Comments on: Panasonic GX9 vs Olympus OMD EM5 III vs Fuji XT30

By: thecotswold

thecotswold — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 01:23:00 +0000

In reply to Tomi. I think it depends on the camera being used and the AF mode being used. Both are more than good enough at this point unless you are tracking very fast action or birds in flight. I did find a few issues with the Xt30 missing shots when shooting portraits though.

By: Tomi

Tomi — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 11:11:59 +0000

M43 still has better AF than Fuji X.

By: thecotswold

thecotswold — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 17:21:49 +0000

In reply to John Steve.

Hi John,

Thanks for your comment. I think what you prefer will depend on a number of factors including which controls you like, what the expected output for your images will be as here the Fuji does a little better thanks to its larger sensor. Do you shoot Raw or Jpeg. If Raw then the cameras colours dont matter so much. Which system has the lenses that you want.

To be honest now that Olympus has sold their camera division I wouldn’t invest any of my money in their gear any longer. I think Fuji is the better long term bet and that is where I have spent my money recently, on a full X-system and a complimentary GFX50R.

By: John Steve

John Steve — Sat, 08 Aug 2020 07:44:25 +0000

Nice post. I would like to add that I think both the cameras are amazing but the exact difference lies in the type of picture that you are expecting on a particular day. Isn’t it? Looking for your expert opinion.

By: thecotswold

thecotswold — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 14:41:03 +0000

In reply to Spaturnio. I didn't realise you are in Italy. Stay safe and I hope everything gets better soon. yes we are on lockdown here too. Likewise I am delaying camera purchases at the moment until we get back to some semblance of normality. I think the reason to buy the GX9 over the EM5 III is purely a financial one. Here in the UK the EM5III is £949. The GX9 is £449. It does 90% of what the EM5III can do for 50% of the price so that's quite impressive. Yes the EM5III is definitely the better overall camera and if you can either afford it or are sure ou will make use of all the additional features then it is worth it. However I can also see why people would still choose the GX9 given the price difference and relatively similar performance. Personally I would like to have the EM5 III but at the moment I just can't justify it and will spend my money on other more pressing matters (such as building a house to get out of the rat race). Then I can buy all the cameras I want after that.

By: Spaturnio

Spaturnio — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 14:26:31 +0000

IMO, if you already have the GX9 and you are not totally into JPEG shooting, there is little reasonson to buy a GX9 specifically and I’d rather keep the EM5mkIII for everything else Olympus has to offer. Where the Pen-F shines IMO in in B&W panoramas, where I feel the GX9 can’t reach the same amount of contrast and punch, but in everything else is more the good enough and if you like to introduce a slight grain, L Monocrome D is less intrusive for portraits.
About the X100V I can’t compare it with older versions which I did not own. Looking at the softness people reports I can tell you straight away this new lens is tack sharp, even more the then equivalent interchangeable 23mm f2.0. If you like 35mm this as good as you can get at F:2.0. The new ND filter is 4 stop which is handy and the focus is… well, I could compare it with my Lumix 20mm F1.7 II if you know what I mean: it is accurate but it is not fast my any mean. About actual use, I pre-ordered the camera and picked it up the day before the whole Lock Down begun here in Italy: I had to risk going to San Marino (a few Km away form where I live) because I had already paid the full price and absolutely had to retrieve the camera before It became impossible, or risk it to be shipped to me via a currier. I got in the shop, picked it up and got right back home as fast as i could. Since then (28 February) everything had been locked up and I can only take pictures of things at home. If I had known what was to come at the begin of February I’d probably had postponed such an expensive purchase, but by the date the camera was delivered it was too late to back down.
Stay safe: the pandemic in England has just begun and will get worse.

By: thecotswold

thecotswold — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 18:25:36 +0000

In reply to Spaturnio.

Hi,

Thanks for your detailed comments. I owened a Pen F a few years ago and actually tested it against the XT2 with Acros at that time. I have the results here on my website somewhere and like you, I preferred the output from the Pen F. It is fantastic for black and white images thanks to the different modes and amount of customisation available. Shame I can’t seem to find one easily these days. However as you say the GX9 is very nice for black and white portraits and my upcoming project will involve a lot of these so it fits in perfectly. I agree in certain situations the Acros can produce equally as nice black and white images but I find Panasonics Monochrome L profiles to do so in more circumstances. I find the light has to be very contrasty to get the best out of Acros. I also owend an X100T and used it as my only camera for about 1 year and loved it. Like you I had no issues with teh Fuji App back then so I can only assume it is an issue between the XT30 and the latest version of the Fuji App.
I’m quite interested in testing out the X100V. How have you found the auto focus? It is at quite a premium compared to the previous model at around £1200 when I can pick up an X100F for around £600. It’s nice to see it now has weather sealing and an updated lens. How is th elens performance up close and wide open now? It used to be a little soft on the older models but I never really found it to be an issue.

All the best
David

By: Spaturnio

Spaturnio — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 16:42:23 +0000

Nice to read your opinion on these cameras.
I own a GX9 like yours and have an EM5MkII, a Pen-F and a recently bought a Fuji X100V. So far I found no problems with Fuji App and I can download seamlessly my image on the fly with fast connection via USB. I guess it’s either a problem with you X-T30 or with X-T30 in general bu I did not noticed it. Panasonic app on my GX9 drives me crazy because I’m unable to operate geo tagging, no matter which device I use to do that. About B&W I guess it depends on the kind of tastes each one of us has. The best I’ve found so far is in the Pen-F which tramples everything else for the shear number of control and tweaking it allows. This is because I like my B&W to be REALLY punchy with high contrast and very deep blacks (red filter). The fact that the camera allows now as far as 16 different custom mode all dial accessible is a big deal thank to the recent firmware which transformed it to the levels the EM1mk2 experienced. I also prefer the tilty/Filly screen some times because I shoot a lot with a vertical framing. The GX9 is great for the smooth soft B&W involving skin and buttery backgrounds, but here fuji ACROS can do sometimes even better, but I guess we should put lenses in the equation and sensor size as well. The tilting viewfinder is GREAT when filming something because it greatly stabilize my My hold and allows me to move focus on the touchscreen witrhout smearing my glasses in the process. Experience teaches me that Panasonic lenses work better on Panasonic bodies 99% of the times: his is due to the DFD that greatly speeds up proper focusing. There is nothing arcane in that: it is just that the database in the camera only comprises Lumix lenses but not Olympus or Sigma. I did some testing with the 20mm F1.7 (which is slow), and on the GX9 is definitely faster then on the Pen-F or the EM5MkII. Panasonic seems also being slightly less triky when coupled with third part equipments, i.e my Viltrox speedbooster when focusing with Canon EF lenses. I guess it’s the same with the Sigma 56mm you own. In the end, because you switched most of your equipments from Olympus (EM1mkII) to Panasonic (GH5), I cannot fault your decision and in the end, because we already tend to carry around too much stuff, trying to slim down the operating aspects is the most important thing. One thing that really changed the way I use my GX) is a Panasonic leather half case I bought in Japan 2 years ago (I think it was labelled as GX7MkIII grip). It gives the camera that 10mm more space at the bottom that allows my pinky some rest and it also slightly beef up the front grip without changing the size of the camera too much, and now mounting an Olympus 12-40 f2.8 is really confortable