Micro 4/3 recommendation from 3 cameras

Rafiki

Rafiki

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So I've decided to go for a m4/3 camera for casual daily use. Decided on getting one with a fixed focal length lens (closest to 35mm) but I can't seem to make my mind up between the following three.

Panasonic Lumix GF2 & 14mm F2.5 Pancake Lens (28mm @ 35mm equivalent)
Olympus E-PL2 & 17mm F2.8 Pancake Lens (34mm @ 35mm equivalent)
Sony ALPHA NEX-3 +16mm f2.8 Pancake Lens (24mm @ 35mm equivalent)

I know all three are good cameras which will produce excellent images but I'm not sure which one to look into getting. Any recommendations?
 
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You'll feel the wrath of the m43 community for calling a NEX micro four thirds.
:)

The Panny and Oly are equally excellent, and both lenses good to, although the Panasonic 20mm is pretty much at the top of the tree when it comes to m43 primes, and brighter to.

Sony has a bigger sensor, not sure about their lenses.
 
Go to a shop and play with them. I found the lack of thumbwheel on the Nex to be a deal-breaker for me.
 
Thanks for that
Think I'll exclude the Sony NEX then and go have a play with the panny and oly :)
 
The NEX option offers a Zeiss 24/1.8 (AF), if you have sufficiently deep pockets.
 
Johnd2000 said:
The NEX option offers a Zeiss 24/1.8 (AF), if you have sufficiently deep pockets.
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And large ones to carry it in :naughty:

Panasonic 20mm f1.7 - I've never been able to tell the difference in my shots at 35mm and 40mm.
 
Don't rule out the Nex because I say so!
It's the better system IMHO from a purely technical viewpoint so if the interface works for you it's a fine choice. For me it doesn't though (shame).
The nex7 looks awesome (it has a VF and manual controls) but the mooted price is ridiculous. But if you have deep pockets you might want to wait for a review - Sony might just have nailed it (except on price).
 
Would the Sony+lens be bigger than MFT+lens?

A MFT plus a lens is a small package and that's where the attraction is for me personally and although the Sony has a small body I assume that the lenses are bigger than MFT lenses. Still smaller than a DSLR and lens though.
 
I've tried both Olympus and Panasonic m4/3 cameras, and prefer the Panas hands down. Everything seems much more logical, and better made - solid and robust. The Olys seem a bit tinny IMHO. Decide whether you want an EVF (yes you do) and then go try the G3. If you don't need the EVF then the GF2 is a bargain at £299 complete with the 14mm lens at present. Not sure I could live with just the 14mm lens though, I'd find it a bit wide. The 20mm is the perfect one-lens setup but it costs as much as the GF2+14mm combo.

You can't really go wrong with any of the Pana m4/3 stuff.
 
The Nex zoom lenses are larger than MFT due to the larger sensor. I think a Nex plus 18-55 lens is a tiny bit larger than, say, a GF2 + 14-42 (but much bigger than a Pen + 14-42 if the lens is collapsed). Any longer lenses and the difference gets bigger. But a Nex and a pancake is quite small - comparable to MFT, but with a larger sensor. Which all sounds very appealing until you try using one - I can't get on with so much touchscreen control. You can't beat a good dial IMHO.

Voila;
http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f41/...e-comparison-nex5-nx10-e-p2-e-pl1-gf1-g2-295/
 
There is also the NEX-7 of course that has wheels but it is twice the price of your other options...
 
Yes, the Nex7 deals with a number of the gripes with the Nex format (manual controls, VF) but not only does it not yet exist in shops, when it does arrive it's going to be extraordinarily expensive - £1,000 for body only!
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
And large ones to carry it in :naughty:

Panasonic 20mm f1.7 - I've never been able to tell the difference in my shots at 35mm and 40mm.
Click to expand...

Sooner or later there will be an MC Hammer revival and we'll all be wearing trousers you can carry a 1D in! :-)
 
well I'm trying to stay away from having a zoom lens
the panny G2 are not 'pocket-able' hence me excluding those and I don't really need the EVF.
Played with the GF2 at the local store today morning and was quite impressed with it. Liked the touchscreen for focus point selection, and the rear thumb dial.
I'm leaning more towards the GF2 with the 20mm f1.7 lens. Need to price it up now.
 
Glad you like the GF-2. It's a bit of a bargain at the mo at £169 body only. The smart money, however, is on buying it with both the 14mm prime and 14-42mm zoom at only £379 @ SRS. I would be confident that the two lenses would sell on here or eBay for more than the £210 price premium, reducing the overall cost of the body or giving extra cash towards the 20mm.
 
martsharm said:
Glad you like the GF-2. It's a bit of a bargain at the mo at £169 body only. The smart money, however, is on buying it with both the 14mm prime and 14-42mm zoom at only £379 @ SRS. I would be confident that the two lenses would sell on here or eBay for more than the £210 price premium, reducing the overall cost of the body or giving extra cash towards the 20mm.
Click to expand...

