Hi everybody. Welcome to Episode 52 of the Photography Explained Podcast.

I’m your host Rick and in each episode, I will explain one photographic thing in plain English in less than 10 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. I explain things in just enough detail to help you and me with our photography.

What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience, not Google.

Right, let’s get straight into it.

But no, before we do that, I hope that my podcast finds you well, this one is being recorded just after the Easter break, on a nice sunny day here in England. I’ll work on that, that needs a bit of polishing, doesn’t it?

Right then what is a Micro Four Thirds camera explained in less than 10 minutes?

Here is my answer. This is the written-down bit, or as I like to call it the answery bit.

A Micro Four Thirds (MFT) camera is a mirrorless camera which has a smaller sensor size than full frame and cropped sensor cameras. The Micro Four Thirds system was created by Olympus and Panasonic and shares a common lens mount available to third-party manufacturers. MFT cameras are generally smaller and lighter than other mirrorless and DSLR cameras and are an excellent alternative, providing high-quality imagery with much smaller cameras and lenses.

You can listen to the episode here

Or keep on reading. Or do both. Entirely up to you!

We’ve got three different main types of consumer cameras

• Full frame cameras
• Cropped sensor cameras
• Micro Four Thirds cameras

Now some people refer to Micro Four Thirds as cropped sensor cameras. I don’t – I refer to it as Micro Four Thirds, as a separate system distinct from cropped sensor cameras, which I will cover in the next episode.

I use a Micro Four Thirds camera

It’s the Olympus EM5 Mk 2, or to give it its full title the Olympus OM-D EM 5 Mark 2 – why don’t they just call them Bob or Eric or something? I don’t know.

I use this camera for my travel and personal photography work.

And I have to tell you, I love it. Let’s explain what it’s all about then.

So first thing, how big is the sensor?

Now the sensor is the bit that records the image. And this is the main, but not the only differentiation. (good use of that word – glad I said it). It’s not the only thing that sets these different systems apart.

But it is a fundamental one, and for me is the logical starting point, as the other things fall out of that.

More about sensor size

In episode eight of my podcast, Photography Explained Podcast Episode 8 – Why Is Camera Sensor Size Important, I go through the different camera sensor sizes – this is so significant that it made it on to episode 8, but now we’re just going with Micro Four Thirds all on its own.

Sensor sizes quickly

• A full-frame camera has a sensor which is 36 millimetres wide by 24 millimetres high.
• A Micro Four Thirds camera has a sensor which is 18 millimetres wide by 13.5 millimetres high.

It’s considerably smaller, isn’t it?

Does this matter?

It’s one of those isn’t it, whichever answer I give here somebody will be able to criticise and disagree with it, which is fine. This is after all my opinion.

And I’m trying to tell you the things you need to know that will help you so the general rule of thumb is this.

The larger the sensor, the better the quality of images that you capture.

That’s the general rule.

So in theory a full-frame camera takes better or higher quality pictures than a Micro Four Thirds camera.

Now let’s not forget

You can take great photos with an average camera and you can take rubbish photos with the best camera on the planet.

The best camera doesn’t equal the best photo – how you take the photo is much, much more important. You can get great photos with a Micro Four Thirds camera. Of course you can, they pack a load of technology, software and processing which helps and there are quite a few other little tricks.

My Olympus EM5

I think I might have to do an episode on my EM5 – I am not being paid to do that (by the way). I bought it myself. I have tried to get some support from Olympus, but I think I was a bit too subtle!

So what does Micro Four Thirds actually mean?

Sorry for the dramatic pause there. The honest answer is, I don’t know. And even more honest, I don’t care. Understanding this won’t help me with my photography.

It’s just another of the baffling terms that we have to navigate our way through in photography. I’m sure there’s a simple explanation for it, but I’m not bothered. Let’s get on to things that do matter.

Crop factor

Going back to a full-frame camera, you put a 50mm lens on a full-frame camera, and that gives you what I call a standard view, as in, it’s the same focal length as the human eye.

What you’re seeing through the lens is pretty much what you see through your eyes, it’s the same kind of thing.

Now, you put a 50mm lens on a Micro Four Thirds camera, and you get an effective focal length of 100mm, which is telephoto.

To get the same standard view, you would need to get a 25mm focal length lens, when you multiply that by the crop factor of two, that gives you the (effective focal length) of 50mm.

Big difference, a fundamental difference between the cameras.

Depth of field

The next one is more baffling than anything, I need to work on this, one depth of field. You get more depth of field with a Micro Four Thirds camera.

I still can’t get my head around this.

But luckily I’m not losing any sleep over the why – I don’t like losing sleep over the why.

Crop factor.

Now this this is Google research because I didn’t know this. Apparently, F2 on a Micro Four Thirds camera gives an effective depth of field which is the same as f4 on a full-frame camera.

So you can apply the crop factor to depth of field and aperture.

Do we want to do that? No. What I know are the photos I take with my micro four thirds camera and the photos I take with my Canon 6D.

I don’t worry about this.

Confused? Yes, I certainly am. But let’s move on.

Cheaper.

Micro Four Thirds cameras are in general terms cheaper than cameras with larger sensors. The main reason is that sensors are quite expensive, so the bigger the sensor, the more it costs. Now when you scale down the sensor from full frame to Micro Four Thirds, you are scaling everything else, a lot else gets smaller and smaller can be cheaper.

Are they fiddly to use?

Now one thing I haven’t put on my notes is this – are they fiddly to use? I have to say I don’t find my Olympus as easy to use as a Canon 6D if I’m being brutally honest with you.

