I have betrayed my beliefs! I pick up my full frame S5 at the end of the week.
Well, betray is an exaggeration, modify for a specific need maybe.
My commitment to M43 is still very real. I am shooting another JackJumpers game tomorrow night, a national grade basketball game, with no room for error. No fear, no nerves, just anticipation.
Here are the reasons I am sticking with the system.
The math.
No matter how you stack it up, full frame answers always come with a catch. Same reach equals many times the size/weight/price, some lenses are simply not available and many are impractical. No full frame shooter can comfortably carry a full range of lenses covering 16-600 with apertures of f4 or faster in a shoulder bag, simple as that. The M43 trade off is theoretically more high ISO noise and a reduction of the shallow depth of field look, but tobe honest the reduction in performance in both these areas is over stated and M43 (for me) strikes the better balance.
If I had to choose between a occassional and very slight performance penalty or not being able to take the shot, there is no choice. Sometimes I am actually empowered, not hindered.
Examples;
75mm f1.8 is a 150mm f1.8. Not many takers and none are the size of a mini soda can or the price of a run of the mill 75mm.
An early EM5 Mk1 image, showing the quality the system offered in its earliest days. I have an A2 poster print of this and it exceeds the print media in quality.
9mm f1.7 is a 18mm f1.7. Super sharp, super small and light compared to monster full frame equivalents and a very rare wide angle macro.
The power of a f1.7 18mm equiv in a limited environment.
45mm f1.8 that is a 90mm f1.8, that is an over sized thimble. This lens is small enough to fit inside a standard full frame 50mm f1.8. Some M43 lenses are so small, I have taken to placing soft white, table leg foot protector pads to stop me dropping them on each other in my bag. I can also write the focal length on these which helps. Take lens “X” just in case? Why not.
Bokeh enough? Shot wide open, silently and from the hip. Sharp down to individual eye lashes.
300 f4, rated is as one of the best of its type, but one that acts like a full frame 600 f4! No competition and for someone like me not even a consideration. $10,000 plus lenses are specialist tools, cumbersome and too limited in application to be justified. My 300mm can go in my day bag. In my world a full frame 600mm f4 stays in the shop unbought.
Maximum power in a tiny package.
I could continue, but here is the thing. All M43 lenses are good and most replace much dearer/heavier/more expensive full frame equivalents. This means I can buy more, carry more, use them in sensitive locations and for the makers, lens design is easier (which was part of the point).
The end result is a very good 20mp (or more) image from a massive variety of lenses you can afford.
The Cameras.
Pro grade build, built in grip, dual battery and card, near perfect AF, 60 fps, class leading stabilised body with super sharp 20 odd mp sensor? D6, 1Dx etc, all expensive flagship cameras, but three to four times more expensive than the EM1x. Also most lack I.B.I.S, and all lack the build it loss-less 2x tele converter that is M43 unless they sport 40+ mp. High ISO performance? Back to the lenses equation above for a two stop advantage and A-grade ISO 6400+ is no issue with decent processing. There are higher MP cameras, but at huge cost and the pixel density starts to balance things out. Also, you need to ask your self when was the last time someone wanted a massive print off you that would be looked at too close (I have had bill boards printed from cropped M43 images).
ISO 6400 with C1 processing only. In the original file I can read the sponsors logo on the JackJumpers shirt second to back row, left hand side.
Dust cleaning performance, stabilisers, silent shutters etc. Lots of firsts, plenty that still hold true as competitive or class leading. The smaller sensor is easier to stabilise, clean and the silent shutter in the later models is becoming fully useable. My EM1x’s have 400k shutters, but I rarely use the mechanical shutter.
More math.
A depth of field advantage that means I get the very useable DOF of a 2.8 lens at 1.8 and two stops of extra flash strength. Often seen as a disadvantage I would postulate that the DOF of M43 is just about perfect in the professional world. You can shoot wide open without fear that the subject will be a narrow sliver of twitchy sharpness. Ironically, the AF is so accurate it could be workable with that narrow DOF, but does not have to. There is plenty of chance to use shallow depth as the rules still apply, just with longer lenses, but it is not dangerously, impractically shallow.
ISO 6400 wide open at f2.8 holds no fear.
Video.
With Panasonic in the mix, video was always a priority, but now even Olympus is getting it together, with all the above advantages. My kit is genuinely hybrid, mixing and matching as suits.
Two brands. Two brands working towards the same goals, sharing the same lens mount and hot shoe system. There is actually a third brand (Black Magic), but not for stills.
Processing. In an Adobe world M43 is a harder sell, but do yourself a favour and look elsewhere. Capture One, DXO, ON1 etc can all do a better job, and not just with M43. Once I moved the C1, a lot of my qualms disappeared.
So why add a full frame if I am happy?
The one area I cannot beat full frame, the S5 specifically is in super high (dual) ISO performance and dynamic range when shooting video, an area I do not have an equivalent to ON1 No Noise for, although the BMPCC4k and SH6 came close, but with their own issues.
The S5 delivers good enough results to make a difference without me having to go into the above “bad math” equivalents. Delivering fullframe benefits while staying M43 small (smaller than a G9) with very decent, light weight lenses. The 20-60 kit and 24 to 85mm f1.8 lenses are excellent, do the job and keep the whole thing sane. There was simply no better value option that addresses all of my needs. Ironically, one of the other benefits of the system is Super 35 or the crop sensor option for video.
It will not grow beyond this because it does not have to.
If the S5 did not deliver, I would have stuck to M43 offerings with their various considerations, like the GH5.2 (enough really, but not much more than I have), GH6 (price/storage), GH5s (price and stabiliser) or BMPCC4k (stabiliser/size/AF), which would likely have dealt with the problem well enough, but the S5 specifically addressed each with a better balanced and overall cheaper alternative.
This is not really a format thing, more of a specific camera for a soecific need, much like my existing kit of EM1x’s for sport, G9’s as hybrids and EM1.2’s as work horse, day cameras. If there was a genuine M43 alternative in this soecific case I would have gone for it.