Mirrorless/CSC/MFT - General Discussion Thread

snerkler

Just looked at your EXIF, the first shot was taken at f9.0, so quite impressive. I'm assuming you were very close to the subject?

I guess a CSC wouldn't be my primary camera, and these DOF's look reasonable, and more than good enough for a travel camera

I see that Fuji are releasing a constant f2.8 short zoom soon, any idea on prices?

Lancia34

I highly recommend going to a camera shop and trying out your favourites. Actually hold them, have a play with the menus, see how easy it is to take pictures etc... This was invaluable to me.

I had my heart set on the EPL-5 after reading loads on the 'tinerweb and then went to have a play with one along with some other makes (such as the NEX). I immediately found it really uncomfortable to hold - holding it kind of like a compact but then having to adjust the zoom with the other hand gave me quite bad wrist pain. I then tried the G5 and although it was bigger than I wanted (I liked the idea of a small compact size camera) it felt so comfortable, like a tiny DSLR and the viewfinder made taking photos a lot easier.
3 weeks on safari recently taking pictures day and night and I'm glad I went with my choice.

But definitely make sure you see them and try them in person as it's not all down to picture quality and features

Lancia34

Think that was one of my first pictures I took and with the kit lens. Was zoomed in @ 34mm so close not too close
The 3rd one was with the pancake lens (with is awesome and my general lens of choice)

twist

Yup. Definitely check them out in the shop, this is even more important with these smaller cameras, some do cause cramp, the EPL5 did for me. Loved the Fujis though (X100s, XE1, XP1), NEX6 was also nice, but these are larger bodys.

Qactuar

Cheers. I'm in Liverpool tomorrow visiting friends, so I might stick my head in the door of a photography store of some sort and see how they fare. The dual-lens kit under £400 seems reasonable for the EPL-5 from what I can tell - would be even better if the pancake offer was still on, as it would be a "full" set for under £400...maybe the offer will come back

shotokan101

No offence guys but whilst those shots show some selective DOF - even my puny sensor TZ10 can get some DOF effect shooting macro - my point was really that if creative DOF/BOKEH is a major factor for you in your photography then you won't get anything like the flexibility that even an APS-C camera will provide "focal length for focal length" so perhaps I could have explained it a bit better.

AMc

The Olympus bonus offers are at this page but have mostly just expired http://olympusuk.sales-promotions.com

I got my camera in April 2013 - just after one set of offers ended, IIRC the next lot started in the Autumn.  I guess they are there as an incentive to shift the 2013 stock ahead of the new lines being added for the summer.

I would second all the comments about having the cameras in your hand if you have the option, take some pictures of people not just the shop.  If you can take along an SD card and look at the pictures later you may get more out of your trial run.

You might find the E-PL5 fiddly or confusing - there are certainly some things that didn't flow when I first got it that I've learned since.

FWIW I tend to have it on the neck strap looking down, screen angled 90 degrees up and shoot from there - box brownie style as well as holding up at eye level.  That gives full length portraits a nicer perspective and the camera is well supported.
I also tend to zoom with the left hand but often pick focus/exposure with the touch screen.  I rarely, if ever manually focus using the lens.

Regarding the "full auto" experience - I usually just stick it in P program mode and hand it over.  Face detection is on by default so it makes a good stab at shots when I ask someone else to take our picture. I should probably fiddle with iAuto a bit and find out what it does but I'm usually in S or A.

@shotokan101 - no offence was taken, I was more responding to Snerks post than yours.  You'll never beat a bigger sensor for bokeh.

snerkler

This is why I was trying to discern the subject to camera distance Thanks for the info

snerkler

Interesting about the cramp, sure there's a joke there somewhere

In all seriousness though it's a good point about the fiddliness, since going to DSLR I now find my compact very fiddly and that's without proper manual controls. I can imagine trying to navigate my shovels around a tiny camera would be quite awkward. That being said some cameras are bigger than I thought when I saw them in the flesh, especially the A7, much bigger than I expected. Some of the Fujis are a good size too.

snerkler

I'm not overly familiar with CSC's or the lenses, are pancakes just primes or can you get zoom pancakes? Is there more to pancakes other than the size?