[Closed] Camera - ists, advice and guidance please.

As with everything, I suppose it depends on how much you want to spend, ultimately. For sports and action, then a good AF system is probably more important than say resolution. Your Olympus is an older camera, so pretty much anything current is going to perform a bit better. Larger sensors will offer better image quality and low light performance, so perhaps consider moving up to APS-C or even full frame, if you're willing/able to spend more. The Sony system is pretty extensive, and the AF on their cameras is excellent. Nikon have a small-ish mirrorless camera, the Z50, which has excellent ergonomics, and the advantages of newer technology such as face and eye recognition AF (I think it even does animals). Canon's smaller ML cameras such as the M50, although these use a dedicated lens mount unlike the Sony and Nikon ML cameras, which use the same mount throughout the range (so good if you decide to 'upgrade' later to full frame). Lenses start to get very expensive though. Canon have the RF mount full frame ML range, but again, expensive. Fuji are very highly regarded, but I'm not familiar with their cameras. As for sticking with the Olympus; I think Panasonic were the only other manufacturer to do the smaller sensor, and they're pulling out possibly, and Olympus' camera division has been bought up by another company, so their future is uncertain. I think with the small APS-C ML cameras available now, the smaller format has become somewhat redundant.

Free image editor is the easy part. Look for ‘Gimp’

On first read of your specs I see action shots/zoom lens/high IQ

Sports and wildlife photography can be an expensive game with fast long lenses. Superzoom/bridge cameras will get you closest bang for buck but you’ll have limited IQ, slow lens, and limited control.

How about a used Olympus 4/3 with wifi ability? You’d have access to fairly inexpensive lenses

Have you looked at https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympus-om-d-e-m10/5

This also jumps out for me

something I can learn more and refine skills of photography with

What do you feel is missing from your current camera setup in that context? What ‘level’ are you at? I started with 35mm film then DSLR and it was a simple switch. These days there is a lot more in-camera image-processing options, yet I still prefer a ground glass viewfinder and the twin dial control and no getting lost in sub-menus and assignations. Not crazy about shooting modes either. I prefer to shoot aperture priority/AV or manual, prime lens, shooting RAW and then go to work with minimal PP. ymwv

For other photographers the joy and learning may be gained via a more tech approach, HDR, bracketing, focus-stacking, etc. For others it may flash photography/strobism. But how do you view your Olympus in terms of hampering your learning?

Camera thread = 'what is your budget'? 🙂

Life long Oly user myself, due small size/weight which is good for travelling, mountaineering etc. Have a similar problem on my E-M5 where it might start up in Art mode. Rotating the dial to/from P fixes it, so never bothered to have it fixed.

I picked up a cheap E-M1 from ebay - that ended up with broken shutter, so Oly service fixed it for fixed cost £157. At the same time, they also replaced one of the dials so I wonder if that is a common problem.

Anyway - I found Oly service were very good - that might be a route worth exploring if a) E-M5 supports what you need, b) Oly service is the same as before prior to the JIP switch, c) ebay prices for a replacement body...

Most of my photography is static - failed many times with E-M5's poor auto-focus for things-that-move, so more hands-on is needed (e.g. manual focus + shutter-priority). E-M1 is much, much better and the new focussing hardware properly supports four-thirds lenses. Also has working focus peeking which I find really helps.

E-M1 does support wireless transfer but only via Oly app (without some http hackery). I still pull out the SD card for bulk transfers.

But if you don't have significant investment in Olympus, then there may well be better options for you and/or if the JIP sale concerns you.

Camera thread = ‘what is your budget’?

Yes!

+1EM-1 could be a good shout over the 10 if you decide to stick with Olympus

25% thicker in size, but better all round for your intended use? Notably weather sealing, hotshoe, phase-detection (better focusing for action shots), and a much better viewfinder.

https://www.wimarys.com/olympus-omd-em1-vs-em10-features-and-performance/

Something to transfer pictures wireless = wifi SD card, but likely a new model camera will have it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072SN7QK6?tag=tdggact2-20

Thanks folks....lots to think about.

