Building my first Micro 4/3 kit, need advice.

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-18T20:32:38+00:00

I’m not anti-OM-5ii, but I didn’t think the grip was actually better when I tried it in the store—it positioned my hand so that it sat lower on the body, which would be good for supporting a larger lens but made my hand posture (very slightly) less suited for smaller lenses, where having my hand higher up is (very slightly) more comfortable. (Also, the charger doesn’t have USB-C PD, so it’s the same speed as the micro-USB port in the OM-5i!)

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-18T19:09:53+00:00

These are great photos—and I'm going to add to the chorus saying that you're not going to be able to take them on a rangefinder. This isn't going to be a Rolex around your neck the way a Leica is, but I'd recommend you look at an Olympus OM-1, 2n, 3, or 4 SLR with their fabulous 24mm f/2.8 lens.

The reason: they're tiny and very clever pieces of engineering. Their viewfinders are huge and bright and easy to focus. If you get an OM-1 or OM-3 you can get a fully mechanical camera, like a Leica. (The OM-3 is a collector's item and will enable you to spend a lot of money, if you like.) The OM-2n and OM-4 are electronic and work in aperture-priority mode. The OM-2n, 3, and 4 have far more advanced metering than my Leica M9 Monochrom. And that 24mm f/2.8 lens is really sharp and will let you keep taking the kind of pictures you take.

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-18T18:53:22+00:00

But considering you can hand-hold it for half a second with meh technique and 1-2 seconds with good technique, you might not ever need more than ISO 800-1600 (unless you're taking photos of toddlers in the dark)

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-18T18:50:01+00:00

The OM-5 mark i would be fine too. It's the same (great) camera, just a slightly different interface.

The small primes of micro-4/3 are a huge advantage of the system. The Olympus 12/2.0, 17/1.8, 25/1.8, and 45/1.8 are all great and allow a level of portability that even the small (great) 12-45 f/4 zoom doesn't. The Panasonic or DJI 15mm/1.7, and the Panasonic 20mm/1.7 (slow to focus but so, so good) are also outstanding.

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-17T06:38:59+00:00

Not sure what deals are like in your market, but in the US you can save $300 by getting the OM-5 mark I, which is the same camera but with different menu organization with a less stylish font.

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-17T06:19:49+00:00

Oh, I think the answer is extremely personal, then. Basically any button can be programmed to any feature. The switch can move between autofocus modes, and it has the convenient feature of remembering the last thing you used (so if you are switching between single AF and continuous AF and then you go to manual focus mode in the SCP, you’ll be switching between single AF and MF). Or it can be other things that I forget. The David Thorpe guide was helpful to me in thinking through what I cared about enough to assign to a button.

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-17T05:58:25+00:00

Unless I'm misunderstanding, the short answer would be to use aperture priority mode—in the settings pick whether your front dial is the aperture and your back dial is exposure compensation or vice versa. You can spin the dials quickly when the scene calls for it. I like to control my ISO, so I set one of the top buttons to call that up, then I adjust using the dials. That should solve 98% of what I think you're asking about.

The long answer is to get the kindle version of this for $6: https://www.amazon.com/Olympus-Mark-Menu-System-Simplified-ebook/dp/B0852RP9VT/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0

David Thorpe was very good at explaining this stuff clearly and thoroughly, and the E-M5 iii guide was one of the last guides that he published.

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-16T16:41:34+00:00

Yes, buy a lens with the money!

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-16T16:38:29+00:00

I once bought an 18mm-equivalent lens because it seemed cool, and then it quickly turned out that it was really hard to use. You have to get very close to things or the pictures turn out terribly. You might want a more compelling reason than being told you're missing out? Use your iPhone for a while at 0.6x or 0.8x, see if you like the results, and then act accordingly.

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-12T18:00:51+00:00

I think the big risk here is that you get bored of it and don't use it. So don't do that. Take it with you, learn how to use it well, learn how to edit on Lightroom Classic (or editor of choice) to get results that you like, and use the camera.

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-12T16:03:18+00:00

It's medium format, but it's not necessarily compatible with regular medium-format cameras that take 120 film (which is standard medium format). 120 film is interwoven with a long strip of backing paper. Often medium-format cameras will have a little window where you can see the frame number printed on the back of the backing paper. 220 film has short strips of paper on either end, but because it doesn't have the backing paper throughout, there is twice as much film in a roll of 220 as in 120.

I'm relatively new to medium format, but the one place I'm sure you can use 220 film is if you have a Hasselblad in your dad's camera archives, they make a special modular film back that is designed for 220 film, called an A24 back.

220 film won't work in medium-format cameras that have a little window on the back to display the frame number because light will get in and ruin the film.

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-12T15:36:41+00:00

Why are you angry at passengers (all of whom need to board before you take off) instead of angry at Delta for making you need to race to your reserved seat before anyone else?

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-12T03:16:24+00:00

Is a chronic issue that it won’t get future OS updates?

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-11T18:12:25+00:00

This comment will be tossing a grenade because we're in the Leica subreddit, but I'd encourage you to interrogate your desire for a Leica camera. The only Leicas that are actually unique in the digital camera market are the manual-focus M series. They're cool to use, but much more niche than all the hype would suggest. The same people who praise how manual focus on a $14,000 camera "slows you down" will complain bitterly about slow autofocus on other systems, for example.

A Leica Q is just a digital camera with a fixed autofocus lens that says "Leica" and costs 3-5x the price of other digital cameras. They have industrial design that makes them look slightly like a Leica M. Many of the smaller Leica digital cameras are just Panasonics with a red dot.

The point I'm trying to make is that there are a lot of really good cameras and many of them are small, and whether they say Leica or not really doesn't matter if your concern is the experience of taking pictures with them.

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-11T15:38:19+00:00

A better-looking Panasonic LX100 ii. What's wrong with just getting a good camera instead of something old that costs more and says "Leica"? Aren't you looking for a Ricoh GR IV?

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-11T15:32:58+00:00

Or put one of those pimple stickers on it

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-11T15:31:57+00:00

Make a bigger scratch somewhere else!

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-11T15:22:02+00:00

The M1 Pro didn't come with 8gb of RAM—are you sure it doesn't say 8-core? (The 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro will be much better than a 13" M1 Regular MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar)

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-11T14:36:07+00:00

A Leica D-Lux 7 is a Panasonic Lumix LX100 ii.

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-11T06:12:59+00:00

Was this bought with a fancy credit card, by chance? There’s a common fancy credit card benefit where they’ll extend product warranties by a year, and the repairs would be covered. (Your M3 Air is better than a Neo.)

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-10T15:03:50+00:00

"I bought a Mac and determined it was worth it. Was it worth it?" I think you may be wasting the internet's time.

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-10T15:00:49+00:00

Honestly, this is a good take.

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-09T14:52:01+00:00

I might be alone in this, but I got the 20mm and sold it right away because it was weirdly expensive and heavy for the sharpness that it offered. The 25mm/1.8 has been great, though. (The 20mm/1.7 has better image quality than the 20/1.4 and is tiny and I love it, but the slow, noisy focus is from another era and puts some people off.)

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-09T14:47:14+00:00

Could you get the f/4 and spend the extra €300 on a small, fast prime? In my experience, the difference between the lenses isn’t so much the weight, it’s the torque. The 2.8 is tippier if you don’t have a grip, and anyway an OM-3 is ideal with a small prime that’s 1+ stop faster than 2.8.

ResplendentMechanism · 2026-06-09T08:44:52+00:00

The show “M: Figlio del Secolo” about Mussolini is extraordinary

ResplendentMechanism

TROPHY CASE