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Archive 2012 · X-E1 or E-M5?

  
 
mpix345
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · X-E1 or E-M5?


Not trying to start a brand war, but wondering why you would choose the Fuji or Olympus kit listed below. Shooting priorites would be all-purpose use with the zoom (high quality snapshots, basically) and family portraiture with the primes.

X-E1 + 18-55/2.8-4 + 60/2.4

or

E-M5 + Panasonic 12-35/2.8 + Olympus 45/1.8


I don't care so much about other lens offerings, and let's consider price to be a push. Just based on the body and two lens kits, which do you prefer and why?

Thanks!




Dec 04, 2012 at 02:09 PM
Jman13
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · X-E1 or E-M5?


That's a tough one. They all have very similar capabilities optically, save for the Fuji zoom is a bit longer, and the Panny zoom a bit wider. Even depth of field and background blur will be very similar between the two. (Identical in the case of the 60/2.4 and 45/1.8...both equivalent to a 90mm f/3.6 on full frame in the DOF deparment)

The Fuji will be a bit better at high ISO, the E-M5 will have faster autofocus. Dynamic range should be about the same. If you use Lightroom or such, I understand the Fuji RAWs are difficult to decode cleanly.

I'm not sure how much the performance has improved with the X-E1, but I found the X-Pro 1 to be near unusable with its autofocus performance, primarily due to the fact that it actually freezes the image during AF acquisition. Not sure if the X-E1 does the same thing, but I found it very jarring on the X-Pro1. The high ISO capability of the Fuji is quite awesome, though, and the files out of there look quite good.

I'm a little biased towards the E-M5 since I own one and shoot solely m4/3 right now, but if you're only going to ever shoot two lenses, they're pretty comparable kits. If you were going to expand, the E-M5 has, of course, a much wider lens selection, but that seems you don't really mind that now.



Dec 04, 2012 at 02:14 PM
Vern Dewit
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · X-E1 or E-M5?


Having owned and used both systems I would suggest the E-M5. The X-E1 is a nice looking and nice handling system but AF is very lacking. I bought one to use for family shots etc. but kept my NEX-7 and sold the X-E1 after a few weeks. I really wanted to love it but... The JPEG output of the X-E1 was sublime but way more lens options and much faster AF and better RAW for the Oly.


Dec 04, 2012 at 02:57 PM
bigkidneys
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · X-E1 or E-M5?


Having had both, I prefer the XE1 just because the UI is better for me as a novice so to speak. I had the Fuji 60 before when I had my Xpro1 and although it is a great lens, didn't use it that much. I found myself using the 35 more for portraits. I now have all three lenses with the XE1 as I just sold my OM-D and think the 18-55 will be too close to the 60 for portraits so I may actually sell the 60. Sure the 60 is faster and will blur out the background easier but with the zoom at 55mm F4 you can get reasonable results somewhat close to the 60 in similar situations. I have found the XE1 does seem to focus a bit faster than the Xpro1 did but I may not have had the most recent FW update on the Xpro1 when I last used it before I sold it. The OM-D though is a great camera and the files I got from it were just as good (I shot jpeg alot for both). Just higher ISO was not as good with the OM-D but not too far behind the Fuji. You can get the Panny 25 and Oly 45 and a nice flash for the price of the 12-35 zoom. I didn't think I would use the 45 as much as I did but for the price, it is a steal and everyone who owns a M4/3 body should buy it IMO. Good luck with whatever you decide. Regardless of your decision, if you keep it long enough to learn the nuances of it, either one should be great for what youy want to do.


Dec 04, 2012 at 03:11 PM
Jochenb
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · X-E1 or E-M5?


I had to make the same choice. The E-M5 or the X-E1.

I tried the E-M5 numerous times and I'm impressed by it. The build quality is great, the EVF has a high refresh rate, tiltable touchscreen with great touch shutter function, weather sealed, superfast AF, stabilization in the body, sony sensor,...
The list goes on and on, BUT I bought the Fuji in the end.
I looked at so many photos from both, downloaded RAW files,... and I prefer the overall look of the Fuji files. The MFT lenses hardly excite me.
I like the fuji colors/tonality better and yes: also when using the much discussed RAW files. It's more important to me than the finest detail.
What I don't like about it is the AF, but I can live with it. The E-M5 AF slaughters it.

So my conclusion:
The E-M5 is the more impressive camera overall IMHO.
It does so many things right. I still really like it, but I just feel more for the results and the lenses from Fuji.

Just my 2 cents.



Dec 04, 2012 at 04:02 PM
jstephens62
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · X-E1 or E-M5?


I have shot with both, and wound up buying the E-M5 as i liked the way it felt in my hand. The Fuji had a blocky feel that I didn't care for. That, and the lens availability, lead me to the Olympus.


Dec 04, 2012 at 04:13 PM
millsart
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · X-E1 or E-M5?


