The µ43 thread - welcome to the really dark side

Minusorange · 17 Dec 2021 at 16:05

Finally ordered my first "Pro" lens, the 8mm for £534 off Amazon, it was £500 a couple of years ago and I missed out on it and have been waiting for it to go as cheap since then but I doubt it'll get any cheaper than it is now considering everything seems to be going up in price

Minstadave · 17 Dec 2021 at 16:16

I was tempted by that, good deal. Is it fisheye or rectilinear?

Minusorange · 17 Dec 2021 at 21:46

Fisheye but not extreme fisheye, got it because it's supposedly the best of the M4F's for astro photography and a decent street lens too

EGuitarStar · 9 Feb 2022 at 22:45

Are there any M43 users left? New cameras from Panasonic and what used to be Olympus to be released in a week or two.

I'm still on M43 and have no need to move to another system. Just need a nice wide angled lens to complete a decent setup I've put together over a 3 year period

Terminal_Boy · 10 Feb 2022 at 08:23

Yup.

Still running Panasonic G80 and a few lenses here. Have a GM5 tucked away for low-profile use.

They’re not being replaced until they become unrepairable unless Panasonic cram a monster sensor into a frame exactly G80 size. I’ve held a G9 and it’s just over the line over weight/bulk that I’m happy with.

SonicSW20 · 10 Feb 2022 at 09:55

Still enjoy my G9.

Minstadave · 10 Feb 2022 at 10:08

Have my G9 ans GX85 still (but dropped it and damaged it) plus far too many lenses. I bought an S5 and that is my go to most of the time now.

Matt_Hirst · 10 Feb 2022 at 11:39

Got my Olympus 300mm f4 today, looking forward to getting out and about with it, see how it compares to the psnasonic 100-400 that it's replacing.

Minstadave · 10 Feb 2022 at 11:50

Matt_Hirst said:
Got my Olympus 300mm f4 today, looking forward to getting out and about with it, see how it compares to the psnasonic 100-400 that it's replacing.

What made you change? I know the 300 is sharper but the lack of flexibility would be a PITA.

I have the 200mm F2.8 and with the 1.4x it's pretty similar to the 300mm. I use it so infrequently because it's not very flexible.

Matt_Hirst · 10 Feb 2022 at 13:16

Minstadave said:
What made you change? I know the 300 is sharper but the lack of flexibility would be a PITA.

I have the 200mm F2.8 and with the 1.4x it's pretty similar to the 300mm. I use it so infrequently because it's not very flexible.

There are a few reasons.

I always had a love hate relationship with the Panasonic Leica 100-400, though after applying all the firmware updates for the lense also I think it was firmware 3.1 on my camera the love was coming back into the relationship.

Places I go to I often struggled with getting a good balance of speed and light for the shots that I take this showed itself over winter, so I just thought It's time to change things slightly and try the 300 f4 - I couldn't justify the 150-400 well not without selling a lot of my other kit which being a hobby photographer I tend to decide on the day what I want to use, whether that be Macro or the long lenses.

Looking at the shots I have taken with the lense I found the shots were nearly always at 400 / 800mm.

Final reason is I want to try doing more static hide shooting over the next year or so, currently I do a lot of walking about with the 100-400 and the variability of it helped, though as stated above more often than not it was sat at 400mm.

Will see if it was a good investment or whether in a year or so time I've gone for the 150-400 f4.5?

Terminal_Boy · 10 Feb 2022 at 13:29

That is the tau of the 100-400mm PanaLeica : You take 90% of your shots with it at 350-400mm and you need good light at the 400mm (f6.3) end.

Minstadave · 10 Feb 2022 at 13:37

Interesting, thanks guys.

Siliconslave · 10 Feb 2022 at 15:16

I've had the 300 f4 on my Oly em5 mark iii for a few months now - replacing the olympus 100-300 and have loved it so far. Guess its what i'm shooting but not found the prime too limiting & the trade off for sharpness is more than worth it, the stabilisation is just incredible!

Do need something to fill the gap between the 300 and my 12-40 2.8 but can't justify the 40-150 quite yet

Looking forward to the upcoming Panasonic and OM announcements, really hope they get some updated sensors in them!

EGuitarStar · 10 Feb 2022 at 17:13

Glad to see there are a still M43 shooters out there.

I purchased the G9 last year but have only managed to take it to Edinburgh and Glasgow so far. It's a cracking camera for the money. Am starting to make a few videos on YouTube so it doubles up as a great video shooter.

Day to day camera is the GX9 with the PanaLeica 12-60.

Kobi · 16 Feb 2022 at 07:35

Am I mad? I genuinely can’t tell. I’m thinking of ditching my a7ii and coming back to m4/3. I’ve only got one lens with my Sony, so I’m not exactly deep in the ecosystem. Just have this urge for the smaller lenses for travel and walk abouts.

