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Archive 2013 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?

  
 
jen.raborg
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


I'm looking to replace a broken Canon DSLR with something a bit smaller.

I'm not certain I see myself buying legacy glass for the NEX-6, but may get hooked on that if I go that route.

I've been using a friend's NEX-5r a bit and like it, but miss the VF - that's a must have for me. I do like the selection of lenses for the E-M5 a bit more. Will I get the same bokeh from the smaller sensor in the E-M5? I like the touch screen on the 5r I borrowed and see that the NEX-6 doesn't have that feature, but the E-M5 does. Seems like they both have their pluses and minuses.

None of my local camera shops have either of these in stock to play around with so I'll be ordering online. Any help/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Jen

Edited to add:
One last thing to make this decision more complicated, my friend is considering selling the 5r that I borrowed. He purchased through a deal that was a misprint and got the body w/18-55 lens and 55-210 lens for just under $700.00. I could get that set OR pay $899.00 for NEX-6 w/16-50 ($1147.00 w/55-210 lens combo) OR pay $1199.00 for the E-M5 refurb w/12-50 lens. Although I missed the VF, I'm wondering if the savings is worth it. Would I get use to the 5r without the VF? How hard is the LCD to see in bright sunlight?

Edited on Feb 07, 2013 at 10:04 AM · View previous versions



Feb 06, 2013 at 03:18 PM
carstenw
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


You will get a bit less blur from the MFT system, for equal specs, but the MFT system currently has more large-aperture native lenses, so it is a bit of a toss-up. I would say that if you rely primarily on native lenses, go MFT. If you primarily want to shoot adapted glass, get the NEX-6.


Feb 06, 2013 at 03:36 PM
Access
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


jen.raborg wrote:
the selection of lenses for the E-M5 a bit more. Will I get the same bokeh from the smaller sensor in the E-M5? I like the touch screen on the 5r I borrowed and see that the NEX-6 doesn't have that feature, but the E-M5 does. Seems like they both have their pluses and minuses.

Some but not a lot. Unless you want to spend a lot on lenses. If you want to use a reasonably inexpensive lens like the olympus 45mm f/1.8 (should be under $400) there isn't going to be as much, it ends up looking like this https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1109813/0#10593957



Feb 06, 2013 at 04:01 PM
riotshield
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


E-M5 for faster AF, smaller lenses, better IS (in-body and more stops), touchscreen

NEX-6 for better ergonomics (without shelling out $250-300 more for a grip), focus peaking, somewhat more intelligible menus/interface

Personally I plan to go E-M5 after it drops in price some. The body, good lenses, and accessories are all marked up at a premium right now.



Feb 06, 2013 at 04:08 PM
tedbare
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


I was in the same predicament a couple weeks ago, so I rented an NEX-6 and Sony lenses to compare (I already have good sized MFT system). The Sony lenses were surprisingly sharp. But, using an adapter for my old Contax G lenses, the NEX6's focus peaking won me over... fast and accurate... it's a wonderful thing!

Just received my new NEX-6 kit today... can wait to get home from work and go play!



Feb 06, 2013 at 07:38 PM
mawz
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


carstenw wrote:
You will get a bit less blur from the MFT system, for equal specs, but the MFT system currently has more large-aperture native lenses, so it is a bit of a toss-up. I would say that if you rely primarily on native lenses, go MFT. If you primarily want to shoot adapted glass, get the NEX-6.


+1, although it's a lot closer a choice than it used to be. You can have a stomping good NEX system with only native lenses (I'd go for the 10-18, 35/1.8 OSS and 50/1.8 OSS for that setup, and add the 85/1.8 OSS when it comes out this summer).



Feb 06, 2013 at 08:23 PM
mawz
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


Access wrote:
Some but not a lot. Unless you want to spend a lot on lenses. If you want to use a reasonably inexpensive lens like the olympus 45mm f/1.8 (should be under $400) there isn't going to be as much, it ends up looking like this https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1109813/0#10593957


Sony's 50/1.8 OSS is almost as good as the Oly optically, comparable in price and has absolutely gorgeous colour. It is a little wider though (75mm-e vs 90mm-e). Sony also has a cheap and good normal in the 35/1.8 OSS, which is completely lacking in the m43 system which has either expensive normals in the 25/1.4 and 25/0.95 or inexpensive and good wide normals in the 20/1.7 and 17/1.8.

m43 retains a better lens selection overall, but NEX is certainly competitive, especially on a medium budget where several of the real gems of the m43 system are priced out (the f2.8 zooms, the 25/1.4, the f0.95 CV's and the 12/2) while NEX only has one lens that would really be outside a medium budget in the ZA 24. Note by medium budget I mean under $600 or so for a prime or under $1k for a primary-use zoom, the sort of money I could see a moderate amateur paying for their lenses. The only real weak points of the NEX system are the 16 (which isn't all that weak, it's a much better lens than it gets credit for) and the lack of anything other than consumer-grade normal and telephoto zooms.



