Originally posted by bwDraco It has been six months since I've started a new full-time job, and after being out of the photography world for a while, I am writing with sadness that I will be buying into another camera system.
While the Pentax K-3 II and D FA* 70-200mm f/2.8 lens has been instrumental to my work in the last year of my tenure as a sports photographer for my college, I have had a number of issues with this and my Pentax gear generally, ranging from
AF sub-mirror delamination on my Pentax K-3 II to the gear simply being too large and heavy for me to carry on a daily basis. Ricoh's lack of significant technological progress over the last few years has not helped. After some thoughts about my requirements, I've decided that Micro Four Thirds is the way to go, and I'll be getting an Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, most likely in early April. It will be purchased in a kit with the M.Zuiko 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens.
For the time being, I am not selling any of my Pentax equipment, and may even get an adapter to reuse some of my existing Pentax glass (particularly the D FA* 70-200mm f/2.8). Indeed, I realize there are situations where there's ultimately no substitute for a traditional DSLR, and I have not ruled out getting Pentax's long-awaited APS-C flagship due to be released later this year. Also, Pentax has a line of ultra-compact primes that I have not fully explored...
Your thoughts on this?
Draco
I use a lot of Olympus equipment. The 12-100mm f4 is a fine lens and I have one. However, for what you have in mind the real workhorse is probably the Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 (80-300mm equiv). This can be safely left on f2.8 while you shoot away. Superb quality at all lengths, built like a tank. I have taken more keepers with this than with any other lens. A 1.4x and a 2x teleconverter are available for it too. Both are quality, potentially extending the lens to 600mm at f5.6 but at that aperture you will want reasonable light. There are other, slower zooms in the Olympus and Panasonic stables but my experience is that with smaller sensors you want the fastest glass you can afford. I’ve found Olympus to be generally excellent and with top WR. Many love Panasonic gear just as much but Oly strikes me as better for action since Panny cameras lack phase detect AF. Two other top lenses which I don't have are the Panny 200mm f2.8 and the Oly 300mm f4.
However, as others have said there are several choices out there and it may be that a Nikon D500 say with an appropriate lens will offer better performance and value, and very possibly superior tracking AF which it sounds as if you will need. Unless you have set your heart on Oly, it would certainly be worth checking out other systems.This might especially apply if you are shooting indoors where low light could be an issue.