Micro 4/3 From Fuji to M43

tilman

All-Pro
Location
Portland, OR
Sounds like a great camera & lens combo!
Have you activated the "Super Control Panel" (SCP)? (on the E-M5 MkI it was off by default). Basically that's all I'm ever using to change settings - the menus are just too ridiculous :)

Add the cheap, small and light 40-150mm f4-5.6R to it and you're set :)

I'm still using an original E-M5 when the conditions are right... (all my macro photos in the Redwoods over the Christmas break for example).
Have sometimes thought about upgrading that to a used E-M5 MkII (since none of the newer Olympus cameras offer anything that I'm particularly interested in)

These are from today's walk (with the E-M5 and Oly 40-150mm f4-5.6R)

46238613304_75022c4b76_c.jpg
Untitled
by tilman paulin, on Flickr

46049175915_2fff45f7f1_c.jpg
Untitled
by tilman paulin, on Flickr
 
Ok. I've bought a new Olympus OMD EM5 mk2 + 12-40 f2.8.
Almost lost the plot with the menu/set up in the first couple of hours.
It's still giving me grief after 36 hours.
I am getting there though.
I am getting to like it.
The 12-40 f2.8 is a fantastic lens.
I reckon another 24 hours fiddling with the menu and I might get to grips with it.
Happy with the results so far. The ibis is fantastic and I don't find the continuous af bad at all.
This is an old camera. But it satisfies my needs.
and the exposure comp dial turns the way i want it to.
Unlike the Fuji. That was always the wrong way for me.
Ok, It's not got the resolution of the XT2 , and the menu/set up is S__T compared to every other camera i've owned.
But the ibis is fantastic. The weatherproofing works (never really trusted the XT2 in a shower.
I don't print big.
Its good enough for me. View attachment 193611View attachment 193612

And I actually find I prefer the Olympus colours.0

Funny, I made the same turn, and agree all you said :)
 
Sounds like a great camera & lens combo!
Have you activated the "Super Control Panel" (SCP)? (on the E-M5 MkI it was off by default). Basically that's all I'm ever using to change settings - the menus are just too ridiculous :)

Just minor tweaks in menus (can’t remember what, that tells you how ‘easy’ those menus are) and then SCP is really all you need.
 
Sounds like a great camera & lens combo!
Have you activated the "Super Control Panel" (SCP)? (on the E-M5 MkI it was off by default). Basically that's all I'm ever using to change settings - the menus are just too ridiculous :)

Add the cheap, small and light 40-150mm f4-5.6R to it and you're set :)

I'm still using an original E-M5 when the conditions are right... (all my macro photos in the Redwoods over the Christmas break for example).
Have sometimes thought about upgrading that to a used E-M5 MkII (since none of the newer Olympus cameras offer anything that I'm particularly interested in)

These are from today's walk (with the E-M5 and Oly 40-150mm f4-5.6R)

View attachment 193615Untitled by tilman paulin, on Flickr

View attachment 193616Untitled by tilman paulin, on Flickr

Yes the SCP was already enabled. But it took me a couple of frustrating hours to get rid of it !
I mean off the screen, so I could try the touch release. It was more than likely me at fault and
I have no idea what I did to resolve the issue.
Anyway. All seems to be working ok now.
Looking forward to using it a lot more. I think the lens is fantastic too.
 
The 12-40 is the best lens in the system IMO. My favorite is the sigma 60 2.8. Usually you can find one used for under $150. A super compact 120mm eq that's sharp and still offers plenty of bokeh at that focal length.
 
Yes the SCP was already enabled. But it took me a couple of frustrating hours to get rid of it !
I mean off the screen, so I could try the touch release. It was more than likely me at fault and
I have no idea what I did to resolve the issue.
Anyway. All seems to be working ok now.
Looking forward to using it a lot more. I think the lens is fantastic too.
Did you turn off auto EVF / LCD switching? As I recall if you have it on EVF, one of the "display" optons is to have the SCP "on" on the LCD.
 
Garry,

I like your pictures, and I have a question about aspect ratio.

The one thing that has always put me off Micro 4/3 as a format is that most of the time I shoot in landscape orientation, and for that I far prefer the wider aspect of APS-C and 1-inch. So I know that if I were to buy something like an OMD EM5 or a PEN (and I have been very tempted along the way) I would be forever cropping the resulting 4/3 aspect images to get the 3/2 look I like.

Have you found that to be an issue, moving from Fuji ?

-R
 
Have you found that to be an issue, moving from Fuji ?
Let me answer this too, as I bought last year the PEN-F to accompany my Leica Q and I have shot nothing but 3:2 since my early point-and-shoot days.

Yeah, 4:3 looks funny when you're accustomed to 3:2.

The thing is about resolution, if you compose in 3:2 and crop the extra negative space you don't really "lose" in resolution. Think of it like you were going to make a 3:2 print, no matter what, so the 4:3 image has to be cropped, no matter what.

