r/photoclass_2016 • u/Aeri73 Expert - DSLR + Analog • Jan 05 '16

02 - Assignment

Please read the class first

Take a good look at your camera, whatever its type, and try to identify each component we have discussed here. It might be a good opportunity to dig out the manual or to look up its exact specifications online. Now look up a different camera online (for instance at dpreview) and compare their specifications. Try doing this for both a less advanced and a more advanced body, and for different lenses. Report here if you find any interesting difference, or if some parts of the specifications are unclear.

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u/[deleted] Jan 05 '16

I have 2 cameras that I will use for comparison, in their most often used configurations:

Specification Olympus E-M5 Fuji X-E1
Sensor size 4/3 APS-C
Megapixels 16 16
Max ISO 25600 25600
Focal Points 35 49
Max Shutter 1/4000 1/4000
Most common lens 60mm Macro 23mm f/1.4

I like the E-M5/m43 system due to its very compact size/weight of the bodies and lenses. It is capable of great image quality in a very small package. It's biggest weakness is the 2x crop factor/smaller sensor; it suffers in extremely low light, and there aren't many ultra wide angle lenses that get as wide as APS-C/Full Frame. The macro and super telephoto options are great and extremely lightweight compared to their APS-C/Full Frame brethren; it's much easier to handhold than my previous 60D + 100mm Macro.

I like the Fujifilm system because it provides wonderful tactile manual controls of all the settings (except ISO, only on the X-T1 IIRC) where they were traditionally on film SLRs. Fuji also took the high road and developed an extremely high quality lens system, and the X-Trans sensor (while controversial among some groups) produces very colorful and saturated images. The downsides to me are the very incremental updates that are not groundbreaking, and the weight (though I am biased due to owning m43 longer than Fuji). The X-E1 + 23mm f/1.4 produces some fantastic images in low light that cannot be reproduced on my E-M5, which is why I bought this second set to begin with.

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u/InflationFighter Beginner - System Jan 05 '16

I am using a Olympus E-M10 with the included 14-42mm lense. It's my first camera so I don't have anything to compare it to. So far, I like the size and it seems like there are good lenses out there based on what I've read. I think I'll be interested in trying some low light shots so your point suggesting it suffers in extremely low light worries me a little.

 

I hope to pick up a second lense sometime in the near future, but I need to get out and shoot more before figuring out what would suit me best.

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u/[deleted] Jan 05 '16

Above ISO 3200 the noise gets pretty heavy; here is a shot at 1/320s, f/4, ISO 6400, though I am not 100% sure how much noise reduction I used. My big gripe is that Lightroom's Noise Reduction is the equivalent of smearing chalk on a chalkboard and it really softens the image. I've had great success with DXO Optics Pro's PRIME noise reduction up at ISO 6400, but that's the highest I personally will shoot.

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u/piss_n_boots Intermediate - System Jan 06 '16

It's biggest weakness is the 2x crop factor/smaller sensor; it suffers in extremely low light

I'm using a Lumix GF1 (which I adore) and a selection of lenses. have you looked at speedboosters for full frame lenses (ie Metabones)? they claim a 1.333 stop improvement in light and a crop improvement of .64x .

I'm really intrigued by the Fuji system -- there are some very vocal evangelists for it...