Anyone Using Micro 4/3?

I was going to order a Canon 5D MkII to replace my 20D for my trip to Italy next month. I was dreading lugging another SLR with my big lenses around so I started to do some research. I learned about the new Micro Four Thirds cameras.
I ordered the Olympus EP2 today. I also ordered a Lumix 20mm f1.7 pancake lens. The camera and lens together are very compact, and the 20mm on this body is equivalent to 40mm lens on a 35mm body. The EP2 shoots in RAW format and JPEG and HD video. The quality of the pictures is amazing.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0911/09110501olympusep2.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/panasonic_20_1p7_o20/
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Ep-1 since august last... you will love it... also have a bag full of 4/3rds stuff and use my HG & shg lenses on my pen.

my

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16844962@N03/

has both in it.

Interested to hear what you think when you get on with it a bit

an interesting blog by a pro that ditched ff for it

http://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/

 

Nice photos. Where is this building located?
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milwaukee MOMA & thanks... that was with my first Oly though, an E300

 

UPS delivered the camera this afternoon and I did a couple of late day shots.
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congrats and with that there is a new firmware that will make everything even more better... I literally just updated mine with no problems.

http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/support/imsg/digicamera/download/software/firm/e1/index.cfm

load the provided software package and follow the instructions.

a couple of things,

be SURE to make sure the battery is fully or bear fully charged during the update as if power goes on it or a wire gets unattached you will brick the camera requiring you to send it in.

a pro that's a big fan of the Pen series

http://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/

he's a frequent contributor to the e system community over at flickr.

dpreview also has a active microfourthirds forum where questions can be answered.

best of all ENJOY the new kit...

 

Any reason in particular you chose the Oly over the Panasonic? I've been looking at the GF-1/EP2, myself.

 

in body IS is a huge advantage. any lens attached new or old is going to enjoy IS and all that MF fast glass that's out there at all price points is a huge advantage of m4/3rds.

bit better IQ & ISO performance

with the new FW the AF is even better than it was. the AF issues around the forums get blown way out of proportion.

the EVF on the E-P2 & E-PL1 is also much better than the one with the GF1.

the pen cameras will also use any 4/3rds lens with adapter with no issue offering full functionality(AF, metering, etc.), the panasonic won't. you can still mount the lenses with an adapter but they will not fully function.

any microfourthirds lens will mount and fully function on any microfourthirds body, panny or Oly.

seems panny is making the better m4/3rds lenses right now and oly is making the better bodies. Oly's new lenses that are coming seem to be good ones though.

The panny advantage is the bit better implementation of video but they both do HD video
token flash.(solved on the E-PL1 which has flash now)
higher res screen rear LCD. the lower res screen of the Oly's perform better in bright light.

If video's not hugely critical the Oly is the better choice IMHO...

 

Thanks, Alfas, for the terrific response. Your reply pretty well matches what I'd heard,but I'm always interested in others' experiences.

I'll admit to a soft spot for Panas - my LX3 has been nothing short of amazing as an adventure/travel camera. It's survived hikes, rock climbs, kayak trips, tree climbs, and even (while in a dry bag) a swim. It's a great pocket camera - but, naturally, a bit limited.

 

I think alfas is spot-on with his post. The Panasonic Lumix 20mm 1.7 lens is really great. I put the Oly 14-42 3.5 on today (the lens that came with the camera). No comparison in quality. The little pancake Lumix 1.7 is really that much better.
The AF works fine, even before I updated the firmware. There are lots of AF options too, or you can combine AF and manual focus if you want. I never got as clear a focus with my Canon 20D or even my daughters 5D and great glass as I can with this little camera.
I really like the EVF on the Olympus too, it works well.
The in-body IS really works, I did some good hand-held shots as slow as 1/15.



By the way, there is a dedicated Panasonic HD video camera coming this year using the Micro 4/3 lens format. It will have native 1080/24p.

 

DPR has been playing with the Pen again...

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympusep2/

E-P2 quick review.

&

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1004/10042202olypenfirmware.asp

with new firmware AF gripe is a non-issue now basically.

keep your panny for pocket size and add a pen with panny lenses to the kit...

the good news is you really can't go wrong with either.

 

It's interesting they note poor dynamic range at iso 100. I will check that out tomorrow.

I did these at iso 100. The first one at 1/13 sec hand-held just to see what slow shutter speed looked like.
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shoot at 200 which seems to be base ISO for this camera like some nikons BTW and don't worry about it...

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympusep1/page20.asp

another good resource BTW

http://www.biofos.com/mft/ep-1_pre.html

 

BTW - I knew I forgot something, the other thing the GF1 does not have is an orientation sensor.

i.e. you have to rotate all of your images manually when you import them...

 

e-p1 + 50mm f1.8 zuiko MF + adapter

legacy glass makes these cameras really come to life even more than they already do...
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