I've been toying around with a second m43 body. Looking at the either a used EM5, EM10 or used EP5. I'm a big fan of having a viewfinder, so the EP5 is bottom of the list unless I can find a good deal on the VF-4.
Always interested in other people's experiences with the PEN series cameras.
Well in that case
I upgraded to the PEN E-P5 + VF-4 a couple of weeks ago after about a month with the PEN E-PM2.
So far - absolutely love it. While everyone I asked about it said the standard "getting a better camera will not make you a better photographer" - and it is true that the photos out of it aren't especially better - it is
a whole lot nicer to take photos with in the first place. So - part of that means you can attempt shots you wouldn't have bothered with in the first place, and those sometimes don't work, but it rules when they do.
There are 3 things that I think are utterly amazing and I would only gush about it in such a way as to invite ridicule -
* 5 axis IBIS - utterly transformative for someone like me with fairly shakey hands
* The VF-4 - such a gigantic leap up from the PM2's rear LCD. Still at that point where I occasionally forget I have it and then think "oh right, I have this thing *puts eye up to it* holy crap this is incredible :O"
* the two way switch to flick between instant control of aperture/shutter, and white balance/iso - again something where I still occasionally go to thumb the wheel around the 4-way pad as on the PM2 and am forced to think "oh right, I have this thing. Wow that's so much better"
Stuff I thought I would use more often but don't (yet)
* the ability to bind mysets to the mode dial - this was actually the one thing that made me really regret going for the PM2 rather than the PL5 (there was a fairly vast gulf in price between them at the time I got the PM2) - at the moment still a "nice to have" thing, not really using it as much as I thought. Probably need a larger lens collection for it to matter that much.
* focus peaking - thought this would be huge, really don't use it that much given that I have the VF-4. VF-4 plus magnification is actually a lot more appealing to use and I really only turn on FP when (somewhat perversely) I want to know where focus 'isn't' in the scene.
Stuff I don't enjoy much -
* the grip - both the thumb grip at the rear and the front grip should really have had a little more work, I think. I'll have to see how the JB wood grip goes when it gets here (was going to use sugru but decided I would rather sugru a detachable grip than the actual camera body if need be).
* the placement of some buttons (movie, magnify, menu) are slightly awkward to operate by feel when I have the VF-4 attached. Really wish they had repositioned these slightly, maybe so movie/magnify/menu all sit next to each other and can be touched without moving your thumb around as much.
* wish the pop-up flash was more flexible - it seems like they went for "what's the biggest thing we can fit in this hole" straight off without thinking of many other usage cases. Wish it tilted and maybe had an integrated/flip up diffuser that would collapse with it.