Feb 06, 2013 at 08:29 PM
bcaslis
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


mawz wrote:
+1, although it's a lot closer a choice than it used to be. You can have a stomping good NEX system with only native lenses (I'd go for the 10-18, 35/1.8 OSS and 50/1.8 OSS for that setup, and add the 85/1.8 OSS when it comes out this summer).


I agree with this. I love the 35 & 50 on the NEX-7. A new 20 f2.8 is coming in April which rumors say will be much better than 16. If the rumored 85 appears and the three new Zeiss primes in mid-year, then there will be a really impressive prime lineup for the NEX system.



Feb 06, 2013 at 08:53 PM
gotak
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


I vote OM-D as I used it.

The OM-D is fully weather sealed. Hard to find a body in it's price range that is.

The handling issue I think it's a bit of a red herring for me. I don't hold the weight of my body on the operating hand but rather I carry it in the hand that cradles the lens. So I haven't found any issue with the lack of a grip. It's really a matter of getting used to it anyhow.

I think the better lens selection for the M43 world is also a big plus. And the size of those lens matters too. The nex is small but only if you use a pan cake. The rest of the line up makes it not much better than a traditional DSLR...



Feb 06, 2013 at 09:56 PM
mawz
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


gotak wrote:
I vote OM-D as I used it.

The OM-D is fully weather sealed. Hard to find a body in it's price range that is.


Trivial actually, the Pentax K-30 and K-5 are similar or less in price and fully weather sealed and the A77 isn't much more money, the D7000 also is sealed, albeit to a lower level of sealing.

The unique aspect of the OM-D's sealing is in being one of very few weather-sealed mirrorless cameras (IIRC the GH3 is as well, but that's it).

The tough aspect is finding weather-sealed lenses. There just aren't many inexpensive sealed lenses, and even fewer in mirrorless mounts.



Feb 06, 2013 at 10:02 PM
Jman13
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


Quite true, but more coming. There are only 4 weather sealed m4/3 lenses, but they cover a good range: Oly 12-50 kit, Oly 60 Macro, Panny 12-35/2.8 and Panny 35-100/2.8. The Pannys are expensive, the Olympus not as much.

Thing is, most systems only have expensive weather sealed lenses, so it's not unusual.



Feb 06, 2013 at 10:10 PM
philip_pj
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


The noise performance of the OM-D looks pretty impressive here, compared to some others, 15% down the page - colour less so:

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2012/12/03/the-sony-rx1-camera-review-part-2-my-pick-for-camera-of-the-year-2012/



Feb 06, 2013 at 10:30 PM
frezeiss
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


hmm..the EM-5 is allrite, but I usually go for bigger sensors. Their prime lens combo look nice; 12 2.0, 25 1.4 and 45 1.8 but surprisingly quite expensive. On the other hand, I really dont get their expensive f/2.8 zooms as they are very expensive, relatively not small and dof equivalent of "only" f/5.6 on FF.

The Nex system does look a bit held behind by lenses although in reality that's not very true; 10-18, 24 1.8 & 35 1.8. If you go for the Nex, I prefer going the 5R route for touch screen, you could add the additional EVF if needed.

My imaginary perfect mirroless is the XE-2 or interchangable RX-1.



Feb 06, 2013 at 10:37 PM
frezeiss
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


philip_pj wrote:
The noise performance of the OM-D looks pretty impressive here, compared to some others, 15% down the page - colour less so:

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2012/12/03/the-sony-rx1-camera-review-part-2-my-pick-for-camera-of-the-year-2012/


I thought the OMD has worse detail and color, dont know what youre saying as impressive..



Feb 06, 2013 at 10:46 PM
sebboh
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


gotak wrote:
And the size of those lens matters too. The nex is small but only if you use a pan cake. The rest of the line up makes it not much better than a traditional DSLR...


i keep hearing this argument for µ4/3 over the NEX or samsung, but i just don't get it. on average there really isn't any size difference between comparable lenses for the aps-c mirrorless versus µ4/3. sure the original kit lens for the NEX is bigger than the olympus equivalent (but not the panasonic), but in general there really isn't a difference in lens size. where there is a difference is in body size – the NEX tend to be smaller than µ4/3 and it makes the lenses look bigger if you see them on the camera with nothing else to compare too.

