Upgrade from OMD E-M5, for low light

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nikon7777

nikon7777

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Hello.

Asking for a friend. He is hobbyist and using Olympus E-M5, 12-50mm, 25mm and 45mm since few years. Now he wants to upgrade, but without big budget. He called me and shared me a deal of Sony A700 with Tamron 55-200 + Minolta AF lens 49mm in $800. I am not thrilled with this setup.

He will keep his Olympus setup for day and travel usage and will not sell. He would like to keep budget of $1200 (or little more) for used gear, if new one will be expensive.

His complaints are -
- Most of my pictures are for family function and they are mostly post sunlight. My pictures are blurry, unless I asked everyone to be very steady, or if I adjust ISO, then they will be very grainy and noisy due to less light. Looks like, I want setup for fast lens/camera or low light.
- Most of the time I will use camera in my small backyard or in my main hall for small events like B'day, kid's celebrations, etc. That means, I don't have much space to go back. I can use 45mm but that covers only few people in the frame. I need something wider, where I can ask everyone to gather and I can fill 15 people in the frame.

My initial thought was to suggest to pick Z6 for $600 and add a fast wide lens, and done (will be overkill for occasional usage ???). But I would like to hear some suggestions here.

Thanks
 
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I would suggest trying Lightroom denoise or DXO 8 denoise first using RAW if he has not.

I have the OMD EM10ii which is the 16mp sensor, which is very similar to the newer 20mp in low light. Honestly it's not a bad camera in lower light with the faster primes. I use a 17/25/45 1.8 on mine and it can be used at 3200-6400 and with newer denoise on Lightroom even further so it's fine in most low light. The zooms are not though as they're slower apertures. Honestly it's a great little setup. The contrast detect autofocus is more a problem than the ISO on it in low light. But it's the most compact travel camera I've ever had and just tiny in comparison to anything else.

If he wants more I would skip the Z5 (I own one) and go for a used Z6 as they're very reasonable used, and add a 35/50mm prime per his choice of focal length. The 28 and 40 cheaper primes are very good and inexpensive, often 225 on sale and less used. They have good glass inside and are also weather resistant. The Z6 sensor is still one off the best low light sensors you can buy and the default portrait JPEG profess do well for colors if he doesn't like editing.
 
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Lee R said:
I would suggest trying Lightroom denoise or DXO 8 denoise first using RAW if he has not.

I have the OMD EM10ii which is the 16mp sensor, which is very similar to the newer 20mp in low light. Honestly it's not a bad camera in lower light with the faster primes. I use a 17/25/45 1.8 on mine and it can be used at 3200-6400 and with newer denoise on Lightroom even further so it's fine in most low light. The zooms are not though as they're slower apertures. Honestly it's a great little setup. The contrast detect autofocus is more a problem than the ISO on it in low light. But it's the most compact travel camera I've ever had and just tiny in comparison to anything else.

If he wants more I would skip the Z5 (I own one) and go for a used Z6 as they're very reasonable used, and add a 35/50mm prime per his choice of focal length. The 28 and 40 cheaper primes are very good and inexpensive, often 225 on sale and less used. They have good glass inside and are also weather resistant. The Z6 sensor is still one off the best low light sensors you can buy and the default portrait JPEG profess do well for colors if he doesn't like editing.
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Thank you. This is good point
 
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