I’ve been eyeing up the em1iii, does anyone have experience with this? Quality of the photos good? I have the original em5, still and a couple of ok lenses. With my a7ii I have the 24-105mm lens, while this is decent, I often find I’m needing the extra reach, so I do need another lens. But with a holiday coming up shortly, I’d want the 24-200 range and this is just getting heavier and heavier to carry about.

so that’s where I’m at currently, em1iii and the Olympus 12-100 f4 pro. That’ll give the 24-200 range and I’ll also only need to carry one lens with me for my trips. Does this sound like a right move?

Spleen Sauce · 16 Feb 2022 at 08:37

Kobi said:
Am I mad? I genuinely can’t tell. I’m thinking of ditching my a7ii and coming back to m4/3. I’ve only got one lens with my Sony, so I’m not exactly deep in the ecosystem. Just have this urge for the smaller lenses for travel and walk abouts.

I’ve been eyeing up the em1iii, does anyone have experience with this? Quality of the photos good? I have the original em5, still and a couple of ok lenses. With my a7ii I have the 24-105mm lens, while this is decent, I often find I’m needing the extra reach, so I do need another lens. But with a holiday coming up shortly, I’d want the 24-200 range and this is just getting heavier and heavier to carry about.

so that’s where I’m at currently, em1iii and the Olympus 12-100 f4 pro. That’ll give the 24-200 range and I’ll also only need to carry one lens with me for my trips. Does this sound like a right move?

The E-M1 Mk3 is a superb camera still, and the 12-100 f4 pro is brilliant paired with it, especially in terms of what you can acheive with hand held stabilisation. I wouldn't call it a small setup though - I mean, it is small and relatively light for the range you're getting and its a great '1 camera, 1 lens' every day setup that can do most things well. I'd suggest trying to get hands on with one first though to see if it fits what you want and you'd be happy to carry it around.

Kobi · 16 Feb 2022 at 11:11

Spleen Sauce said:
The E-M1 Mk3 is a superb camera still, and the 12-100 f4 pro is brilliant paired with it, especially in terms of what you can acheive with hand held stabilisation. I wouldn't call it a small setup though - I mean, it is small and relatively light for the range you're getting and its a great '1 camera, 1 lens' every day setup that can do most things well. I'd suggest trying to get hands on with one first though to see if it fits what you want and you'd be happy to carry it around.

Well that’s it, the a7ii is still a great camera for stills and really I’d only need the tamron 70-180 2.8 lens. But then I’m still stuck with the old features, not great video and awful battery life(that one probably does my head in the most). I was always gonna upgrade to the a7iv, but i couldn’t justify spending that much and I was hoping the a7iii would have come down in price, but that’s the same. Even my a7ii hasn’t moved price wise since I bought it 3-4 years ago.

I’ll need to have a look at photos tonight and see, sadly I can’t get to a camera shop before my holiday to test out.

Spleen Sauce · 16 Feb 2022 at 11:30

Kobi said:
Well that’s it, the a7ii is still a great camera for stills and really I’d only need the tamron 70-180 2.8 lens. But then I’m still stuck with the old features, not great video and awful battery life(that one probably does my head in the most). I was always gonna upgrade to the a7iv, but i couldn’t justify spending that much and I was hoping the a7iii would have come down in price, but that’s the same. Even my a7ii hasn’t moved price wise since I bought it 3-4 years ago.

I’ll need to have a look at photos tonight and see, sadly I can’t get to a camera shop before my holiday to test out.

This might help:
https://pxlmag.com/db/camera-size-c...1c192-bc66df4d_1b2d76c8-3f00d8da_b1ad6372-t60

Obviously doesn't give any idea of weight, but the size comparison is decent.

Kobi · 16 Feb 2022 at 12:02

Spleen Sauce said:
This might help:
https://pxlmag.com/db/camera-size-c...1c192-bc66df4d_1b2d76c8-3f00d8da_b1ad6372-t60

Obviously doesn't give any idea of weight, but the size comparison is decent.

Oh that’s a handy site. I’m probably best just getting another lens and another 4 batteries to cover everything. Then just use my phone to record video. Can see about upgrading the camera another year. Thanks for your help

Columbo · 16 Feb 2022 at 15:37

I went from m4/3 to an A7ii then upgraded to the A7c and haven't regretted it for a second, I couldnt go back now....in terms of reach for the Sony I use some of the old A-Mount lenses via the LA-EA5 adaptor and they work lovely...got the 2014 70-400 SSM for a steal and it's tack sharp but it is a beast. Also have the old Tamron 70-300mm VC which cost me £80 I think and with the adaptor I cant tell the differene between them and native e-mount again very sharp.

I'm also getting a large collection of old Minolta glass now that again with the adaptor gives full metering and AF so I probably need to stop