Olympus OM-D E-M5, E-M1, E-M10 - Mk1, Mk2 & Mk3 Owners Thread

Not sure if this is the right place for this question but here goes.

I love shooting with my Olympus 7-14 F2.8 Pro on my EM1 and EM1 MK II, but most of the time I'm using filters (little and big stoppers, and ND grads etc.). Because of the lens design, I've currently using my full size Lee 100mm filters with a special adapter to fit the NISI V5 holder, and it works pretty well.

Like a few I'm sure, I've been sent a promotional email by Panasonic offering £100 cashback on the new Panasonic 8-18 F2.8-4 lens. I normally wouldn't ever consider moving away from the Olympus Pro Lenses, but I have to admit I like the idea of a 16-36 equivalent probably more than the 14-28 of the Olympus, plus the biggie is that the Panny has a standard 67mm filter thread which means I should be able to use my much smaller Lee Seven5 system as well as conventional screw in filters (Polariser for instance). added to that the slightly smaller size and weight of the Panny lens, and it appears (on paper) to be quite an attractive proposition. One problem though I foresee is that when I had their previous incarnation (the Panny 7-14 F4), I got horrid purple blobs when dealing with areas of high contrast on Olympus cameras (something to do with weaker filtering on the Olympus sensor), which is why I sold it to purchase the Olympus alternative.

Has anyone else considered this or should I just stick with the Olympus lens and make do with the larger filters ?
 
Greytop said:
Thanks Simon.
....and I can sympathise, it is a great lens (for the money), I doubt whether I will part with mine even if I stump up the cash for a 300 f/4 (at some point).
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I could resist no more! Ffordes have one less Canon FD mount Tokina 300mm f2.8 :). It'll get put through its paces when the BTCC circus visits Croft this weekend.

Now to source another Canon FD 1.4 Extender. That could be a more tricky task!

Simon.
 
srhmoto said:
Now to source another Canon FD 1.4 Extender. That could be a more tricky task!

Simon.
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Try Rocky Cameras...

http://www.rockycameras.com/canon-19-c.asp

And a note... Some people slate this guy so maybe I've just been lucky. I've bought several lenses off him without any problems and when I wanted to exchange one for something different again I had no problems. I think if you want to buy something relatively simple and low cost he's maybe worth the risk. The kit I've bought looks like it was just bought by him and resold without doing anything even so basic as dusting it... but even so everything including the service has been ok for me.
 
woof woof said:
Try Rocky Cameras...

http://www.rockycameras.com/canon-19-c.asp

And a note... Some people slate this guy so maybe I've just been lucky. I've bought several lenses off him without any problems and when I wanted to exchange one for something different again I had no problems. I think if you want to buy something relatively simple and low cost he's maybe worth the risk. The kit I've bought looks like it was just bought by him and resold without doing anything even so basic as dusting it... but even so everything including the service has been ok for me.
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Thanks for the link Alan, but there's not a single Canon FD 1.4 extender listed. They are pretty rare to find unfortunately.

Simon.
 
damianmkv said:
Where did you stay Toby ? Its wifey's 40th in January so i'm thinking of going there
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Marriott Habtoor Grand Resort at the Marina, was a nice hotel. It's about 30mins taxi from the Airport and about 20mins from the main part of the City. Taxis aren't too expensive so the half hour from the airport cost around £20.
This was for my 40th too (y)

addicknchips said:
These are great. Really really nice.
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Thanks very much.
 
WoW.. so many Olympus threads.. will slowly work my way through but just a quickie hello as a fellow Olympus OM-D user.. now have all three OM-D cameras as I find it hard to let go of the older ones and they also act as backup cameras.. Have three lenses.. the 7mm-14mm and the 12mm-60mm (which I will sell and get the 12mm-100mm) and the Tamron 150mm-600mm using a Canon-M4/3 Metabone Convertor. Shoot mostly landscapes using natural light.. always on a tripod.

_52103022.JPG
 
EFMax said:
WoW.. so many Olympus threads.. will slowly work my way through but just a quickie hello as a fellow Olympus OM-D user.. now have all three OM-D cameras as I find it hard to let go of the older ones and they also act as backup cameras.. Have three lenses.. the 7mm-14mm and the 12mm-60mm (which I will sell and get the 12mm-100mm) and the Tamron 150mm-600mm using a Canon-M4/3 Metabone Convertor. Shoot mostly landscapes using natural light.. always on a tripod.