Good idea.. might have to go down that route.
 
Rafiki said:
So I've decided to go for a m4/3 camera for casual daily use. Decided on getting one with a fixed focal length lens (closest to 35mm) but I can't seem to make my mind up between the following three.

Panasonic Lumix GF2 & 14mm F2.5 Pancake Lens (28mm @ 35mm equivalent)
Olympus E-PL2 & 17mm F2.8 Pancake Lens (34mm @ 35mm equivalent)
Sony ALPHA NEX-3 +16mm f2.8 Pancake Lens (24mm @ 35mm equivalent)

I know all three are good cameras which will produce excellent images but I'm not sure which one to look into getting. Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

i was in the same boat but i decided to go for the NEX-5N - reason being that its sensor (which is rumored to be the same one used in the D7000) is superior in many ways to the M43 sensors. The only downside to the system so far is the lack of a hot shoe but i sorted that by getting an optical flash trigger which ignores pre-flash.

Other than that i'd go for a GF1 or GF2 personally :)
 
Kurt.Paris said:
i was in the same boat but i decided to go for the NEX-5N - reason being that its sensor (which is rumored to be the same one used in the D7000) is superior in many ways to the M43 sensors. The only downside to the system so far is the lack of a hot shoe but i sorted that by getting an optical flash trigger which ignores pre-flash.

Other than that i'd go for a GF1 or GF2 personally :)
Click to expand...

Actually, I'm pretty sure the NEX5n has a new sensor. No doubt it's based on the a55/a580/D7000 sensor, but I'm sure I've seen mention (from Sony) that's it's new.

The 5n seems to be creating quite a buzz. I've seen reviews claiming better than D7000 high ISO performance and that the in-camera lens correction makes a big difference to the current (fairly average) E-mount lenses. It's looking like the best "bang for buck" in the NEX range.
 
The Sony NEX-5N is based around the combination of a 16.1 megapixel Exmor APS HD CMOS image sensor, and the company's proprietary Bionz image processing engine. Although the resolution is very close to that of the recent NEX-C3, the sensor is actually newly developed. Total pixel count is some 16.7 megapixels, and the sensor's dimensions are 23.5 x 15.6mm, yielding a 1.5x focal length crop when compared to 35mm lenses. The NEX-5N's sensor has a standard RGB Bayer color filter.
Click to expand...
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/NEX5N/NEX5NA.HTM
 
Johnd2000 said:
Actually, I'm pretty sure the NEX5n has a new sensor. No doubt it's based on the a55/a580/D7000 sensor, but I'm sure I've seen mention (from Sony) that's it's new.

The 5n seems to be creating quite a buzz. I've seen reviews claiming better than D7000 high ISO performance and that the in-camera lens correction makes a big difference to the current (fairly average) E-mount lenses. It's looking like the best "bang for buck" in the NEX range.
Click to expand...

Hopefully in a day or two i'll find out :) depends on how helpful DHL are feeling.

If its new then in theory it should be better than the D7000 then :P
 
Think the panasonic GF2 with 20mm lens will be cheaper than getting a similar setup for the NEX. Not to mention the size of the kit.

The GF2 sensor size is 17.3 x 13.0 mm (in 4:3 aspect ratio) compared to the NEX5N which is 23.5 x 15.6mm
 
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I'm sure the NEXs are very good cameras, and technically the sensor should in theory be better simply because it's larger.

However, a couple of flaws in the Sony philosophy. The whole point of this category of camera is their compactness, which by definition Sony has compromised with its large sensor and mount. There's just no way the lenses can be as small as their m4/3 equivalent. And the system is woefully lacking in lenses, especially affordable primes. The choice of 16mm (24mm equiv) prime is an odd one, as it is very wide and therefore more of a niche lens than the Pana 20mm (40mm equiv). For that matter, there's loads of m4/3 bodies -something for everyone. And you've got Pana, Olympus, Cosina, and probably more manufacturers to come, churning out m4/3 lenses. So it's a much safer bet as a system at the time of writing. If NEX does badly, Sony can pull the plug and orphan it at any time, which is unlikely with the multiple supporters of m4/3.
 
I agree with some of your points, but it's worth bearing in mind;

Although Nex lenses are bigger than M4/3, the bodies are smaller. I compared Nex 5 to GF2 in a shop yesterday and with either a pancake or kit lens (14-42 MFT, 18-55 Nex) there is basically no difference in size.
Nex loses out with longer lenses, but by then the overall size of camera+lens is getting into DSLR territory anyway.

Also, I doubt Sony will kill Nex in the short term as they appear to be selling very well. Expanding into the enthusiast market with the Nex 7 suggests they are bullish about its prospects.
 
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