But then again, I’ve been using my Canon 6D day in day out for years, and I do not use my Micro Four Thirds camera as much.

I’m pretty sure I’ve never thought, oh it’s a bit of a pain, it’s a bit fiddly, the buttons are too small or anything – I’ve never actually thought that.

I’ve never thought about this until now, to be honest with you. But no they’re not too fiddly, they might look so as there are lots of buttons and stuff, but it’s never been a problem for me.

In some ways I quite like that. Well, I like the compactness of it certainly. So I’m not finding a problem with it being smaller.

Pocket-sized?

And one of the massive, massive benefits is this. I’ve got a 12-42mm lens (that’s 24-84mm in full frame terms).

Pancake time

And it’s a pancake lens. If I put that on my EM 5, I can actually put that camera in a pocket. I also have an EM10, which is the smaller version, which certainly will go in a pocket with that little lens on it.

One of the (not a myth), but one of the realities of micro four thirds cameras is yeah, the body is smaller. But when you put something like I’ve got, a 12-40mm lens, which is my day-to-day use lens, you put that on the front, you’re not getting that in your pocket. It’s a lump of metal, let’s be honest with you.

So are they any good?

I think yes, is my considered answer. Let me justify that. Now I’ve done a lot of architectural photography shoots for the same client. On one shoot I used an Olympus EM1 Mk 2, with the (wonderful) Olympus 7-14mm f 2.8 Zuiko Pro jewel of a lens.

It’s a stunner and it gets me down to 14mm in full frame equivalent, which is actually wider than the 17mm on my Canon lens.

Working with MFT

So I did the shoot, I used the high res mode, and I actually took the photos in JPEG by mistake. I got back, and I couldn’t find the RAW files. I’m not gonna say where the shoot was, or what of, I don’t want to because nobody knows this. It was an interior space that was being handed over for use by the public. So it was a one-off opportunity to photograph it.

One-off opportunity, it couldn’t afford to get it wrong.

Anyway, I took the photos in JPEG by mistake using the high res mode. By the way, that’s where it takes eight photos and throws them all together somehow – I don’t understand that either (but it is ace). I issued them (the photos) to the client who has seen many, many sets of photos taken with a Canon 6D shot in raw.

And you know what?

Nobody knew. Nobody noticed. Nobody said anything.

How we view photos

As we’re actually viewing these photos, which is predominantly for commercial work, these days it’s on a screen, a monitor – so can you tell the difference?

You most often can’t.

Now if you blow these photos up, I’m sure you will see a difference. You know, you blow them up to A3 or A2, yep, you’ll lose quality quicker with a smaller sensor compared to a larger one, potentially.

But who does this? Let’s be honest with you. I don’t. My clients don’t.

So yeah, nobody noticed. And if I did it again, I’m sure nobody would notice or care.

MFT cameras are great

Really the photos you get with Micro Four Thirds cameras are great. People will tell you, the bigger the sensor, the better the photos and that’s absolutely true. But with this small, technologically advanced camera system, you can get great photos.

So what do I do?

Well, that’s what I do. I use both. I use my full-frame camera for my architectural photography work, and I use my Micro Four Thirds camera for travel and personal work.

Where did this come from?

How did I get into Micro Four Thirds? Well, basically, we were on holiday in Greece, and I took my Canon 6D, lenses, you name it, blah, blah, blah. And I found that I couldn’t be bothered on holiday getting the camera out of the boot to take photos. I used my Canon 6D for a sunrise because that was different. But for general day-to-day stuff, I was using my iPhone more and more.

And that’s how I started looking at smaller cameras and ended up going with the Olympus EM10 to start with. The first photo I took with that is a lovely photo.

I then upgraded to an EM5 Mk 2 two which is slightly bigger, which is great.

Olympus EM1 Mk 2

I’ve tried an Olympus EM1 Mark 2 which Olympus (kindly) lent me which was brilliant and I loved it. So yeah, don’t be put off by the size of the camera. You can get great photos with a Micro Four Thirds camera.

I have spoken much longer than my script.

Here is my one-line summary.

Micro Four Thirds cameras are a great option if you want a smaller camera, but you can still get great-quality photos as long as you know how to use the camera.

Next Episode – 53 – What is a cropped sensor camera?

What is a cropped sensor camera explained in less than 10 minutes?

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Thank you

Thank you for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast, check out Rick McEvoy Photography to find out about me and the Photography Explained Podcast website to find out all about my podcast what I’m going to answer, and ask me a question.

This episode was brought to you very much by the power of me stumbling over my words and I’ve gone over time.

Apologies for that. I’ve been Rick McEvoy. Thanks again very thanks again. Let’s do that again.

I’ve been Rick McEvoy. Thanks again very much for listening to me and for giving me nearly 15 minutes of your valuable time, and I’ll see you on the next episode, which will be shorter.

Cheers from me, Rick.

OK – that was the podcast episode.

Want to know more?

Head over to the Start page on the Photography Explained Podcast website to find out more.

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Let me know if there is a photography thing that you want me to explain and I will add it to my list. Just head over to the This is my list of things to explain page of this website to see what is on there already.

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And finally a little bit about me

Finally, yes this paragraph is all about me – check out my Rick McEvoy Photography website to find out more about me and my architectural, construction, real estate and travel photography work. I also write about general photography stuff, all in plain English without the irrelevant detail.

Thank you

Thanks for listening to my podcast (if you did) and reading this blog post (which I assume you have done as you are reading this).

Cheers from me Rick