View attachment 103688
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What landscapes do you shoot with a 1200mm effective lens? :eek:;)
 
OK guys, whilst I have the Olympus 7-14 F2.8 Pro, I've just ordered the new Panasonic 8-18 F2.8-4 from WEX, and it should be arriving today. I'm interested in a couple of things to see if it can replace the 7-14 or goes back.

I'll put a small write up on here when finished, but basically, I looking at the following

a) Looking to see if it has a much field curvature as the 7-14. With that lens, you really have to be careful where you focus (even at 7mm and F8) to make sure you are getting perfect front to back sharpness. I'm hoping the Panny lens doesn't suffer from this as much.
b) main reason for getting it is so that I can use and take with me my Lee Seven5 filter set, rather than the bigger and bulkier Lee 100mm system with the bespoke adapter for the 7-14mm which can be a bit of a pain. Looking to see if Vignetting is an issue at 8mm with the Seven5 with one of two filters fitted (and maybe even the polariser, (though I won't tend to use it that much with the UWA lenses).
c) I need to see if the purple blobbing issue that plagued my original Panasonic 7-14mm F4 still exists when used on an Olympus body (my OMD EM1 MK II). If it's still as bad, then back it goes.
d) Would like to compare the size and weight of the two lenses in my hand to see if the Panasonic lens is actually that much lighter than the relatively heavyweight 7-14.
e) My copy of the 7-14 isn't stellar in the very corners at 7mm at wider apertures (to be expected I suppose) and may be an effect of the field curvature, but will be interesting to see if the Panasonic is better in that regards.
f) See if the loss of the 1mm at the wider end (16mm effective vs 14mm) is that noticeable, and will annoy me.

Don't get me wrong, the Olympus lens is one of my Holy Trinity of 7-14, 12-40 and 40-150, so the Panasonic lens will really have to perform to dislodge this from my ownership.

In the words of agent Smith in the Matrix - " One of these lenses has a future......one of them does not" :)

I'll keep you all posted and do a mini review in a few days.
 
I've just sold my Oly 7-14mm as I just couldn't get along with it. I'll be very interested to hear what you think about the new Panny Leica :)

Simon.
 
ianp5a said:
What was the problem?
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A few things. Firstly, I just couldn't get to grips with and 'see' at the UWA this lens provides. Not a fault of the lens, but I just couldn't get comfortable with the FoV for landscape work. Secondly, it flared for fun with any point light sources near the edge of the frame. It spoiled a few blue hour cityscapes for me as a result. Finally, I was going to have to invest at least £200-£300 to upgrade to larger filters.

The lens just wasn't for me. I'm much, much happier using my 12-40mm f2.8 :)

Simon.
 
damianmkv said:
She's mentioned Dubai, several times. It's not my desire to go there but it's hers sooooo..
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We went to Dubai for our honeymoon and it was an amazing place, you can easily fill a good 7 days worth of activities if planned correctly.
We stayed at the Atlantis The Palm resort which has loads of things to do, you can then book days out like Desert Safari, Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall, The old Town/Markets, theme parks etc.
 
thanks - i looked at the Palm, it has things like being half board, transfers etc going for it. Reviews on TA aren't so good with reports of arrogant staff, construction work on the Palm etc.. I looked at Address Dubai Marina which is supposed to be nice ...ohhh, too many hotels and too many decisions
 
Well first impressions of the Panasonic 8-18 that arrived yesterday are really quite impressive.

The lens seems tack sharp corner to corner and all apertures and FL's. It does still suffer from a small amount of field curvature, but no where near as much as the Olympus Lens. Also, from initial testing (although more to be done), I've yet to get it to display the purple blobs in highlight areas, but I might have to push this bit much further because this would be a real deal breaker if it's still there and I haven't just seen it yet.

Handling the lens, it actually feels much lighter than the 200 grams it has has over the 7-14 in reality, and overall is a much more compact and easy to carry package, but doesn't feel plastiky or cheap, but obviously not the full cold metal feeling of the Olympus 7-14. I don't shoot manual focus much (or at all) with this lens, so I don't' think I'll miss the manual clutch system for focussing.

