[Mahadragon]

Since this old thread's been resurrected, I'll also say that I've had the opposite experience. After reading all over the internet that MFT and APS-C are good enough these days, I had tried several "crop-sensor" systems in the last couple of years, switching between Olympus/Panasonic, Pentax and Fuji. And I don't know, pictures from smaller sensors look ok when straight out of the camera, but when you start processing them.. they just fall apart. Especially MFT. When I apply moderate contrast adjustments and add some sharpening they become crazily noisy and start to look unnatural even at base ISO 200! APS-C is better, especially Pentax was good with ISO 80, but then again even the very old Canon 5D from 2005 just gives some really nice sharp images at ISO 100 with tones and colors that I haven't seen from smaller formats.

 

It just seems like smaller sensors use some "cheating" in order to not lag too far behind FF, and all that cheating becomes apparent when you start "working" the image, that is post-processing, making tonal/color adjustments etc. Just can't argue with huge sensels I suppose. And I don't even need shallower depth of field, mostly shooting landscapes. They just look better, the small details are lively, the colors are "richer" than anything I've had with APS-C, and MFT always looked "mushy" and "plasticky". The only thing that produced really good images for me was Fuji with 14/2.8, but that's probably the lens' merit.

 

And there's so many FF lenses available including really good yet affordable ones.. I really hated MFT lenses, everyone says there are some "gems" in the line-up but when I try those "gems" they're just mediocre, and I've tried a lot of "highly regarded" primes (except 75/1.8). Original Four Thirds lenses are really good though, Olympus 50/2 is superb, and 12-60 was really good. But again, even with excellent optics small sensors still suck when start post-processing. So I lag around a heavy old 5D for now. Hate its weight and there are some other issues (like sensor dust, no live-view etc), but for me IQ is just significantly better. And that's with affordable primes like 35/2, 50/1.8 and 100/2.

Your comment is strong on complaints and scant on details. To get the most out of your M43 camera you need to shoot in raw and you need a decent program like Lightroom or Aperture. Some of the older and cheaper programs aren't designed to handle raw photos from M43 cameras so you won't have great results.

 

You've tried the "gems"? The 75mm F1.8 isn't a highly regarded lens, not in my book anyway. In my opinion, none of the Olympus lenses are that great, at least compared to Panasonic's premium offerings. Have you tried the 25mm F1.4 or the 42.5mm F1.2? Those lenses are incredible.