MFT: dying or not?

[Robert Roaldi]

I'm being semi-facetious here, MFT suits my purposes and I don't care much what online soothsayers proclaim. But for a dying system, there sure are a lot of lenses being released for MFT. Seems like there's another one announced every week or two. Somebody must be buying all these lenses. Are there places in the world where MFT is very popular and we just don't hear about it?

[BobShaw]

I'm excited. What's MFT?

[Guillermo Luijk]

I'm excited. What's MFT?

Most Frequently Travelled. Refers to preferred destinations chosen by tourists.

[degrub]

micro 4/3s
Asia and old guys tired of carrying large format wood boxes with glass plates 

[armand]

I've been thinking of writing a small review on the matter but not enough time/ determination yet.

I will add few words of wisdom on the matter as after having the E-M1iii for more than a year I decided to get the newest OM-1. My last two trips have been basically with the a MFT based system, first with both and the last just with the OM-1 (I did have a Sony RX10iv as a backup but mostly for the occasional distant wildlife).
The main reason here is because, after seeing what an iPhone can do, I decided to buy more into the computational photography and the OM-1 is probably the most advanced from this point of view from all the interchangeable lens cameras.
Granted, I can get "better" image quality from my Nikon Z7 and even from my Fuji X-T2 but there are things that the MFT does very well when it comes to travel.

The 12-100 F4 is the gold standard for a travel zoom and I'm supplementing with a 8-25 F4. If it was more day trips it would make sense to have a 7-14 or similar, but when traveling I have some redundancy as either can be good enough on it's own. With no computational tricks the image quality is good enough for most cases and I can make it punch above it's weight with few things:
- hand held high resolution: still not completely sold on the extra detail on average scenes, at least with Adobe software, but it does improve the noise for higher iso quite nicely
- handheld live ND: I tend to use this quite a lot, can make a midday scene with moving water more appealing

The stabilization system is the quite good, particularly for someone who doesn't seem to be so good at steady shots compared to the average person. What this gives me is a base iso camera, I rarely change the iso from the base, and with the bigger DOF from the smaller sensor I can have competitive landscape handheld results with most cameras. This also affords me to avoid a big tripod, if any and makes me more mobile.

I got 3 buttons mapped to:
1. focus shift
2. handheld high resolution
3. HDR, which I have it set as 3 shots at 2 EV intervals; LR does a very good job of combining them and I get a realistic shot with ~ 4+ stops of DR from the base iso, which is enough in most cases.

All these because the system is light and rugged and that is helpful when hiking/backpacking. My only comparable package is the Z7 with the 24-200 but the sharpness/contrast is not as good even if I like the drawing of the lens, and most importantly I need much higher shutter speeds to have it sharp.

[Borealis]

I'm using Panasonic MFT cameras and lenses since maybe 10 years. Recently bought a GX9 with a 12-32 pancake lens plus 45-150 compact telephoto for travel. With DXO PL as a raw converter image quality is fine more many uses. I also do a lot of video with my Panasonic gear and are more than happy with the results.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

I'm excited. What's MFT?

 

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Most Frequently Travelled. Refers to preferred destinations chosen by tourists.

 

[Simon J.A. Simpson]

Most Frequently Travelled. Refers to preferred destinations chosen by tourists.

You can still see the tripod holes.

[Robert Roaldi]

Some more info: https://www.43rumors.com/bcnreport-mft-lenses-keep-being-the-second-most-sold-mount-lenses-on-the-market/.

[David Eckels]

I'm excited. What's MFT?

Means Fine Tobacco

[degrub]

Tabasco.....Tabasco 

[StephaneB]

Well, I just bought an OM-1 + 12-40mm kit, as they are heavily discounted following the Mark II introduction.

To explain my context, my regular camera is a Nikon D850 with its bunch of great lenses. My problem for the last 18 months has been back problems that I cannot find a solution for. So I am looking at ways to lighten the load. I can lighten the lens load by being more selective on what I bring with me, but there are limits and there is the small matter of the tripod.

Regarding the topic of this discussion, which is whether Micro 4/3 has a future, I must say I am very impressed with the OM-1 output quality. It is much closer to the D850 than I expected. I am not saying they are the same. I am saying it would take a fairly narrow set of circumstances for the difference to matter.

Then there other aspects like ergonomics, what lenses are made for the cameras, etc...

But the weight is basically half.

And what can be achieved hand held with an OM-1 is staggering.

I think they are correct to identify outdoor as their niche. For me tripod-less landscape with light lenses is an exciting prospect.

[Rob C]

Means Fine Tobacco

Now that’s Luck Strike you’re invoking.

