Lumix GF6 or Olympus E-PM2

[tasdisr]

My wife is looking to upgrade from her Canon p&s to a ILC camera. It would be for casual picture taking, family, grandson some scenery etc.

She has been looking at the Lumix GF6 with 14-42 lens and the Olympus E-PM2 with 14-42 & 40-150 lens. Both are under $400' which is our target price. She likes the built in flash and tilt screen on the GF6, but honestly does not know if she would use it.

But we have read that the Olympus picture quality is much better, though the menu system takes some getting used to.


Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Ulfric M Douglas]

Never mind picture quality, whatever that is.
The e-pm2 has such nice minimal noise high-ISO it's comfortable in dim indoor lighting without flash, provided you have a decently bright lens, something like F2 or F1.8, or a sigma F2.8 even.
Prices are great right now : buy, or the e-pL5 which has tilty screen too.

 

[tasdisr]

Never mind picture quality, whatever that is.
The e-pm2 has such nice minimal noise high-ISO it's comfortable in dim indoor lighting without flash, provided you have a decently bright lens, something like F2 or F1.8, or a sigma F2.8 even.
Prices are great right now : buy, or the e-pL5 which has tilty screen too.

Thanks, we will also take a look at the e-pl5. We have seen e-pm2 for 399 with the two lenses and the e-pl5 with the 14-42 lens for 100 more. B&H told me they no longer have the e-pm2 in black as it is showing discontinued in there system.

The wife kind of likes the red or silver anyway if she goes that route.

 

[Cruzan80]

I am guessing casual picture taking is JPEG only, not RAW? They are both nice cameras, the GF6 lens is fully unlocked all the time, whereas the PM2 takes a second to "boot up". May interfere with immediate picture taking of kids.

 

[tasdisr]

I am guessing casual picture taking is JPEG only, not RAW? They are both nice cameras, the GF6 lens is fully unlocked all the time, whereas the PM2 takes a second to "boot up". May interfere with immediate picture taking of kids.

Casual picture taking and JPEG only would be correct. I don't think my wife wants to spend time processing RAW files.

 

[spatulaboy]

No matter which camera she gets, make sure you throw the 20mm pancake into the budget.

 

[yakky]

With the E-PM2 popping up for $200-250 for a new one, its a no brainer. You'll get used to the menus, SCP makes almost any change super easy.

 

[tasdisr]

She is leaning towards the e-pm2 since it is slightly smaller than the gf6. Prices seem to be pretty steady at 299 with the 14-42 lens and 399 for the two lens kit.

At least the lenses would be interchangeable with my G5.

 

[tasdisr]

Is it worth it to pay the extra $100 for the kit with two lenses or just he the kit with 1 lens for $299
and put the extra 100 towards a good prime lens?

 

[karma]

Are you okay with buying used? There's an EPM2 listed in the F/S forum here for $150 shipped and includes 2 extra batteries. That's half the price, and you're then free to pick up any lenses you want with the savings.

If you must buy new, you might want to wait for the $199 deals to come around again. It seems as if Olympus is beginning to clear out inventory of the EPM2 in preparation for a newer model.

As for whether an extra $100 is worth it for the 40-150, if she thinks she'll make use of the zoom, then it's a great value. The Oly 40-150 is a well regarded tele-zoom, especially for the price.

 

[Bull Winkle]

I was in this same situation, stepping up from a point and shoot. I got the 2 kit lens pm2 14-42 and 40-150. Nice little camera, easy to change settings once the super control panel is enabled. I have since added some accessories, a used 14mm 2.5 panny, vf3 viewfinder (got it refurb from oly for 79 bucks) and eventually I got the Sigma trinity (19mm,30mm and 60mm). I am happy with the kit lenses, for outdoor well lit shooting they are good. The 40-150mm takes some practice the camera ibis is not that effective, I've had to gasp actually develop some technique but that is coming along slowly. The primes have been the big surprise. The panny 14mm is a pancake and when mounted on the small camera it seems almost to not be there size wise. The Sigma's I first got the 30mm and was so surprised by the good shots I saved some money and got the 19mm, again surprised GAS overwhelmed me and I ended up getting the 60mm. I now have a complete set from primes 14mm-60mm and with the two zooms 14mm-150mm. I realize that really fast lenses are missing from my kit, but for a starter set for me and my wife to learn on this kit is amazing. We are getting close to getting a second body, waiting for either the holidays to come back around or used ep5 prices to come down. I'm going to stay with this format, already have my lenses, my wife's interest is as strong as mine, no more holidays, vacations with crappy photos. Good luck in your hunt.

 

[tasdisr]

It sounds like either kit is a good choice and any future lens purchases will be interchangeable wit the e-pm2 and my g5.
Hopefully another sale like Neweggs recent 199 price will come up. Even the 299 kit or 399 kit seems like a good deal for this camera.

 

[yakky]

It sounds like either kit is a good choice and any future lens purchases will be interchangeable wit the e-pm2 and my g5.
Hopefully another sale like Neweggs recent 199 price will come up. Even the 299 kit or 399 kit seems like a good deal for this camera.

The sale will come up again for sure. $199 seems to be the blowout price for all PM/PL bodies.

 

[tasdisr]

The sale will come up again for sure. $199 seems to be the blowout price for all PM/PL bodies.

My wife saw the two lens bundle on Newegg for 399 and includes a 8GB Toshiba FlashAir SD card, but she still has not made her final decision.

 

[yakky]

My wife saw the two lens bundle on Newegg for 399 and includes a 8GB Toshiba FlashAir SD card, but she still has not made her final decision.

FWIW, Oly has the two lens kit for $319 right now. They usually have 20% off coupons around holidays, so perhaps for Memorial day.

 

[tasdisr]

FWIW, Oly has the two lens kit for $319 right now. They usually have 20% off coupons around holidays, so perhaps for Memorial day.

thanks

 

[tasdisr]

I think the wife has pretty much decided on the Olympus. She is going to wait a few days and see if a deal comes up and if not she will go ahead and buy the 2 lens kit for 399 .

She decided she wants to get a black one, so not to sure if any deals will come up on those. b&H shows the black as discontinued.