| IN PRAISE OF MICRO FOUR THIRDS (and the Panasonic GH2): | |
This essay tells the story of how this Nikon SLR shooter stumbled upon and fell in love with a Panasonic Micro Four Thirds camera.
I do a lot of hiking and backpacking photography. And I like to bring my big SLR and many heavy lenses on all of my hiking trips. But weight is an important consideration on some hiking trips, so I started fantasizing about how nice it would be if all of my equipment was lighter and smaller. I had been eyeballing the new mirrorless cameras that have become popular in 2010; instead of having a mirror and optical viewfinder the way a standard SLR does, a mirrorless camera uses the sensor and an LCD to help you compose the image, much like a point-and-shoot camera. By eliminating the space required for the mirror, manufacturers can make the camera slightly smaller. But while these cameras may seem more like point-and-shoots, they take interchangable lenses and their image quality is close if not equal to that of dSLR's. Both the Sony NEX and the Samsung NX systems have intrigued me, but their lens offerings don't inspire me; nobody makes a good ultra-wide angle prime or zoom for these mirrorless systems.
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Panasonic GH2 with 7-14mm f/4.0 at 7mm.
So what the heck is "Micro Four Thirds"? I had heard of "Four Thirds" and "Micro Four Thirds" for several years now, but I never paid much attention or understood what these really meant, so I finally decided to do a little research. "Four Thirds" is an open standard of camera lead mostly by Panasonic and Olympus. It uses a sensor slightly smaller than APS-C (DX) for a crop factor of 2.0 instead of APS-C's 1.5, which allows cameras and lenses to be much smaller than what I'm used to in the 35mm world. Micro Four Thirds (MFT) is the mirrorless version of Four Thirds and allows lenses to be even smaller. OK, this sounds promising! (A good primer can be found here.) What got me really excited about Micro Four Thirds is the lens selection... not just standard consumer grade zooms, but two ultra-wide angle lens offerings, many pancake primes, super-telephotos, and even a fisheye, and a Leica-designed macro lens. Awesome!
My Initial Reservations:
- IMAGE QUALITY: Smaller sensor means worse image quality and lower resolution, right? Well for size, I'm willing to sacrifice just a bit. But when I saw a chart that illustrated the size difference between DX and MFT and I saw the DPreview image test between the Nikon D7000 and the Panasonic GH2, I realized that sensor size really wasn't a deal-breaker for me: the Panasonic GH2 offers image quality comparable to Nikon's DX cameras. And to put sensor size into perspective, the Micro Four Thirds sensor size is still FOUR TIMES BIGGER than the best point and shoot camera. So if a small-sensored 10mp Canon G12 can make photographers happy, can't a Panasonic MFT camera with four times the sensor size? But of course!
- IMAGE RATIO: As an SLR shooter, my ratio of choice is 3:2. The whole name "Four Thirds" turns me off because the 4:3 ratio is what point-and-shoot cameras typically use. If I used a Four Thirds or Micro Four Thirds camera, I would have to crop in order to get my preferred 3:2 ratio, right? Amazingly, Panasonic solved that issue with ME specifically in mind! On several of the models (including the GH2 which I wound up choosing), Panasonic uses a sensor that's bigger than the actual image circle. When you choose between different ratios, the camera actually captures images using differently-placed rectangles vs. simply cropping a 4:3 image the way some point-and-shoots do. Brilliant!
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Panasonic GH2 with Olympus 9-18mm f/4.0-5.6 at 9mm.
Entering the Micro Four Thirds market in January 2011, I chose the Panasonic GH2, the 16mp flagship model that takes high resolution stills and is known to have exceptional movie mode as well. While I am not a professional camera reviewer and I don't like to measurebate either, I am pretty serious about image quality and resolution since I sell my work and often print fairly large. I was pleasantly surprised that resolution and detail are slightly better than my Nikon D300 and high-ISO noise is comparable.
THE GOOD:
- Being a fair amount smaller and lighter than a standard dSLR, it's a real joy carrying this camera around with a handful of lenses. The best camera is the one you bring with you.
