Good camera deals....micro 4/3 especially. | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Good camera deals....micro 4/3 especially.

I understand but how about low light/natural light capability of these things. Most of my shots are either nights or astro so a good sensor with great low light -> natural light capability is better. I like nikon because of the 'f-'mount' lens

How often do you shoot the astro images? You need to ask yourself .... no camera is perfect for everything.

BTW ..... what ISO and times do you typically shoot during astro photography?
 
Dood. I still shoot film semi-regularly. I have an F100, two N75s, a Mamiya 645, about a dozen folding cameras (6x4.5s, 6x6s, 6x9s) and an assortment of 60s & 70's rangefinders.

Modern DSLRs let you shoot both photo and video in settings that would be otherwise unworkable.

Good, so you can understand that modern DSLR's (all of them) are NOT "caca" .... they are all great by the past standards and more than sufficient for 95% of shooting public. That was my point.
 
Yah yah. I just don't like Olympus SLRs. Their waterproof P&S are neat.

Would rather use a compact DX Nikon than a 4:3.
 
Film, baby!
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Sorry, I really haven't seen any downsides whatsoever to the micro 4/3 format in real life. About the only thing was adapting to a digital viewfinder that has a massive amount of available information on it if you so wish and a bit of reduced battery life but nothing drastic and dealing with the ergos of a smaller camera. I've had no low-light issues, no speed, autofocus or other issues. Just enhanced portability over my DSLR. In fact I'm thinking of selling my Canon, with L glass and other lenses as it's just not used currently.
 
How often do you shoot the astro images? You need to ask yourself .... no camera is perfect for everything.

BTW ..... what ISO and times do you typically shoot during astro photography?

I typically shoot around 1.6 for astro. But for some low light action the extra capability works great. I do own a FF. I know the 4/3 is 2.0 mag which is crazy high.
 
So if we have concluded the olympus site has some good deals.
Here is what I'm looking for , reasonable mp rating, WATERPROOF to a reasonable depth, SD card capable.

I have a PS camera, a DSLR, I have no interest for film in this application. It will get very wet in salt water, not diving pressure depth but the waves are like being hit with a fire hose so more than splash resitant. Putting a DSLR into a housing is bulky , i'd like it to fit in a pocket.

Any suggestions?
 
so if we have concluded the olympus site has some good deals.
Here is what i'm looking for , reasonable mp rating, waterproof to a reasonable depth, sd card capable.

I have a ps camera, a dslr, i have no interest for film in this application. It will get very wet in salt water, not diving pressure depth but the waves are like being hit with a fire hose so more than splash resitant. Putting a dslr into a housing is bulky , i'd like it to fit in a pocket.

Any suggestions?

tg-850 ?
 
So if we have concluded the olympus site has some good deals.
Here is what I'm looking for , reasonable mp rating, WATERPROOF to a reasonable depth, SD card capable.

I have a PS camera, a DSLR, I have no interest for film in this application. It will get very wet in salt water, not diving pressure depth but the waves are like being hit with a fire hose so more than splash resitant. Putting a DSLR into a housing is bulky , i'd like it to fit in a pocket.

Any suggestions?
I've had good experience with the Nikon AW120. They're pretty well priced these days too. Just point and shoot. No extra cases or anything.

http://en.nikon.ca/Nikon-Products/Product-Archive/Compact-Digital-Cameras/COOLPIX-AW120.html
 
I typically shoot around 1.6 for astro. But for some low light action the extra capability works great. I do own a FF. I know the 4/3 is 2.0 mag which is crazy high.

1.6 what? You mean ISO1600 or exposure 1.6s?? Or F1.6?

What does " 4/3 is 2.0 mag which is crazy" mean?

I know 4/3 is not for everyone (nothing is), but I just find it hard to accept the widespread myth that it's somehow less than other systems for the most people. Not for everyone, but for the MOST people .... There's simply not a system which is of the same size and weight and picture quality on the market. Their mid grade lenses are hard to beat for price/features as well. If there's one, I'd like to know which one it is.
 
1.6 what? You mean ISO1600 or exposure 1.6s?? Or F1.6?

What does " 4/3 is 2.0 mag which is crazy" mean?

He's talking about the so-called "crop factor" of smaller sensors versus full-size 24x36mm sensors.

A 24mm lens on an Olympus has the same field of view as a 48mm lens on a full-frame DSLR.
 
1.6 what? You mean ISO1600 or exposure 1.6s?? Or F1.6?

