mirrorless cameras Olympus or Panasonic

I am upgrading to a new mirrorless system.

I need feedback to compare the Olympus EM-5 and the Panasonic GX-1

both with Nauticam housings

I understand the Olympus is more expensive but I am concerned with both features and of course quality

I appreciate any thoughts

Cindiver

I can't speak to the GX-1, but I just got back from a three-week vacation with my EM-5 in a Nauticam housing. I love this camera. Once I resolve an issue with uploading images to my server, I'll post a trip report and pictures.

I borrowed a 14-42 & lens port because no port was yet available for my 12-50. The 14-42 works great, ultrafast autofocus and good quality. If you screw on a SubSee 10x, you can also shoot great macro with the 14-42.

I was disappointed with the 45mm macro - it hunts...a lot. The 14-42 plus SubSee is a good alternative.

The 8mm fisheye is wonderful!!

The EM-5 is powerful, fast, easy to use, and had great dynamic range. Check out the article on dpreview.com

The Nauticam housing has great ergonomics and nice features like being able to access the camera battery and memory card without having to remove the tray.

More to follow.

I would look at Olympus if you plan to shoot mainly stills and panasonic if you aim to shoot mainly video. Alex

If you have not seen it, quick review of the GX1 & Nauticam: http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=47436

This is a tough call but if it is in the budget I would go with the Oly EM5.

What about the GH2. Probabily the best option for video.

The GH3 is about to be released next month.

The 45mm macro lens does hunt, i have just bought a manual focus gear for this lens.

The panasonic cameras all lack tools for still photography, which the olys have.

For example, we need a user setting for limiting the slowest shutter speed, in A mode, with the flash enabled.

The panasonic defaults to 1/60. So you will get motion blurred subjects far too often, in A mode, with pana cameras.

The olys let you set the speed, to 1/100 or 1/125, so the shutter speed can range from there, up to the sync speed of 1/250 (which is also better than the panasonic, I believe).

The olys allow you to set auto ISO, in M exposure mode, which means you can have full control of DOF and motion blur, while still trusting the metering.

Panasonic does not allow this. So A mode is unusable. S mode and P mode are out all the time, when using a flash, so that means using M mode only, all the time, with panasonic cameras.

Oly's have much nicer colors and jpgs, out of camera. With Pansonic, you are pretty much forced to shoot raw, all the time.

The em5 has the built in view finder, which the nauticam housing beautifully supports...

After trying just about every decent camera released in the last year, I just bought the em5, and am loving it!

Just about ready to order a housing.

HTH,

Don

Hi all,

I am also a recent proud owner of the EM5. I am tesitng it above the water so far. I love it indeed as the others stated. :-)

However I am still waiting for the Nauticam housing.

In the mean time I would like to ask if anyone has an experience with the Underwater mode of the EM5? Are there any particular benefits besides the WB correction?

Especially for the pics taken with a strobo I will probably set the WB to the color temperature of the flash...

Any thoughts are welcome.

Best regards,

Michal

I have a GX1 in Nauticam housing. Very pleased with it. My Nikon D300s in a Subal housing hasn't been off the shelf since I bought this system. The Nikon is a better system, but I don't notice a significant difference in the quality of the images, nor in the ease of use of the system.

The Nikon would be clearly better for small macro.

In the mean time I would like to ask if anyone has an experience with the Underwater mode of the EM5? Are there any particular benefits besides the WB correction?

It is far easier to use RAW underwater, and correct WB after the fact. The underwater mode is not very useful, except on jpgs in the top 5-20 feet of water, with no strobe.

It might prove more useful, for video. But I like a magic filter, or ur-pro for video, even better.

HTH

Don

Thanks much for your advice Don. Sure I have to try everything myself at the end of the day but the opinion of others is always getting you faster to the right direction..

Michal

The panasonic cameras all lack tools for still photography, which the olys have.

 

For example, we need a user setting for limiting the slowest shutter speed, in A mode, with the flash enabled.

 

What Panasonic cameras do you have or had that are housed? Everything on your website is old so hard to judge from that. My webpage isn't updated as often now days either, as it's just to easy to put them up on FB. I'm Mikeronesia on FB.

I can't understand why someone with a multi thousand dollar system would not shoot raw and full manual underwater. I've had Olys and Pannys and neither does as good of a job picking the right settings for a shot compared to someone with a little experience. I'm no pro but I manage to get some OK shots with my tool lacking camera. While it is a little trickier with manual strobes it's a no brainer with TTL.

While the 45 does hunt too much at times I've been able to minimize it with spot focus and a few other things. For me it is rarely an issue. At least when my wife lets me use it.

I'm beginning to like the 45mm! I've updated the firmware on the OM-D to 1.2 and the lens doesn't seem to hunt as much as it did before even in low light.

Jim: Thanks for the tip; will update mine (if it ever gets back from OLY).

Bill