new camera purchase

[ac6000cw]

9 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

FWIW, the EM5ii was my favorite camera ever to hold and shoot with.  Shame the IQ was poopy.  If only they would've engineered it to do 4K I'd probably still be using it.

Which is basically what they did with the E-M5 iii (but with the body re-designed to use plastics to reduce the weight - it's 20% lighter).

[fuzzynormal]

On 2/5/2025 at 1:32 AM, ac6000cw said:

Which is basically what they did with the E-M5 iii (but with the body re-designed to use plastics to reduce the weight - it's 20% lighter).

Yeah, but they also removed the ability to record audio directly into the EM5III cam.  It's not like the EM5II was awesome for audio, but for recording voice it was fine and that worked for me.   Just really bummed the EM5III was ham-strung for video folks like us.  Ultimately, I just got the EM10III (refurbished for $300, so cheap) that had the same video capabilities as the EM5III.  (but still no direct audio)

And the weight of hybrids never mattered to me.  I used to shoot 3/4" video tape.  Everything is easy compared to that.  On my EM5II I used the OEM battery grip and a tank of a 55mm FD lens as my main video rig.  That mass helped.

As it happens, I'm still using my modest EM10III a lot.  It's just not my daily driver.  For that I rely on the GH cameras.  Once you have high speed frame rates at 4K, such as you get with the GH LUMIX'es, it's hard to not to have that production flexibility when shooting run 'n gun. 

The GH cameras deliver a purty picture and cool abilities, but using them leaves me a bit cold.  For some reason I just like holding and using the Olys, even though they were, and are, subpar IQ-wise.

[ac6000cw]

1 hour ago, fuzzynormal said:

Yeah, but they also removed the ability to record audio directly into the EM5III cam.

Do you mean line-level audio input (via the mic jack) i.e. 'PCM Recorder Link' mode as it's called in the menus?

That's also in the E-M5 iii and the E-M1 ii, but was dropped on the later generations (E-M1 iii onwards).

[fuzzynormal]

4 minutes ago, ac6000cw said:

That's also in the E-M5 iii and the E-M1 ii,

Ah.  Yes.  you're right.  What was it then?  There was some reason audio related, I think.  It's been a few years.  Maybe it was a videographer couldn't live monitor the audio recording?  It was something "audio" that held me back.  I also remember the EM5III didn't have 60p 4K, and that bummed me out. 

Trying to grade Oly is always a bit of a let down too.  Doable, but you don't get much leeway with, say, a GH5.

[maxJ4380]

On 2/5/2025 at 7:32 PM, ac6000cw said:

Which is basically what they did with the E-M5 iii (but with the body re-designed to use plastics to reduce the weight - it's 20% lighter).

here's an interesting tibit. I bought a uv torch in the 365nm range i think. for illuminating rocks or rocks that fluoresce under uv light. After playing around with the only rock specimen i own (at the moment) i started pointing it at everything else in the room (as you do... ) Surprisingly the olympus e-m10 ii has small bits in the plastic housing that fluoresce. I know surprised me too.. I guess there all sorts of material in plastic, maybe even recycled stuff but i'm speculating there. i should get some photos for posterity. 

By the way, there's an Olympus  e-m1 iii body on the way. Comes with a v30 card and flash. Low shutter count of 1000 photos. looks mint in the photos. Must have picked a bad day to go against the us dollar, or ebays estimate of currency transactions is extremely optimistic...  Because there was definitely a thump in the guts when i clicked buy it now and the price jumped up about $120 or perhaps buyers remorse kickin in lol. 

 

 

[ac6000cw]

2 hours ago, maxJ4380 said:

By the way, there's an Olympus  e-m1 iii body on the way. Comes with a v30 card and flash. Low shutter count of 1000 photos. looks mint in the photos.

A shutter count of 1000 on a pro-grade camera is almost a brand-new level of usage. You did well to find one with the flash included, as often used ones don't have them. Hopefully it'll come with the original Olympus USB-C cable included - I've found the E-M1 ii/iii I've owned to be a bit picky about USB-C cable quality.

Enjoy 🙂!

[maxJ4380]

yes olympus flash, not sure of the guide number as it doesn't look overly big. but some flash is better than no flash. I presume original cable it has those toroidal rings things surrounding the cable. there's also a plastic molded thingy that i presume secures the cable to camera.  

[ac6000cw]

1 hour ago, maxJ4380 said:

I presume original cable it has those toroidal rings things surrounding the cable. there's also a plastic molded thingy that i presume secures the cable to camera.  

Both correct.

1 hour ago, maxJ4380 said:

yes olympus flash, not sure of the guide number as it doesn't look overly big. but some flash is better than no flash.

I don't think the E-M1 iii had a flash bundled with it, but the E-M1 ii had the FL-LM3 bundled - if you've got that one, the specs (from the E-M1 ii manual) are:

[maxJ4380]

yes its a fl lm3.  I can just make out the model number in a different photo. No idea if it came bundled with the camera. there's no box for the flash only a soft fabric pouch in the photos. Your right about cables, after market cables can be a minefield.  Years ago my blue yeti usb cable died relatively quickly, maybe within 6 weeks.. replacing that with something that works took three different attempts. I recently bought two different 5 pin midi cables. After doing a continuity test with a multimeter, neither was ever going to work as the wrong pins had been wired up. I anticipated that and had bought extra xlr sockets to rewire with anyway.