What does " 4/3 is 2.0 mag which is crazy" mean?

I know 4/3 is not for everyone (nothing is), but I just find it hard to accept the widespread myth that it's somehow less than other systems for the most people. Not for everyone, but for the MOST people .... There's simply not a system which is of the same size and weight and picture quality on the market. Their mid grade lenses are hard to beat for price/features as well. If there's one, I'd like to know which one it is.

He is referring to the 2x crop factor over FF.

I've shot a lot of video with M4/3 cameras GH2,GH3,GH4 but have moved to a pro body camcorder (Sony FS7) and am thinking of posting my M4/3 glass and GH4 body on kijiji and buy an A7s to share glass with my FS7.

My fav portrait lens for the GH4 is Pana/Leica 42.5mm f1.2. Great portrait lens (85mm equiv) and the IS is so handy in a portrait lens especially for video. The best part of the M4/3 mount is how many different brands of glass can be adapter to it (AF is crap with adapters or non existent but I shoot mostly video). I have Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Olympus, OM, Pentax and some great funky russian M42 lenses all adapted. So many cheap vintage glass options full of character.

M4/3 shines over full frame for size. A GH/EM body with a 12-35 & 35-100 will fit in a very very small bag where a FF 5D/D810 with equivalent glass would take up an entire backpack. You can get close to portrait DOF on M4/3 but will never get the same look a FF sensor gives. For video in M4/3 a metabone speedbooster adapter is essential to get to my fav sensor size for video S35.

here is my production company site
www.framefarmmedia.com
 
Just enhanced portability over my DSLR. In fact I'm thinking of selling my Canon, with L glass and other lenses as it's just not used currently.

This .... most people overlook the portability factor. I always laugh seeing vacationers pulling their heavy gear for a family picture .... instead of small capable camera you can carry around the whole day, instead of leaving it in a car next day. Or let say mountain hike with ...

Now, if I were shooting soccer in a poorly lit indoor arena frequently enough, I would consider another system .... but, it's just cheaper and easier to pay a pro few bucks once a year to get that picture of my son in action.

One thing I will require from my next DSLR is a good video capability. I think the time, of me carrying DSLR and video camera is over. I like the OM-D E-M5 II ... but the first gen. had some not very friendly video format from editing standpoint, so have to see about that.
 
He is referring to the 2x crop factor over FF.

I've shot a lot of video with M4/3 cameras GH2,GH3,GH4 but have moved to a pro body camcorder (Sony FS7) and am thinking of posting my M4/3 glass and GH4 body on kijiji and buy an A7s to share glass with my FS7.

My fav portrait lens for the GH4 is Pana/Leica 42.5mm f1.2. Great portrait lens (85mm equiv) and the IS is so handy in a portrait lens especially for video. The best part of the M4/3 mount is how many different brands of glass can be adapter to it (AF is crap with adapters or non existent but I shoot mostly video). I have Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Olympus, OM, Pentax and some great funky russian M42 lenses all adapted. So many cheap vintage glass options full of character.

M4/3 shines over full frame for size. A GH/EM body with a 12-35 & 35-100 will fit in a very very small bag where a FF 5D/D810 with equivalent glass would take up an entire backpack. You can get close to portrait DOF on M4/3 but will never get the same look a FF sensor gives. For video in M4/3 a metabone speedbooster adapter is essential to get to my fav sensor size for video S35.

here is my production company site
www.framefarmmedia.com

I see .... regarding the 2x crop

You seem the right guy to be asking which 4/3 camera should I consider to fit both needs still and video. From lens stand point I don't need anything outside of 14-150mm in 4/3 terms. The mid grade Oly modern stuff works for me. I am a prosumer who knows quite a bit, but will never do paid gigs. I just want to toss the old miniDV tape 3CCD Panasonic. I want to be able to easily edit the videos in Final Cut.

Thanks

Thanks
 
I see .... regarding the 2x crop

You seem the right guy to be asking which 4/3 camera should I consider to fit both needs still and video. From lens stand point I don't need anything outside of 14-150mm in 4/3 terms. The mid grade Oly modern stuff works for me. I am a prosumer who knows quite a bit, but will never do paid gigs. I just want to toss the old miniDV tape 3CCD Panasonic. I want to be able to easily edit the videos in Final Cut.

Thanks

Thanks

I just keep my 3ccd Pana mini DV cam as a tape deck for digitizing now.

