Upgrading from Pany G5 - comments and advice sought

[davidedric]

Hi everyone,

A bit of background. I bough a refurbed G5 plus 14-42mm last year as a low cost entry point to mft, with the intention of having it as a second camera to keep with me and in the car. The reduced size and weight were very important to me. I quickly found that I liked it very much indeed, so I bought the v.2 14-140mm Pany and that has become my go to combination. The dslr stays at home, except for trips to Africa :smile: So, I see my mft kit as my main system, and I now need to think where I go with it, starting with the body.

I shoot in RAW, and process mostly in Lightroom (5.5, fortunately). Everything from landscape (mostly, I suppose) to street. Don't generally do big prints, nothing larger than A3, and share on web.

Requirements:
- No bigger or heavier than the G5
- Good handling (really like the mini-dslr form of the G5)
- Dual control dials
- Fast autofocus (but not too critical, since I don't do sports, and the dslr is for wildlife)
- Minimise shutter shock (definitely there on the G5 + 14-140mm, electronic shutter essential on that kit)
- EVF
- Built in flash
- Articulating screen, at least flip up
- (Of course) Best image quality and processor

Less important
- Video - only use occasionally
- Low light performance. Always good of course, but if I were shooting landscape in low light it would be on a tripod
- Budget. Not really an issue, within reason.


Had Panasonic brought out the fabled G7 this year, that would have been the obvious choice, but they haven't and the G6 does really add much to the G5 for my needs.

Looking around, the OM-D EM10 looks like the body that ticks most boxes. Plus having a body with IBIS potentially opens up a greater range of lenses.

When I have handled OM-D's in the past, the grip has felt too small to me. However, researching shows me the extended grip, which looks as if it would fit the bill.

Any ideas gratefully received.

Dave

 

[namssurt]

You've answered your own question. The OM-D's are a high end choice for micro four thirds.

The real question is why do you need to switch bodies? My first choice would be to investigate adding a prime lens or 2 for both low light, depth of field control, and improved accuity. I have an Oly e-pm2 and the disadvantages of that model are, to me, relatively small. Yes a built in viewfinder and or built-in flash rather than the add-ons that force me to pick one vs the other, built-in wifi that allows remote control rather than just file downloading, and the better IBIS of the e-p5 and om-d's are significant but the difference in the price of the body allowed me to buy a couple of primes plus the body cap fisheye.

So now I have: Oly e-pm2, 14-42 kit lens, 40-150 kit lens, kit flash, vf-3 viewfinder, 9mm body cap fisheye, sigma 19mm f2.8, oly 45 f1.8, travel charger, extra batteries,

 

[alex66]

Have you thought of a GH3 there is an offer on at the moment where they will give you a 25mm 1.4 and the grip thing, ok it is 100g heavier than your G5 if that is acceptable. I am pondering one to replace one of my G3's mainly due to the free 25mm so I have read up on it and it has a faster buffer than either of our cameras, I think slightly better iq and slightly faster AF. Also it has a greater number of function buttons so you can instantly do more changes if you want, more dials as well. So if you want to stick with panasonic it is a good option, but the GX7 and the OMD bodies do look a bit nicer and the in body IS is nice to have for some. I only want 2 more lenses either a 25 or the 17 1.8 and the 9mm body cap so its a case of finding the body I will be most satisfied with for stills. I do prefer the Panasonic menus to the Olympus ones, they seem much quicker to get to where you want and I love the custom settings modes on the dial.

 

[ean10775]

It seems to me that your G5 already has all your requirements. What do you dislike about it that makes you want to get a newer body?

 

[Darren Bonner]

Panasonic GX7 has everything you want, I'm thinking of upgrading my G5 & E-PL5 for this camera.