Need help for a decision 5DIV or E-M1II

Hi,

i need your help with a decision for my further camera setup

Today i used a Olympus E-M1 in a Nauticam housing. Im happy with it, but in some situations it will be nice when the camera will be faster and do Video in higher resolution.

So now i would like do more Video especially in 4k...

Underwater i love to make macro, ww is not my favorite....

No i cant decide between the new Olympus E-M1 II or the new Canon 5D MK IV.

The Olympus camera i "only" use for diving and travel, the 5D i used every Weekend for wedding photography and other Jobs...

So the 5D will be more effetive but is it worthwhile?

What do you think about it?

Full Frame for Macro shoots?

Traveling with the big case?

There are many tradeoffs here. The 5D is bigger, faster, way faster focusing, and is full frame. That being said, I shoot mostly (OK, almost totally) small things and I use the em-1. Out of the box, it has 2x the magnification of the 5D i.e. it can shoot 17 mm things full frame which the 5D can do but only by adding a wet diopter or some other optics inside. But it focuses much more slowly than the 5D. If I wanted to shoot video I would buy a GH-5 which has the same IQ as the EM1-II but is optimized for video. A lot depends on what you want to do with the pictures/footage. If you are making 24x36 inch (750 x 1000 mm) prints then the EM1-II won't be anywhere as nice as the 5D, but for anything much smaller (or the web) either will do the job.

Bill

hi Bill,

thank you for your reply.

The Af is another reason.. but my hope is that the af in the Mark2 are much more faster or isnt it?

If you are going to use the 5DIV for wedding photography topside, then I would suggest going with the EM1mkII. I wouldn't want to risk a flood and then be out of a camera needed before you can replace it. If it's not going to be your primary camera topside and you have the money, then I think the 5D would probably be better. And you'd only have to buy one system of lenses instead of a bunch of m4/3rds lenses in addition to your Canon ones.

Another albeit more expensive solution is to purchase

a 2nd 5DIV so your main camera (bread winner)

is always safe and you have back up just in case.

I have a 1DX II as a second Camera and a very good insurance

My point was based off my personal equipment preference

which is to simplify. Multiples of the same camera = 1 set of

controls, back up lenses that go with all my bodies.

Certainly nothing wrong with mixing it up though if that's your

preference. The EM1II is a great camera so you should be happy

either way.

Check out the forum post http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=59458

that Jack Connick wrote recently.

I shoot Nikon FF on land for my nature and landscape work.

Underwater, I use M43 (Oly EM-5) with Nauticam, and am getting ready to get the EM1 Mk II. Several reasons for this.

First and foremost, compactness and light weight. A fraction of the FF set-ups mainly due to the very lightweight lenses for M43 such as the Oly 12-50, Panasonic 7-14, and Oly 60mm macro. There is absolutely a huge advantage in weight, bulk, drag, and convenience with the smaller rig.

Second, I travel a lot. Can pack the whole camera rig and lenses, laptop, all filters, batteries, and accessories, in the "personal item" size bag with room left over for dive computers and dive lights, and the entire UW rig (housing with angled viewfinder, dome, macro port, tray, arms, 2x strobes, 2x video lights, all accessories) into a carry-on size roller bag or backpack.

Third, I shoot pretty much equally photo and video. For this, mirrorless (not necessarily M43) is unequalled and far superior than trying to shoot clunky DSLR video squinting at the small screen, switching back and forth between live view and viewfinder, etc. The angled viewfinder on my housing (this is an essential accessory well worth the money) gives a huge and sharp view of the LCD viewfinder of the camera for easy photo and video, and switching between photo and video is an instant push of a button with no need to even take my eye off the subject when things are moving fast.

Fourth, the IBIS of the Oly (even the original EM5) is stupendous for macro photos and especially macro video and the new EM1 ii will be even better. It is hard to overstate how useful this is.

Fifth, the lightweight rig makes the perfect travel set-up. I can add the pany 100-400 zoom (200-800 field of view in full frame terms) and have nature covered on any trip. That lens is so small it is ridiculous for the magnification delivered.

Sixth, no built in flash on the 5DIV, so no TTL optical flash with strobes and the need for more housing penetrations and o-ring sealed electronic sync cables. This is a disadvantage (but could be offset if you get something with a built in flash).

Image quality is excellent, easily printable to 20x30. ISO is very good up to 1600. AF is superb if the light is good, either daylight or a focus light for macro, and is still useable even in marginal light.

In sum, I don't think you really gain anything with full frame (higher useable ISO, and some more resolution) that comes even close to what you gain with the smaller mirrorless system.

If you are doing macro only I think you'll get along fine with the m43 option, I have a EM-5II and for macro work as long as you have a focus light AF is perfectly usable, the EM1 is reported to be better and the EM-1 II better still. The Nauticam housing works really well with the camera and the customisation options are unequaled.

A couple of things to be aware of, the 60mm macro is quite long, just fine if you stick to nudis and such like, but I also do like to shoot fish and in my temperate waters you have to back off too far to get the larger (150-300mm range ) fish framed and the camera is difficult to AF further out (0.5 - 1m) because it locks on particulate matter in the water. I'm actually thinking about the 30mm macro options. If you decide you want to do some larger stuff the 12-40mm lens in a dome also works really well.

Also agree about size and weight, not to mention cost, I use a Canon 1DIV topside but the cost to house that was crazy high. For example the Nauticam EM1 II housing is $US1900 and the 5DIV housing $US3800 (USA prices at Backscatter). You can fit your housing 2 x INON strobes port, camera/lenses in a legal sized carryon, no chance of that with a housed DSLR. Fibre optics is a big advantage as well, you can get flash triggers for the 5DIV, though it only does manual. With the OLY you can switch between TTL and manual setup on the fly by programming a custom function button to switch between two presets. If you have not taken the leap already look at the EM1 MkII - some nice upgrades including a bigger battery for more dives between changing out.

My decision has been made a couple weeks ago

I bought a housing for my Canon 5D IV and sell other items from Olympus.

For me the Quality and the af was not so good, that i will use the Olympus over water...... And only for underwater use a complete Olympus system is so crazy So when i use the Olympus not at land it was every time very hard to learn all the button functions again.

The different of the storage place i need is not sooooo big and i can easy use my backpack to carry on the rig

I can use TTL and manuel strobe without the electronic cables...because Nauticam has release the TTL Trigger

One thing i found better with Olympus and that was the viewfinder...with the optional viewfinder on the housing i mean it was brighter and bigger.