expired Posted by AarontheGreat • Feb 22, 2022
Feb 22, 2022 10:17 PM
Item 1 of 1
expired Posted by AarontheGreat • Feb 22, 2022
Feb 22, 2022 10:17 PM
Olympus: Select Refurb Cameras & Lenses up to 60% off: E-M5 Mark II (Body)
& More + Free S&H$288
$720
60% offOlympus
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Superior telephoto, better ergonomics for shooting, having a viewfinder. With f/1.8 and f/1.4 portrait lenses, superior bokeh, but iPhone has gotten really good with their computational photography bokeh.
Better flash options with it too, such as bouncing flash while phone will give you the ugly direct flash look.
It's better if you know how to use it, it's not going to be much better if you try to just use it as a point and shoot. So watching some YouTube tutorials and learning about the exposure triangle would be a good idea if you are not familiar with using cameras outside of auto mode (which is why iPhone is so good, it does everything for you).
Some Olympus guys like Robin Wong, Peter Forsgard and Rob Trek could be helpful for you.
Night.
Depends on the lens and exposure length + iso vs multi frame noise reduction.
Most smartphones have very fast lenses (f/1.2, 1.8) whereas most cameras are used with slower lenses (f/3.5 etc).
This means if you're hand holding the phone / camera, the phone can use a lower iso for less noise and better image quality whereas the camera with slower lens uses a higher iso resulting in poorer image quality.
You can buy fast lenses for the camera. Prime fixed length lenses are the cheapest, but fast zooms can easily sell for double, triple the cost of these refurbished cameras.
With a fast lens, then it's a toss up until you start to need higher iso speeds in lower light conditions. Iso 800 or higher and the camera with the fast prime lens will do better because of the much bigger sensor capturing much more light than the smartphone.
Now one thing cameras can use are big powerful flash units in the dark. While an iPhone can't even reach 20 feet with its flash, you can light up the block if desired (and $$$) with a camera for great shots in pure darkness.
And flash in a controlled studio, camera can do better than the iPhone.
Also, you can hook the camera up to really long telephoto lenses. Capture not just the moon, but Jupiter if you want. IPhone can't even manage.
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Keep in mind these are 2015/2017 era cameras. Tech improves fast.
E.g. Years ago, I wanted a Sony RX100 1" sensor point and shoot because it was Amazing for the size. But with today's 108+ mp Samsung Galaxy Ultra S22, it's a worthless purchase. Slower lens, poorer hdr, lower resolution, poorer stabilization when walking and running, etc.
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That said, it is Always the skill of the photographer that matters.
https://blog.mingthein.
https://blog.mingthein.
If you're not getting this level of photography (various photos across his site), then work on learning the skills.
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At the $500+ level for the refurb Olympus + lens, one also must compare vs the refurbished Canon and Nikon dslr pricing. The latter have even bigger sensors and a much broader selection of lenses and accessories.
While the iPhone has fast lenses, the small sensor means that the total light capture is still quite small. Yes, your exposure settings will be better, but iso 800 on iPhone is noisier than iso 800 on m4/3 by about 2 stops which is noisier then iso 800 on FF by about 2 stops. BUT iPhone is going to do computational photography and it will look less noisy, though that can come with a cost of loss of fine detail too.
iPhone is just so good for a lot of people because it makes all the decisions. It will go HDR for you, it will try and choose the most appropriate shooting mode, it will do automatic noise reduction, automatic multi shot. Olympus can do all those things and do it better, but you have to tell it and change settings and night have to post-process.
The main iPhone 13 camera has an equivalent 35mm aperture of f/6.8 which is f/3.4 on m4/3. So for sure, if you want better low light performance you would need to get something at least faster than f/3.4 on m4/3, so the f/1.8 or faster.
The Canon and Nikon DSLR, the question becomes what features do I have, since EM1-II is featured packed. Video specs, IBIS especially if you're doing run and gun video which Olympus is excellent at, then you're looking at cost of lenses and size of lenses too with the bigger sensor.
Olympus M.Zuiko ED 14-150mm f4.0-5.6 II Lens (Reconditioned)
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f4.0-5.6 R Lens (Reconditioned)
Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f2.8 Lens (Silver, Reconditioned)
Olympus M.Zuiko ED 14-150mm f4.0-5.6 II Lens (Reconditioned)
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f4.0-5.6 R Lens (Reconditioned)
Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f2.8 Lens (Silver, Reconditione
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15 (30mm eq) and 17 (34mm eq) will give you wider shots, 25 (50mm eq) will give you a tighter view. If you like more portrait style shots, then 45mm f/1.8, but that is less versatile indoors.
https://shotkit.com/35mm-vs-50mm/
The 14-150 is relatively cheap enough at this price that picking it up to fill that, "when I don't want to change lenses or carry extra gear need" can make sense. It's not like you're getting the 12-100 pro which would be much better with its image quality, sync IS, etc, but it's much bigger and much more expensive.
If you do want the best image quality in a on lens solution and don't mind the weight and have money to spend, the 12-100mm f/4 would be best. I rented it from lens rentals for a vacation, very convenient, got great images during the day and even static ones at night.
14-150 - 284 g
12-100 - 561 g
M4/3 has a 2x crop compared to 35mm ("full frame"), so multiply the numbers by 2 to get the equivalent angle of view.
14-150 (28-300mm eq) goes from wide angle 28mm to telephoto 300mm
40-150 (80-300mm eq) is just a telephoto lens.
Here's an image of what different focal lengths look like
https://i0.wp.com/thesmartphoneph
Phones for example have their main lens as a wide angle lens, somewhere from 24-28mm usually. iPhone 13 main camera is 26mm equivalent. The wide camera is a 13mm equivalent.
If you want a lens that can shoot many different subjects, the 14-150 makes sense. If you want to shoot primarily far away objects, 40-150 is good. Neither of them are lenses for indoors because they're f/numbers are "slow", meaning smaller apertures that don't capture light as quickly. For indoors you need to add a prime lens, this is a lens that doesn't zoom in or out with an f number that's f/1.8 or faster (lower number after the /)
M4/3 has a 2x crop compared to 35mm ("full frame"), so multiply the numbers by 2 to get the equivalent angle of view.
14-150 (28-300mm eq) goes from wide angle 28mm to telephoto 300mm
40-150 (80-300mm eq) is just a telephoto lens.
Here's an image of what different focal lengths look like
https://i0.wp.com/thesmartphoneph
Phones for example have their main lens as a wide angle lens, somewhere from 24-28mm usually. iPhone 13 main camera is 26mm equivalent. The wide camera is a 13mm equivalent.
If you want a lens that can shoot many different subjects, the 14-150 makes sense. If you want to shoot primarily far away objects, 40-150 is good. Neither of them are lenses for indoors because they're f/numbers are "slow", meaning smaller apertures that don't capture light as quickly. For indoors you need to add a prime lens, this is a lens that doesn't zoom in or out with an f number that's f/1.8 or faster (lower number after the /)
These are old cameras. They take fine photos. I have printed images from an Olympus E-M10 mark ii from years ago that look great. Would I buy one of these cameras on 2022? Absolutely not. Technology has far surpassed these models. Should someone else to learn with or to take simple images, sure. If you have no experience with newer technology, you won't know what you are missing I suppose:
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I am currently using two Panasonic primes, 14mm and 25mm.
Was thinking about picking up a used 12-40mm pro eventually