There is still a lot to learn about the camera and using it is still not routine for me. Several pictures of the children failed because of too slow a shutterspeed. Maybe I should use Auto ISO for these snapshots or just learn to use the camera faster. Because of the foliage there is a limited amount of light in the forest, especially when the sun is low on the sky in the evening. The following picture illustrates that quite well.
The weakness of the smaller sensor of a MFT (or m43) compared to a DSLR should mainly be a problem in low light. The sensor of the Olympus E-P2 is of an older generation than that of the current DSLR:s, so that should make the difference even bigger. Some testing was required.
No problems yet in fairly good light: ISO 200 f5.6 1/10 s.
ISO 200 f4.0 2 s is still ok. Pixelpeeping would not reveal much.
ISO 200 f4.0 4 s would be ok, but the exposure should be right from the start. In this picture I lightened up the dark parts by about 1.3 EV in Lightroom and when pixelpeeping the noise is clearly visible, though it might not be obvious in this size.
The same exposure as above. The autofocus focuses well against the moon, but anything else is very uncertain. This picture reveals some noise removal artifacts and I should try some different values for the noise parameters in Lightroom. For pictures in low light the postprocessing plays an important role. A bunch of noise removal software is available, but Lightroom should suffice for my needs. I just need to learn to use it.
The new system does have a nice advantage in addition to the size and weight. The 40-150 lens (80-300 mm equivalent) is very small and light, and there is no reason to leave it at home. It enables picking out details that shorter focal could not do.
The longer telezoom also offers a nice focal length for isolating smaller details, though I would like it to have a shorter close focusing limit.
What more is there to say about the camera? It turned out that I had a very realistic view of its capabilities when I got it and I do think it is a good compromise at least for me. This far I don't feel like I have given up very much image quality wise.
For your reference of carry bags, I've got two of them, both from Otrlieb, PROTECT model is a full waterproof and a SNAP model (size M), its 'waterproof means rain. Former I use in a kayak trips and latter on hikings (mostly on waist belt). So in both of them, I can carry a GF3 body plus two lenses (plus some other stuff e.g. a phone). The Snap is much quicker to use but its filling is quite poor thus more vulnerable for shaking.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, I didn't even think of Ortlieb. They should be available locally, so I will have to take a look at them.
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