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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Olympus EM-1 MKII or Panasonic GH5 for weddings???? | |
Ok so good morning!
Now, still early, still tired so any and all typing or grammar errors will be blamed on lack of coffee or lack of sleep or both.
Short answer yes they work and they work great, you might have to change how you shoot if you are used to something special, but then again that goes for anything no matter what system you change from or to. They are not less capable, just different.
I bought the Original E-M5 in 2012 and shortly after I sold my Nikon D700 and 24-70 F2.8 lens, a great combo but I was in a period where I wanted to learn street shooting and the D700 felt too big for me. Granted, I haven't gotten in to much street shooting with Olympus either but the smaller system has been great in many other ways.
So, like you I use(d) Nikon, high end bodies and one high end lens plus an older 50mm F1.4 AF lens.
Now, first of all, I received a GH5 yesterday, I am allowed to test it in a limited way (more or less a few shots, play around with the menus but not much more) which means I can give a quick opinion on it but not much more.
The E-M5 has served me well for quite a few years, including weddings where I used two E-M5's paired with the Panasonic Leica 25mm F1.4 and Olympus 45mm F1.8 for the first years. Low light focusing was not an issue for me apart from a few occasions.
The E-M1 which I added a little bit later is another beast, it focuses faster (though the E-M5 was plenty fast for the most part) and shoots faster. The viewfinder is superb and the screen is good, though not up to D500 standards as far as the screen goes. I much prefer an electronic viewfinder now, I tested a D500 a couple of weeks back and felt right away "how much better this camera would be with a good EVF".
Even though I have used Olympus for a long time there are things I miss which is why I ordered the GH5 last week. Things that might make a difference to you as a Nikon shooter and this is mainly the layout of the camera.
You said before you hate the menus and controls of the Olympus. In many ways I agree with you. I haven't had any real problems with either but when trying this Panasonic it feels more like "home" and much closer to Nikon. Panasonic has got external dials and knobs for the most important things. Wanna change AF mode? Flip the switch. Wanna change to burst mode? Turn the knob. The Gh5 also has the new sort of joystick for AF selection, same as the D500. I have never been comfortable with changing AF points with the 4 way switch while looking through the viewfinder, my thumb has had a hard time bending in that way.
So I have never liked pressing a button and turning a dial in order to change a setting, this is the Olympus way for the most part. Once you learn it, it's fast but I still feel more at home with knobs and dials.
The menus is another issue that I haven't had any issues with but yes, they could be better and some things simply should be easier to access. Again, the GH5 is much more modern here.
So back to weddings, like I said I've shot quite a few weddings with the E-M1 (not Mark II). The Mark II should be better at everything but according to what I have understood there isn't much difference as far as single autofocus speed goes. May I ask what lenses you used with the E-M1 when you tried it? As you find the AF slow I mean.
Most of my weddings are in poorly lit churches, the last wedding was seriously bad as far as light goes. There were fairly small windows in a small church and heavy rain outside so not an ideal set up for a small sensor. As long as the bride and groom don't move too much, which they usually don't the E-M1, and even more so the E-M1.2 catches up to the larger sensors thanks to superb in body stabilisation. Yes a Nikon D5 will have two stops or more better ISO but the IBIS more then makes up for this as long as there is no movement. If there is movement though there simply is no substitute for speed.
The GH5 has added IBIS as well, very quick tests for me tell me it is on par with the original E-M1 but not as good as the E-M1.2 (nothing is, specially not when paired with the 12-100mm F4 lens).
As far as speed form the E-M1 goes in a church there is no problem, it's a really fast camera and this includes sports shooting for me (kite surfing as of late). The original E-M1 is not a good camera when it comes to tracking, the E-M1.2 is much better but still not up to D500 standards (you can read more in the E-M1.2 picture thread).
EVF works great in all light conditions IMO, I know some people say they have a problem in bright light but not so with the E-M1 (I suspect the GH5 is at least as good most likely better). I have shot in conditions from almost complete darkness to super bright summer mid day light and super bright winter and snow mid day light and the EVF is ALWAYS easy to see through.
The original E-M1 EVF is not good for tracking FAST subjects that change directions though but the E-M1.2 with 18fps and C-AF should be no problem. However, I am still to shoot a wedding where I would need that
A few questions for you.
You didn't like the original E-M1 due to focus issues (lens problem?) and due to menus and control layout. The E-M1.2 has got the same control layout and more or less the same menu system (though updated). The body is a bit chunkier, nicer to hold and still built like a tank but more or less, it will feel very similar though better to hold. The battery is the best in the business as far as mirrorless goes.
You also said you liked the GH3 and GH4 as far as controls and menus go but you didn't use them much and sold them. Why didn't you use them? No fun? Problems? Not good enough quality?
The GH5 is much like the GH4 as far as build goes but larger and heavier as well as better built. I tried a GH4 about two years ago (was thinking of adding it to my Olympus) but quickly put it down since the EVF was horrible. It was soft in the corners, small, dark and hard to use. The GH5 fixes all that, the EVF is freaking amazing.
The GH5 feels a bit like the D500 but in a smaller package. It is quite a bit larger then the E-M1 and even the E-M1.2 but my first impressions are that it's not too big. Will have to handle it some more today and see how it feels.
I tried a few shots indoors last night when I got home with it and compared to the E-M1 the focus was blazing fast with no hunting. I only tried it in bad condition, TV and incandescent lightning, ISO 2000 with Panasonic 25mm F1.4 lens at F1.4 gave me 1/50th to 1/60th shutter speed so it was pretty dang dark. The shots from both cameras (tried them next to each other, switching lens) came out sharp but what surprised me was when I changed to the E-M1 the focus was much slower and it hunted twice before locking focus, it took maybe half a second but that felt like half a second more then the GH5. It was just lightning fast.
Image quality from m43 is truly great, no it's not ISO gazillion perfect (helped thanks to IBIS) neither is it 40+ mp but I wouldn't want 40+ mp for a wedding anyway.
Also, if you are a prime shooter, Olympus just announced two new F1.2 lenses to go with the prior 25mm F1.2. The 45mm F1.2 and 17mm F1.2 will be released in November and early next year. These two lenses, with no focus calibration (like you mentioned you wanted to get away from) are weather sealed, well build and fast focusing. Add to that fact something that I do like about m43, which is more depth of field when shooting an indoors wedding in bad light is that while you might haves to down a FF lens from F1.4 (or 1.2 if you use such a lens) to F2.8 or so in order to stand a chance of getting not only the brides lashes in focus you can stay at F1.2 with the m43 lenses, this too helps getting back some ISO drawbacks in a poorly lit church.
I'll give you some more impressions later today as well as post a few shots from the latest wedding if you wish.
/Rasmus
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