Filter wise, I've tried it will my Lee Seven5 system, and I can report that i doesn't vignette at all even at 8mm wide open with the Lee holder and two standard filters in the slots (I've tried my Seven5 Big Stopper and a 0.6 Hard grad and no vignetting at all). However, with the Seven5 Polariser fitted to the holder, it vignettes up to about 10-11mm (to be expected really).

Overall, I'm liking what I'm seeing and it may well replace my trusty Olympus 7-14. I'll need to do some more testing over the weekend and will report back later. For now, here's a few images of the lens mounted on the OMD-EM1 MK II





With the lens hood attached.
 
srhmoto said:
A few things. Firstly, I just couldn't get to grips with and 'see' at the UWA this lens provides. Not a fault of the lens, but I just couldn't get comfortable with the FoV for landscape work. Secondly, it flared for fun with any point light sources near the edge of the frame. It spoiled a few blue hour cityscapes for me as a result. Finally, I was going to have to invest at least £200-£300 to upgrade to larger filters.

The lens just wasn't for me. I'm much, much happier using my 12-40mm f2.8 :)

Simon.
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I say it time and again that UWA is very specialist. I too much prefer the 24-80 range (or even 80-300) for landscape.
 
Nawty said:
I say it time and again that UWA is very specialist. I too much prefer the 24-80 range (or even 80-300) for landscape.
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I think wide angle lenses are some of the most demanding to use well and another thing is that it's sometimes possible to take a shot and think it's good but then think it/me/you are trying too hard to make the shot work... like it's an advert for the lens and what it can do, if you know what I'm trying to say :D I like pictures that work for the subject or connection and not so much pictures that scream the abilities of the kit.

Having said all that the Siggy 12-24mm was for a time my most used lens on both APS-C and FF.
 
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Has anyone else here had problems with the Pen F since the firmware update ?

After doing some Googling since the issue appeared,it seems I'm not alone in now having the camera 'lock up', and it requires popping the battery out and back in again to get it going again. Very disappointing as the camera was perfect before the new firmware - hopefully there'll be a fix released before too long..
 
Nerfbat said:
Has anyone else here had problems with the Pen F since the firmware update ?

After doing some Googling since the issue appeared,it seems I'm not alone in now having the camera 'lock up', and it requires popping the battery out and back in again to get it going again. Very disappointing as the camera was perfect before the new firmware - hopefully there'll be a fix released before too long..
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Have you reported it to Olympus?
 
Well the Fuji X-T2 system and all lenses have now gone off to pastures new.

It's not that the Fuji X system isn't a good system - its very good, and if I was starting from scratch again, I'd probably reconsider it. Trouble is my Olympus Micro Four thirds system gives me 85-90% of what the Fuji did, in (for me) a better package and coupled with the fact that I'm fairly well heavily invested in Micro Four thirds lenses as well, it made sense to me.

For the other 10% where the Fuji beat the Olympus (high ISO, subject tracking etc.), I've retained my D500 and a few lenses, so that twin system should cover me for all eventualities. I'll be honest, I fell quite relieved and liberated (despite losing a small amount of money) as the Fuji for me was sort of sitting in the no-man middle ground, and I had to deliberately pick it up and force myself to use it rather than my much more familiar Olympus and Nikon system which were always my first choice.

I compared landscape images (my preferred subject matter), from all 3 cameras, and TBH, shooting RAW, stopped down to F5.6-8 at their respective native ISO's I was hard pressed to see much (if any difference) between them when I printed all to A3. Even at ISO3200 capturing my fast moving cocker spaniel, at A3, the XT-2 and D500 were better than the EM1 II (mainly in AF-C performance), but from an ISO point of view, in print, I had to get really close to see any differences in noise and sharpness (if it was there at all) ! I think basically it means now that whether you choose a Micro Four Thirds, APS-C or Full Frame camera, to see a noticeable difference in image quality (putting aside the DOF differences), you really have to push each sensor to it's extremes, but in general day to day photography, there's almost nothing between them. The grass really isn't always greener elsewhere !
 
