Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

My daughter wants to get a camera system and has been looking at Sony FF and the OM System. She wants a camera that's light, portable, travel ready with the ability to do a myriad of options to include wildlife, she doesn't want a bridge camera. She's a novice but her husband is extremely good however he has the Canon mk5, whatever version, and the lenses to go with it and is adamant about his DSLR....doesn't talk mirrorless since he won't be changing systems.

That camera and lenses are far too large for her liking, and she has been doing her own research and basically narrowed it down to the aforementioned choices on her own. She has now asked me for recommendations, probably the last person to ask. She likes the size and convenience of the OM System but likes some of the features of the new Sony A7IV. The only thing I could explain to her was the cost of Sony and lenses can get quite expensive, but it is an excellent system. Since she is a novice, the learning curve would be steep but does have help via the husband. I also mentioned she look at Nikon and Canon mirrorless entry options.

OTOH, understanding the OM system is a totally different system (MFT), its smaller, much lighter and most likely cheaper and probably not as good for wildlife as the Sony but does have a good selection of lenses.

That being said, I was concerned about the future of OM and its camera systems and could advise her only on that. I've researched this site, found a little info but I would be interested in hearing comments about some of the members thoughts on these systems for a newbie in photography. All comments, good or bad, are greatly appreciated....Cheers.

PS, cost is somewhat a consideration but not the driving force.

BebuLamar

If she wants small the OM system is better because once you have the big lenses for wildlife no FF camera is small any more. Actually for wildlife I do not think the MFT system is that much less capable than a FF system.

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

I agree with the size factor since I know size and weight will be a factor plus the issue of experience...Thank you Bebu

BebuLamar

As you can see while the Sony A7 series body is significantly smaller than a Canon DSLR but when you have a 600mm lens on both they are about the same.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

I seriously doubt the weight of a Sony body and lens will be that much different than her husband’s kit? This is probably water over the dam, but I’m a puzzled why she isn’t considering Canon’s R series mirrorless. The Sony bodies have a reputation for their complicated menu systems, especially for novice users. Regardless, I think she’d be happy with the OM for a long time. I’ve personally never handled or tried Olympus, now OM, but they have a lot of devoted users and fans.

Peteso Loc: Blacks Hills

I have both the Sony A7Riv (for landscape photography) and the Olympus systems. The Oly system is superior for wildlife, but stick with the Oly bodies that have the Pro Capture shutter feature and Pro lenses for image quality. Camera selection involves trade-offs, in this case weight and image quality advantages. I wouldn’t worry a lot about the future of micro 4/3 technology. Worst case scenario is it’s going to be around for a while and you’ll be able to find gear online for a very long time. I’m glad I have it because if it disappears from the market, I think it’s superior to the other crop sensor options.

bikerguy

Three years ago my wife and I switched from Canon to OM. It is a much better choice for size and quality of the lenses. We do a lot of birding and wildlife, the OM-1 paired with the 100-400 is substantially lighter than the equivalent full frame and the results are terrific. If cost is not object the 150-400 is larger and superb. Even though it is heavier than the 100-400 it is much lighter than the Canon or Sony equivalent.

We will never leave OM. Even if OM should fail the system will continue to work.

n4jee Loc: New Bern, NC

She might consider the A7c. It has all the features of it's bigger brothers but the size of the APS-C a6000 series.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The full-frame equipment is heavy and expensive, across all brands. Unless there's some sort of lack of sharing dynamic in their marriage, the logical mirrorless is something from the EOS R mirrorless products to share the EF lenses.

The m4/3 sensor format is a 2x crop factor. Some of the cameras are the size of a large deck of cards. The lenses are smaller, but when attached to a deck of cards, it's an odd 'look', especially when compared to DSLRs or full-frame mirrorless bodies. The results are stunning so what the equipment 'looks like' has nothing to do with the quality of the results.

For the OM-1, the camera looks more like a 'traditional' camera. For weight, the OM-1 is listed as 511gm. For comparison, the EOS 5DIV (DSLR) is 890g, the EOS R6 is 680gm, the Sony a7IV is 658gm. The Olympus is lighter, but not so much as say a 26MP Fuji X100V at 478gm with a 1.5x crop sensor.

bikerguy

The major weight savings with the OM system is in the long and telephoto lenses not the body. Obviously, all of the camera bodies have the same type of equipment inside and therefore are close in weight.

Toment Loc: FL, IL

The A7c with Tamron lenses works for me…

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

Asked the same thing, lenses were too large....I have my doubts though, it could be she doesn't want to be tied to her husbands system, wants her own. She owns her own company, he works for her, maybe an independent streak... ???

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

Thanks Peteso, I think she would be happy with the OM, size and lenses being the big consideration.

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

Thanks n4jee, then there's the issue of larger lenses, but a good recommendation.

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

Thanks CHG, I always look forward to your comments, expertise and many times your jocularity. Having had and own Sony's, I recommended she go to the OM system for weight, compactness, excellent quality, choice of options and cost. Maybe she could be happy with two, maybe three lenses at the most, more if she really gets into it.