What Made you choose the Panasonic GF1 or Olympus Pen?

[Rurouni]

I wouldn't get too upset over some of the posts. In any equipment forum there are always 'mine is better than yours' advocates.

Most important for m4/3 in general is that everyone must realise that its a really small community compared to say Nikon/Canon. If some folks keep slagging the other over just the brands, its not going to be healthy for the format at all long term.

If you give me EP-2 or GF1 one I won't mind either they are both nice cameras that can produce nice work in the hands of a good photographer : P Now no stock again argh just when I'm finally free to go camera shopping again!

 

[ugene]

This thread is very similar to what happened in the dpreview.com micro four thirds forum 1-2 months ago... Olympus vs Panasonic, but it has since died down.



Its a bit silly to compare to much between the two brothers as they use the EXACT same sensor, IMAGE quality is the same (from a RAW standpoint). So i'll refrain from adding more comments to what has already been said, just read all the reviews (from the big guys like dpreview and dcresource who have reviewed hundreds of cameras) out there and go down to a shop and test the cameras.

The best image will come from the better photographer as he would be able to make use of the tools that he has

Let the real quality shine through over time, currently for every 10 threads in the dpreview forum, 7-8 are of one camera and the rest, the other, I'll leave you to find that out yourself.

The best camera is still the one that you are cuirrently carrying! Feel happy with your choice, no need to justify your purchase by bashing the alternatives Be confident in the choice that _you_ have made


Disclaimer, I have used:
G1 (6months)
GF1 (since 1st batch launch)
E-P1 (since launch)

Lenses:
Oly 17mm
Pany 14-45mm
Pany 45-200mm
Pany 20mm
Wollensak 25mm (c-mount via adaptor)

 

[vengels]

Don't really like MS colour also. Previously when there to buy a manfrotto tripod worth $300 and they couldn't care less to even ask what i want. I went up to ask, and the guy just lit his cigarette and smoke into my face.:angry::thumbsd:

the blowing of smoke into ur face is too much man..

but i have had good experience with MS color (both branches)..
whether it is buying of my PnS camera or my GF1..
even when i went to buy just silica gel or the photography book by sulhan..

maybe i was just lucky..

 

[pchmj]

I've read the reviews of both camera on dpreview and user review/comments here and in dpreview forum. The pros and cons are weighted differently between different users, depend on what users want and choose accordingly. What's important for person A may not be important to person B.

For me, I choose EP-2 and will be getting by this week and the reasons for choosing PEN is the IBIS (I forsee I'll be using pancake most and no tripod), EVF, better 'OOC' jpeg (I don't like to deal with RAW) and the looks. I weigh these points heavily, AF speed and better LCD screen can't outweigh them.

Personally I like the looks much much more than GF-1, love at first sight. If I get the GF-1, I may be drooling over the PEN if I see one, so better avoid this situation. :bsmilie:

 

[spidey89]

This thread is very similar to what happened in the dpreview.com micro four thirds forum 1-2 months ago... Olympus vs Panasonic, but it has since died down.



Its a bit silly to compare to much between the two brothers as they use the EXACT same sensor, IMAGE quality is the same (from a RAW standpoint). So i'll refrain from adding more comments to what has already been said, just read all the reviews (from the big guys like dpreview and dcresource who have reviewed hundreds of cameras) out there and go down to a shop and test the cameras.

The best image will come from the better photographer as he would be able to make use of the tools that he has

Let the real quality shine through over time, currently for every 10 threads in the dpreview forum, 7-8 are of one camera and the rest, the other, I'll leave you to find that out yourself.

The best camera is still the one that you are cuirrently carrying! Feel happy with your choice, no need to justify your purchase by bashing the alternatives Be confident in the choice that _you_ have made

I believe TS is just curious as to which camera would different people use and at the same time find their pros and cons,like its been said,what works for me might not work for you,some people just want to have good jpeg ooc so E-P1,some don't mind doing PP and at the same time want good video quality so GF1

 

[cwcheong]

My first bought camera is Panasonic, so I choose GF1. So far Panasonic camera give me a very positive review.