Both are nice but they are a bit different. EM-5 felt a bit more like using a modern (though slightly retro styled) gadget with lots of bells and whistles, some of which such as touch AF and long exposure real time previews were very cool. The XE-1, in my limited experience, felt more akin to a "real" camera.

EM-5 has some size advantage, but with some lens like the excellent 25mm f1.4, it still pretty large. The XE-1 lenses I have my eye on like the 14mm and 23mm both look a bit big too though.

I think it just really comes down to how you like to shoot, and what you shoot.

EM-5 does more for sure, but the XE-1 felt like a very nice pure shooters camera and the lens selection is getting quite nice.

I'd be quite happy with a 21/35mm equiv 2 lens kit on the XE-1, though those lenses aren't going to be cheap, probably $900 each




Dec 04, 2012 at 04:16 PM
Jman13
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · X-E1 or E-M5?


^^ I'm curious what lenses you used on the E-M5, as generally this is regarded as the strongest point for m4/3. I know the Fuji lenses are pretty good, but the m4/3 lenses are excellent in many circumstances, especially the Panny f/2.8 zooms, the PL 25/1.4 and the recent Oly primes.


Dec 04, 2012 at 04:24 PM
munckee
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · X-E1 or E-M5?


I just went through the same decision-making process (with a minor exception, in that I considered and ended up with an X100). I had a lot of trouble with the feel of the Olympus. It was just never quite comfortable in my hands unless it had the grip on it, which sorta defeats the size advantage. It also felt a lot like "technology" to me.

My decision eventually came down to the two Fuji models (X-E1 vs. X100). I also prefer the images from the Fuji cameras after having looked at a TON of them – but that was a bit of a toss up. Any of them are capable of taking a gorgeous photo.



Dec 04, 2012 at 05:13 PM
millsart
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · X-E1 or E-M5?


Jman13 wrote:
^^ I'm curious what lenses you used on the E-M5, as generally this is regarded as the strongest point for m4/3. I know the Fuji lenses are pretty good, but the m4/3 lenses are excellent in many circumstances, especially the Panny f/2.8 zooms, the PL 25/1.4 and the recent Oly primes.


I've owned pretty much darn near every lens made for m4/3 over the years, save for the very newest ones like the 75mm 1.8, Panny's new f2.8 zooms and such. My favorites were the Oly 12 and 45, and the Panny 25mm f1.4. I do rather like the 7-14 as well, but much like my Nikon 14-24, it saw limited use, was a pain with filters etc.


Anyways though, while some m4/3 glass is uber compact, like the 45mm f1.8, only real point I was trying to make, and perhaps not very clearly, was simply that some m4/3 glass can be relatively large as well.

EM-5 sans grip, with Panny 14 or 20 is quite an easy jacket pocket camera, throw the 25mm f1.4 (which I think is the better lens) on though, and you've lost that compact nature, again, relatively speaking.

Its the same with the Fuji though. The 35mm f1.4 is an amazing lens for the money, but its kind of big, again relative to the camera size. I much prefered the handling of the 18mm f2.0 for example on that camera, just as I like the handling of the smaller glass on m4/3. I just usually seem to like the performance of the larger glass




Dec 04, 2012 at 06:25 PM
mpix345
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · X-E1 or E-M5?


Thanks to everyone for the replies. I guess I am not too surprised by the general idea that the E-M5 wins out on AF speed but the X-E1 is ahead on ultimate IQ. Both cameras are surely overkill for my skill level, so to some extent I can't really go wrong.


Dec 05, 2012 at 10:35 AM
cputeq
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · X-E1 or E-M5?


With the EM5 I would budget for some type of grip or at least the possibility of needing one. Unsure how the Fuji handles.


Dec 05, 2012 at 11:29 AM
naturephoto1
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · X-E1 or E-M5?


cputeq wrote:
With the EM5 I would budget for some type of grip or at least the possibility of needing one. Unsure how the Fuji handles.


If you use or will use the Arca Swiss type QR system, Really Right Stuff is taking preorders for the L Bracket for the Fuji XE-1. I called them this morning and they agreed that there probably be a grip that will be coming to attach to it:

http://reallyrightstuff.com/Items.aspx?code=BodyFujiXE1&key=cat

I suspect that I will be getting an X-E1 but have to confirm the handling with my Leica R lenses and a Novoflex Leica R to Fuji X adapter. Hopefully I will check this next week. With time I expect that I will get the RRS bracket and grip.

Rich



Dec 05, 2012 at 11:34 AM
Yakim Peled
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · X-E1 or E-M5?


mpix345 wrote:
Thanks to everyone for the replies. I guess I am not too surprised by the general idea that the E-M5 wins out on AF speed but the X-E1 is ahead on ultimate IQ. Both cameras are surely overkill for my skill level, so to some extent I can't really go wrong.


So a good idea now would be to actually handle them both and see if you like one more.

Happy shooting,
Yakim.



Dec 06, 2012 at 07:48 AM





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