OM System OM-1 - A System of One

 

OM-1, 40-150/4 Pro

Ever since taking my look at Fuji again last week, I've been trying to understand where my frustration is with m43 this time, because it's definitely not with the OM-1 or the files I'm getting.

And it's pretty much in the title, at this point the OM-1 and m43 is a system of one. One body that's stills focused, one that's video focused, one lens per usage. 

Really, there's two modern competitive m43 bodies today, the OM-1 and GH6. Everything else is pretty much old tech, old UI but new and trending to high pricing. 

That is great if you just want to buy some kit and go out and shoot, so long as you are good using the same high-end body for backup (which many serious shooters are entirely good with). If you like to experiment and play it's much less good. There's lens options, but most of the cheap and fun lenses are intended for APS-C and suffer from crop factor issues.

Since I want a backup camera for various uses (B-cam, in-city manual lens fun, light carry) I've been looking seriously at the m43 options and just not liking them. The OM-5 suffers from decontenting and high price. It's got great internals, but the dinky viewfinder, dinky battery, old USB Micro-B connector and ridiculous price all argue against it. The E-M5III has all of those issues, but can be found somewhat cheaply on the used market. The Pen-F is expensive and rare on the used market and the EM-10's again are just too much money for what they are. I'm not interested in another Panasonic body either (and if I was, only the GX9/GX7mII would make any sense). 

On the lens side, the native options are generally excellent, but also somewhat limited in terms of decent used availability. You just can't find used kit and I don't want to pay new money for lenses that I don't use continuously.

So yes, I'm looking at another system switch, not because I'm unhappy with the OM-1, but because I'm unhappy with the rest of the ecosystem.