- Great resolution and detail in images. High-ISO noise comparable to the Nikon D300 (noisier than a high-end full-frame, but not bad at all).
- The adjustable LCD screen makes for all sorts of creative possibilites that SLR-shooters have trouble with. The electronic viewfinder is easy to use.
- Auto-focus is amazingly fast for a contrast-detect system. This isn't your mom's point-and-shoot camera. Manual focus shows the focus area zoomed in on the LCD, allowing you to focus precisely.
THE BAD:
- Because the camera is so small and buttons are all over the place, it's very easy to hit buttons when you don't mean to. This isn't a show stopper, but it is a bit irritating at times.
- JPEG output has a lot of chroma noise, even at base ISO. This seems to be biggest complaint about the camera. If you are a RAW shooter like me, this isn't an issue. Shooting and processing RAW gives you much, much, much better output.
Panasonic GH2 with Panasonic 100-300mm f/4.0-5.6 at 150mm.
Aside from the Panasonic GH2, the selection of high-end lenses is what got me all excited about Micro Four Thirds. Sony and Samsung need to play catch-up to be taken more seriously in the mirrorless market. Below I have listed my favorite lenses that I use. While there are many other lenses on the market, I believe that what makes m43 special is the availability of TWO ultra-wide angle zooms and several high-quality bright primes like the 12mm, 25mm, and 45mm.
- Panasonic 14-140mm f/4.0-5.8 OIS: A general purpose super-zoom, this is one of the kit lenses. It's a fairly heavy lens by MFT standards, but it is still smaller and lighter than the comparable Nikon 18-200mm zoom. The huge range (28-280mm 35mm equivilent) saves you from changing lenses often. I was expecting to not like this kit lens, but it is surprisingly sharp throughout the entire range with things getting only slightly soft at the far end. I would recommend this for general purpose.
- Panasonic 7-14mm f/4.0: This is my favorite, favorite lens! An ultra wide-angle lens (14mm-28mm 35mm equivilent) tack sharp from corner to corner, this is an amazing lens that is glued to my camera most of the time. I have nothing bad to say about this lens except that it doesn't take filters. It could be considered MFT's answer to the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens.
- Olympus 9-18mm F/4.0-5.6: This smaller wide-angle zoom isn't as extreme as Pany's 7-14mm, but it is smaller and lighter, takes filters, and makes for a wonderful hiking lens. While the corners are soft wide open, stepping down to 5.6 makes this a good landscaper lens. When hiking, I take this instead of the 7-14mm.
- Panasonic/Leica 45mm f/2.8 Macro: Designed by Leica and manufactured by Panasonic, you know this will be good, but expensive! This lens is razor sharp and I have been blown away by the results and the joy of manually focusing on the GH2. This lens convinced me to sell my old Nikkor 105mm macro on eBay.
- Olympus 12mm f/2.0: Released in 2011, Oly's 12mm wide-angle prime is an amazingly sharp and bright lens with edge to edge sharpness. Build quality is very high-end and so is the sticker price!
- Panasonic/Leica 25mm f/1.4: Designed by Leica and manufactured by Panasonic, this 50mm-equivalent bright lens is tack sharp and offers really creamy bokeh in the out-of-focus areas.
- Olympus 45mm f/1.8: Olympus's second high-end prime of 2011, perfect for portraits and not too hard on the wallet. In comparing this lens to the Pany/Leica 45mm, the Panasonic can obviously focus much closer to a subject, but the Olympus lens is brighter and has creamier bokeh. This is a great little lens!
- Panasonic 100-300mm f/4.0-5.6: This is Panasonic's king of the telephoto zooms; it's a monster lens by m43 standards, but it takes advantage of the x2 crop factor, giving the equivalent of a 200-600mm zoom by 35mm standards. It's best used in brighter light conditions and is quite sharp up to about 220mm when things soften slightly. Still, this lens allows you to feel like the paparazzi.
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Panasonic GH2 with Panasonic/Leica 45mm 2.8 Macro.
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