[armand]

3-4 months ago while kayaking on Lake Superior I managed to flip my kayak while trying to land (mostly user error). I had behind the seat a OM-1 with the 12-100 F4, obviously with no waterproof cover as I never thought that I would flip 
Long story short it was in the water for more than a minute until I gathered myself and realized it was on the bottom of the lake. I was able to find it easily but put it in another puddle on my kayak. The lens had water in it and there was definitely water in the card and in the battery compartments.
Took the battery and the cards out, and put in rice about a week later for almost month. The lens still had some moisture inside. Then they went into a plastic container with a desiccator with significant exposure to the sun.

Few days ago I finally tried to use them, and to my shock the camera works with no apparent ill effects. The lens seems to be dead although I'll try one more time to resuscitate it.
Bottom line is that the gear is more solid than it looks and it gives you very good results handheld. With a tripod is falling behind but when you are on the move and want something lighter it definitely punches above its sensor size.

[luxborealis]

Definitely not dying here! In fact, M43 has amazing potential. Having moved from FF to M43 (and having used everything from 35mm, 6x7, 4x5, 4/3, FF and 1” sensor), I am still pleasantly surprised by the image quality from my OM-1. Photogs are so missing the boat on a fundamentally brilliant combination of high IQ, excellent build, and high quality optics all in compact, portable system. If more photogs stopped pixel-peeping and actually looked at photographs, they would never know the difference.

But, I’m preaching to the choir, it seems, or you wouldn’t be here!

Nice to see OMDS has a future camera and mid-tele lens coming out this year: https://www.om-digitalsolutions.com/en/newyear2025/

[Robert Roaldi]

Definitely not dying here! In fact, M43 has amazing potential. Having moved from FF to M43 (and having used everything from 35mm, 6x7, 4x5, 4/3, FF and 1” sensor), I am still pleasantly surprised by the image quality from my OM-1. Photogs are so missing the boat on a fundamentally brilliant combination of high IQ, excellent build, and high quality optics all in compact, portable system. If more photogs stopped pixel-peeping and actually looked at photographs, they would never know the difference.

But, I’m preaching to the choir, it seems, or you wouldn’t be here!

Nice to see OMDS has a future camera and mid-tele lens coming out this year: https://www.om-digitalsolutions.com/en/newyear2025/

Given the sales success of the Pentax Monochrome, I'm surprised there isn't a mirrorless B&W camera out there yet. It would offer an advantage over the Pentax because the EVF/LCD would display the scene in B&W, no need to "pre-visualize". This might not appeal to traditionalists but so what. Olympus might be well-placed to make such a thing. I'm told that there are rumours about a Ricoh GR-Monochrome that never materialize.

[Laminarman]

: (  I thought it meant Modulation Transfer Function

[jeffreybehr]

And, of course, each time costs thou$and$!

In the last four months, I've changed from Fuji 40MP X-H2 to Fuji GFX100S (my own camera body, back in my hands the 3rd time but this time I 'had' to buy several lenses) to M43 (TWO systems led by the VERY good Panasonic G9M2 [the winner] or the OM Systems OM-1 Mk. II [the loser]) to the GFX100S and finally back to the Fuji X-H2.. Flighty?  Indecisive?  ME?  Naa...

I'm 81, can ambulate just finely but not for long distances, and 'carry' all my gear in a ThinkTank, carry-on-legal, Airport Roller (which works excellently for me).. My opposing desires are HIGH-rez (hence the GFX100S) and light carry weight (hence the M43 stuff).. In case you're wondering who the hell I am, I've been a Luminous Landscape member and supporter since 2000, and you can see some of my 'work' here... https://www.flickr.com/photos/183646426@N03/

Finally, this last weekend, I realized that the GFX system was just too heavy for me and I've 'reverted' to the Fuji H-S2 system with some refinements compared with that system last year.. Main lenses are the Tamron 11-20, a Fuji 16-80 for EDC, and a Canon EF 200mm/2-8 L II* and Ommlite electronic adapter for the 'long'.. The nifty 50 is a Fuji 33/1.4, and I also have a Viltrox 75/1.2 AF that I bought last year for some reason.  Also have a Fuji 70-300 4-5.6.

I hope I'm too old to go crazy like this again.

This spring, back to the Palouse!


* Had and loved one of these in my Canon EF years; they're way down in price so I thought I'd try one.

FWIW, I LOVE kers's answer to the question.

[Jeremy Roussak]

FWIW, I LOVE kers's answer to the question.

Which I have deleted, as it strayed too close to politics.

Jeremy