Fuji X-M1 vs Sony Nex 6 - a user comparison

Nice comparison review Ray. I can certainly relate to your take on the 2 cameras regarding street shooting. With the NEX series zone focusing with a Voigtlander or Leica adapted lens is probably the best way to go. For those that shoot with a VF then maybe the AF is just about good enough for most shoots but personally I think the 5N AF is dismal and I expect the NEX 6 is only marginally better. I like to be able to just push that shutter home at the right moment rather than wait an indeterminate time for the AF to catch up. There are so many variables to contend with when street shooting it's best to simplify when you have the opportunity. That's why I can appreciate your fondness of the Nikon A. With the E-PL5 I can set no minimum shutter speed so have to either pick a suitably high iso or shoot in shutter priority mode.

You've used the E-PL5 Ray. Can you give me your view on how the shutter button compares with the NEX 6? I find the Sony NEX 5N button a lot less responsive and am sure I sometimes introduce blur into a shot as a result. With both cams I basically have them round my neck and cradle the underside of the camera with my thumb resting on the shutter so I can shoot whenever without arm/hand movements giving away my intentions. I adapted that style with the E-PL5 because it's so damn small and easy to press a wrong button. Now I shoot that way with the Sony 5N too so the shutter responsiveness (or lack of) has only recently bugged me..

Does either the Olympus E-P5 or Panasonic GX7 allow minimum shutter speed when auto iso is set? Both cameras appeal to me as potential upgrades for my E-PL5 next year.
Hi Norman,

The Nex 6 may be somewhat faster AF than the 5N - they added the PDAF capability to it. Its no speed burner, though, and I don't much like AF for street even with cameras that are because I still have to frame the shot to get the AF target in a specific place, which I don't with zone focussing. I don't remember the EPL5 shutter button specifically, but I didn't have any problem with it. I don't with the Nex 6 either, but it took me a couple of minutes to get used to its location on the downslope part of the grip. Feels really good and natural with the camera to my eye and my finger on the button, but a little weird for waist level shooting using the flip up screen. But it seems responsive enough that I didn't notice it.

I don't know for sure but I doubt that either of those new m43 bodies allow a minimum shutter speed to be set in auto-ISO. Maybe they do but it would be a change for either company as neither Oly or Panasonic has offered that before. I hope to demo both of those cameras soon, but not until the GX7 is available, obviously, and I don't know when that's gonna be. That feature on the Nikon has really messed me up for other cameras. I was shooting both the Fuji and Nex in this comparison the way I've happily shot with other cameras for years, just occasionally having to adjust the ISO for changing light, but just having to THINK about it now seemed like a massive inconvenience. I just got crazy-spoiled by that. The Fuji (XM1 and X100/100s) and a few Ricohs have that feature, but not at high enough shutter speeds for me. Seems like it could be such a quick and easy fix and I'm not sure why they set the limits where they did. Nikon's goes way higher than I think I'd ever use, but it would also have application for shooting sports or BIF with a telephoto on their DSLR's (which I believe use the same system) so I can see it being useful to a number of shooters.

-Ray
 
Thanks Ray! I was using the XM-1 as a second body the past two weeks in Europe. I think the best thing would be a combo of the XE-1 and XM-1 with the grip of the NEX-6. Shooting without a viewfinder can be difficult in bright conditions, it's hard for longer lenses too. Probably a better comparison would have been the XM-1 and the NEX-3 or 5 series that have no EVF. I find the flip screen very useful for street photography.

I just returned home yesterday and haven't even processed most of my photos as yet but will post a thread here with images using the XM-1 and XE-1 that I ended up using most of the time on my trip.
 
Thanks Ray! I was using the XM-1 as a second body the past two weeks in Europe. I think the best thing would be a combo of the XE-1 and XM-1 with the grip of the NEX-6. Shooting without a viewfinder can be difficult in bright conditions, it's hard for longer lenses too. Probably a better comparison would have been the XM-1 and the NEX-3 or 5 series that have no EVF. I find the flip screen very useful for street photography.

I just returned home yesterday and haven't even processed most of my photos as yet but will post a thread here with images using the XM-1 and XE-1 that I ended up using most of the time on my trip.

