[Leica] OT - need some direction about micro 4/3 cameras

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

Simon, you're observations largely parallel mine. I'm also not 
enamoured of the Olympus menus, but can live with them as long as the 
camera has that wheel at the top right. That's why I'm not 
considering the 3-p2L.

The 100-300 may look large on a m4/3 camera, but it's really not very 
large for a lens that has about the same reach as the 100-400 Canon 
on an APS-C Canon camera. It's somewhat ungainly on a GF1, but not 
bad at all on the GH2. My present 100-400 is very sharp in the center 
and left side of the image, and starts deteriorating to the right and 
up. The upper right corner is the worst. However, this is by far the 
best 100-400 I've tried, so I'm keeping it (and if critical, trying 
to keep unimportant stuff in the upper right corner, horizontal 
formatwise). The 100-400 is also a lot more ungainly on whatever you 
put it than the Panasonic 100-300.

Nice screens and sensors notwithstanding, I can't stand the present 
layout of the Sony UI. It also lacks an electronic viewfinder, which 
is the main reason I want to get an e-p2 and sell the e-p1.


>On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 1:08 PM, Henning Wulff <henningw at archiphoto.com> 
>wrote:
>>  I've a Olympus e-p1 and have the Lumix GF-1, G1 and GH2. It might be just
>>  familiarity, but I like the control layout of the Lumix series a lot 
>> better
>>  than the Olympus, but I might still upgrade the e-p1 to an e-p2 for the
>>  in-body IS, which makes all the other odd lenses I have stabilised, as 
>> well
>>  as the Panasonic 20/1.7.
>>
>>  The GH2 is a big step up in image quality. For long lens stuff I now 
>> tend to
>>  use the GH2 and 100-300 rather than a crop sensor Canon and 100-400, as 
>> the
>>  achieved quality is overall just as good if not better. The current 18mp
>>  Canon sensor is slightly better than that of the GH2, but the 100-300 is 
>> a
>>  lot better than the Canon 100-400, and I've tried 5 of the latter by now.
>>  The Oly e-p2 has similar noise levels as the GH2, but not quite when you
>>  push it and it doesn't have the resolution as the noise reduction removes
>>  some. The e-p2 has a very nice viewfinder, but as others have noted it's 
>> a
>>  bit awkward. The GH2 focusses faster as well. So... the GH2 is 
>> definitely my
>>  favourite m4/3 body.
>>
>>  The Panasonic lenses are all very good to outstanding, the GH2 sensor is
>>  very good and the whole thing weighs a fraction of what the Canon stuff
>>  weighs.
>
>Very interesting observations.  I used a Canon 100-400 for a long
>time, but was never very happy with the results from it.  I looked at
>the Panasonic 100-300 but it's so big it seems to unbalance their tiny
>cameras!
>
>For what it's worth I have a G1 and a GF1, and had an E-P2 which I've
>recently replaced with a Sony NEX-5.  My favourite in use is the G1,
>although I carry the GF1 or NEX-5 more often due to smaller size and
>weight.  The add-on viewfinder for the E-P2 is much better than the
>GF1's although the built-in one of the G1 is the best.  I couldn't get
>used to the strange menu layout on the Olympus, and that combined with
>the low-res main screen was the reason I moved it on.  The Sony has a
>fantastic screen, a larger and higher-res sensor, and can also take a
>Leica-M adapter, but the menus on that are very odd, and I prefer the
>results from the Panasonics so they are still my favourites.  I may
>investigate the GH2, although I'm also thinking of ditching them all
>and finally going for an M8 now the used prices have become a bit more
>reasonable!
>
>Simon.
>
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-- 

       Henning J. Wulff
  Wulff Photography & Design
mailto:henningw at archiphoto.com
   http://www.archiphoto.com