which mirrorless camera

[shoturtle]

The short answer is yes, the olympus is the better options. As their is allot of lenses available. Main reason for a lens system camera.

The more complex answer, is that m4/3 is more developed. Oly has been working the contrast AF system out for a while. And it has gotten pretty dame fast. And the J1 is new, and not all the quirks have been worked out. Also since it is 2.5x crop vs 2x in low light the m4/3 has and advantage. Also olympus jpeg engine is one of the strong points of the olympus line. It really produce excellent colors.

[ramcewan]

Originally Posted by kl34quest

thanks for ur reply . u have ansered alot of my questions .
but u didnt really comment on nikon .. the J1

what wud u say abt it ?

i too am leaning to wards thhe olympus mirrorless range ... but i got to handle the J1 ... ( have yet to see the PENS ) and i really thought it was awesome , im really irked that i havent yet been able to see a PEN so i can decenrlt compare ... on paper though ... will the olympus be better than the nikon ....

ireally liked the nikon ! i only hpe the olumpus will be better !

Unless you have a whole bunch of Nikon lenses already then I don't think the Nikon is a good option. The Nikon is a 10.1 MP camera whereas the PENs are 12.3 MP. Not only is it less MP but it is in fact a smaller sensor (13.2 x 8.8mm) compared to the micro four thirds sensor (18 mm × 13.5 mm). That alone is enough to rule out the Nikon in my book. The lack of lens choices, especially in telephoto length is another clincher. Yes you can use F mount SLR/DSLR Nikon lenses with the adapter ($225), but you don't have any of these already and good Nikon lenses are not cheap.

If you really like the form factor of the Nikon you should look at the e-pm1. I personally prefer the more easily gripped form factor of the e-pl2, e-pl3, e-p2, e-p3.

[kl34quest]

thanks so much for the direct answer
another thing ... im so new with this whole mirrorless range

i understand the lens on the olympus .. epl3 and ep3 will be about 3 x zoom

do u know abt the J1 and the NEX 5 ? what their zoom size is ?

having used the 6 x zoom .... it will be tuf to shift back to 3x ... also to buy a spare lens is alot of mney .... thinking about having to carry and care for a spare expensive lens , and when needed , quickly change between lens ... i dont know ... i havent grown in photography that much .....

[shoturtle]

The nex kit and the olympus kit lens are both about 3x zoom.

What you can get down the road with the olympus is you want a great walk around lens, is the olympus 14-150. It is 10x zoom. And it is excellent for megazoom lens. It is not as expensive as the 18-200 of the nex which is quite large.

[ramcewan]

Originally Posted by kl34quest

thanks so much for the direct answer
another thing ... im so new with this whole mirrorless range

i understand the lens on the olympus .. epl3 and ep3 will be about 3 x zoom

do u know abt the J1 and the NEX 5 ? what their zoom size is ?

having used the 6 x zoom .... it will be tuf to shift back to 3x ... also to buy a spare lens is alot of mney .... thinking about having to carry and care for a spare expensive lens , and when needed , quickly change between lens ... i dont know ... i havent grown in photography that much .....

you are talking about crop factor which is not the same as zoom factor. People (mostly advertisers and camera makers) like to say that the crop factor is 2x on a micro four thirds camera and therefore your 50mm lens will act like a 100mm lens. This is true in only one respect; field of view, or the slice of the world captured by the lenses. Imagine you have a full size 9x11" picture, now crop it in half to 4.5"x5.5", this is what a crop sensor does.

Zoom (at least to me) is the difference between using a 150mm lens and a 300mm lens, it brings me in closer to the subject and the subject appears larger in the image.

For $499 you can pick up an e-pl2 with the kit lens and a 45-150mm zoom

http://www.cameta.com/Olympus-PEN-E-...lack-65829.cfm

or a e-pm1 with the kit lens and a 45-150mm zoom for $599
http://www.cameta.com/Olympus-PEN-Mi...lack-61949.cfm

both will give you an excellent starting point. Later you can add a few fast primes in focal lengths you use most

[kl34quest]

thnaks short turtle ....

between the EP3 an d EPL3 if u ignore the price which wud be the better buy ??
on features and performance alone ?

[kl34quest]

ramcewan

zoom as in bringing me closer to the subject .... i rarely crop ... but find often using the 6 x zoom in geeting closer to subjects ...

i have seen the nex and the j1 ..... whud u too recommend to get the olympud range ?... im trying to decide between epl3 and ep3 ...

