Hesitating between 2 cameras?
My birthday is approaching and I would like to ask for a camera that's:
-compact, light
-great image quality
-for travelling
-not too expensive
-stylish
-pretty easy to use
-explorable
So I did a bit of research and now I'm hesitating between the Nikon 1 J5 and Olympus OM-D E-M10. Which one would you suggest?
The OMD EM10 without hesitation. It has a large MFT sensor. The Nikon 1 J5 only has a 1" sensor. Bigger sensor size always wins.
The Olympus from those two, but it wouldn't hurt to look at the Sony A3000/A5000 as they're no slouches either.
Even to people who like EVIL models (I personally don't) the Nikon's small sensor puts it at a distinct disadvantage, compared to the Olympus' 4/3rds one or the Sony's bigger APS one (also used in Pentax and Nikon DSLRs).
The Olympus for the following reasons:
Larger sensor on the Olympus means being able to blur out backgrounds better. It also has larger pixels which means greater dynamic range, less noise in the shadows and less diffraction.
The Olympus has in-body image stabilization - this allows for about 3-4 stops lower shutter speeds than the J5. This means that you can either shoot at the same ISO but with smaller apertures and longer shutter speeds, or, shoot at a much lower ISO and get no noise, and better sharpness, color and contrast than what' possible with the J5. And since the Oly has in-body IS, any lens you use is now stabilized. That's a huge, huge benefit.
The Olympus can synch with the flash at 1/200th while the J5 can only synch at an anemic 1/60th. That means that the Olympus can be used much more easier in fill-flash situations outside where the Nikon would fail. Using fill flash for outdoor portraits is a very common pro technique that puts catchlights in the subject's eyes making them look alive. 1/60th flash synch speed is surprisingly slow for any modern camera.
Being a Micro 4/3 format, the Olympus has a much larger selection of lenses many of which are better than what Nikon has to offer. Not so with the limited offerings from Nikon.
The only thing going for the J5 is the 4K video.
Olympus any day. GREAT camera, very flexible, lots of opportunity to add more bits (wide angle, telephoto, flash, remote etc).
I have had my E-M10 for 18 months - VERY pleased with it, and it still surprises me at the quality of pictures it takes.
Each have their advantages, see the link below. I would favor the Olympus purely for the viewfinder. Without a viewfinder in broad daylight, your camera becomes a point and hope camera.
http://snapsort.com/...OM-D-E-M10