Hi,
I am looking to move away from my SLR setup and I am very interested in mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras (MILC), particularly the micro four-thirds series offerings from Panasonic and Olympus and the NEX from Sony.
I do not have any NEX or m43 lenses so I have no dog in this fight - meaning: there's no prior investment that would sway me either way.
What system should I go for? I really am digging the OM-D E-5 (as well as its little brothers the E-PL5 and E-PM2). I also like the NEX-6.
Would it be crazy to get the NEX for a "high end" setup and a E-PM2 as sort of a cheaper backup/casual camera?
[My personal camera philosophy is you should have three cameras: a small compact "party" camera (like an Elph), a larger less pocketable but takes better pictures compact (like a LX7 or Sony RX100), and finally a larger camera for really good photos (like a dSLR)]
I also considered the Fuji X-E1 series but there are a lot less lens choices, it's supposedly a heavier system overall, and the autofocusing speed and accuracy is often complained about. If these things were improved, I would definitely go for the X-E1 since I really really love the Fuji X series looks and the pictures it produces.
Does anyone have any feedback on my question? Should I go for NEX or m43. And would it be really silly to mix?
This is a response to not just you but everyone reading this thread:
I think if you just want one basic, cheap system that is good in all situations, a Nikon V1 is pretty hard to beat. $299 w/ 10-30mm lens at B&H right now, has electronic viewfinder, PDAF (fast autofocus and tracking), fast boot up time, pretty decent image quality, adequate depth of field (esp. with some of the lenses they will release for it), etc. It's fairly lightweight and jacket-pocketable. The cheap 30-110mm ($110 or so used) is pretty good. The big drawback for some is the lack of integrated flash; you can buy a used one for $100 or so, and it bounces, but still, it sucks they didn't put even a little one onboard.
If you don't mind slightly more size and weight, you can step up to M43. If you don't mind even more size and weight, a NEX is okay but you get more bang for the buck with a DSLR, especially if you want a viewfinder.
I was a big fan of M43 for a while, but I grew frustrated with Panasonic, which has horrible distribution and a laughably out of date website for software distribution as well. Like Nikon and Sony, Oly and Pany seem hellbent on launching mirrorless products at high prices despite the lack of mirror assembly and smaller sensor sizes, which is a big WTF. Both of them don't seem to think PDAF on sensor is necessary (though Oly admitted that they are looking into it), but any birder or action shooter would tell you that the present state of CDAF doesn't cut it for fast-action tracking of birds in flight, etc. (But not everyone shoots in-flight birds or action, so those people won't care.) The lenses are also DSLR-like in price despite being much smaller and lighter with less glass.
Now onto the good news: some of the upper crust M43 cameras rival Canon's APS-C DSLRs like the T3i for image quality, and others like the GH series are unrivaled for bang-for-buck when it comes to video-making. You get ample DOF control, maybe not FX level of control but it's quite adequate for most people, imho. And last and most importantly, there is a good selection of good lenses, both native and third-party, for M43. It's not quite as good of selection as CaNikon, but it's not bad at all and light years ahead of NEX and Nikon 1 in terms of quality AND quantity of lenses available.
Lastly, Oly is the only major player with in-body image stabilization, which means their lenses can be made lighter and cheaper than rivals. This may matter to you more if you carry multiple lenses, as the weight savings from not having to have stabilization built into every single lens, can really add up after a while. But if you never carry multiple lenses, then it would matter less.
Despite my hatred of Sony, I considered NEX but the problem with NEX is that the lenses are too big, and the prices are too high relative to DSLRs. The NEX bodies are small, comparable to Nikon 1 and M43, but most of the lenses are outsized. The 16-50 semi-pancake power zoom is interesting, but that's one lens out of many. And few of the native NEX lenses are that great, which means you are investing in the body more than the lens, which is NOT what you want to do in a world of fast-depreciating electronics. Sony is the only cameramaker awake enough to even attempt to do something like apps and they also have cool effects and such in their cameras (sweep pano, multi-shot HDR and low-light settings, Illustration mode, etc.). The huge drawback to NEX continues to be their lack of good lenses, or even okay lenses... there are gaping holes in their lens lineups.
NX and others I do not consider viable. They will wind up like Pentax--marginalized.
Lastly, DSLRs. You get PDAF, good sensors, optical viewfinders, lens selection galore, etc. The value proposition is hard to beat, esp. if you want a viewfinder, which costs extra in most mirrorless product lineups. You also get better flash and hotshoe support and accessory support in general. Feature-for-feature, something like a Nikon D3200/5100 is almost impossible to beat in value. They have excellent image quality on par or better than anyone else in that price range, optical viewfinder and PDAF, decent video capture, huge lens selection, ample flash/hotshoe accessories selection, and other such aftermarket support like with grips and spare batteries and whatever. The closest thing that NEX has is the NEX-6 at something like TWICE the price of a D3200/5100, with a lot less lens selection. That's just not competitive. I will wait a year for the market to sort itself out, but if next year looks like this year, I will probably get a Nikon D5200 and call it a day. I like you NEX, but you aren't worth twice the price of DSLR alternatives, especially with the incomplete NEX lens lineup problem.
Anyway, OP asked about buying three cameras. Look if you have that much money to burn just buy them all. Alternatively, use a cell phone for casual photos, get a RX100 for serious photos on the go (or a used Canon S95 if you are on a budget), and then get a DSLR or possible NEX for times when an RX100 won't cut it, like when you need shallower DOF, better high-ISO performance, a viewfinder, PDAF, etc. I say possibly NEX because I don't know how good the PDAF is on the NEX-5r and NEX-6 but I suspect they aren't as good as what you'll find on midrange-or-higher DSLRs; plus the NEX-5r doesn't come with a viewfinder, plus DSLRs have far better lens selection. Yeah you can manual focus non-NEX lenses on NEX with adapters, but that costs extra, plus you lose autofocus and perhaps other things as well like aperture control; and obviously they are no good for fast-action tracking due to that lack of autofocus. I can't stress enough how incomplete NEX's lens lineup is right now: there still is no long telephoto option for NEX. No fast telephoto zoom. There's a wideangle zoom option but it is expensive. There are a few gaps in their primes lineup and only two of their native primes are any good.
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