Vince, you are more than welcome, and thank you so much for being so thoughtful to reply so carefully to so many! Your questions evoked such a great response and garnered so much helpful information that when someone else has similar questions, we now have a great repository of information to refer them to. So, I'm going to add my thanks to everyone who weighed in here with so many helpful responses. We're really fortunate to have such supportive members.

Now Vince, you may be out of university for the summer but you do have one requirement - to report back here after your trip by posting some photographs here on mu-43.com in a new thread.

__________________
**An evolving camera owner.

~ BB
Flickr photostream

IMHO, I would rather get the E-PL1 with EVF VF-2, use a fast manual focus lens, and you have one of the best cameras for low light, handheld. This is for the wonderful street images/people of HK and Shanghai where a tripod will only slow you down.

For ultra wide angle of sceneries in low light, 9-18mm is good, and a light tripod (or Gorillapod as you mentioned).

550D ? I would buy this for fast AF, not low light :)

Do you use LR3? I don't think you need to get rid of your G1 just yet. Unless you're buying whatever panasonic and olympus announce in the fall. The E-PL1 might be a little better, but LR3's noise reduction really helps.

Just get the olympus 9-18 (the panasonic 7-14 I think is just too much) and the support hardware, and you're golden.

I have a G1 also. Thought about selling it too and buying a Canon T2i (550d). I had some lenses & accessories from my old Canon XT (sold it) that I wanted to use. As long as I don't have to carry it around a lot I like the feel of a larger body (relative to the G1) The T2i just feels a little quicker. I wanted a wide angle zoom to go with my G1 but for the price of the panny zoom I bought the T2i with kit zoom and had a few hundred $$ change left over. In the end I kept my G1 and use it for light weight travel & backpacking and use the Canon T2i when I need my wide angle or when I don't mind the extra size & weight.

Another vote for the new Denoise 5. There are clear improvements here in the reduction of shadow noise over 4 which in turn was much better than 3 and even that was better than most of the competition at the time! For any significant amount of luminance noise, I strongly recommend trying this. Colour noise is effectively killed off by L3. Those who say that post processing cannot be a substitue for a clean sensor to begin with --well of course that is true but seriously, the tools we have now to help bridge the gap until the time, I suspect rather soon, when the G sensors are good enough for the vast majority of us.

Same here - I just went to Europe for a few weeks and left the M9 and GF1 at home. The E-PL1 did great and with the optional mic and home made wind muff also allowed me to film in high def. I bought the body without lenses just for this trip.
The E-PL1 in Raw with ISO 3200 and LR3 gives very usable footage even without usage of the inbuilt flash. Although I own the rather large 14-140mm lens, I settled for smaller m4/3 lenses for this trip.

Michael Sossenheimer | My PAD Project
Michael Sossenheimer | My PAD Project
Michael Sossenheimer | Germany
Michael Sossenheimer | My PAD Project

I wouldn't sell the m4/3 but if at all get a second body (E-PL1).
Good Luck
Mike

Hi everyone apologies for not replying the last few comments quickly,, I've been very busy at work the last few days, doing a few late shifts. I've just got off a late shift (its 330am) so I'm quite tired at the moment. I promise that i'll reply everyone tomorrow (Sunday).

__________________
Vince

Comments or contructive feedback is very welcome and will be very appreciated

Had: Panasonic G1 + 14-140mm + 20mm

Visit my Flickr here

Hi everyone, as promised here are my latest set of replies, once again apologies for the delay in replying, I've been busy at work, but you know what they say, better late than never

BBW - Of course i'll post the photos in a new thread, it's the least I could do for everyone, for all the great advice :-)

Shinobi Thanks for the good advice, I agree with you about the E-Pl1 and EVF. The 9-18mm is a very good suggestion - I think i'll definately need it for some street and city/landscapes.

Linh Thanks for the advice, I've just begun looking at various software for noise reduction, and from what i've seen some software are really effective - so that should be my noise worries sorted. I have to agree about the olympus 9-18mm v the 7-14mm, think dpreview said they're similarly image quality wise, just different aperture and price (and construction lol)

Paul PanG1 thanks for sharing your experience, I agree about the feel of the Canon and you're absolutely right about being able to get the T2I and havin plenty of money left over, for the price of the panasonic 7-14mm. For wide angle i think i'll be gettin the Olympus 9-18mm which is about half the price of the panasonic 7-14mm in the UK, I'd probably still have enought money to buy an EPL1 too :P

dko22 thanks for the recommendation, I've had quite a few people recommended me denoise 5, so i'll definately have a look at it. Fingers crossed that Panasonic do release new sensors for the m4/3rds cameras, I have to say I was disappointed with the G2's ISO improvements, which IMO were marginal. The new LX5, i heard, apparently has abt 33% improvement in lowlight, so fingers crossed this can be applied to the sensors in m4/3rds cameras

ccmsosse Thanks for your input, LR3 seems to be a very good program too from what i've heard, will have to download a trial and see how I like it. Thanks for linking to your photos, you have a great PAD there with some stunning photos, I'm not sure why but I find 154 and 167 particularly appealing. I really like the colours in your photos too, do you do much PP to the colours in LR3?

__________________
Vince

Comments or contructive feedback is very welcome and will be very appreciated

Had: Panasonic G1 + 14-140mm + 20mm

Visit my Flickr here

None really
I adjust the brightness and at times fill-light, noise. I do not "mess" with colors
(at best I may hit the "auto tone" button.
Cheers
Michael

Hi

Since it's a trip to Hong Kong, forget about getting the tripod and monopod from US or UK. Get it there in Hong Kong.

You can find cheap Rechargeable Batteries, Bags, Slings, Filters and etc there.

I would recommend you to go to Apliu Street in Sam Siu Poh. You will be amazed by the amount of cheap electronic and camera stuff there. Try to avoid the stalls in the middle of the road. The shops offer a better prices. BTW, all prices are fixed. So forget about bargaining.

I got manfroto compatible mounting plates, Sliders, L brackets. Also it's a heaven for those Cokin rings filter holders and hoods. Then there are those ND filters, Grad ND, Polarize and fancy filters.

What you need to do is some homework. Get all the prices of the stuff you want/need from Ebay. write them all down. Then compare the prices there. Things like AA batteries, get those branded ones like Eneloop. Cokin filter accessories like Hood, holder and rings, get the compatibles. They are a whole lot cheaper. Don't buy any BLS batteries from Hong Kong. It may not be genuine.

Tripod, there are branded Gitzo, Manfroto as well as those unbranded. but all made in China. Test them before putting your money down. Many different ball heads and mounts are available there to choose from. Trust me.. you will get confused. I went berserk shopping there.

If you are interested in Nikon, canon, Yashica and Minolta mounts, that is one street you can find all of it. Different shops will have different prices. So sometimes you may be walking up and down the street a few times just to get 1 item.

If you are looking for used lenses, then it's the Sim City in Shantung Street. that place have a few shops dealing in used lenses. Some rare, one some common. It's all your luck. BTW, Sim City also sell the camera accessories. but they are slightly pricier than Apliu street. Also, Sim City is a 5 story complex with a little small stairway entrance.

Cheers and have fun there. Just bring enough money. :D