My brother-in-law is asking me for camera advice.
I’m a DSLR man but he’s looking at bridge and the newer mirrorless SLR-alike stuff.

Had a play in Jessops and we were both impressed by the Panasonic G2.

Anyone got any experience of it or recommend something else?

Budget around £300 – 400

Sony NEX also looked interesting but the price of extra lenses seems high

Ive got a G1 bought it over a year ago. Its nice, got kit lens and 20mm pancake.

But Panasonic glass isnt cheap – it is good though. Do you really want to be commited to that or this system. Which system? That is important.

Does the camera have to be small?

The NEX-5 is probably the best small interchangable camera right now.

Olympus seems to be very good value, and in-body stabilisation is a nice feature. Good for legacy lenses.

With all these cameras you should be able to mount other lenses using adapters from ebay.

Im not sure I want to invest any more in this system (Panasonic). I am damn tempted to move over to Pentax.

The K-x possibly to tide me over until the K-5 drops in price. Currys are currently flogging the K-x with the 18-55mm Zoom Lens & 50-200mm Zoom Lens for 400 quid. Insane deal. Reduced by 230 quid. effectively a free lens. Or maybe I should just go nuts and buy a K-5 😈

My G1 gets used way way way more than my Nikon D300.

Go for it. The G2 will probably be better than the G1 also.

I got a G2 in the summer and am really pleased with it, much lighter and smaller than an SLR with v. near or same performance , nice intuitive touch screen interface, the stock lens is pretty good too and there are more lenses becoming available.

The iso in low light is really good too (provided you dont go to the very limts as it will get pretty grainy)

Scroll down here to see some ISO comparisons between

Sony NEX-5
Sony NEX-3
Olympus EP2
Panasonic G2

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/NEX5/NEX5HI_ISO_NR.HTM

“How does the Sony NEX-5 compare to other recent SLDs? See the crops below.”

Wow, clicked on currys after the above post.

Is this an even better deal?

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/olympus-pen-e-p1-micro-four-thirds-digital-camera-with-14-42mm-lens-04005304-pdt.html

I have a G1 – it’s great imo. The G2 is pretty much the same apart from it has video and a touch screen. If he isn’t interested in those things you can probably still pick up a G1 kit for very cheap (not much over £300). The G2 kit comes with the 14-42 which is apparently inferior to the 14-45 the G1 came with.

And yes that PEN is a very good deal too.

Yeah CHB for 300 quid that is a very good deal.

Although the NEX 3 is 329 on currys.

Many good deals.

Sony NEX is supposed to have very good IQ but doesn’t have much in the way of manual controls, a lot has to be done through menus apparently. Depends how much he likes to mess with settings etc I suppose.

The 329 for the NEX sounds a really good deal, also keep in mind Sony has a VAT off deal at the moment so they give you the VAT off. Make sure you try the NEX though lack of buttons on the back means a lot of menu fiddling to get much anything changed. And just as the G2 lenses are a bit in short supply and expensive.

That and the size of a G2 would make me look into something like a D40,D3x00, K-x and so on, or wait for the GF2?

Micro 4/3 seems a popular format for those small DnonSLRs, so Panasonic or Oly could be good.

Micro 4/3 seems a popular format for those small DnonSLRs, so Panasonic or Oly could be good.

Thanks all. Yeah the NEX was nice, but all the controls were on menus rather than direct dials/buttons – so our impression was that the G2 was more of a “photographer’s camera”, despite the smaller sensor size.

Wait a couple of weeks – there’s a new G2 version coming out that gets rave previews. I will be getting one as soon as they hit the shelves to replace, or augment, my G1.

DrJ – where have you seen about that? You don’t mean the GH2?

GH2 will prob be eye wateringly expensive (for a non-DSLR).

That E-p1 deal is insane. I’d prob get that and save the ££££ over the panasonics (this coming from a Panasonic G1 owner). Put the money into something else, like a lens or just save it (haha madness in this economy I know).

Yes, sorry, I meant the GH2.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/panasonic_gh2_first_look.shtml

I’ve got a G1, and I really love it. With the 20mm lens it’s really quite tiny compared to my old Nikon D50 that I lugged around the world. I would love to have one of the video ones, as I really fancy making a good little bike video, and these m4/3 cameras are really great for video by all accounts.

The small size and light weight cannot be over estimated as factors in how often you take the camera with you, in my opinion. The G1 has most of the controls I need right there where I need them, not as easy to change them as on my old D50 but not bad.

To be honest most the controls on the G2 seemed more direct than on my Nikon D80!

e.g. the G2 has physical switches for focus mode, focus type and shot selector which are all soft switches on the D80.

Went into leeds today to try and play with an Olympus EP1. There are non in the shops, just a few online. I played with other Olympus models and the poor quality screen was a real let down.
Comet at crown point had a Sony model on offer, much better screen.
The bloke in Jessops on the headrow was very helpful, pointed out the Samsung NX10, also the new Nikon G12 rival looks good, though I would still go for G11 or G12.
My plans of getting a cheap EP1 with a pancake lens have been thwarted. Will wait for the Nikon D90 replacement and then upgrade my D80.

Small cameras…not at the moment!!

Love my G1 longtime. Echo most of the above.

Used a NEX – in comparison the NEX is just a chunky point and shoot, as others say the controls are nowhere near as good.

Also it tends to be bigger overall, as the lenses for the NEX system are bigger,

As another plus it’s cheap to get adapters for nearly any other old manual lenses. Lots of cheap fun there (and they all will meter, so just manual focus)

Major plus point on the NEX was that it has a bigger sensor (APS-C size, same as most DSLRs) – so yeah the lenses are bigger, but the image quality and noise is better and it can do shallower depth of field.

But yeah the controls on the NEX were rubbish, it’s tied to Sony’s own mount and it has a seperate flash that you have to clip on, instead of a built-in one. (pointless)

Anyway yeah I think he is going for the G2 (unless his wife talks him down to the G2’s little brother, the G10).

the image quality and noise is better

Marginally, noticeable mostly if you’re testing and looking for it. If you’re picture’s a good one, it’ll still be decent with a bit of noise. An easier to use camera will mean you take more and better photos than a slight increase in noise and IQ. Maybe if you often print up to large sizes then it’s worth it?

it can do shallower depth of field.

Whilst technically correct, you’re limited to slower lenses on the NEX. There are faster lenses available for micro 4/3, plus as I said a wealth of very fast old manual lenses relatively cheap.

Also, take the kit zooms. Trying for smallest DoF so say on the sony 55mm , f5.6, 1m range – DoF = 7cm. On the G2, 45mm, f5.6, 1m – DoF = 8cm.

So yes, you’re technically correct. But I very much doubt it makes a difference in practical use.