A 20 megapixel 4:3 image (5200x3900) only loses 433 pixels from the height if you decide to crop, the resulting image being 18 megapixels. Leica M9/Canon 1D/Nikon D4 territory still. We're still talking about 24 inches of print dimension, if we stay within 150 ppi.

What I found out is that the 3:4 portrait aspect ratio is much better than the 2:3 so it's a win-lose in my book, as I shoot a lot in portrait mode.
 
The thing is about resolution, if you compose in 3:2 and crop the extra negative space you don't really "lose" in resolution. Think of it like you were going to make a 3:2 print, no matter what, so the 4:3 image has to be cropped, no matter what.

A 20 megapixel 4:3 image (5200x3900) only loses 433 pixels from the height if you decide to crop, the resulting image being 18 megapixels. Leica M9/Canon 1D/Nikon D4 territory still. We're still talking about 24 inches of print dimension, if we stay within 150 ppi.

Hi Mike,

I didn't entirely follow that, but it's a valuable opinion from someone who has actually made the change rather than just thought about me (like me). What I've taken on board is that I probably would be cropping most of my landscape images in post, but it probably wouldn't be much of an issue.

What I found out is that the 3:4 portrait aspect ratio is much better than the 2:3 so it's a win-lose in my book, as I shoot a lot in portrait mode.
I agree, the native APS-C ratio generally looks too tall in portrait. So some you win and some you lose.

-R
 
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I didn't entirely follow that, but it's a valuable opinion from someone who has actually made the change rather than just thought about me (like me). What I've taken on board is that I probably would be cropping most of my landscape images in post, but it probably wouldn't be much of an issue.
Heh... What I try to say in my own confused way is that even if you do crop your image from 4:3 to 3:2, you're not really losing any resolution at all because you're cropping away some stuff you wouldn't have shot anyway in the first place if you had been shooting with a 3:2 camera. May not have any mathematical basis under this but this is how I feel.

And what is also going to happen real quick is that you start to appreciate the new aspect ratio and start to compose for it. This tends to be the case for majority of M43 migrants
 
I started with Nikon DX to FX. I added m4/3 for fun and travel. Now that I'm no longer shooting events I shoot m4/3 and Fuji.

So a few observations:
  • Shooting Olympus m4/3 in anything other than 4:3 just applies a crop to the RAW file, actually kind of handy to be able to shift things up/down/left/right at times.
  • I haven't played around with different aspects on my Fuji yet and don't have it handy to check so I don't know if it does the same (saving full with cropping). The earlier Panasonic bodies only saved the cropped area. I can't remember if my GX85 save only the cropped image, but I remember that distinction as one of the advantages of Olympus over Panasonic when I was comparing bodies a few years back.
  • Going to 4:3 made me think a lot more about the aspect ratio and shot composition. I'd shot 3:2 almost exclusively for years, now I often shot my m4/3 in 3:2 and sometimes 16:9. I only rarely changed the aspect ratio of my Nikon shots, and then that was mainly just for really big groups.
 
Garry,

I like your pictures, and I have a question about aspect ratio.

The one thing that has always put me off Micro 4/3 as a format is that most of the time I shoot in landscape orientation, and for that I far prefer the wider aspect of APS-C and 1-inch. So I know that if I were to buy something like an OMD EM5 or a PEN (and I have been very tempted along the way) I would be forever cropping the resulting 4/3 aspect images to get the 3/2 look I like.

Have you found that to be an issue, moving from Fuji ?

-R

To be honest I’m not at all keen on the 4/3 format. I currently have the camera set to 16/9
I also was shooting the Fuji a lot at that format. It’s nice to have the option to change though.
I suppose I should really be shooting at 4/3 and cropping to my liking in post.
I will use other formats occasionally. In fact I’ve been considering doing a week or two square.
 
The 12-40 is the best lens in the system IMO. My favorite is the sigma 60 2.8. Usually you can find one used for under $150. A super compact 120mm eq that's sharp and still offers plenty of bokeh at that focal length.
I love mine, but I rarely have any reason to use it. A pity. It's just an awkward focal length for me.
 
What I've taken on board is that I probably would be cropping most of my landscape images in post, but it probably wouldn't be much of an issue.

The nice thing about the m4/3 implementation is that the cropping is just a marker in the metadata in the raw file (jpgs will always be cropped to whatever aspect you have selected). That is, you can shoot at 3:2 (frame it, shoot it, view it) and when you import into LR (not sure about other software) it will look just like you shot it; in 3:2. Clicking on the crop tool, it will show you the entire 4:3 image and you can move or remove the crop. It's quite handy from that standpoint.
 
I've just done a switch. Again.
I like what I have this time around.

Have an EM1.1 with good ole 2013 tech? Still works pretty good. 👍
A 12-40 on the way. Can't wait.
The small nifty fifty P25 1.7. Pretty good performing sub $100 lens.
And a Sigma 56mm. Really like this one, especially on the MFT crop.
 
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