My neighbour has been a micro four thirds user for almost as long as me, and an E-M5 owner since the camera was first released. So when his brother sought recommendations for a new camera, an E-M5 with a selection of lenses was suggested as the way to go.
But brothers are wayward creatures, and instead of coming home with an E-M5, he staggered over the threshold with a Nikon D600 and three lenses. Family tension ensued.
Anyway, brother made his way out to Thailand on holiday and stayed with my neighbour. Inevitably there was a discussion about how much better the image quality would be from the D600 compared to the E-M5, and comparative shots were taken to try and prove the point.
The D600 had the 24-85mm lens attached, so shots were taken comparing with the Olympus 12mm, Summilux 25mm and Olympus 45mm on the E-M5. Their conclusion was that there was “no discernible difference” between the images from the two cameras; which must have been disappointing for the brother given there is a discernible difference in price and bulk between the two.
I was sent some of the shots. Here is the comparison with the 25mm Summilux:
E-M5:
E-M5 100% crop (click to see full size):
D600:
D600 100% crop (click to see full size):
I reckon the extra pixels give the D600 a slight edge at 100%; but in day to day use you certainly wouldn’t notice any difference in output between the two cameras.
“Never mind”, said my neighbour as he slipped his camera and three tiny lenses into a small bag “let’s try your other two lenses and see how they compare”.
The brother looked sheepish. “I only brought one lens on holiday, I didn’t have space to carry the other two”.
I believe that what followed was a sentence containing the phrase “I told you…”.