Real Life Camera Comparison

This article has a list of camera comparisons, not scientific reviews but just personal experiences.

Canon R8 vs Fujifilm X-T5

For the purpose of photography, if you like how the film simulator looks, and/or how the camera looks, go with Fujifilm, otherwise Canon.

Don’t just look at numbers and see who is bigger, X-T5’s 40MP APS-C has problem with details compared to R8’s fullframe 24MP sensor, I tried all three image processors: DXO PhotoLab, CaptureOne and Lightroom. 24MP is good enough for beginners and enthusiasts, especially if you’re just posting photos to social media.

Weather seal can be useful just in case, I just don’t find it useful most of the cases.

IBIS is useful for static object in low light, but if this is not your usual shooting condition, it won’t matter too much.

Again, ignore what’s said above if you’re into Fujifilm’s film simulation or retro look.

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Canon R8 vs Olympus E-M1 iii

The two cameras serve very different purposes, it’s not fair to compare them directly. For casual shooting E-M1 iii is heavier, chunkier and has inferior image quality than Canon R8, but it has premium specs for outdoor photography with tough condition. E-M5 series is better as a direct competition for R8, Panasonic used to make compact cameras like GX series but I haven’t seen any new model since GX9. It’s really a pity if M43 doesn’t consider small camera body given the compactness of their high quality lenses.

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Olympus E-M1 iii vs Fujifilm GFX 50R

There’s a big difference of sensor size between M43 and Medium Format, however, how do they compare in real life with good light?

I visited Dandenonrg Ranges with Olympus E-M1 iii and Fujifilm GFX 50R, on E-M1 iii there’s the Lecia DG 12-60mm attached, on 50R it’s the kit 35-70mm, both are zoom lenses.

With good light, E-M1 iii performed well against 50R, there are differences in term of tonal depth, but not very noticeable to everyone. I personally prefer the images from 50R.

Compared to GFX 50R, E-M1 iii has a few advantages, light weight, wider zoom range, lower safe shutter speed, it’s a perfect companion for hiking, the problem with medium format is you don’t have much choice regarding lenses, the zoom lens I used is the lightest zoom in GFX, the image quality is good enough.

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Fujifilm 18mm/f1.4 vs Panasonic 15mm/f1.7

Panasonic’s 15/1.7 is a compact and lightweight lens with decent image quality. Before Fujifilm introduced 18/1.4, the only other lens with the same focal length was the 18/2, which was widely criticised for its slow focusing and mediocre image quality. 18/1.4 is generally regarded as one of the highest quality lenses in Fuji’s latest group of 1.4 lenses, with the addition of weather sealing and linear motors which greatly improves auto focusing. So which of the two is better in practice?

From my personal experience, the 15/1.7 has more advantages than the Fujifilm 18/1.4: the difference in image quality is not obvious (especially since the images are only used for social networking on mobile phones), weather sealing only makes sense under certain conditions, and the weight of the 18/1.4 is almost triple that of the 15/1.7. Unfortunately it seems that Panasonic and Olympus are moving away from the M43‘s original purpose of being portable, leaving the lens’ compactness not fully utilised. I travelled to Mt Macedon with Fuji X-T5 and Olympus E-M1 iii, the overall weight is 927 grams for Fuji and 695 grams for Olympus, the 15/1.7 was first released to match Panasonic’s GM series, if it is GM5 + 15/1.7, the weight is only a mere 326 grams.

In term of image quality for my use, I can’t see a noticeable difference when there’s plenty of light, Fuji’s 40MP sensor is very demanding on the lens, I guess it can be difficult to maintain a high level of image quality if lens is made small. Also, Fuji’s RAW look more or less blurry in post-processing for foliage, especially greens.

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Please no commercial use of above RAWs, thank you!