Sony or Olympus, or and
No points for guessing what I've done; you may have already noticed from images in the last few posts. Yes, I've bought a new camera! The title picture has nothing to do with the topic, but it was one of the very first images taken with the new camera.
I would like to thank the staff at Fotohaus in Basel for their help with the choice, I can heartily recommend this shop. I've been there more than a few times and always received great service from very knowledgeable staff. It's well worth a visit if you're looking for a new camera, lens, or equipment, or just simply advice.
After a lot of back and forth, and it really was a lot, four or five months of a lot, I now have an Olympus OM-D E-M1 mk2, with the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12‑40mm 1:2.8 PRO and 40‑150mm 1:2.8 PRO, lenses with a 1.4x teleconverter. I was offered a very good price for all together.
I spent my time,
looking at the pros and cons of my Sony setup compared to the Olympus
trying to decide if it would make sense to change systems
reading reviews, lots of reviews
trying to decide if those reviews may be biased
comparing images from both cameras
adding up resale values of equipment, etc, etc, etc.
and then doing it all again
and again
I was stuck in a loop for a while because the clear answer was in a direction that I wasn't looking, and even though obvious in hindsight, still unexpected. Even after coming to the conclusion, the price of the system still made me think again. The answer is that there isn't a single camera system on the market that fits my requirements.
My interests are developing in Landscape, including Nightscapes and Wildlife. While the Sony A7 is excellent for Landscape and Nightscape, I don't think that it holds up for wildlife. Although the auto-focus on the A7 is fast, it's not as fast on non-native lenses and there are no native lenses with the reach I want. I use the Sigma 150-600mm on the A7 with the Sigma MC-11 adaptor, and I do like it a lot, but the auto-focus is not great and non-existent when used with the 1.4x teleconverter. I tend to rely on manual focus with focus peaking.
On the EM-1 I can use a native Panasonic 100-400mm which is equivalent to 200-800mm in full format, as well as being slightly more than 1 kg lighter. Due to the sensor size, MFT lenses are lighter and smaller. So I can save not only on weight but also size across the board.
It's also weatherproof, which is a great advantage, especially after my experiences last winter! The image is from the advertising, but from the tests that I've seen, it's not far off!
As I plan to spend more time in the mountains, the weight and size savings are important as I need to fit food, water, a tent, etc into the bag too. I'm very attached to my Gitzo 2542LOS, so I can't save it there!
I think that Sony is still superior in low light as it has a larger sensor, so for landscapes and nightscapes, I still have a need for it. At least it still looks that way.
It's now time to sell some lenses that I no longer need, or to look at it another way, bring in some money to buy new MFT lenses! I already have the next in view, it will have to be a choice of either the Olympus 300m or the Panasonic 100-400mm.
This has started the next set of research. Prime or Zoom for wildlife photography?
