An Ode to Micro Four Thirds

The "first photo on MFT" thread on DPReview has gotten me thinking about all of the MFT bodies I've used over the years, so I thought it might be fun to look back on all of them, how many shots I have from each in my library and one of my favorite photos from each!

Side Note: The usage numbers are obviously imperfect since it doesn't account for the ones that got thrown away (I try to be brutal about culling bad photos), but it's a general guideline for how extensively they got used.

GF1 - 7,077 (this shot with 20/1.7)
The OG. Bought this as I wound down my "professional" shooting with two D700's when my daughter was born. I was instantly hooked by its Face Detect AF and LCD screen which allowed me to shoot much more freely than I could with a dSLR pressed against my face.

E-PL1 - 74 (this shot with 20/1.7)
Obviously didn't get along well with this body. To be honest, I don't even remember what I ended up doing with it.

GF2 (x2) - 12,595 (this shot with Panasonic 45-200/4.0-5.6)
Sort of the unsung hero of my camera history - I shot so much with these, but I sometimes forget them. A photo will pop up somewhere and I think "That's a great photo, what did I shoot it with?" and more often than not it's the GF2.

GM1 - 12,943 (this shot with 45/1.8)
I took this camera evvvvvverywhere with me in a little hip-holster. Captured so many great photos I wouldn't have otherwise. But like many others, this eventually got replace by a smartphone. That said, I also used it attach to the back of my bike to automatically take photos on rides for years after it was "replaced" by the next camera on this list...

E-M5 - 9,385 (this shot with 14/2.5)
This was the other nail in the coffin for the GM1, due to the IS. An extremely satisfying camera.

E-M1 (x2) - 59,104 (this shot with 40-150/2.8)
Needless to say, this camera became my workhorse. At this point, it was clear that MFT gear could in fact shoot sports - something I did with my Pro Canon and Nikon gear and got back into with the E-M1.

PEN-F - 1,772 (this shot with 7.5/3.5 FE)
Looks great, but didn't like the EVF and the slow readout was a pain indoors.

E-M1 Mark III (x2) - 38,204 (this shot with 8-25/4)
My current workhorse. What can you say about it that hasn't already been said? Such a fantastic set of functionality - solid on both the fundamentals for many types of photography, but with a few creative tricks up its sleeve!

E-P7 - 1,553 (this shot with 20/1.7 + 10% Cinebloom filter)
Bought this in hopes that it would be my "go anywhere" camera, but the jury's still out on that one. It's a lovely little camera, but I still find myself gravitating back to the E-M1 due to the in-body Focus Stacking, Phase Detect AF, etc.

Please feel free to share your own MFT history here!

What a great idea for a thread.

My journey started with the Panasonic G1 and the 100-300mm lens for bird photography somewhere in the late single digit 2000’s. When the Olympus E-M5 came out, it was an amazing camera in its time and in addition to great IBIS and very quick AF, it actually had useable video. I used that camera for several years and replaced the 100-300mm (which stopped working) with the PL100-400mm. When my E-M5 finally started to show its age with the clock not retaining the time and a few other quirks, Panasonic just released the G9 and I went in that direction. To this day, I still use the G9 / PL100-400mm combination and the camera body is still in excellent condition with no issues. In late 2019, I added the Olympus E-M5 Mark iii to my kit since I missed the compact size of the earlier E-M5 I had and we now finally had a small MFT camera with PDAF. This year, I’m on the lookout for a better low-light video camera, preferably MFT with no IBIS and hoping Panasonic will release something with PDAF like a GH5S Mark ii.

An invitation I'll accept, and encourage others to do so.

For me it's as much about the lenses as bodies. I've tried to pick an example for each body so the set also shows the capabilities of ( my limited subset of ) the lens range.

My original G1, 14-45 kit lens. A much better lens than its price might have suggested. This shot was also one of my first occasions when I realised that IS would let me push exposure times up beyond the old 1 / focal length guidance.

GF1, Panasonic 7-14. The ultra-wide is not something I use that often, but when it's needed it's invaluable. Probably my favourite lens. I still have and use the camera, mainly with a 20 / f1.7

GH4 + Panasonic 12-35 / f2.8 which became the work horses, until the GH4 died ....

and was replaced by a G9. Here with my holiday walkabout lens, a 14-140 that originally came with the GH4.

It would take a while to hunt out relevant images, but as a quick history mine looks something like this:

G5 with 14-42mm kit lens, plus 45-150mm. Quickly upgraded to 14-140mm Mk1 and then sold the original two lenses. Later added the 25mm f1.4, the 12-35mm f2.8, the 35-100mm f2.8 and the 100-300mm. Swapped that for the Oly 75-300mm, then also got the Oly 75mm f1.8. Swapped the 14-140mm for the Mk2. Probably a few others also over the years that I’ve forgotten!

Somewhere in amongst all of those lenses I also went from the G5 to the G7, the G80 and then the G9, which I now have two of alongside the S5s I use for work. Can’t see me switching from the G9 anytime soon as it’s such a brilliant body for travelling 😊

I started in 2010 with the GF1 and both kit lenses (20/1.7 and 14-45). I'm not sure of the dates or exact order, but I acquired a GM1 and GX1 a couple of years later, then E-M10.2, GX800 and most recently E-M1.3. My favourite camera for travelling at the moment is the GX800, usually with the 12-32 lens, sometimes a small prime (20mm or 25mm), sometimes the little 35-100mm.

Here is an image from May 2011 with the GF1 +14-45mm lens:

The main shipping lane in the Solent (45mm, ISO 100, 1/800s, f/8)

Panasonic LC5, simply because it is a twin model of Leica, having good review and in deep discount, led me to Panasonic camera.

As an ILC guy, jumped on G1 & 14-45 + 45-200 in 2009 shortly after it was released. Adapted a few Nikon film MF lenses to make up the limited native lens of the system.

No more doubt on M43, added 7-14 f/4.

Due to an accident happened on G1 (dropped into a river), bought a twin lenses kit set of GF3 & 14-42 + 14 by the insurance compensation for temporary uses. As I am an evf guy, very quickly bought a 14-140 f/3.5-5.6 mk-I, mounted on GF3 for my wife for her transition from superzoom bridge camera to M43. Got a GX1 with the LVF2 & 14-42PZ for myself.

G.A.S. might be, got a GX7 to replace wife's GF3. Skipped GX8 because of size, bought GX85 & 12-32, originally planned to upgrade my GX1. But wife loves GX85, so I took over her GX7 instead. Added 12-35 f/2.8 mk-I, 45-150 f/4-5.6 & 15 f/1.7.

Planned to replace GX7 by G95 in 2019. Ended up with a G85 because of an incredible offer. Last year, bought a GF9 (GX850) to replace the old GF3 as our backup and light weight to go setup.

Always looking for Olympus camera. Sadly it just not feel right to me. Had tried EM10 mk-II, Pen and EM5 mk-III, just not my cup of tea. Had once considered Nikon 1 but it was death before I was comfortable to move. 😤😡 So far I am still happy with the Panasonic's way of operation.

Unless there will be some bigger improvement to M43, e.g. PDAF Panny, 25Mp sensor which is optimized for still etc, I would not upgrade anytime soon unless my current gear will give up.

Oh man, that's a whollllllle other thread for me! 😂

FWIW, I updated my original post with the lenses used in each shot. Surprisingly one of my favorites was shot with the original Panasonic 45-200/4-5.6. I used the heck out of that lens before the 40-150/2.8 came and completely changed my photographic life.