MFT Will Do/A Protest/Skipping A Superbowl: Various Older Lumix MFT Gear.
I was sent a protest flier by a friend.
I also brought along an analog favorite this day.
But tiny crop digital solutions ruled the day. MFT was the larger of the two sub APS-C solutions deployed this day.
Why smaller sensors? I am glad I imagined that you asked.
Smaller sensors should mean smaller cameras. It did with these cameras. It is largely my issue with newer MFT cameras that are released. Please allow me to illustrate what I am on about in one picture.
Yeah. No. The OM-3 is gor-jus admittedly but it makes no sense to me that it is larger than a OG A7C while also costing $500 more…. a MFT camera larger and more expensive than a full frame camera? There is not enough retro aesthetic pixie dust in the world to over come this. Especially when there are older MFT cameras that deliver on the size and price promise I feel MFT was meant to fulfill.
Am I glad they made it? Yes. Wholeheartedly yes.
Do I want one? Also a yes. But I will stand down and keep to my current MFT kit.
Why did I not use full frame offerings this day? Easy.
- Discrete.
- No one paid me much mind at all with this kit. Even when wielding the functional full frame equivalent of a 90-300mm zoom lens no one batted an eye. Near any full frame tele zoom lens would have brought more attention.
- Small.
- This also paid dividends when packing kit. I fit three MFT cameras and a number of lenses in a bag so small that it would not even hold the full frame zoom I had first planned to bring.
- More “disposable”.
- The replacement cost involved is hundreds as opposed to much more for other gear. This makes for a much more relaxed vibe when in large crowds. Did I expect anything to jump off? No. And it did not. But even on a regular night in downtown Durham I have have a few clenched moments. No worries here.
- Am I in any real danger? Likely not. Does my dormant NYC watch my back spidey sense kick up nonetheless? Yes.
- Capable.
- If I am honest this gear performed nearly flawlessly. There were very few missed pics. It was more important that I set up and use the gear to maximize results than whet gear I was using. AT the end of the evening I had no regrets.
- AI Denoise.
- The secret weapon of using older and small sensor cameras in low light situations. Images that I would not deem post worthy due to high ISO grain cleaned up very nicely in Lightroom.
On to the images.
The two cameras used.
The G7 has much better AF than its age or specs would indicate. For face and eye detect it both draws a box around the face as well as putting a cross on the closest eye within the box. Nice. The camera I used most this day by far.
The two lenses used.
The Lumix 45-150mm zoom lens is about as unsexy as a lens can get. But much like its 40-150mm cousin over at Olympus…
…it delivers where it matters. IQ. I went for the Panasonic version this time as opposed to my last two MFT benders because:
- Well… Panasonic cameras this time… so a Panasonic lens.
- O.I.S. Where all Olympus cameras have IBIS two of my Panasonic cameras do not. While I can make this work with wide lenses things are much different with a lens that reaches 150mm.
This lens is a no brainer for Panasonic in my book.
- O.I.S. Unlike its Olympus 45mm cousin it has O.I.S. so like the lens above it makes for a better fit for Panasonic.
- Value. Oddly even with O.I.S. it costs about the same as the Olympus lens mentioned above and at f/1.7 it is close enough in aperture spec to the much more expensive Leica branded f/1.2 Lumix 42.5mm that it meets my needs while costing much less. More than a $1,000 less actually.
- Focal length. At a full frame equivalent of 85mm it makes for a fantastic portrait lens.
- Image Quality. Fantastic. I will leave it at that.
Occasion.
As mentioned a protest. I will not languish on my beliefs but I will say that I am a registered independent with a decidedly pro functioning prefrontal cortex and anti sociopath lean. Enough of that. From long ago I do not do Superbowls so I did not miss anything. I can catch the half time show on YouTube later. I am biased because GNX is currently playing on loop in my car. Anyhoo. Here are my keepers.
That was a wrap for the 45-150mm as the sun started to set. That slow aperture was a bit much to deal with at that point so I switched over to the 42.5 mm.
Thoughts.
I like these images. I have no regrets for not going with a larger sensor solution.
Happy capturing.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 
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