Mirrorless or D-SLR

[deejjjaaaa]

Thing is I'm not in the US right now, I'm working abroad, in Eastern Europe. People are pretty flawed here when it comes to technology.

[ewanqbl]

Well, finally, the cold succumbed, or at least it's not -13F outside anymore. According to the map above, I am in the p**** area of Europe. I must agree. People are only bold when it comes to wrong doing, not other stuff.

Ok, the Olympus just got an even better price, 350$, and I am going to buy it.

I don't want to order outside of this country because of their Customs. I mean, these guys will charge for anything. Even friends that ordered from Amazon paid more on the apparel they got then it was worth.

Interestingly I found an online shop dedicated to digital cameras and they actually make sure to update their stocks and info on their products based on how the producers update theirs and everyone that is into digital photography seems to agree they are the best on the market. Their Olympus package comes with a Class 10 MicroSD card and adapter, carrying pouch, a secondary lens(55-105mm if I recall) and a discount to another lens. Seems like a pretty decent offer so I am going to get it.

I am curious about future lenses, will they e backwards compatible?

[jalcocer]

I am curious about future lenses, will they e backwards compatible?

Well, if you already set up your mind and the price is even better, then go for it and good luck. About the lenses, as far as I know all the line of olympus m 4/3 lenses work with every body olympus has made, and with m 4/3 you can even use panasonic lenses on it.

Please let us know if the camera serves you well.

[feppe]

Well, if you already set up your mind and the price is even better, then go for it and good luck. About the lenses, as far as I know all the line of olympus m 4/3 lenses work with every body olympus has made, and with m 4/3 you can even use panasonic lenses on it.

That's correct. All MFT lenses work with all MFT cameras, no matter who manufactured them (Olympus, Panasonic, Voigtlander, etc.). There are also adapters for non-MFT lenses.

[Petur]

All MFT lenses work with all MFT cameras, Olympus, Panasonic, Voigtlander and Sigma.

There are also adapters for non-MFT lenses. And it is funny to play with old manual lenses.

MFT is a very nice to use, I have a Panasonic GX1 with fixed focal lenses. I like the way it is very easy to carry out anywhere in a very small bag. The quality is great, fast to focus and great fun to use.

It is very diffrent from an APSC or FF DSLR but frankly speaking you have to go to a shop to find them and see what they are capable of.

Pierre

[Rand47]

The more replies I get, the more undecided I am.

Wow... this is so baffling to me.

Don't get me wrong, you are all giving me great information, and the wealth of knowledge you guys have is just mind blowing.

Ok, the type of photography I will be taking... Indoor, family stuff, outdoor ones, seldom probably, and when I'm going out with my friends playing some pool. So, all in all, it will be landscape photography, incandescent, low to medium distances, and probably low light when we are out. So an overall package.

I haven't really thought about shooting films or making clips with the camera. Why? Because I believe mixing specialization will never cut it. This means if I want to make some clips I'd go for a dedicated camera.

Currently, on the market, I can find the Olympus PL-1, J1 and V1 Nikon cameras, but no Sony, unless special orders are placed. There is also a Canon DSLR, the EOS 1000 or something like this.

I asked around regarding other mirrorless cameras, but somehow people only feel about Nikon and Olympus, maybe a Canon, but nothing else. Amazing. Also, people tend to bash Sony around, much like AMD fans bash Intel, if you know what I mean. And I am clueless as to why.

While not a system camera, have you considered the Sony RX-100 ?  From how you describe your uses for a camera this seems like an ideal choice for you and a real step up from your current situation.

Review here:  http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/sony_rx100.shtml

[walter.sk]

One issue that does not seem to have been mentioned here is the mirrorless cameras when used for panning with moving subjects, and tracking moving subjects in continuous motion.  Reasonably good DSLR's can lock focus on a moving subject and keep it in focus as it moves.  The optical viewfinder also continues to show the actual scene as the subject moves or the camera pans, while you shoot a series of shots in a burst, with continuous focus.

If you intend to do any shooting of this type, the mirrorless cameras will not shift focus and exposure as you continue to shoot, and the electronic viewfinder will not show you where the subject is but only where it was on the last shot as you shoot your burst.  Not a problem if you don't shoot sports or birds, etc.

[Kevin Omura]

Your timing is good! 

We are in the midst of Black Friday sales and price drops heading into Christmas here in North America. Not sure of your location but these days with mail order it almost doesn't matter.

Nikon has just killed the price on the J1 so you can get body and kit lens for $349 though looks like it went up to $399 granted this is neither a DSLR or M 4/3 camera. I think for the $ right now you can get a lot of DSLR bang for your buck. Canon's T4i is going to be dropping in price shortly to around $859 with the new 18-135 STM lens. The trend seems to be big price drops about a month before Christmas/Boxing day then a gradual increase in price just before Christmas and then the prices drop for Boxing Week. The trend I've been noticing is that Boxing Week prices may not be lower than what you can find right now on some items.

Although I own a Panasonic M 4/3 camera which I use for Canon FD and Leica M lenses with adaptors I'm really hard pressed to recommend this format because I don't feel the range of lenses available presently competes with those for the much longer established DSLR cameras. As others have mentioned all Micro 4/3 lenses will work on different manufacturers bodies, but beware of 4/3 lenses which preceeded M 4/3 and these need adaptors as they are not a direct fit. This link explains it better than I can.
http://www.four-thirds.org/en/microft/whitepaper.html

If you want to take a gamble on something really different you might want to have a look at the Panasonic FZ200 which is a small sensored Super Zoom camera but it has a Leica 25-600 f2.8 lens and that is f2.8 at 25mm and also at 600mm! Shoots very good quality HD video as well and has become my full time walk about camera.

But I guess it really boils down to budget and needs. The problem with interchangeable lens cameras is you wind up dreaming about everything in the manufactures catalog and that can wind up becoming expensive. But the flip side is, if you buy good quality lenses to start with chances are they will outlive several camera body upgrades so their investment is more long term than that of the camera body which I tend to consider as nearly disposable these days given price and the speed with which their feature sets get upgraded.

[Peter_DL]

Looking at the DxO sensor rating, there seems to be a lack of non-DSLR cameras in the upper range with an overall score of 80 or above, which is already met by entry-level DSLRs such as Nikon's D3200/D5100.

The only exception is the Sony NEX-7 which is APS-C as well (score 81), while the Fuji X-Pro1, X-E1 and the Leica X2 have not been rated so far, whereas the results with some m4/3 cameras can be seen as disappointing.  Olympus E-PL5 may reach a 72, however, Panasonic has fallen behind, for example with a GX1 or G5 just reaching a score of 55 and 61, which is below or equal to top compact cameras such as the Sony RX-100 (1" sensor, score 66) or the Canon G1X (1.5" sensor, score 60).

There seems to be room for a Panasonic GX2 or a Canon G2X with a better sensor,
or a Sony RX-10 with a somewhat larger sensor, or a Leica X2 zoom.

As for this year, some of my Christmas bonus will more likely be invested in DSLR lenses,
rather than buying into Mirrorless gear.

Peter

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