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Decisions Decisions

jonoslack

Active member
Hi Peter,
today I handled the A7 and also the EM1 in the store.

Besides the (IMO) overloaded menus and buttons I find the EM1 to feel very good in the hand and it has the best EVF for my taste.

The A7 I found nice as well but the EM1 feels like an extension of the hand.

My needs for such a camera differ from Jonos, with my small kids I would like to have fast AF and also the option to use a tele-lens here and then.
So if I would get one of those 2, it would be the EM1. (Specially for someone who also owns another bigger camera for max. IQ like I do , and you too)
Hi Tom
I quite agree with you about the feel. The Olympus does fall to hand much better. Mind you, you might feel slightly different after a week or so shooting.

I also agree that the AF on the Olympus is very superior. For telephoto as well.

All the best
 

Paratom

Well-known member
Hi Tom
I quite agree with you about the feel. The Olympus does fall to hand much better. Mind you, you might feel slightly different after a week or so shooting.

I also agree that the AF on the Olympus is very superior. For telephoto as well.

All the best
And I agree that the IQ from the A7 (at least if I judge what I see in the internet) looks more "powerfull". I am not sure yet if its mainly caused by shallower DOF in many posted shots. When recently compared some shots from my other m43 stuff and larger sensors I found the m43 shots to be quite sharp and detailed, but for some reason they sometimes have a somewhat flatter and more harsh look, while the files from larger sensors seem deeper and smoother. (I know, these are not very scientific parameters)
 

jonoslack

Active member
And I agree that the IQ from the A7 (at least if I judge what I see in the internet) looks more "powerfull". I am not sure yet if its mainly caused by shallower DOF in many posted shots. When recently compared some shots from my other m43 stuff and larger sensors I found the m43 shots to be quite sharp and detailed, but for some reason they sometimes have a somewhat flatter and more harsh look, while the files from larger sensors seem deeper and smoother. (I know, these are not very scientific parameters)
Hi Tom
Not scientific, but just exactly what I felt
 

scott kirkpatrick

Well-known member
My choice of sticking with the Olympus m4/3 is one of fit. I frequently cover department events at no pay with no higher objective than occasional web postings. 16 MPx squeezed into the smaller 4/3 frame is just fine, and fast low light AF is a requirement. Maybe zoom as well, although that does feel like a step down. I've compared very detail-rich shots between the M1 and P5 with the same scenes covered by the M[240] and there is greater midtone contrast in the M images at 100% scale. But it is a distinction that I cannot see when I view a filled frame of either at monitor scale. And I do like the instinctive feel of shooting with the latest Olympus cameras, now that I have gotten my head slightly reshaped to understand those menus.

scott
 

emmef2

New member
And I agree that the IQ from the A7 (at least if I judge what I see in the internet) looks more "powerfull". I am not sure yet if its mainly caused by shallower DOF in many posted shots. When recently compared some shots from my other m43 stuff and larger sensors I found the m43 shots to be quite sharp and detailed, but for some reason they sometimes have a somewhat flatter and more harsh look, while the files from larger sensors seem deeper and smoother. (I know, these are not very scientific parameters)
I believe that we are observing the benefits of a larger sensor with similar pixel size, it reminds me of what we observed with medium format and 35mm film format. Some 35mm systems were very very sharp but the larger area of a medium format frame gave more tonal detail and smoother transitions.
I believe this applies to all sensor smaller than FF, with this being a bit less apparent on the newer higher density APS-C sensors (D7100, Nex-7)
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
I'm not sure I understand the griping about Olympus menus. I find the Sony menus to be far harder to figure out and understand, and the documentation poorer as well. Olympus menus are deep, but are logically laid out (for the most part anyway), and allow a level of customization in the case of the E-M1 that simply blows away what can be done with the A7.

Sony's menus are a scattered mess, to me, just like their ergonomics. The A7 has only just enough configurability to make it usable IMO, not ideal. The E-M1 goes well beyond that.