here are some comparisons of like lenses in the normal to wide angle rangerange:
oly 17/2.8 vs sony 20/2.8
or if you prefer: pany 14/2.5 vs sony 20/2.8
pany 14-42mm vs sony 18-55mm
collapsible kit lenses
oly 12/2 vs sony 16/2.8
couldn't find a picture but the sony 35/1.8 is smaller than the panaleica 25/1.4 by a little bit.
on the other hand the zeiss 24/1.8 is twice the size of the olympus 17/1.8 (of course the zeiss is a stop faster from a dof perspective...).

when you get into telephotos µ4/3 actually does start to pull away:
oly 45/1.8 vs sony 50/1.8
panaleica 45/2.8 macro vs sony 50/1.8
pany 45-175mm vs sony 55-210mm
pany 14-140mm sony 18-200mm

hmm, maybe µ4/3 lenses aren't really functionally smaller...

the real problem with the NEX system is still that there aren't a lot of choices.



Feb 07, 2013 at 12:03 AM
Bifurcator
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


gotak wrote:
I vote OM-D as I used it.

The OM-D is fully weather sealed. Hard to find a body in it's price range that is.

mawz wrote:
Trivial actually, the Pentax K-30 and K-5 are similar or less in price and fully weather sealed and the A77 isn't much more money, the D7000 also is sealed, albeit to a lower level of sealing.

The unique aspect of the OM-D's sealing is in being one of very few weather-sealed mirrorless cameras (IIRC the GH3 is as well, but that's it).

The tough aspect is finding weather-sealed lenses. There just aren't many inexpensive sealed lenses, and even fewer in mirrorless mounts.


True but just having the body alone sealed is a huge improvement - at least in Panasonic's case. Their entire G line with the exception of the weather sealed GH-3, is so susceptible to damage from moisture it's not even funny. I've blown up two now. One from a single drop of sweat and one actually rusted itself to death (according to Panasonic) from being in the fog only once - and not even a very heavy fog. In both those cases I would have been saved by a weather sealed body - lens or no. Seriously, you can just about reach through the cracks and grab the bare circuit board they're so bad. So any weather sealing (especially around that flip-out LCD!!!!!!!) is entirely welcome.

Also to add that from my research the OM-D and the GH2 are so close to each other in the department of ISO noise that it's nearly impossible to tell them apart. Sorry, I haven'y looked seriously at Sony yet. Therefor I'm not sure if it's worth mentioning that the later Olympus models have the best in-camera jpegs by a considerable margin, from among all other M4/3 offerings.


BTW, it may be possible to get focus peeking on the OM-D: http://www.43rumors.com/olympus-e-m5-hack-clean-hdmi-422-and-focus-peaking-possible/ (I guess...)
There's a discussion thread on V's site... http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/2789/olympus-hacks/p2




Feb 07, 2013 at 01:20 AM
jonrock
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


The native lens choices are a bit more complete for OM-D though NEX is catching up pretty fast. With the release of those 3 Zeiss lenses and the other 4 lenses that's Sony is supposed release this year other than that 20mm f2.8 pancake lens, the lens line up for NEX would almost be decent. The NEX is probably the best system to use though if you wanted to use adapted lenses on it other than the fact that it would be nice if it had some type of IBIS. I don't think you can go wrong with either system. Both the OM-D and the NEX 6 are very good cameras. I would try out each system before making a choice. You might prefer the handling and ergonomics of one camera over the other.




Feb 07, 2013 at 02:39 AM
xbarcelo
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


And then you don't count the Contax G-NEX autofocus adapter, which will bring to the table four new Zeiss primes (maybe 5 if you dare to cut off a little of the rear "wings", so to speak, of the 21) and a zoom, if it works well (which hopefully will).


Feb 07, 2013 at 05:56 AM
carstenw
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


jonrock wrote:
The native lens choices are a bit more complete for OM-D though NEX is catching up pretty fast.


To be specific, the NEX roadmap is catching up fast. The actual lenses for sale have some ways to go.



Feb 07, 2013 at 06:16 AM
grahamb3
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · OM-D E-M5 or NEX-6 - Which would you pick?


Jman13 wrote:
Quite true, but more coming. There are only 4 weather sealed m4/3 lenses, but they cover a good range: Oly 12-50 kit, Oly 60 Macro, Panny 12-35/2.8 and Panny 35-100/2.8. The Pannys are expensive, the Olympus not as much.

Thing is, most systems only have expensive weather sealed lenses, so it's not unusual.


A few points to keep in mind.

Although several camera manufacturers advertise their body/lens as being "weather sealed", they don't warrant against water damage.

Seals dry (or fail in other ways), and must be replaced. My diver watch is sent in every 3 years for seal inspection/replacement.

There are numerous products on the market that enable any camera to be truly "water resistant". I'm partial to the Kata rain covers, but there's plenty of good options.

Graham



Feb 07, 2013 at 06:28 AM
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