My Road to Panasonic

Currently, I am using Panasonic Lumix Micro Four Thirds camera bodies using mostly Panasonic lenses with a couple of Olympus lenses. How did I get to this configuration? Wait a minute, did you just doze off? Well, go ahead and sleep while I explain.

In film days, my first SLRs were Minolta and I loved them. Eventually I moved on to Canon. I have been in and out of photography many times and the last time I got back in was around eight years ago. At that time, I decided I wanted to go with a somewhat smaller DSLR so I took a look at Olympus 4/3 cameras. I had always admired the Olympus OM series and their compactness; the 4/3 Olympus cameras looked like a fine digital follow-on. My first purchase was an Olympus E-410 with two kit lenses.

Olympus E-410

Six months later I moved up to an Olympus E-520 to get more features, most notably, in-body image stabilization. Shortly after the E-520, I purchased one of my favorite lenses of all time, the Olympus Zuiko 12-60mm f2.8-4.0 Digital ED SWD Lens. This was my "goto" lens for several years.

Olympus E-520

After using the E-520 for over three years I was ready to move up to the next range of Olympus cameras (those with two digits in the name instead of three). I picked up a used Olympus E-30 from an online pawn shop and now I had my first "serious" 4/3 camera. It was half again as big as the E-520, had an LCD readout on the top for all the important settings, two wheels for adjusting those settings, a fully articulating LCD screen; a real big boy's camera.

Olympus E-30

While I was enjoying my E-30, I had been reading a lot about mirrorless cameras, in particular, micro four thirds (MFT) from both Olympus and Panasonic. About six months after buying the E-30, I decided to give MFT a try while still holding onto my E-30 in case I didn't like it. The Panasonic Lumix G3 had just come out and the price was reasonable so I ordered one from Amazon. I liked the G3 but thought it was a little too simple for my use. It also felt very plasticky. And then the Olympus OM-D E-M5 was announced and it had some of the best reviews I had ever seen, particularly for a mirrorless camera. It seemed like a game-changing camera so I ordered one along with everyone else (I had to wait quite awhile before it actually arrived).

Panasonic Lumix DMC G3

The E-M5 confirmed me as a micro four thirds enthusiast. I really liked the image quality and the feature set of the camera. The E-30 and all of my accumulated 4/3 lenses went on eBay to find new homes. I took the E-M5 to Europe for an extended visit and it performed admirably. However, I did have some nagging ergonomic issues where I was constantly pushing some buttons unintentionally. Six months pass (are you sensing a pattern here?). I wanted to expand my video capability and had read a lot about how good the Panasonic GH2 was with hacked firmware. The G3, which I hadn't been using much, went to eBay and a new GH2 arrived on my doorstep.

Olympus OM-D E-M5

Here I am going to break the six month new camera cycle. About the time the GH2 arrived, the GH3 was announced, so the two-month old GH2 was given to my son and I moved up. The GH3 had so many nice features compared to the GH2; the ergonomics were better (for me) and HD at 60 fps would prove to be useful, as well. Here is were I mentally started to separate from Olympus. The GH3 was just easier to use than the E-M5. With a good lens, the IQ results were similar between the two for stills and the GH3 was just plain superior at video.

Panasonic Lumix DMC GH2

Panasonic Lumix DMC GH3

I used the GH3 and the E-M5 for most of 2013 and 2014. I tried to think of the E-M5 as my "stills" camera and the GH3 as my "video" camera, but I noticed that I reached for the GH3 far more often than the E-M5, regardless of the type of shooting. It just felt better in my hands. Toward the end of the year, the Olympus OM-D E-M1 came out and I had to have one. Bye bye, E-M5. With the 12-40mm f2.8 Pro lens, the E-M1 was a superior stills camera but I still used the GH3 a lot. 

Olympus OM-D E-M1

About this time, I started to have a serious talk with myself regarding the use of multiple camera brands when I clearly had a preference. I guess I felt bad about abandoning Olympus after so many happy years together. But abandon them I did. I sold my almost new E-M1 and all but two of my Olympus lenses. I think Olympus continuously trying for the "retro" look has been a drag on their ergonomics. They still produce great cameras and lenses but I'm not sure how in touch they are with the marketplace. And the OM-D line is named, in order of capability, E-M10, E-M5, and E-M1. Talk about painting themselves into a corner. Any successor to the E-M1 is going to cause a lot of model confusion (E-M0, anyone?). 

Panasonic Lumix DMC GH4

So, no more Olympus cameras but what about my insatiable and maybe irrational appetite for new cameras? Lucky for me, Panasonic is cranking out lots of new models. Recently, I moved from the GH3 to the GH4 (I'll write a future post on why 4K is important now). I also have a GX7 and a GM5. The GX7 is a super travel camera and the GM5 is, well, just cute. One of these days, Panasonic is going to figure out 5-axis IBIS and it might be game over.

Panasonic Lumix DMC GX7

Panasonic Lumix DMC GM5