I'm having a hard time deciding on a system to buy because overall it's going to end up costing some $$ and I want to stay with the same system for a few years. I am trying to decide between m43 because there's a large lens selection and new bodies like the mod em5. But there is also fuji which sounds very appealing and has a larger sensor and is going to come out with more nice glass. I would be using the camera and system for all my photography needs. I take a lot of low light, travel, some action, lots of portrait, and print a lot of large prints. What would you say are the current and near future pro's and con's of each system? The aps-c sensor is ideally what I would want so that makes me a little vary of getting into limitations with the m43. But I have looked at all the threads and posts of the Omd photos and they are excellent and it seems like the newer bodies with fast glass produce great results. The only con I can think of with fuji is that the camera bodies are unsuitable for any sports even minimal action shooting.

Curious - what are you shooting with now?

Used to shoot with Nikon and then moved to Nex. Now looking to have a small system consisting of about 3 quality prime lenses and a small-medium camera body for everyday photography. Was not a fan of the Sony tiny body and large lenses. I'm thinking the fuji pro 1 and xe1 would be more comfortable to hold and shoot with. Leaning towards fuji but haven't tried one out for any action.

Hard call. I have m43 right now, and there is a lot to choose from. Slew of excellent primes (12/2, 25/1.4, 45/1.8, 75/1.8 and in a few months 17/1.8). Lots of body choices. Excellent IBIS in the E-M5. Sensors now very good, not really taking a performance hit beyond what you'd expect from the slightly smaller sensor compared to APS-C.

That said, for what you are specifically saying you want Fuji is actually heading down that path from the start (m43 took its time getting to a collection of primes). They've got some good primes already and some more on the road map. They seem to be determined to roll out a whole system fairly quickly (as quick as you can expect lenses to be introduced). They apparently just improved a lot of the speed issues with their first bodies.

One thing I will say for m43 is the E-M5 is a very snappy camera to use. No, like all CDAF it doesn't do particularly well at continuous tracking AF. However, single AF is very fast, the 10 FPS shutter is excellent and not very loud and most importantly the buffer is rather deep and clears quite quickly with a fast UHS-1 card. So I'd definitely say you probably want to try out the Fuji and the E-M5 for handling if fast shooting is in your future (and be sure whatever Fuji you test has the new faster firmware).

Longer term, presumably the next Fuji bodies will see a further speed improvement as well so if you are a system for the long term and will be buying a second body the difference with m43 may only be temporary.

Ken

sony2000 wrote:
Used to shoot with Nikon and then moved to Nex. Now looking to have a small system consisting of about 3 quality prime lenses and a small-medium camera body for everyday photography. Was not a fan of the Sony tiny body and large lenses. I'm thinking the fuji pro 1 and xe1 would be more comfortable to hold and shoot with. Leaning towards fuji but haven't tried one out for any action.

Did you use the NEX-7, or the older NEX bodies? FWIW, the Sigma 19, Sigma 30, Sony 35/1.8 and Sony 50/1.8 are pretty comparable in size to the competition. The upcoming Zeiss lenses don't look all that bad, in terms of size, either.

I used the nexc3 and nex7 and do not want to go back to Sony. I'm thinking the fuji might be the best fit for me. I'll have to handle one in person though.

sony2000 wrote:
I used the nexc3 and nex7 and do not want to go back to Sony. I'm thinking the fuji might be the best fit for me. I'll have to handle one in person though.

Alrighty, just asking, because all 3 systems have their plus and minuses, so I'm trying to nail down what turned you away from Sony.

What are some limitations of m43 even though they are coming out with new lenses and more pro gear. Limitations other than the smaller sensor? So far I am leaning towards fuji. I looked at their roadmap and it looks great.

I'm a m4/3 user myself, but from the way you describe what you're taking photos of, I would say Fuji. Low light is a very strong reason for the Fuji (excellent high ISO/wide aperture lenses), and for travel, even the lenses that are currently available will take you very far. Action photography is the weakest point with all of these systems, but having an optical viewfinder, like with the X-Pro1, can certainly help.

Thank you Jorgen for your reply. I believe Fuji is going to be the right system for me. I will have to look and try the cameras but have my fingers crossed they will work out.

You already know the drill: Fuji for low light, m4/3 for weight, lens selection, etc. Don't overlook the stabilization of EM5 though. If your subject is relatively static, the several stop advantage of IBIS can effectively negate the high ISO advantage of Fuji. And if your subject is fast moving, perhaps you will need the faster AF speed in m43 too

I recently went on a several day long photo tour with someone who was shooting both Fuji and OM-D. In her experience, she preferred the images from the Fuji, but carried the OM-D for the lens selection. I got to play with them both, and for me, the Fuji did not feel good in my hands while the OM-D did. It would be worth while spending some time handling them both, as this is obviously very subjective.

SAMSUNG NX.

Because It's all about the glass...

85mm f1.4 Stellar lens. period. Matched up with the two new lenses just announced = awesome walk around kit...
(45mm f1.8 & a 12-24mm that is tiny + takes 58mm screw in filters)

NX bodies have great ergonomics; NX10 has that amazing Sammy 14 MP sensor that provides amazing skin tones and can be found for $200! Amazing.

Here is a single shot sample from the lowly NX10 (not HDR)

^Great shot! It would be interesting to some more from that (canoe/kayak?) trip.
Can you post some 'skin tone' photos too?

Fuji has improved its AF speed with the latest 2.0 firmware but from most opinions I've read it's still not at OM-D AF speed with the old lenses but manual focus is now usable. AF will probably be faster with the new linear motor that's in the new lenses like the 18-55mm f2.8-4.0 but it's still unsure how much faster it will be.

The killer feature on Olympus m4/3 bodies is IBIS. It's actually really useful to have image stabilized fast primes. Additionally, video is probably going to be better on the OM-D compared to the Fuji if you also want to some video. The OM-D also has a tilting touchscreen to allow you to do waist level as well as overhead type shooting.

the killer feature of fujiflim is amazing jpgs so no need to shoot raw. the jpgs can be happly pushed around in pp too. plus there 2013 lens line up which looks amazing.

http://photorumors.com/2012/09/19/those-are-the-new-fujinon-xf-lenses-for-2013/

^ - Amazing how small that 10-24 is.

sony2000 wrote:
I'm having a hard time deciding on a system to buy because overall it's going to end up costing some $$ and I want to stay with the same system for a few years. I am trying to decide between m43 because there's a large lens selection and new bodies like the mod em5. But there is also fuji which sounds very appealing and has a larger sensor and is going to come out with more nice glass. I would be using the camera and system for all my photography needs. I take
In the long term, micro four thirds has the most promise because of the multiple first-party designers that compete against each other. The smaller sensor can be somewhat limiting if you are used to using full frame or APS-C cameras. Not in terms of resolution or detail, but limited DOF portraiture for instance.

In general, if you are doing sports that rely on heavy autofocus, you're going to have trouble with any mirrorless. They've gotten a little better over the years, but for focus on moving objects, they're just not very good.

^ - Amazing how small that 10-24 is.

Really with 72mm filters? Good luck tucking that lens in a pocket...

IMHO the OM-D and maybe other m4/3 bodies "feel" more like a computer than the Fujis do. The Fujis feel a bit more like a camera. Maybe this isn't an issue coming from NEX (I've tried those, too, and I don't think m4/3's is as bad as NEX in this regard).

I truly do love the IBIS of my OM-D though. It is second to none, including my old EOS gear.