Mirrorless Cam Choice - X-Pro1, X-E1, NEX 6, NEX 7, OM-D etc. etc.

Hey everyone.

I'm getting tired of carrying my D800 and 28 1.8 everywhere I go.

I'm wondering if any of you have the following mirrorless cameras and can give a small review/thoughts about the camera and why you like/don't like it.

Fuji X-Pro1 www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilm-x-pro1

Most expensive of the bunch. They say it has the best image quality (along with the X-E1 below which shares the same sensor). The AF is a bit slow and the movie mode is pretty lacking. Has nice hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder which is pretty cool. Looks the best IMHO. Kinda like a leica.


Fuji X-E1 (coming soon) www.dpreview.com/previews/fujifilm-x-e1

2nd most expensive of the bunch. They say it has the best image quality (along with the X-pro1 above which shares the same sensor). The AF is a bit slow and the movie mode is pretty lacking. Has no optical viewfinder only a very good OVF. Includes built in flash (lacking in X-Pro1).

Both Fuji cams have limited controls in movie mode (this bothers me if I were using it professionally for video, but I have other cameras for that. However being limited to 24fps in movies is kinda lame imho. Also the codec they use is not the best for compression.

NOTE: With new firmware the Fuji Cameras have much better Autofocus. So perhaps AF is matching the Sony cameras now (maybe not the NEX-6).




Sony NEX-6 (coming soon) www.dpreview.com/previews/sony-alpha-nex-6

Has some bells and whistles missing from the NEX-7. The main thing that makes it worse than the NEX-7 is that it's not as solid (more plastic) and lacks the 3 dial controls of the seven. Also it's "only" 16MP compared to 24MP on the 7. Has a combination phase/contrast detect AF system, so it's almost as good as the Olympus and better than the 7 in AF.

Both Sony cams have the best video.

Sony NEX-7 www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonynex7

Solid "pro" body, but has propriety flash shoe (the NEX-6 has a universal one) and lacks wifi/gps that's on the NEX-6. Also the AF system is older and not as good as the NEX-6 hybrid AF system.



Olympus OM-D www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympusem5

Has the smallest sensor (micro 4/3... 2 times crop. The others have a APS-C sensor x1.5 crop). Has the fastest AF and kinda looks cool imho. LIke an old camera.

Fuji X-Pro1 because it takes Leica glass.

Scotty wrote: Fuji X-Pro1 because it takes Leica glass.

NEX cams will take NIKON glass (with adapter). And Zeiss.

Generally they say that the Fuji glass is better than the Sony glass, except perhaps the Zeiss 24 1.8. There's more Zeiss coming for Sony too.

I haven't used any of those. But they are a popular topic over on FM -

www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1148533

www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1150105

www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1150431

Kelly

Thanks Kelly, I have read a lot of dpreview but not ventured to fredmiranda on this topic.

I'll read those threads.

Every once in a while there will be a guy who simply goes out and buys one of each. Must be nice to be rich!

(Whoopee, new smilies! )

KCook wrote: Every once in a while there will be a guy who simply goes out and buys one of each. Must be nice to be rich!

(Whoopee, new smilies! )

Ha, I did that with the D800/e.


I'm going to go look at the NEX-7 and the Fuji X-pro 1 today. I'll see which one (if any) feels good to me and then go from there.

I would definitely hold out for the NEX 6 over the 7. The 6 has a standard flash hotshoe, the 7 has the Sony only design. I tried a flash adapter on my old Sony A200 to try to work around that issue, really not a fun exercise.

blinky

KCook wrote: I would definitely hold out for the NEX 6 over the 7. The 6 has a standard flash hotshoe, the 7 has the Sony only design. I tried a flash adapter on my old Sony A200 to try to work around that issue, really not a fun exercise.

blinky

Yes I agree. However after playing with the NEX7 and the Fuji Cams today, I know I really prefer the Fuji for ergonomics and fun. I think i'd never use the viewfinder on the NEX 6 (which is similar to the NEX 7 I tried) as it's a bit too small to use as a viewfinder camera. I love the fuji Optical viewfinder. It's really fun to shoot with. Especially since you can zoom in and use an EVF if needed.

The Nex7 viewfinder is pretty good theough. Gets noisy in low light. Really noisy. That's where having an optical viewfinder is good.

So I'll probably get a Fuji X-Pro1 eventually.

To me the Fuji hybrid viewfinder design sounds super cool. I love shooting with a bright frame, versus simply filling the viewfinder field with what the sensor gets.

old school

KCook wrote: To me the Fuji hybrid viewfinder design sounds super cool. I love shooting with a bright frame, versus simply filling the viewfinder field with what the sensor gets.

old school

I think he's going with the Fuji. I'm going to talk him into a Leica Noctilux.

A fun review of the X-E1:

www.mikekobal.com/blog/?p=6149

Kelly
(PEN spy in training)