[shoturtle]

ep3 or epl3 body with the 14-150 would be the most simple setup without having to change lenses, and you get 10x in zoom range. That lenses rarely gets change out during the daytime on my epl1.

[ramcewan]

Originally Posted by kl34quest

ramcewan

zoom as in bringing me closer to the subject .... i rarely crop ... but find often using the 6 x zoom in geeting closer to subjects ...

i have seen the nex and the j1 ..... whud u too recommend to get the olympud range ?... im trying to decide between epl3 and ep3 ...

I personally would not recommend the j1. The Nex is a good camera but you said in your first post you didn't want to consider it.

I think you'll be very happy either of the Olympus cameras;


e-p3
Pros:
- ergonimcs: hand grip and button position on the back are perfect
- built in flash: these cameras do well without the flash in most situations making it very rarely used - maybe if you shoot alot of indoor family events this will be a big deal
- 614k OLED touch screen - touch to focus release shutter and or navigate


Cons:
- non tilting screen: not an issue if you plan on getting the VF-2 electronic viewfinder
- around $200 more


e-pl3
Pros:
- tilting LCD
- a bit smaller
- around $200 less

Cons:
- no touch screen interface
- clip on flash: for the few times you will use it I think a clip on is acceptable


Based on value and the way you are likely to use it I think I'd get the e-pl3, also if you don't plan on getting an add on electronic viewfinder having the tilt screen will be handy.


I think you will want a zoom lens, as shoturtle suggests the 14-150mm will keep you from having to change lenses and let you get very wide to pretty close. Panasonic also makes the 14-140mm which is also a very good option. Both of these lenses are around $600 so this is not a cheap way to go.

You would save money getting two lenses to cover this range, for instance the 14-42mm kit lens and the Panasonic 45-200mm or one of the package deals that includes the 14-42mm and 45-150mm Olympus lenses.


For example;

http://www.adorama.com/IOMEPL3B14L1....m_source=gbase

However you can get the e-pl3 for $599 with the kit lens and buy the 45-200mm Panasonic separately for the same money. Although the Panasonic is bigger than the Olympus 45-150mm it is in my opinion the better lens because it is longer and includes OIS in case you switch to a Panasonic body at a later point. Here's the 45-200mm for $199 after rebate;

http://www.samys.com/p/Zoom/HFS04520...Lens/5432.html

[tizeye]

Originally Posted by ramcewan

you are talking about crop factor which is not the same as zoom factor. People (mostly advertisers and camera makers) like to say that the crop factor is 2x on a micro four thirds camera and therefore your 50mm lens will act like a 100mm lens. This is true in only one respect; field of view, or the slice of the world captured by the lenses. Imagine you have a full size 9x11" picture, now crop it in half to 4.5"x5.5", this is what a crop sensor does.

ramcewan. Nice discussion of crop factor, but the OP is coming from a P&S background where they market by _X zoom. Crop factor of the sensor isn't even in the vocabulary, thus "crop" is interpreted as cropping the photo.

For the OP, they are measures of the same thing, just stated different. When you move from the fixed lens on a P&S to interchangable lens on a the terminology becomes "cropped sensor" because the zoom range varies according to which lens you put on.

The calculation starts the same way as they convert the physical lens by the crop factor where the field of view is equivalent to the 35mm film. That is the common denominator to compare lenses. At times you will see it referred to as "35mm equivlent."

As an example, as I type this, can't see what P&S coming from so will use wife's Canon SX120. Physical size of the lens is 6 - 60mm with a crop factor of 4.67 gives a 35mm equiv of 28 - 280mm, which when you divide 60/6 or 280/28= 10x zoom factor

Now moving to interchangeable lens, the Olympus and Panny m4/3 sensor has a 2x crop factor. therefore:
14-42mm lens, x2 = 28-84mm equivalent (3x zoom)
40-140mm lens, x2 = 80-280mm equivalent (3.5 zoom)
Now you can see why zoom factor is immaterial,as together they have the same range as the Canon P&S above.

Likewise, there is the all-in-one lens
14-150mm lens, x2 = 28-300mm equivalent (10.7 zoom)
It offers the convenience of one lens, but there are compromises that are made with all extended zooms that the two ens combo covering the same range are much sharper. There have been a lot of threads on this.

One of the sticky threads in the "General Discussion" discusses this in detail and illustrates the physical description of size.