Daily Challenge The April 2020 Challenge - day 20

Could you say more about the ‘eye relief’? I’m still using a Canon 5DMarkIV, so I don’t really know what you’re talking about. Recently retired from shooting professionally, and will be buying into the mirrorless or 4/3 market, so I’m interested. If this thread should be elsewhere, please say. I’m new to this group and not familiar with the rules.
Meri, first and foremost, if what I'm going to explain feels in any way patronising, forgive me, I just don't know how much you know ...

"Eye relief" basically means the distance you can keep from the actual viewfinder and still see everything comfortably. Eyeglass wearers need more of that - simply because the glasses come between the eye and the viewfinder. I try to keep my glasses small and (relatively) thin, but still, some viewfinders give me trouble. The GX9 is the worst EVF (electronic viewfinder) that I've encountered in that respect - which doesn't mean the LCD panel is bad or the resolution not high enough (even though it's field sequential, thus succeptible to colour tearing). I just *can't* see everything comfortably even when pressing my glasses to the viewfinder. Strangely, the LX100, a premium compact, uses the same panel, but an ever so slightly different eyepiece - I never encountered any real problems. So Panasonic could actually have done the same thing on the GX85 and GX9 as well, but somehow, they didn't. Irritating.

Since you're coming from a 5D IV, you're used to a big, comfortable OVF (optical viewfinder) - which means that you'll probably feel more comfortable with EVFs with bigger panels and higher magnification. I love the somewhat small, but subjectively very satisfying panel in the Olympus E-M5 III, but you may find it too small. The Panasonic G95 is a similarily spec'd camera with a bigger body and EVF. Mind you, when I say bigger, it's still smaller than most APS-C DSLRs. It's also very attractive price-wise and has the "latest" 20MP sensor which I find to be very, very nice in the GX9, mostly on par with the much more sophisticated unit used in the E-M5 III, when it comes to image quality. For someone used to one of the best OVFs on the market, the G95 will definitely feel more acceptable than the GX9 (and probably even the E-M5 III).

If you're looking into :mu43: because of the size and really want to get the best size/performance ratio, I'd suggest a specific combo that I just recently put together and find fantastic in use as well as concerning the results: the Olympus E-M5 III with the new 12-45mm f/4 PRO. Small, light, solid enough, very reliable and optically impressive. And the E-M5 III's in-body stabilisation (I.B.I.S.) is second to none except its bigger siblings, the E-M1 III and E-M1X (the latter is a very specialised camera though - not one I'd recommend for people starting out with the format). I managed 1/3" with a 300mm equivalent lens - that's a solid 6.5 stops advantage, impossible with any DSLR I know of.

If size isn't an issue (again, every :mu43: camera will feel compact coming from the 5D IV,), you might want to also look at the Panasonic G9 and the Olympus E-M1 III - both are professional grade bodies, both with even more impressive performance and results. I personally am a fan of :mu43: because of its size advantages, so I've never been at home with even sligthly bigger bodies (the G9 is bigger and heavier than the Sony A7 III, and even the G95 is only marginally smaller). Mind you, the real advantage of :mu43: as a system is the lenses - small, light and (mostly) very, very good. And what's even better, some of the best lenses are quite inexpensive (the Sigma f/1.4 primes, for instance).

M.
 
Last edited:
Could you say more about the ‘eye relief’? I’m still using a Canon 5DMarkIV, so I don’t really know what you’re talking about. Recently retired from shooting professionally, and will be buying into the mirrorless or 4/3 market, so I’m interested. If this thread should be elsewhere, please say. I’m new to this group and not familiar with the rules.
Meri, The E-M5.3 and 12-45 is one of the combos we looked at when we were at Hunt's. The GX9, like the GX85 before it, has one of the worst EVFs. That said I shoot a lot more with the LCD than I ever thought I would before getting into m4/3, so I've been able to deal with bad EVFs reasonably well*. I tend to use the EVF for motion or really bright conditions.


* I'm near sighted, with a lazy eye, astigmatism, and I see almost entirely monocularly with my right eye (my left only really sees the periphery). And I'm left handed :sleep:.
 
Meri, first and foremost, if what I'm going to explain feels in any way patronising, forgive me, I just don't know how much you know ...

"Eye relief" basically means the distance you can keep from the actual viewfinder and still see everything comfortably. Eyeglass wearers need more of that - simply because the glasses come between the eye and the viewfinder. I try to keep my glasses small and (relatively) thin, but still, some viewfinders give me trouble. The GX9 is the worst EVF (electronic viewfinder) that I've encountered in that respect - which doesn't mean the LCD panel is bad or the resolution not high enough (even though it's field sequential, thus succeptible to colour tearing). I just *can't* see everything comfortably even when pressing my glasses to the viewfinder. Strangely, the LX100, a premium compact, uses the same panel, but an ever so slightly different eyepiece - I never encountered any real problems. So Panasonic could actually have done the same thing on the GX85 and GX9 as well, but somehow, they didn't. Irritating.

Since you're coming from a 5D IV, you're used to a big, comfortable OVF (optical viewfinder) - which means that you'll probably feel more comfortable with EVFs with bigger panels and higher magnification. I love the somewhat small, but subjectively very satisfying panel in the Olympus E-M5 III, but you may find it too small. The Panasonic G95 is a similarily spec'd camera with a bigger body and EVF. Mind you, when I say bigger, it's still smaller than most APS-C DSLRs. It's also very attractive price-wise and has the "latest" 20MP sensor which I find to be very, very nice in the GX9, mostly on par with the much more sophisticated unit used in the E-M5 III, when it comes to image quality. For someone used to one of the best OVFs on the market, the G95 will definitely feel more acceptable than the GX9 (and probably even the E-M5 III).

If you're looking into :mu43: because of the size and really want to get the best size/performance ratio, I'd suggest a specific combo that I just recently put together and find fantastic in use as well as concerning the results: the Olympus E-M5 III with the new 12-45mm f/4 PRO. Small, light, solid enough, very reliable and optically impressive. And the E-M5 III's in-body stabilisation (I.B.I.S.) is second to none except its bigger siblings, the E-M1 III and E-M1X (the latter is a very specialised camera though - not one I'd recommend for people starting out with the format). I managed 1/3" with a 300mm equivalent lens - that's a solid 6.5 stops advantage, impossible with any DSLR I know of.

If size isn't an issue (again, every :mu43: camera will feel compact coming from the 5D IV,), you might want to also look at the Panasonic G9 and the Olympus E-M1 III - both are professional grade bodies, both with even more impressive performance and results. I personally am a fan of :mu43: because of its size advantages, so I've never been at home with even sligthly bigger bodies (the G9 is bigger and heavier than the Sony A7 III, and even the G95 is only marginally smaller). Mind you, the real advantage of :mu43: as a system is the lenses - small, light and (mostly) very, very good. And what's even better, some of the best lenses are quite inexpensive (the Sigma f/1.4 primes, for instance).

M.

I'm shortsighted with 2.5 dioptries which means that I can't read most of the information on a normal CD without my spectacles on the nose. But when taking photos, I never use my specs. I turned the little dial wheel next to the viewfinder of my E-M5 and the Lumix LX 100.2 with a newspaper page before me till I got the best sharpness. And I'm glad I can take all my photos without my spectacles. For me this has been the best improvement of camera viewfinders. And as the viewfinder of the E-M5 is very bright (even in complete darkness) and I can see all my presets at the same time (in perfect sharpness) I can get the best results without having to put on my spectacles.
 
Back
Top