The good news, with either, is that once you've set the camera up to be tolerable for use and learn it, you only infrequently need to jump back into the menu system. You have to do it more with the Sony, unfortunately, because there are fewer customizations available and some things cannot be assigned to a sensible discrete control.

(Yes, Jono: You can set the AE/AF Lock button to spot meter and hold the setting until pressed again on the E-M1 just like you can with the A7. That's how mine is set up. I've yet to figure out the Sony A7's spot metering, tho: it seems to jump all over the place when I press the AELock button. ;-)

In essence, the A7 replaces the M9 for me mostly on the basis of what is for me a much better quality set of lenses (Leica R and Nikkor vs mostly Voigtländer, which is not to say that the Voigtländers are bad btw) and the EVF. Although there are moments when I wish the A7 had the E-M1 viewfinder's auto-adaptive brightness ... It gets tiresome to have to constantly jump into the menus to push the brightness up and down when going from sunny day to indoor shooting.

We are awash in the riches of excellent cameras to work with! With features we could barely dream of even half a decade ago!


Sony A7 + Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4
WiFi controlled capture
Processed from JPEG with iPhone 4S and Snapseed

Godfrey
 

jonoslack

Active member
(Yes, Jono: You can set the AE/AF Lock button to spot meter and hold the setting until pressed again on the E-M1 just like you can with the A7. That's how mine is set up. I've yet to figure out the Sony A7's spot metering, tho: it seems to jump all over the place when I press the AELock button. ;-)
Godfrey
Hi Godfrey
Thanks for that. When I went to look how to set it up I realised I already had! Too many cameras in too short a Time muddles the brain!
 
Well, "I pulled a Jono" today..

The A7r + related kit are going back where they came from, to the stealers. Next week a silver M240 and 50/1.4 ASPH are coming my way.

In the end I just couldn't tame this beast. Handholding the darn thing was next to impossible for me and I couldn't trust the AF. Don't know what I was doing wrong, but every now and then it missed focus.. I even managed to get camera shake @1/250 with the 24-70 lens in the 70mm end and that has OSS! Either it isn't working properly or I'm just a complete tosser with these auto-things.. maybe I just got reckless with my shooting habits using such a beast and trusting it'll take care of things.

Anyway, with RF I may be slow but at least the focus is where I want it to be and I know how to hold my composure to avoid camera shake. It worked with the M8 and M9, so I'm pretty sure it'll work with the M240 as well.

Lesson learned, never sell a Leica!

//Juha
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
I find it darn hard to sell a Leica. Particularly a Leica lens. I did it once upon a time with my M6TTL/M4-P kit, and it's irritated me that I did many times over. While I've said that I want to sell my M9, I can't seem to actually put it on the market...

The A7/A7r is certainly not for everyone. It's a rough and clumsy camera a good bit of the time. Working it as I do ... ONLY manual focus lenses, ONLY Av and M exposure modes, direct manual control of lens opening at all times ... makes it into a Soleica or Sonikon which I can deal with.

Good luck with the M240! I'm tempted to do the sideways tango ... use the M9 as a trade in for an MM or M240. But not for a while ... I've depleted my bank account enough for the moment, time to put the money back first.

G
 
Godfrey, I hear you loud and clear. It's "a complete disaster" doing this gear swap all over at this stage. Depleting the account completely.. I had planned other nice little purchases for that money, but getting a deal on these demo M240 & 50 slux made me move now. Saved me roughly 2000€ over getting a brand new pair. Both come with 6 month warranty from dealer and I think they are also still under factory warranty as well.

I sold my M9 with a heavy heart thinking the A7r would be a better fit. I think the mistake might have partially been picking the R-version.. possibly the A7 would have been easier to handle, but my engineering minded brain would have bugged the helö out of me for choosing it over "maximum quality".

I still think in the right hands that A7/A7r is fantastic, as Tim/you/Guy and many other members have shown. I'm just not "man enough" for taming the A7r beast.

//Juha
 
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