 

[drakon09]

After reading the posts here, I can't help but feel this is just another thread started to promote Oly or bash it's competitor Pana. Behind all the arguments backed by "I'm pro so listen to me"... all these bashing has no merits. Wld a pro really use an EP1 to shoot for client assignments? If Oly users can workaround EP1's limitations, so can Pana's users with their GF1. Color not good enuff for you? Jus shoot raw. When someone says that he chooses GF1 bcos of it's high res screen, there's bound to be defenses here to argu tats it's useless to them, strangely. So does that mean EP1's better jpeg color is useless too jus bcos i shoot raw?? I think the shrew reader will soon realise there's alot of hidden marketing agenda behind all these threads. I risked my account getting banned here but I dun care cos if I get banned for my honesty then so be it. I RSIP here today.

It's simple really.

People will always try to justify whatever they got is the best. It's self-affirmation; and if others affirm their choices, even more the better.

Everybody has different needs, different workflow, different preferences; neither camera is a one size fits all solution. In fact no camera is perfect; design by nature is a compromise.

Aundry Gan uses the EP1 for assignments; I'm sure there are other photographers producing commercially-viable images on the GF1. (as well as the E500, L1, D70, 350D!)

No, I really don't think there's a "marketing agenda" - people just want that affirmation that they have made the correct choice.

And just for the record, the high res screen does nothing much for me - I don't do my post-processing on the camera! :angel:

 

[arrowtown]

We are sure everyone and anyone can post personal comments and opinions on this thread. No comments are right nor wrong as rightly pointed out by many folks.

I chose GF1 oover Olympus Pen as it serves my needs well. I am still loving it. What a sweet exchange indeed.:heart:

 

[Ninja23XX]

I so love the EP-2's colours. But my mom asked me why i wanted 2 cameras.:bsmilie: Plus a big "NO" from her, despite me paying for the camera.:dunno: Sigh...

I have a canon DSLR, if you guys didn't know.

 

[Ninja23XX]

I believe TS is just curious as to which camera would different people use and at the same time find their pros and cons,like its been said,what works for me might not work for you,some people just want to have good jpeg ooc so E-P1,some don't mind doing PP and at the same time want good video quality so GF1

My intention was never to have the pros and cons of the different cameras.

But rather, just why you bought that particular camera. I don't need any pros & cons. I've already measured them.

I just want to know that "oomph" factor that made you buy this camera.:bsmilie:

Something like "I bought this camera, because it makes me feel good"

You can talk about the specs, but don't make it look like an arguement among the brands.

 

[spidey89]

My intention was never to have the pros and cons of the different cameras.

But rather, just why you bought that particular camera. I don't need any pros & cons. I've already measured them.

I just want to know that "oomph" factor that made you buy this camera.:bsmilie:

Something like "I bought this camera, because it makes me feel good"

You can talk about the specs, but don't make it look like an arguement among the brands.

Well,it was just a guess,no harm done :bsmilie:

 

[arrowtown]

My intention was never to have the pros and cons of the different cameras.

But rather, just why you bought that particular camera. I don't need any pros & cons. I've already measured them.

I just want to know that "oomph" factor that made you buy this camera.:bsmilie:

Something like "I bought this camera, because it makes me feel good"

You can talk about the specs, but don't make it look like an arguement among the brands.

the oomph factor for me is the light weight & fast AF....i adore the photos taken from my GF1 20mm pancake.

 

[pchmj]

For the oomph factor, it has to be the looks for me (EP-2). Actual thing looks better in real life than in photos, din know the black can look so good (brush metal). Initially wanted to 'gmask' it, but after buying and touching it, no way I'm going to do that.

 

[Ninja23XX]

Well,it was just a guess,no harm done :bsmilie:

No problem friend

 

[Ninja23XX]

I hope to sneak out and buy the EP2 in 2nd week of Jan 2010.:bsmilie:

 

[magicdragon]

I almost went the GF-1 way. It's a very nice camera that comes with built in processing that talks to the Panasonic lenses - correcting the lens' flaws (a very nice touch which I wish Olympus will implement someday).

I went with the Pen EP-2 mainly for the superb viewfinder (I wish someday Panasonic will implement this or an even better imager on their EVF), The built-in stabilization,

I prefer the GUI on the Panasonic because I've become accustomed to the very similar GUI on the LX-3 which I have and still use. I also like Silkypix (although I know I'm in the minority here).

The clincher for me was the EVF of the Pen EP-2 as I have several OM mount Zuiko lenses. If I didn't have any OM Zuiko lenses I would have (I think) bought a GF-1.

