{"id":26049,"date":"2018-03-23T07:55:45","date_gmt":"2018-03-22T23:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/?p=26049"},"modified":"2018-04-03T11:05:58","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T03:05:58","slug":"m4-3-a-2017-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2018\/03\/23\/m4-3-a-2017-review\/","title":{"rendered":"m4\/3 \u2013 A 2017 Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was browsing through my photography posts and realized that I should do a 2017 update to the annual m4\/3 review<\/a> – a possible camera system change later this year notwithstanding. And so:<\/p>\n

In Jan, the one year old then Fujifilm X70<\/a> was sold away. It’s a beautifully made camera, but just still too quirky for me. The AF hunted, and I could never quite get the same kind of natural skin-tones off the X70’s RAW files in post-processing as I can easily get from m4\/3.<\/p>\n

The Panasonic GX85<\/a> was picked up locally at a competitive price against international pricing – shocker right?! – and it’s served wonderfully as a second m4\/3 main body when we travel. AF is brisk and confident, and the little issues – like an occasionally tearing EVF, and oddities in setting AF point – I’ve learned to live with. Oddly, the sensor was out of alignment about 8 months use – not sure how that happened as the camera was never knocked around or dropped. But Panasonic had it repaired under warranty.<\/p>\n

The five year old Olympus E-PL6<\/a> is experiencing increasing points of failure. The LCD touchscreen has a mind of its own now and registers touches wildly, making menu navigation a terrible exercise in frustration. And now, the battery occasionally no longer registers at start-up, requiring quick battery removals to reset the camera each time. Quite a pity: since when the camera does work, it still takes wonderful casual photos, especially with the Olympus 17mm f1.8<\/a> lens that it’s practically permanently tethered to. If I do decide to stay with the m4\/3, I’ll likely be seriously considering replacing the E-PL6 with the just released E-PL9<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of lenses: the AF motor of my Panasonic 25mm f1.4<\/a> – one of my oldest m4\/3 lenses – has been acting up too. Specifically, it now audibly squeaks whenever it tries to lock focus LOL. Too much time in the dry cabinet perhaps? The pair of Olympus 12-40mm<\/a>\/40-150mm f2.8s<\/a> saw extensive use during the WA<\/a> and Phuket<\/a> trips. The front of the 12-40mm though was accidentally smeared with hot food, which scorched the coating off the UV filter. For all those photography enthusiasts who scoff at UV filters as protective layers, a SGD20 filter is a paltry sum to pay versus permanent damage to the front glass element of a fairly expensive lens.<\/p>\n

All in, the equipment deltas were two camera bodies – one sold, one bought – no new m4\/3 lenses, a few accessories (the Sirui MyStory 13 bag<\/a> that was heavily discounted, the Sirui T-024X CF Tripod<\/a>), and the Canon G7X Mark II<\/a> – which is my main camera for family wefies. On balance, I spent less in 2017 on camera equipment than the other years, excepting 2011 when the only thing I bought the E-PL2<\/a> (still have it!) and sold away a several of my pre-loved Nikon DSLR lenses.<\/p>\n

And finally, selected m4\/3 pictures from 2017!<\/p>\n

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Birds in flight @ Bunbury Wildlife Park. GX85 \/ 40-150mm f2.8 \/ ISO200 \/ 1\/500s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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At the Dawesville Foreshore Reserve. Took a lot of frames to finally nail this tight shot of flight and flightless birds in the same frame! GX85 \/ 40-150mm f2.8 + MC-14 \/ ISO200 \/ 1\/1250s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Lake Cave @ Western Australia, using the E-M1 \/ 12-40mm f2.8 \/ ISO3200 \/ 1\/10s handheld. Shots like these would had been impossible without tripods, but are possible today handheld – thanks to the 5-axis stabilization in the E-M1.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I was fooling around with the 40-150mm f2.8 in the bedroom – yeah unusual lens to use in a small room – when the kids mimicked what I was doing. E-M1 \/ 40-150mm f2.8 \/ ISO640 \/ 1\/60s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Shots like these can be tricky. Depending on how discerning the camera AF is, the focusing point might land on Peter’s fingers rather than his face. E-PL6 \/ ISO200 \/ 1\/320s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This is how our two pet piggies look after a bath – either bewilderment or nonchalance, depending on which piggie you’re referring to! GX85 \/ 12-40mm \/ ISO200 \/ 1\/60s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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There’s a point in our childhood where we’ll go crazy with shadows! GX85 \/ 17mm f1.8 \/ ISO1600 \/ 1\/50s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Fast flying birds! E-M1 \/ 40-150mm +MC-14 \/ ISO400 \/ 1\/500s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And finally, my favorite picture from 2017! Had to post-process, as the image had very strong contrasts: the kids were in the shade, and the East Coast backdrop was very brightly lit. E-M1 \/ 40-150mm f2.8 \/ ISO200 \/ 1\/2000s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was browsing through my photography posts and realized that I should do a 2017 update to the annual m4\/3 review – a possible camera system change later this year notwithstanding. And so: In Jan, the one year old then<\/p>\n

Read More m4\/3 \u2013 A 2017 Review<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,16],"tags":[573,609,567,545,568,547,542,583],"class_list":["post-26049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photography-cameras","category-toys-technology","tag-fujifilm-x70","tag-m4-3","tag-12-40mm","tag-17mm","tag-40-150mm","tag-e-pl6","tag-panasonic-25mm","tag-gx85","wpcat-13-id","wpcat-16-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/blog-birds-in-flight-02.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}