Yet another "what camera" question

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bralex
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Yet another "what camera" question

Post by bralex »

Good day all - hopefully this will be slightly different than the usual "what camera should I buy" question - a bit more narrowly focused.

I usually shoot with an m43 camera - an Olympus EM-5 Mk II. It serves both as a general purpose camera and for my stacking rig. I have a modest investment in m43 lenses, but for macro I only do studio work with a WeMacro rail - no field work at all. For my macro shooting, I use the Olympus 60 mm and a variety of objectives up to a Mitutoyo 10x. I do plan to pick up a 20x at some point.

Ok - that's the background. I'm looking for a new camera body exclusively for macro work (tired of disassembling/reassembling), and was looking hard at the EM-1 Mk III, but it occurred to me that I'm really not wedded to m43 for this - the only m43 lens I use there is the Olympus 60 mm, everything else is extension tubes and objectives. Basically, if I switched to some other format, I'd have to buy a few adapters and maybe a new macro lens.

Relative to the EM-1 Mk III, is there a *significant* advantage to another camera line for tethered studio macro work, in your opinion?

My previous reading about differences seemed to amount to "it's a wash" - the advantages and disadvantages were pretty small in this prosumer range. That preceded, though, the massive expansion in mirrorless cameras - everybody's got one now! A lot of the features of different camera lines just aren't relevant to my use case - I don't use autofocus or face recognition, I don't edit in-camera, battery life isn't an issue, special grips, etc.

I won't say "money is no object" but I'm in a place where I can invest a bit in this, though I might cringe a bit at the sticker prices.

Thoughts?

JKT
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Re: Yet another "what camera" question

Post by JKT »

If you go Canon, there's MP-E65. Depends a bit on your quality requirement, but at least it seems to beat the direct competitors. Considering the price, it better. :D

The problem in that route would be choosing the body. Currently all the mirrorless APS-C versions are in EF-M system, but only the latest work on remote and the AA filter is rather strong. On FF the best choices are likely the new mirrorless R-series bodies, but then the image circle of many microscope objectives can be a problem. A longer tube lens handles that. Both mirrorless systems as well as the old fashioned DSLR bodies in EF system work with the MP-E.

bralex
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Re: Yet another "what camera" question

Post by bralex »

So I've been reading about the EOS-R series (not done yet) - here's a snippet of Canon's description of the silent shutter feature:
"... and situations where the photographer needs to remain discrete."

English is such an awful, awful language :)

rjlittlefield
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Re: Yet another "what camera" question

Post by rjlittlefield »

bralex wrote:
Wed Nov 04, 2020 10:11 am
So I've been reading about the EOS-R series (not done yet) - here's a snippet of Canon's description of the silent shutter feature:
"... and situations where the photographer needs to remain discrete."

English is such an awful, awful language :)
From https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discrete :
History and Etymology for discrete
Middle English discrete, discret, discreet — more at DISCREET

NOTE: The adjective discrete is etymologically identical with DISCREET, of which it was originally a simple spelling variant. The consistent discrimination of the two senses by spelling, with discrete corresponding more closely to classical Latin in both form and meaning, dates from the 18th century.
I find these historical relationships to be very interesting, even more so since reading (several times) the book "Spellbound: The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling" (https://www.amazon.com/Spellbound-Surpr ... 0385340842). Highly recommended...

--Rik

bralex
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Re: Yet another "what camera" question

Post by bralex »

"People who can't tell the difference between etymology and entomology bug me in ways I just cannot put into words"

I don't know who originally said it but *chef's kiss*

Lou Jost
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Re: Yet another "what camera" question

Post by Lou Jost »

I am deeply invested with MFT for my field work, where it excels. I used it extensively for studio macro work too, but I now use my FF mirrorless (S1R) for all my macro work, because of better resolution and dynamic range.

bralex
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Location: New Mexico, USA

Re: Yet another "what camera" question

Post by bralex »

Lou Jost wrote:
Thu Nov 05, 2020 7:49 am
I am deeply invested with MFT for my field work, where it excels. I used it extensively for studio macro work too, but I now use my FF mirrorless (S1R) for all my macro work, because of better resolution and dynamic range.
What's been your experience with availability of L-mount adapters et al.? BH prices for L-mount to M42 are...a bit high (~USD100)! I see at least 6 macro lenses on L-mount as well - did you go with one of those or adapt another one?

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