But if you don’t have significant investment in Olympus, then there may well be better options for you

You mention you have a (slightly faulty) camera, and one lens. Not sure if you have any other kit. But if that's all you have, I'd recommend selling what you have, and putting the money towards something better, if you want to 'learn more and refine skills of photography'. APS-C or even 'full frame' sensors offer markedly better image quality for a start. But also, one advantage of larger sensors, is that you get less depth of field at larger apertures; that is, you get less of the foreground and background in focus. This can help isolate a subject more, especially desirable with say portraiture.

https://photographylife.com/what-is-depth-of-field

So for a given equivalent focal length, you get less DoF for a given aperture; a 25mm f1.8 lens on your Olympus is only equivalent to f3.6* with a 50mm lens on a full frame camera, or f2.7 with a 35mm lens on APS-C.

(*In terms of DoF)

Of course, the smaller sensor format offers greater 'reach' with telephoto lenses; a 200mm lens is equivalent to a 400mm lens on full frame, and roughly 266mm on APS-C. And of course you get a significant size and weight saving over larger formats. This might be important to you. But the increase in AF performance with larger sensors might be important for sports and wildlife. Swings and roundabouts; you choose which compromise suits you best.

As an example, a kit like this would serve you really well for all sorts of photography:

https://www.parkcameras.com/shop/nikon-z-50-mirrorless-body-with-nikkor-z-dx-16-50-vr---50-250-lens_3017493k

With that, you have your existing 12-50mm lens covered, plus all the way to an equivalent of about 180mm on the Olympus, or 24 to 375mm on a full frame camera. A pretty comprehensive range, that should cover pretty much anything.

The Z50 isn't so much larger than your OMD M5:

https://cameradecision.com/compare/Nikon-Z50-vs-Olympus-OM-D-E-M5

But a lot more capable.

If you had your reasons for going Oly in the first place then consider a 2nd hand Oly M43 body from MPB online? Also consider the M43 Lumix G series alternatives for decent IBIS, weatherproofing and video. Switching to APS-C or FF can bring better results in low light / portrait situations but FF lenses are bulky and many other Mirrorless ILC systems are bespoke. SONY IQ is excellent but their weird UI drove me to Lumix.

Also consider a large sensor bridge camera. SONY & Lumix come to mind for pocket size / limited zoom or larger bridge cameras with whopping zooms on them.

If you really want to learn more about photography, look at the smaller DSLR's.
I'm a big fan of Nikon and used them professionally for quite a few years. Now just as a hobby.

The standard 18 - 55 vr lenses are very good. VR (vibration reduction) is their image stabiliser and well worth having if you want to experiment with slower shutter speeds.

Can transfer to my phone wirelessly while on holiday and use one of the many free Raw photo editors. At home, prefer Adobe Lightroom.

I would think twice about going to a DSLR from a mirrorless system. I think you would miss too much about it especially seeing how your picture will look before you take it. If you like M43 stick with it but as has been said, there is also the LUMIX range. The G80 is fantastic and also weather sealed if that is important to you. They aren’t as cool as the Olympus ones though. I notice that a lot of wildlife pros are now using Olympus but then they can afford the really fast lenses that you need to overcome the depth of field issue.

I had been a Canon user for years but wouldn’t go back. I bought a Cheapish secondhand Fujifilm last year as a second camera but liked it so much that I sold all my canon gear. It isn’t great for everything though and the lenses are not cheap. The only thing I miss about the Canon is that I had an 18-200 which I used for pretty much everything and Fuji don’t do anything like it. For ease of use though it’s great. Pretty much everything you need is on dials so you don’t have to remember where things are in menus. Also their film styles are great so I don’t tend too edit as much.

The thing I didn’t like about Canon from a shooting point of view compared with the Fuji is that unless you buy an expensive one, you only get one dial so you need to use combinations of a button press and the dial to change the exposure compensation or shutter speed.

If you’re interested, Fuji now do a try before you buy scheme. Even if you’re not in the market for a new camera rather than secondhand, at least you get more of a feel for them than 10 minutes in a shop.

I have the same camera.
But barely used it funnily enough.
Took it on some holidays, love the compact size.
But kept going back to my aps-c canon dslr with a very good lens on it. Yes it’s bulky, but the image quality is head and shoulders better largely due to the bigger sensor - dof as described above.
So yeah, I’d echo the advice above that you should move up to an aps-c size device and pair it with a quality lens.
I’m a bit out of the loop but I’d be looking at Sony myself.
You’ve got the oly 12-50, which is actually the higher end kit lens. A quick look on eBay suggests you’ll get more than a hundred quid for this, a good contribution to your next purchase!