Looking at what to do next gear wise, I have narrowed down the contenders to five. Two M43 options and , Fuji and two Canon options.
What I am after is not a great deal;
More depth, especially with sport grade af,
More reach, or at least a better long lens option,
Possibly a wide option.
More pixels? not really unless there is a free bonus nature to them (see below)
Cropped from a 20mp image file, taken with a mid range zoom.
Each option has it’s benefits and cautions, so lets look at the maths.
Olympus ($5000au).
The EM1 mk3 and 100-400 Olympus combination offers more reach (800mm equiv), more depth (400k shutter and better af) with some more features. It is also fully compatible with my existing kit.
Pro’s; Everything fits, everything is familiar, longevity with Olympus is secured for a while longer.
Con’s; Throwing more money into a possibly dead system path.
Panasonic ($5000au).
This offers me a same-but-different camera in the G9 with some areas of clear superiority over my EM1 mk2 and some areas where it is a little weaker. I feel the G9 is a slightly better camera than the EM1 mk2, but slightly weaker than the EM1 mk3. One of the benefits, their DFD focussing, which nails some situations, does have a couple of caveats. The first is a reliance on Panasonic lenses, the second is a “wobble” effect through the view finder when focusing.
The lenses are the 100-400 Leica which has suffered some mixed reviews, but is on the whole near enough to the Olympus lens and half a stop faster through most of the range. The second lens that just squeezes into the budget is the Leica 8-18.
Pro’s; More M43, but a different feature set, more reach, more width, future proofing.
Con’s; exactly my needs addressed, nothing more, only about a stop of overall benefit in low light.
Canon RF ($7-9000au).
Canon is suddenly kicking some serious goals and clearly starting the shift to mirrorless , not just as a perceived forced transition, but as a real embracing the benefits first route.
The R6 offers no more pixels than my current cameras, but it does offer up to three stops more realistically useable, ISO range. The af looks top notch and the dynamic range is wider than my M43 cameras.
Match this with their 100-500 lens, which looks to be magnificent and you have a combo that is not necessarily capable of better maximum quality, but really has the potential of being a “more often” quality image maker.
The lens logic is interesting. Loosing 300mm equivalent reach, the lens acts like (in M43 terms) an f2-4.5 lens in equivalent depth of field thanks to the sensor size and power.
Add to this either the 24-105 L or even the 24-240 zoom (plenty good enough for small print and facebook) and there is a full kit, but at $10,000 or so.
Pro’s; best in class overall performance from a 20mp sensor, future proofing and depth
Con’s; cost, two systems and possible over kill.
Canon EOS ($4500 +if a standard lens is added)
A 90D and 100-400 L II are a solid, high performance sports rig. Addressing the specifics of above, this combo adds the SLR advantages of much better battery endurance (2000 odd shots), good reach (640mm) and depth (200k shutter fires), with cropping (30+mp) in a fit to purpose camera and lens kit. The lens also transitions into RF well, only being beaten by the 100-500, which is $1000 dearer.
The 90D gets mixed reviews with OVF af performance (DPreview canned it openly), but great reviews for live view performance. I know however, that the camera offers high af customisation, which is almost never taken into account in reviews.
Pro’s; Good value, good future pathway, more pixels (if needed), SLR benefits.
Con’s; An SLR (!), iffy top tier sports af, no more M43 depth.
Fuji ($5000).
The XT4 is like the G9, same, but different. The long lens is strong, the semi free standard is a cut above and if a 14mm were added, would make a full kit.
The plasticky tele is annoying, but optically strong, the camera offers a genuine 1-2 stop ISO benefit, more pixels and the jpeg work flow is tempting. The ability to have my M43 kit intact, complimented by a full Fuji kit is really tempting. All other options either add little in the way of image options, or they are not complete in their own right.
For some reason, running this with M43 feels right, as I have done this before in the early days of mirrorless.
Pro’s; A sensor that acts like a Full frame, but with a cropping benefits, glassy images, jpeg work flow, great glass.
Con’s; Not really any except the plastic lens barrel and the need for a grip to balance the camera/lens.
Ready for the Black Friday through Christmas sales, where I end up may surprise even me.