Contemplating a camera brand switch - Part 3 of 5The Olympus OM-1, now OM Systems, is a great camera specifically for the outdoors and wildlife (and macro). They just released an update of that camera. If the reviewers are correct, this is a really good camera. The autofocus system reviews very well. The frame rate is insanely fast. They also have a feature that I would loooooove to have, pre-capture. A half press of the shutter starts taking images and places them in the camera's buffer. When you fully press the shutter then the camera saves the images in the buffer plus what you shot while fully pressing the shutter onto the memory card. When birds suddenly take off or something exciting happens with no warning, the camera still captured all the action. This is a fantastic feature to have for bird and wildlife shooting. This camera has everything I could wish for in a birding and wildlife camera, including a stacked sensor which basically eliminates rolling shutter (which my camera is terrible at); except for one problem. The sensor is only 20MP. This is a deal breaker for me. Yes, because the sensor gives you a 2X field of view compared to full frame cameras and since OM Systems has a fantastic lens (more about this later), you would not need to crop for reach's sake. You can fill the frame with the lens and camera's reach. But that still does not solve the framing issue which necessitates some cropping. I also have two other objections relating to OM systems.
With all that said, as much as I really wanted to like the OM-1 II with its fantastic 150-400mm lens, the resolution of the camera's sensor and the price of the lens rules them out. The concern about whether OM Systems will still be around in ten years did not help their cause. Since we are talking about smaller than full frame camera sensors here let us look at two other brands in this space. Panasonic and Fujifilm stand out. Fujifilm especially is noteworthy since they too use a stacked sensor. Their frame rate is great. Unfortunately, both of these companies' offering seem to fall short in the autofocus department. Photographing birds (birds in flight) can be one of the most taxing genres on a camera's autofocus system. In my opinion, both these brands just don't cut it for birds in flight. Now if I was filming video, the Panasonic really shines there, but that is not my focus. As a result, OM Systems, Panasonic, and Fujifilm have been eliminated from my list. I don't mind smaller sensors. If Sony were to introduce an APS-C camera with top notch autofocus tracking, a stacked sensor, clean noise levels, and a fast frame rate, I would buy it in a heartbeat, provided the price is not so outrageous as the Sony A1's price is (in my view). My search for gear that better matches what I shoot now continues ... See you next week as I discuss the next contender. Comments
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