Hi Lisa. Yeah, my XE1 isn't going anywhere anytime soon. I'd like it if a next gen X-Pro 2 or X-E2 combined their current viewfinders with a flip up screen. For the way I'm using my Fuji gear these days, I'd much rather have the viewfinder than the flip screen, but I like flip screens a lot too.

You say you used the XE1 the most? What else did you end up taking? Were you switching lenses or using it mostly as a fixed lens? In any case, I hope you had a great trip and look forward to seeing your photos...

-Ray
 
Ray, Our trip was really great, but very quick. We even had a great lunch at La Tagliata outside Positano which I know you too enjoyed, that was our best meal of the vacation! Our guide brought our small group there on our Naples excursion day (Sorrento, Positano and Pompeii) and we didn't know what to expect when he suggested he choose where we were to have lunch, but it was so wonderful! Since everything happened so quickly, the 2 Fuji's with 18-55 and 55-200 were what I took 97% of the time for flexibility.
 
Ray, Our trip was really great, but very quick. We even had a great lunch at La Tagliata outside Positano which I know you too enjoyed, that was our best meal of the vacation! Our guide brought our small group there on our Naples excursion day (Sorrento, Positano and Pompeii) and we didn't know what to expect when he suggested he choose where we were to have lunch, but it was so wonderful! Since everything happened so quickly, the 2 Fuji's with 18-55 and 55-200 were what I took 97% of the time for flexibility.

Very cool! That place is wonderful for lunch. Almost too overwhelming for dinner - think about what they served you for lunch (you didn't come away hungry, right?!?!?) and add a huge plate full of various meats to that. We agreed that if we went back, we'd go for lunch but not dinner. Kind of nice views though, eh? ;) We actually took the bus from Positano up to Nocelle (further up the road than La Tagliata) and were walking back down when we stumbled onto that place the first time. We were just looking around those top terraces, no idea they were open, and someone came out and greeted us. So we went in and stuffed ourselves. Then we walked the rest of the way back down to Positano to work a little bit of that mean off! Just walked down the road - the steps are crazy from up there, but the rode, while longer, is a much mellower walk and still only a few kilometers...

-Ray

Interesting on the cameras. That's a similar type of setup to the m43 stuff I traveled with three years ago, although I had the 9-18 and 14-150 primarily so the same range in that lens as you had in both (but not nearly the quality of lens) and then the much wider stuff covered with the 9-18. I shot with the 9-18 a LOT on that trip. But this time, I just shot primes / fixed lens - never used a zoom except a handful of shots I took with the 9-18 the one time I stuck it on for 5 minutes or so. But if I'd been on such a whirlwind tour as you were, I might have still used zooms just for the convenience for trying to shoot a lot in a little bit of time...

-Ray
 
First of all thanks for this amazing report. I would like to ask you something, i understand you're a street shooting lover, so this way, i would like to know, in your perspective, which camera, would you recommend us, (in the category of these 2, of course) for a good street use.
Thank you again for your help!
 
First of all thanks for this amazing report. I would like to ask you something, i understand you're a street shooting lover, so this way, i would like to know, in your perspective, which camera, would you recommend us, (in the category of these 2, of course) for a good street use.
Thank you again for your help!

Depends entirely on how you shoot and what focal length(s) you prefer. My personal preference would be the Fuji primarily because I use zone focus for street shooting and the Fuji gives you an electronic distance scale for every lens (and a physical one for a couple of lenses). For me, the 28mm equivalent (18mm) is a pretty good focal length for street and Sony doesn't have a prime in that length. But if you use auto-focus and you're just as happy shooting at a 24 or 35mm equivalent, would probably be as good a choice. Neither really has a particularly useful auto-ISO setup (if you like to rely auto-ISO to find the right balance between ISO and shutter speed) - the XE2 and XT1 both do, but not the XM1 or XA1.

Bottom line is either can work depending on your shooting preferences. The Fuji would be a strong preference for me but that's just based on some of my pretty specific preferences. Don Springer (Streetshooter on the forums) did a lot of great street work with the Nex 6 for quite a while, so the camera is fully capable...

-Ray
 
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