Both are capable imaging devices - so stop nitpicking and go shoot some nice pictures with either.

The perfect came for me would be an EP-2 with Pana GUI but Oly Jpeg LOL with manual Leica lenses without the need for an adapter LOL

 

[raychan]

What made me choose the GF1 ?

Well, I bought the GF1 in end Oct solely based on the numerous reviews I've read about it and i was attracted to it's small form factor. Plus the fact that my wife keeps saying that the D2X is too heavy.

After getting rid of my chunky D2X, I used the money to get the GF1. Waited patiently for it too as the stocks come and goes very fast. Fortunately, I managed to get my set from Cathay after a month's wait.....

The images captured by the 14-45 kit lens was reasonably sharp and the AF was quick...
Used it in Beijing and it performed it's tasks flawlessly considering the fact that the temp was -5C at night.

In fact, when I went to WuKeSong, I didn't know it attracted so much interest as I didn't realize that the GF1 isn't released in China yet.

Some of the other shopkeepers came into the shop that I was patronizing just to check out the GF1.

Although I only owned the GF1 for a month plus, I think the M43 format has potential......albeit a lack of lenses for the time being.

What I would like to see in the next generation of GF2, GF3, or EP3, EP4 is the ability to have things like a screw-on handgrip, the old-styled mechanical cable release and bigger-aperture lenses. Once they have that, I'll dump my existing DSLR and go back to M43 cameras.

But, as a travel camera, it has no competition at all.
For my China trip, I packed in a GF1 body, 14-45mm, 45-200mm and the Panasonic flash.
The weight didn't even bother me at all.

If I had brought along my full sized DSLR, I'd probably need a massage everyday once I get back to the hotel....

All in all, its a great travel cam......which is one of the reasons why I chose the GF1 over the full-sized DSLR.

But now that my trip is over, I can revert back to the full-sized DSLRs liao....:bsmilie::bsmilie::bsmilie::bsmilie:

 

[tomcat]

To me, the fact that Panasonic likes to make cameras that 'talk' with the lenses to make in-camera corrections of optical flaws in the lenses is not an advantage. Such practices breed complacency and laziness in carrying out proper lens design. If a camera manufacturer thinks that it can get away with using cheap consumer glass and poor lens design to produce lenses with inferior optical quality by correcting away the optical flaws through in-camera processing, it is misleading to the consumers who think that they are getting superior lenses.

Panasonic did exactly that with the LX3... they put a mediocre lens into the LX3 with lots of chromatic and spherical aberrations and proceeded to correct them away in-camera or through their proprietory algorithms in SilkyPix so that the users do not know that the lens is of lousy quality physically. And this is one of the main reasons why I don't want to buy the GF1.

And now they are doing the same thing with their m43 14-45mm kit zoom lens ... see the example posted here:
http://forums.steves-digicams.com/972618-post7.html

 

[NewArt]

To me, the fact that Panasonic likes to make cameras that 'talk' with the lenses to make in-camera corrections of optical flaws in the lenses is not an advantage. Such practices breed complacency and laziness in carrying out proper lens design. If a camera manufacturer thinks that it can get away with using cheap consumer glass and poor lens design to produce lenses with inferior optical quality by correcting away the optical flaws through in-camera processing, it is misleading to the consumers who think that they are getting superior lenses.

Panasonic did exactly that with the LX3... they put a mediocre lens into the LX3 with lots of chromatic and spherical aberrations and proceeded to correct them away in-camera or through their proprietory algorithms in SilkyPix so that the users do not know that the lens is of lousy quality physically. And this is one of the main reasons why I don't want to buy the GF1.

And now they are doing the same thing with their m43 14-45mm kit zoom lens ... see the example posted here:
http://forums.steves-digicams.com/972618-post7.html

What about the panny 20mm f1.7 lens? Do Panansonic did the same? :dunno:

 

[magicdragon]

TomCat, are Panasonic lenses really that bad? I thought they were quite reasonable but made better with Panasonic's trickery/wizardry. Edit: Wow say that post - it's really quite bad isnt it! Going to try another developer for my LX-3 raw pics...

NewArt, I believe all panasonic lenses will/should do the same ie "talk" to the camera so that the camera can do auto processing to correct the aberrations. That was/is one of the major plus points for me. ie same lens on another manufacturer's m4/3 body will show up the aberrations.