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Lightweight Mirrorless

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 11:03 am
by prairiewing
Primarily for medical reasons I'm contemplating a switch to a lighter-weight system.  Some background:
I'm currently shooting with Sony A7r3 (and 2) for 15mm to 400mm and Nikon 850 with 24-120 and 500 plus 1.4.

I shoot large animals, some birds, landscapes and flowers.  My bird photography is fairly minor these days, not worried about birds in flight for example and I don't mind stitching where possible for landscapes.

The print is always my objective for everything I print.  I know I'll have to make compromises here.  The full frame systems I'm using are fantastic and I don't expect smaller sensors to match but I'm looking for something that will allow me to make decent prints up to about 30 inches wide from a single frame.

I've been spoiled by the dynamic range of Sony and Nikon so that's important to me as well as the basics like good auto focus, decent menu, all-around handling, etc.  Good lens selection is also important, I'd like to be able to get the job done with 2 bodies and 4 lenses.  High ISO quality is also a factor.

It seems like the main candidates are Fujifilm, Pansonic and Olympus but I'm open to looking at others.

I'll appreciate hearing about your experiences with any of these but also any thoughts and impressions you might have.  I've completely ignored this segment of the camera industry so have very few pre-conceived notions.

Thanks in advance.

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 12:28 pm
by mikeojohnson
I can only speak to the Old and Panny options. I have owned both. And, these are my opinions after using both.

I ended up with the Olympus system for the following reasons:
The lens lineup of fast zooms and primes is complete.
The EM1M2 body has superior autofocus for fast moving subjects, in my experience.
The Olympus system weighs more than the Panasonic which may make a difference to you.

Currently, I use Sony gear for Wildlife and landscape and the Olympus for travel. But, I would have no issues taking the Olympus on a wildlife shoot. And I have made many acceptable prints up to 16x24, which is the limit of my printer.

Good luck, there are many advantages of mirrorless over DSLR's that you may find useful.
Mike

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 1:12 pm
by E.J. Peiker
Hey Pat, why not just shoot your a7R3 in crop mode with the outstanding Sony 100-400. Or even in full frame mode and then crop later. Couple that witha 24-70 and you pretty much cover most everything you need...

Re:

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 1:36 pm
by prairiewing
E.J. Peiker wrote:Hey Pat, why not just shoot your a7R3 in crop mode with the outstanding Sony 100-400.  Or even in full frame mode and then crop later.  Couple that witha  24-70 and you pretty much cover most everything you need...
Yes EJ, keeping the A7r3 for which I have a 15mm, 24-105 and 100-400 is certainly an option.  I keep hearing about the virtues like weight and size of the smaller mirrorless bodies and lenses that I thought I'd give them a look.  The big bonus of staying with the Sony would be keeping full frame.

Re: Re:

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 1:39 pm
by E.J. Peiker
prairiewing wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:Hey Pat, why not just shoot your a7R3 in crop mode with the outstanding Sony 100-400.  Or even in full frame mode and then crop later.  Couple that witha  24-70 and you pretty much cover most everything you need...
Yes EJ, keeping the A7r3 for which I have a 15mm, 24-105 and 100-400 is certainly an option.  I keep hearing about the virtues like weight and size of the smaller mirrorless bodies and lenses that I thought I'd give them a look.  The big bonus of staying with the Sony would be keeping full frame.
Then you would be adding another system which means other batteries, chargers, accessories, etc.  You won't save much in the way of size and weight with a Fuji with their 100-400 or an Oly EM1M2 and their 300 f/4 though.  

Re: Re:

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 2:57 pm
by prairiewing
E.J. Peiker wrote:
prairiewing wrote:
E.J. Peiker wrote:Hey Pat, why not just shoot your a7R3 in crop mode with the outstanding Sony 100-400.  Or even in full frame mode and then crop later.  Couple that witha  24-70 and you pretty much cover most everything you need...
Yes EJ, keeping the A7r3 for which I have a 15mm, 24-105 and 100-400 is certainly an option.  I keep hearing about the virtues like weight and size of the smaller mirrorless bodies and lenses that I thought I'd give them a look.  The big bonus of staying with the Sony would be keeping full frame.
Then you would be adding another system which means other batteries, chargers, accessories, etc.  You won't save much in the way of size and weight with a Fuji with their 100-400 or an Oly EM1M2 and their 300 f/4 though.  

To clarify, I was considering going completely with smaller mirrorless, not in addition to the Sony system.  I admit I haven't calculated the potential weight savings, just trying to get a handle on things at this point.

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 3:53 pm
by DChan
You could be using the Oly 300 f4 if you want to have a perspective of 600mm to 840mm (with the 1.4 TC) with a close focusing distance of 4 feet. Pan-Leica's 100-400 is lighter.

Re:

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 4:53 pm
by ricardo00
DChan wrote:You could be using the Oly 300 f4 if you want to have a perspective of 600mm to 840mm (with the 1.4 TC) with a close focusing distance of 4 feet. Pan-Leica's 100-400 is lighter.