For video quality Panasonic GH4 is the best M4/3 hybrid camera out there. It offers better stills quality than the GH3 (I have both) and you get 4K internal video with lots of bit rate and codec options not to mention pro video features like zebras, focus peaking, Timecode etc. The downside to the Panasonic bodies is that they don't have built in IS like the Olympus does. The importance depends on how you use the camera and what lenses you have already. The Olympus glass doesn't come with IS in the lens so using it on a Panasonic body you will not have IS. I have little experience with the top line Olympus M4/3 cameras but get the impression from what I've read that they beat out Panasonic for pure stills ability but come up short in the video dept. I guess it comes down to a trade off in either area of the hybrid camera. I've been very happy with the GH4 (it gets noisy in video beyond 1600 ISO but I don't shoot in the dark often) but am thinking of moving to a Sony A7s to keep things more consistent as I use a DSLR as a 2nd angle sometimes to my FS7 pro camcorder.

The 3 best DSLRs for video currently are the GH4, A7s and NX1. 5D3 is good but soft vid compression and not as video oriented as A7s. Amazing IQ if you use the raw hack but too much storage space working with raw and dealing with a hack system.
 
So if we have concluded the olympus site has some good deals.
Here is what I'm looking for , reasonable mp rating, WATERPROOF to a reasonable depth, SD card capable.

I have a PS camera, a DSLR, I have no interest for film in this application. It will get very wet in salt water, not diving pressure depth but the waves are like being hit with a fire hose so more than splash resitant. Putting a DSLR into a housing is bulky , i'd like it to fit in a pocket.

Any suggestions?

I'd actually recommend one of the Panasonic Lumix waterproof point and shoots. I have one with a GPS tagger which is handy and it's been bulletproof with great image quality.
 
Sorry. I was referring to iso 1.6k. I know a low f stop zoom would fix everything but im actually stepping away from zoom and moving into prime. Im no pixel peeper. I just love the image of primes vs zoom. Post image work is also great when needed.
 
AW120 nikon looks like the ticket for me, I'll probably take a nikon DSLR as backup and land use, but I'll be two weeks on a boat (wet boat) and not worrying about 3tons of salt water hitting the camera sounds good. Waterproof to 60ft is about as far down as it would likely go with me and found one online for $189, US.
thanks guys.
 
Sorry. I was referring to iso 1.6k. I know a low f stop zoom would fix everything but im actually stepping away from zoom and moving into prime. Im no pixel peeper. I just love the image of primes vs zoom. Post image work is also great when needed.

Primes will allow much lower Fstops on average than any zoom. Fastest zoom I have (probably fastest zoom out there) is f1.8 and fasted prime I own is f1.2. Used to have a Voitlander f0.95
 
I just keep my 3ccd Pana mini DV cam as a tape deck for digitizing now.

For video quality Panasonic GH4 is the best M4/3 hybrid camera out there. It offers better stills quality than the GH3 (I have both) and you get 4K internal video with lots of bit rate and codec options not to mention pro video features like zebras, focus peaking, Timecode etc. The downside to the Panasonic bodies is that they don't have built in IS like the Olympus does. The importance depends on how you use the camera and what lenses you have already. The Olympus glass doesn't come with IS in the lens so using it on a Panasonic body you will not have IS. I have little experience with the top line Olympus M4/3 cameras but get the impression from what I've read that they beat out Panasonic for pure stills ability but come up short in the video dept. I guess it comes down to a trade off in either area of the hybrid camera. I've been very happy with the GH4 (it gets noisy in video beyond 1600 ISO but I don't shoot in the dark often) but am thinking of moving to a Sony A7s to keep things more consistent as I use a DSLR as a 2nd angle sometimes to my FS7 pro camcorder.

The 3 best DSLRs for video currently are the GH4, A7s and NX1. 5D3 is good but soft vid compression and not as video oriented as A7s. Amazing IQ if you use the raw hack but too much storage space working with raw and dealing with a hack system.

Thanks, for this quick and dirty comparison. If I was buying it today, I'd probably take a chance on the New Oly OM-D. I feel that I will never use any pro video features and the fact that the body is stabilized and I can keep using the glass I have will be a bonus.

Can you pls confirm that the files these cameras produce nowadays are easily workable in Final Cut? Or is there some timely transcode needed, which will also bloat the size? I just enjoy too much working with the flawless Oly Jpeg engine when shooting stills (I never needed RAW), So don't want to get caught with the video files.

Thanks
 

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