So, I’ve finally got my new camera. I’m going to take you through my reasoning for my choice- perhaps this will be of help to others making a similar decision.
To recap, I’m looking for something smaller and more portable than my large Canon DSLRs, to take on walks with the kids when I’m already laden with various child related items – not to mention carrying the little one. This led to the following main requiremnts:
- It must be suitably small.
- It must have a viewfinder (I’m a photographer!). Electronic is fine, I certainly don’t want an optical one with parallax error. Built in, not clipped on – I’m going to use it most of the time.
- Weather sealing: This is going to be used outdoors a lot, don’t want to have to worry about a bit of rain.
- Built in flash would be a bonus for occasional indoor use.
Having actually looked at lots of cameras, it became clear that I’d probably have to choose between either weather sealing or a built in flash, as they seldom come together (is it hard to weather seal a built in pop up flash, then?).
I gave it some more thought, and concluded that the weather sealing was not strictly necessary: I normally would go out for a walk in nice-ish weather. I’m not worried about getting rained on, but still would not often set out in pouring rain. And if rain is likely, I’ll have a decent rain coat in which I can hide the camera if necessary – after all, how often are you actually taking pictures in pouring rain? This is going to be a camera for personal use, not professional use, so I can choose when to use it.
On top of all that, weather sealing seems to add several hundred pounds to the price.
So: small (relatively), viewfinder (I’m not sure I can live without one) and preferably with a flash. After a fair bit of research and taking on suggestions, I came up with a shortlist:
Canon Powershot G5 X
Panasonic LX100
Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mk II
Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mk II
Panasonic GX80
Fujifilm X-T10
Fujifilm X-T1
You will notice the lack of any Sony cameras here. From a technical point of view, my research tells me they make the best cameras, both compact system and compact (for example the Sony Alpha a6300 and Sony Cyber-shot RX100 IV). As I’ve said previously, I did not like the look and feel of them so I’m ruling them out. Just personal taste, which for this purchase is a big factor. I want something that is going to make me want to pick it up, head out, and enjoy taking pictures. I also feel that the difference in image quality between the best (ie Sony) and something else is not really that significant, and so not worth getting hung up on. (But if you like the Sony style, then it’s a no brainer, you win both ways). I suppose though that if I owned one of the Sonys I’d get used to the look and feel of it, but without having one it is hard for me to say.
I had another visit to my local Jessops to play with the cameras on my list. This time round, I was approached by a friendly and helpful assistant, and we spent a while talking about photography. A pleasant experience, and one to restore my faith in camera shops a little. He was particularly impressed by the Panasonic GX80 and its video capabilities – but video is not going to be my main use for this camera, more of a nice extra than a requirement. Jessops had all of the cameras on my list out on display, which is brilliant.
I ruled out the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mk II, it has weather sealing but is considerably more expensive and I have concerns about build quality with regards to the LCD screen. Not only have I seen quite a few comments about it, but I also found the one on display in Jessops had a dead screen. I’m not suggesting it is a common problem, but combined with the price difference I decided to narrow it down to the E-M10 II.
Similarly, I ruled out the X-T1 as the price difference does not justify the extra features, given the weather sealing is no longer a requirement.
The Fujifilm X-T10 is a lovely camera, and if I was buying purely on look and feel, it would win. However, size is important here, and the lenses for the Fuji are almost without exception quite large. The X-T10 with bundled zoom lens is not going to easily slip into a coat pocket. I liked the X-T10 so much that I toyed with the idea of getting two cameras – the X-T10 and a compact for when I did not have room for the X-T10. But the X-T10 has an old (but still good) sensor, and I didn’t want to buy into something that really should be updated. Imagine what they could do with a new sensor in their cameras. The age of the technology is not really that important, as long as it still does the job, but this was a finely balanced choice and that along with the lens size was just enough for me to cross it off the list. It is worth mentioning that the chunky Fuji lenses deliver in optical quality – size and optical quality are normally closely linked, so they are less portable but produce great results. I was also really taken by the lovely film simulations on the Fuji.
The compact Canon G5 X was nice, but the optics apparently are not so great, and of course there is no scope to change the lens. The Panasonic LX100 compact was a little harder to dismiss (nice camera), but in the end it is relatively large for a compact, and still not weather sealed, and I felt I might as well go for the flexibility of a compact system camera after all.
That left me a choice between the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mk II and the just released Panasonic GX80. This proved quite simple in the end – the GX80 has only just come out, and it therefore still at the peak of its price (you should never buy a camera until several months after its release, unless you have no choice – see my post about Camera Purchase Timing). I also liked the design of the E-M10 Mk II more – lovely retro look to it, which for some reason appeals to me at the moment.
So, the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mk II. Lovely design, nice to hold (surprisingly heavy for such a small camera) and with three control dials clustered just where you want them. Decent sensor size, good image stabilisation, pop up flash, nice viewfinder and LCD. Bundled with the collapsing 14-42mm EX lens, it is easily (coat) pocketable meaning it ticks all the boxes for me. Add on (or rather deduct) the £75 cash back that was available in May, and I’ve got a winner.
I’ve had it for a few days now, and so far I’m happy. I’m surprised at just how many features are packed into it, it’s going to take quite a while to work through the pdf manual finding out how to use them all (I would really love a paper manual to flick through). Been out with it several times and really enjoyed using it.
It is not perfect. Coming from DSLRs, the battery life seems short – you probably have to charge it every day if you are using it a lot – I guess that’s what you get when you don’t have an optical viewfinder. The collapsible lens is inevitably of average optical quality, a bit soft for my liking – but of course I can get a better lens, for when I don’t need the ultimate portability of the collapsing zoom. It is nice having the choice.
It will probably take me a while to learn to get the best out of the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mk II, but so far I’m pleased with it. It was very close decision between the Fuji X-T10 and the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mk II, and to be honest I’m not sure I can really judge which would have been best without also owning an X-T10. But now I can get on with taking pictures and not worry about it!
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