  If you had a Nikon DX camera like the D7200 (which has a 24MP "partial" frame sensor) and shoot in the 1.3 crop mode, the 300mm f/4 PF lens would now be a 585 mm 35mm equivalent, essentially the same as the 600mm of the MF Olympus camera (and one can also add the 1.4TC) though only 15MP compared to the 20MP of the Olympus. This combo is much lighter than the Oly 300 f/4 combo (2049 g for the Olympus versus 1430 g for the Nikon) for essentially the same field of view.  Whether it is better or not I can't say, at least the batteries would last much longer on a single charge.  (This combo is also much cheaper than the Olympus combo).  The Nikon and Olympus both have about the same minimum focus distance.

Re: Re:

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 5:29 pm
by DChan
ricardo00 wrote:
  If you had a Nikon DX camera like the D7200 (which has a 24MP "partial" frame sensor) and shoot in the 1.3 crop mode, [snip]
And this is what the original poster Pat has:
I'm currently shooting with Sony A7r3 (and 2) for 15mm to 400mm and Nikon 850 with 24-120 and 500 plus 1.4.
FWIW, my other system is Nikon.

Re: Re:

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 8:50 pm
by ricardo00
DChan wrote:
ricardo00 wrote:
  If you had a Nikon DX camera like the D7200 (which has a 24MP "partial" frame sensor) and shoot in the 1.3 crop mode, [snip]
And this is what the original poster Pat has:
I'm currently shooting with Sony A7r3 (and 2) for 15mm to 400mm and Nikon 850 with 24-120 and 500 plus 1.4.
FWIW, my other system is Nikon.

  I am not sure your point, I had seen that Pat currently uses a FULL FRAME Nikon (the D850), I suggested a switch for him to a Nikon DX camera as opposed to your suggestion of switching to a micro 4/3 Olympus camera and the Olympus 300mm f/4 lens. The DX camera would save him some weight (though not as much as your suggestion of the Olympus micro 4/3 camera) and the switch by Pat to a Nikon 300mm f/4 PF lens  would save about 7 pounds compared to the 500mm f/4 as well as being considerably lighter than your suggestion of the Olympus 300mm f/4.  This would allow him to still use his Nikon 24-120mm lens as well as other Nikon gear he may have and if he was feeling up to it, even the occasional time he wanted to pull out the 500mm lens.  I was just trying to give Pat an alternative to your suggestion to switch to the micro 4/3 which would actually be lighter than your proposal.

Re: Re:

Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 11:01 pm
by DChan
ricardo00 wrote:   I am not sure your point,[snip]
Perhaps you should start with why you quoted by response in your previous reply.

My prior response was simply to point out when the Oly 300f4 could be useful and nothing else. I wasn't suggesting that Pat or anyone else should buy it.

If you wanted to simply make another recommendation to Pat, you did not have to quote me IMO.

Yup, you started it !  :)

Re: Lightweight Mirrorless

Posted: Fri May 11, 2018 12:13 pm
by David P
I have been shooting Fuji for several years now and am really happy with it. You should give them serious consideration.

The sensor is dx sized which gives it an advantage over smaller sensors. The lense selection and quality is first rate.  The cameras are very well built and are a joy to use.  Some people complain that the sensor does not use the Bayer pattern but, while this created an issue initially, I do not currently see this as a significant issue.  The software has largely caught up.  Autofocus has also improved dramatically with the x-t2 and x-h1 and from what I can gather is now similar to the Sony mirrorless cameras but maybe marginally worse than SLRs.  The X-t cameras are outstanding and the newer X-h is stronger on video and also has in camera stabilization but is larger.  You can purchase adapters so you can use your Canon/Nikon/Sony etc lenses too.

The X-t3 is supposed to be coming in the fall and Fuji Rumors is indicating it may have interchangeable sensors for DX, full frame and strictly black and white which would be really interesting.  The company is first rate, innovative, quite responsive and makes a point of upgrading software for several years after the camera is introduced -the x-t2 just received a major upgrade in the last week or so.  Fuji is also financially very stable.

In Canada Fuji has a try before you buy program which gives you a chance to try it out at no cost.  Not sure if you have that where you are but its been very popular here.

There are some wonderful mirrorless cameras out there and regardless of what you decide I think you will love mirrorless.  I do.

Posted: Sat May 12, 2018 10:13 am
by prairiewing
Thanks everyone for your thoughts on this. At this early stage of consideration the Fuji appeals the most to me but as EJ suggested, I may just stay with my
Sony full-frames for now. What makes all of this more difficult is the fact that I just love the D850 despite its weight and am hesitant to give it up unless physical considerations make it absolutely necessary.

Anyway, thanks again.

Posted: Sat May 12, 2018 12:32 pm
by E.J. Peiker
"What makes all of this more difficult is the fact that I just love the D850"

Well the only mirrorless camera, short of a medium format mirrorless, that will give you the image quality you are used to from the D850 would be an a7R III...

Re:

Posted: Sat May 12, 2018 2:37 pm
by prairiewing
E.J. Peiker wrote:"What makes all of this more difficult is the fact that I just love the D850"

Well the only mirrorless camera, short of a medium format mirrorless, that will give you the image quality you are used to from the D850 would be an a7R III...
Agreed.  Thanks EJ