Hey guys,

Still on the hunt for my first good camera. Spoke to cameraland yesterday and they suggested an Olympus mirrorless system. I’ve no reason to doubt them I just want to make sure I’m not buying into the next Betamax or HD DVD...IE technology that is not going anywhere and will never be mainstream.

They liked the image stabilization and said that everything is moving mirrorless so I should start on that train

Thoughts?

If starting, I would go mirrorless, as the trend/future is certainly in that direction. The lenses for mirrorless seem to be sharper on average than those for a dslr. If wildlife is your target, a crop sensor like in the Olympus, Nikon Z50, Sony Alpha 6500 would be good. If landscape, I would go full frame.
Canon is set to release a camera EOS R5 that is being touted for video. Not much is said about the sensor specs yet.
Nikon has the Z series- Z50, Z6, Z7 so far.
Sony is also very well thought of for mirrorless.
Get good glass over megapixels.

Six of a dozen and half of the other one. Lenses are where the buck stops.

My only question is how their viewfinders function in sub zero temps. Can't surf up any info on that subject.

Unless you have a compelling need for an optical viewfinder, or you need the absolute best battery life possible, I think mirrorless is the way to go. But 1Minute is correct--choose your lenses first, and camera bodies (and viewfinder types), second.

Thanks guys...the more and more i research it looks like MFT mirrorless is the format for me.

Thanks again for the insight

I've got an Oly M4/3. EM-5. It's great for some things (smaller package, stabilization, focus speed). Not good for others (too much depth of field, small sensor, 2x crop factor). This is actually two questions in one; Mirrorless and M4/3.
I love my Oly as a 2nd system. I went through the mental process of whether to ditch my Canon gear and my answer was resoundingly no. M4/3 doesn't deliver much of what I need, but it's a cool travel cam for when I want to pack light.
I still think about going mirrorless, but if I do, the front runner right now is Fuji

I would be cautious with Olympus. Their camera division just got sold and will be going thru major changes.
As far as brands go, I shoot Canon DSLRs, Sony Full frame mirror less, and have a Nikon Z6.
The main thing is glass. With Olympus is that your choices are limited to Oly glass. With the other three you have other manufactures that make lenses at different price points or focal lengths. You will also see more choices in optics being released for mirrorless.
The new Canon mirrorless R5 is being released tomorrow.

Thank you for the heads up that Oly got sold. Cameraland has been running some great deals on Oly MFT's and I wonder if the two are related. However this statement;

...is not true.

The Micro 4/3 Oly's being mentioned is a format that is produced by multiple companies. The beauty is that lenses are interchangeable across all M4/3 bodies regardless of manufacturer. The biggies in the M4/3 (aka MFT) world are Oly and Panasonic. And they produce amazing glass for the MFT platform. But you also have lenses from Leica, DJI as well as the same third party folk like Tamron and Sigma et al...same like Canon, Nikon etc. Add a metabones and you've got a ton more options.

This might be helpful for the OP if he decides to go the MFT route;
https://shotkit.com/best-micro-four-thirds-lenses/

The Olympus camera division was sold to the largest hedge fund in Japan that has a history of reviving every company they buy. Olympus made a lot of USA changes months before the sale was announced. They have changed their entire focus to Wildlife, birding and high speed sports photography. Their E-M1x is the fastest focusing camera on the market at any price. Their E-M5 Mark 3 and E-M1 Mark 2 and 3 are faster then 90% of the cameras out there. From the E-M5 and up, everything is weatherproof, as are the bulk of their lenses. Plus the MFT sensor keeps the camera and lenses smaller then everyone. They have a 300mm F4 lens that acts like a 600mm in full frame terms. The Olympus retails for only $2,750.00, The comparable Sony is $13,0000.00, the Canon is $13,000.00 and the Nikon is a bargain at $12,300.00. Plus it is a fraction of the size.of those 3.

Anyone interested in the perfect wildlife system feel free to call me at 516-217-1000 or e-mail me at [email protected]

Stay safe
Joel

New Canon R5 and R6 have been announced, pretty good offerings in the mirrorless world, it appears

Canon will be announcing shortly the EOS 5d series will stop at the Mark 4. All of their energies will be going to the mirrorless cameras.