Thursday, June 27, 2013

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Review

This short write-up is an expansion and update of my review on Amazon.com for this camera, written on August 5, 2012.


Initial Thoughts



Original Amazon.com review.

My Panasonic G1 was showing its age and I was growing frustrated with its poor low-light performance and slow autofocus, plus I wanted a second body so I wouldn't have to switch lenses so often. I cross-shopped this against the Panasonic G3 and GH2; I recognize that the G3 is much less expensive (I could've almost gotten two bodies for the price of this one body + lens), and the GH2 is more comparable price-wise. When I played around with the G3 in a store, I discovered that I just didn't like how it felt, and I really missed the automatic EVF proximity sensor. I never did get an opportunity to actually hold a GH2, although I imagine I would have liked it a lot. At the end, what tipped the scales for me were:

  • weatherproofing, since I take my camera on hikes, canoe trips, and mountain bike rides, sometimes under less-than-ideal conditions
  • in-body image stabilization
  • capability to add an external battery holder
  • reportedly greater dynamic range
  • weatherproof kit lens that goes wider than the Panasonic zooms (12mm-50mm)

After having used the OM-D for a few weeks, I can say that I'm happy with the purchase. The IBIS is the real deal, low light/high ISO performance has to be seen to be believed, and the autofocus is wicked fast. The capability and level of sophistication of this camera makes my old G1 look positively primitive. My only real complaint is that I wish the OM-D was a Panasonic, at least from a user interface perspective. I've spent two years shooting with one camera exclusively and I know how to get to all the controls and change all the settings that matter to me without thinking about it. Trying the Olympus for the first time, I knew the learning curve for this camera was going to be a steep one when I discovered that the Olympus zoom works opposite to the Panasonic zooms. I know that the UI on the OM-D is extremely configurable and I've done what I can to match the controls to what I'm used to, but I was only able to go so far. What I miss the most is the fact that the drive mode is not immediately available (on the G1 a lever quickly moves you from single exposure to burst to bracket to timer) and enabling exposure bracketing in particular is buried a couple of menu levels down. I also find it odd that not every button can be assigned to every function. Olympus has seen fit to limit which functions some buttons can take, and to make some buttons not customizable at all (D-pad up and left arrows, in particular). The touch screen menu is pretty comprehensive, but it still doesn't have the bracketing function, and because it's a capacitive screen and can't be operated while wearing gloves, I haven't gotten into the habit of using it. I also miss the fully-articulated LCD of the Panasonic cameras.

From an image quality and functionality point of view, the OM-D is exactly what I was looking for. Now all I have to do is get used to the UI...

Long-term Experience

Coming soon