Why I switched from Panasonic Lumix micro 4/3s to Sony Alpha Full Frame mirrorless.
In March 2025 I shot an entire family event on my iPhone, as the image quality was nearly identical to my m43 system. I can even shoot RAW. Of course there is no replacement for separate lenses on a camera system compared to a phone, but for a regular photo shoot, there was no point in lugging around a camera body and multiple lenses, for almost no image quality gain for shooting m43.
In April 2025 I decided it was time to start moving into a system that will provide more flexibility, improved support, research and development, and also widely available for resale. So the Sony Alpha system made a lot of sense. For far too long I've been researching the system, only to get disappointed every time I looked at the price, size, and weight. Until I saw this kit which completely changed my mind.
My thought process started to swarm around my head, and started looking into different options. Sony clearly won, so took the decision of selling most of my old gear, and get the A7R IV plus 3 lenses and a Teleconverter. I can easily cover from 20mm up to 420mm. I though my camera kit was going to grow. It actually shrunk considerably. And the image size tripled.
The final reason why Full Frame makes sense to me is that it feels like home. I started with a Nikon FE back in 1977, all the way up to a Nikon F100 in 2004, my last SLR.
I shot Slide film almost exclusively. My typical weekend was to go out on Saturday with the family, to an interesting place around the city, or maybe to the beach, with my camera and a couple rolls of slide film. Then Sunday afternoon, after lunch, I started rolling and heating up the JOBO development tank system. Cracked open the cartridges in a dark bag, and rilled them into the reels and on a JOBO film tank. Started the development process: developer, stop bath, and fixer. I can still remember the smell of E-6 chemicals.
After drying the strips of film I cut and mounted them on the slide frames. Then loaded the slides into a Kodak Carrousel. Then at dawn, it was family time to watch the photos of the weekend. We used to live in a country house, with no Cable or Internet, so it was so relaxing and amazingly fulfilling to simply enjoy some photos with the family.
I really miss those days, and one thing I miss the most is the form factor of the 35mm frame and its 2:3 aspect ratio. I don't know it just feels right at home.