I'm trading my E-PL5 for a G5... Why?

entropic remnants

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John Griggs
[I posted this on Mu-43, but I'll post it here too for whatever it may be worth.]

It's not about not loving the E-PL5 for many things and as I've said on here before it has some operational features I wish my E-M5 would have.

It's not about image quality either. The E-PL5 rocks.

The reason is that I do some paid gigs with my cameras and the last one I did I shot the E-M5 with the 75mm f/1.8 and the E-PL5 with the 17mm f/1.8 and overall they both did well...

EXCEPT for the following that dogged me with the E-PL5:

  • When you put a flash on it, you can't use the VF-2 and I like to use a viewfinder when shooting events for most things. If nothing else, both hands holding the camera to ones face is a more stable position.
  • It was on a sling strap and I had repeated problems with the mode dial jumping to another position. I'd pick up the camera and shoot quickly when something happened and it was in the wrong mode and I lost shots.

So, a member on Mu-43 was looking to trade a G5 and some lenses for a decent Olympus body to get IBIS and I made the swap. Since I'll probably eventually get the Panasonic 12-35mm zoom for paid gigs it can go on the G5. I don't know who came out better overall but we'll both be getting what we're looking for as my trading partner want's IBIS to shoot manual focus primes. I'm giving them my VF-2 also since I won't need it now with two cams with built in EVF.

The G5 has no IBIS but shooting wide I have less need for stabilization anyway so even with a non-stabilized wide prime I'm okay. At events I have to up the shutter speed anyway to catch action.

I still have the E-M5 for critical work, the LX7 for daily carry-about and now the G5 for my wide shooter for events and as a backup for the E-M5 -- AND I'm not out of pocket any cash except for shipping since it's a swap.
 
I'd do the same. But, sorta late now, but did you consider another OM-D? I have two OM-D's and it's really working out well. Identical controls and setup and both have that wonderful IBIS that I am quickly learning that I cannot live without.
 
I'd do the same. But, sorta late now, but did you consider another OM-D? I have two OM-D's and it's really working out well. Identical controls and setup and both have that wonderful IBIS that I am quickly learning that I cannot live without.

It would be preferable, Gary, and that's the ideal. I used to shoot with two D7000's for events and that worked out very well.

But the LX7 has me used to Panasonic's interface now (they're remarkably similar) and the REAL BEAUTY of this deal is NO CASH OUT OF POCKET!

Really, I would have muddled through for awhile if I hadn't seen this trade deal.

Oh, and an afterthought: I definitely want that incredible IBIS on my long lens. The E-M5 will always have the telephoto, the G5 always the wide angle.
 
@ David, actually, 90% of the time I use two cameras. Shooting news for 15 years sorta makes it hard to shoot differently. I really haven't a preference for any particular lens or combo ... long on one camera and wide on the other. I do like the range/f/2.8/sharpness of the P35-100. For street I don't like to hide/stealthy/sneaky, sorta diminishes the challenge. In my 'real' shooting days I could/would just blend into the street with a pair of motorized Nikons and a huge camera bag. All part of the challenge and the challenge is what feeds my passion for photography.

Gary
 
I really like shooting an Olympus (E-M5) and Panasonic (GH1) together. Ideally I'd like to have the second camera with a touchscreen like the Olympus but I'm loathe to lose the multi-aspect sensor of the GH1 and I do very much like it's particular sensor output. One of the best reasons I like to shoot them together is because I have both kinds of articulated screen available and they have two different sensors produced by two different manufacturers and yet they still share the same lenses. I actually prefer the inconsistency of output compared to having two cameras that produce the exact same results. In fact, a lot of the time I'm not even shooting the Micro 4/3 cameras together but rather one of them alongside the G1X or NX200 instead.
 
I really like shooting an Olympus (E-M5) and Panasonic (GH1) together. Ideally I'd like to have the second camera with a touchscreen like the Olympus but I'm loathe to lose the multi-aspect sensor of the GH1 and I do very much like it's particular sensor output. One of the best reasons I like to shoot them together is because I have both kinds of articulated screen available and they have two different sensors produced by two different manufacturers and yet they still share the same lenses. I actually prefer the inconsistency of output compared to having two cameras that produce the exact same results. In fact, a lot of the time I'm not even shooting the Micro 4/3 cameras together but rather one of them alongside the G1X or NX200 instead.

Hey, Nic... what do you think of the Samsungs? One can pick up an NX100 for almost nothing these days. How are the lenses? I've heard people say they're only good up to ISO 800 or 1600. But so is the Panasonic LX7. That doesn't sound right.
 
Hey, Nic... what do you think of the Samsungs? One can pick up an NX100 for almost nothing these days. How are the lenses? I've heard people say they're only good up to ISO 800 or 1600. But so is the Panasonic LX7. That doesn't sound right.

Hi Steve,

If we're talking about the NX100 (which I have had a chance to briefly use), it depends on what context you are asking me. If you were to say "I can pick up an NX100 for next to nothing, is it any good?", I would say, "Sure, allowing for the fact that it is a few years old it will still do a good job of taking photos. It uses a similar sensor to the one developed with Pentax for the K-7"

If you were to say, "I have an E-PM2 and a G5, how does the NX100 compare?', I would say, "Well, it's a first generation mirrorless camera. It's chunkier than it needs to be, heavier than you think it should be be, is slow to write raw files, doesn't have a good jpeg engine, and the autofocus is representative of it's age.

The second generation NX cameras (NX200, NX20 and later) are much more refined but still have their quirks, mostly in their excessively large raw files and still slow write times. Otherwise they're pretty competitive but still wouldn't quite match any current Micro 4/3 model for autofocus and Samsung still hasn't worked out how to properly implement noise reduction in jpegs. Even the NX200s are pretty cheap now: my second hand NX200 cost $300 including the 30/2 pancake, and I bought a 20/2.8 for $101. I don't get very excited by 28-ish mm prime lenses, but I think that this is a good one and very compact. The 30/2 is slightly smaller again and is a wonderful little lens. For me this lens is one of the stars of the NX system. It's basically a Panasonic 20mm but with bokeh :)

I'm keeping my Samsung kit to the NX200 and two pancakes for now and I certainly don't need to go further than that anyway. I forgive the few remaining quirks for it's unique qualities. I didn't mean to end up with four regular cameras but it just happened that way...honest!

A recent thread about the current gen NX sensors: https://www.photographerslounge.org/f4/samsung-catch-break-dxomark-nx200-nx20-16923/
 
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