Who, What, Why?

[snkenai]

Who has moved to NEX, from m4/3, and is keeping both, and why. Please tell us how is working for you, and what you plan for future gear shift, or none.
Thanks,

 

[kevistopheles]

I made that move. I've been using m43 for about 2-3 years and I bought a NEX-C3 and am selling off most of my m43 gear. I sold my GH2 and 14-45 and 45-200 zooms. I am going to keep 1 or 2 bodies (a Panasonic GX1 and either an E-P1 or a GF2) and 3 primes (Panasonic 14/2.5, Panasonic/Leica 25/1.4 and an Olympus 45/1.8) I came to the NEX because I really love using manual focus lenses. The ease of adapting lenses is what brought me to m43 from my DSLRs. As a platform for using legacy glass I think the NEX is unequaled. The IQ will knock your socks off, the color is quite good (although can be over saturated much like the fabled "Olympus color" and overall the NEX is a real pleasure to shoot with. I don't particularly like the UI...but I have never liked Sony's UIs. That said, I have my NEX-C3 setup the way I like it and armed with my Konica 24/2.8 or Olympus Pen-F 38/1.8 it is a real pleasure to use. It has become my first choice when I want to make images. I am keeping the m43 setup because frankly NEX doesn't have a great selection if native lenses. The good ones are REALLY pricey like the Zeiss 24/1.4 and too few. If I was to pick up a native lens for the NEX it would probably be the Sigma 30/1.8 but for now I have chosen to make my NEX single purpose...a digital platform for my legacy lenses. My m43 is for when I want to use AF or generally move quickly and bit a bit more spontaneous. Right now they seem to co-exist comfortably. S0 while I did consider selling ALL my m43 gear until NEX has a more mature set of native glass I'll stay where I am.

Future gear shifts? The C3 really is giving me what I need and I am not finding that I need or want and EVF. I even sold my GH2 on the m43 side so no EVF there either. If NEX ended up with lenses that can hold their own with lenses like O12/2 P14/1.5, P20/1.7, PL25/1.4 or Olympus 45/1.8 (optically and affordability). I would consider jumping entirely to NEX and at that point I would probably look to whatever was the current version of the NEX7 for the additional controls.

 

[kevwil]

I'm in the same boat, although I'm less invested in legacy glass and still maintain my m43 kit as my main kit.

 

[RT_Panther]

Ditto here.
I keep my E-PL2 body mainly because of the native MFT glass that's available. My M. Zuiko collection consists of the 17mm & 45mm. My Leica collection consists of the 25mm and 45mm MACRO. Next on the list is the M. Zuiko 75mm ƒ1.8 - there is no native NEX/eMount equivalent to this 75mm beast of a prime.

 

[snkenai]

Thanks to you all that respond. I've been wanting to try the NEX line, but cannot really afford another system. So was considering just moving completely to NEX. I don't have auto focus lenses at this time for my E-p2, just my adapted lenses. I stay mostly with 24mm and 50mm now. I'm pretty flexible with focal length in that range. I do mostly outdoor rural, close-in and macro, with occasional family pictures.

 

[RT_Panther]

Thanks to you all that respond. I've been wanting to try the NEX line, but cannot really afford another system. So was considering just moving completely to NEX. I don't have auto focus lenses at this time for my E-p2, just my adapted lenses. I stay mostly with 24mm and 50mm now. I'm pretty flexible with focal length in that range. I do mostly outdoor rural, close-in and macro, with occasional family pictures.

If you want to only shoot with native lenses, then Micro Four Thirds is preferred system. There's already a huge native lens base with still even more coming.
BUT....like you said, your only lenses are adapted ones and if I was only shooting with adapted non-native lenses, then I'd go with NEX for sure!

 

[kevistopheles]

If you want to only shoot with native lenses, then Micro Four Thirds is preferred system. There's already a huge native lens base with still even more coming.
BUT....like you said, your only lenses are adapted ones and if I was only shooting with adapted non-native lenses, then I'd go with NEX for sure!

I agree. If you're going with adapted lenses then NEX is far and away the best choice. I think of it the same way I would an M8. Great IQ, works wonderfully with MF and unlike the M8 very pocketable (depending on the lens). If you want or need native lenses then m43 has a better set of high quality lenses available that NEX cannot compare to in selection or quality throughout the range. Since there are times when I need both I maintain two systems. That said, if I could only keep one I would probably choose the NEX because I could sell my remaining m43 lenses for more than my NEX and legacy lenses would fetch.

 

[snkenai]

Probably going to list my E-p2 for sale in the next few days. Still debating.

 

[eno789]

I bought my m43 cameras earlier. Because I can adapt MF lenses on both systems I'm keeping both. I enjoy the peaking feature, better dynamic range and high ISO of the 5N. The different crop factor and DoF can actually be used as advantage. I generally like the Panasonic menu system better. I also like the fully articulated LCD of the G series. There're MF lenses of certain focal lengths that I use on one system more than the other, e.g. 24mm and 28mm, I mostly use on NEX.

 

[dbmiller]

I never bought a m43 camera. I do have an LTM->m43 adapter, which I bought thinking I was going to get one, but I never was happy with any of the m43 cameras when I tried them in the stores. The NEX was the camera that got me to finally buy.