). Some of us might go around with multiple bodies, so to have the desired lens at the decisive moment! --and, so, then one must compound the differences. (What do APS-C & 35mm have to compare w/the m4/3 tagaglong dingey GM5/GX85, e.g.?)

-d.