Interesting that you rate the em1 mk2 as the worst ( least best ?? ) for tracking, Andrew. It's my pet hate of the mk1
 
damianmkv said:
Interesting that you rate the em1 mk2 as the worst ( least best ?? ) for tracking, Andrew. It's my pet hate of the mk1
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The D500 is one of the best DSLRs and the X-T2 arguably the best mirrorless for this though so it's no surprise ;)
 
Sootchucker said:
I compared landscape images (my preferred subject matter), from all 3 cameras, and TBH, shooting RAW, stopped down to F5.6-8 at their respective native ISO's I was hard pressed to see much (if any difference) between them when I printed all to A3. Even at ISO3200 capturing my fast moving cocker spaniel, at A3, the XT-2 and D500 were better than the EM1 II (mainly in AF-C performance), but from an ISO point of view, in print, I had to get really close to see any differences in noise and sharpness (if it was there at all) ! I think basically it means now that whether you choose a Micro Four Thirds, APS-C or Full Frame camera, to see a noticeable difference in image quality (putting aside the DOF differences), you really have to push each sensor to it's extremes, but in general day to day photography, there's almost nothing between them. The grass really isn't always greener elsewhere !
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This is where Fuji are weakest imo, I've been much happier with landscapes from my Nikon and Olly compared to the Fuji.
 
Surprising how M43 is portrayed as equal quality to APS/FF with a significant reduction in weight. But I make the bad boy above only 228g and 254g lighter than the Sony alternative.
Guess it depends what your shooting.
 
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dcash29 said:
Surprising how M43 is portrayed as equal quality to APS/FF with a significant reduction in weight. But I make the bad boy above only 228g and 254g lighter than the Sony alternative.
Guess it depends what your shooting.
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I don't think it's portrayed as equal, especially with FF, but it can hold its own and not that far off.
 
I'm seriously considering adding an Olympus to my M4/3 kit, either a OMD EM10 1 or 2, OMD EM5 1 or 2, or even an OMD EM1.

Can anyone who's owned one or all of these point me in the right direction please?

It will be used for a whole host of photo's i like street, portraiture, landscape bit of everything really, i've read up online but it's always better to hear from people who have owned the camera's.

Thanks.
 
Swissy said:
I'm seriously considering adding an Olympus to my M4/3 kit, either a OMD EM10 1 or 2, OMD EM5 1 or 2, or even an OMD EM1.

Can anyone who's owned one or all of these point me in the right direction please?

It will be used for a whole host of photo's i like street, portraiture, landscape bit of everything really, i've read up online but it's always better to hear from people who have owned the camera's.

Thanks.
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Errr. Get the lot!
Jus kiddin. I've had both EM5s. And guess what. The newer one is better.
But it's lots more expensive. The advantages of the Mk2 being bigger EVF. Special high res mode, (that most people don't use) . Timelapse. Focus bracketing. Wifi remote and WiFi picture transfer. HDR mode. Bounce and turn flash. Twisty screen (that annoys half the owners). Live Composite mode. But very importantly, the ergonomics are much better.
 
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Yeah thanks i didn't realize how expensive the em5 mark 2 is, i don't really want to spend more than £400-£500
 
I've had the em10 mk1 and have the em1 mk1.

In terms of IQ, they're the same ( unless you do long exposures in which case go for the 10 ). For handling, the em1 is much better balanced with lenses like the 12-40 pro.

Focus speed for portraits is both much quicker than I remember with my d7000.
 
I love my E-M5ii and I've actually gotten a bit of use out of the hi-res mode. It's full of limitations, but in certain circumstances the detail and quality can be great! Live comp is also great.

Recently got my wife the Panny G85/G80. If you're not particularly wedded to Olympus I'd really suggest checking it out. I find it very comparable to my em5-ii, with better video and handling. Though it lacks live comp and hi res (which I really like both of).

You can get either the em-5ii or G80/85 second hand in that price range pretty easily.

Not tried the EM10 or EM1 unfortunately. I suspect i'd love an EM-1 ii, but that is well out of price range here :).
 
Thanks everyone, still undecided though :)

MPB have used, excellent condition EM1's for £430
 
Swissy said:
I'm seriously considering adding an Olympus to my M4/3 kit, either a OMD EM10 1 or 2, OMD EM5 1 or 2, or even an OMD EM1.

Can anyone who's owned one or all of these point me in the right direction please?

It will be used for a whole host of photo's i like street, portraiture, landscape bit of everything really, i've read up online but it's always better to hear from people who have owned the camera's.

Thanks.
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I've had the EM10, EM5-II and now the EM1. The EM5-II is a huge step up over the EM10, but the EM10-II bridges the gap. The EM5's and EM1's are weather sealed, the main reason I initially upgraded from the EM10 to the Em5-II. However, I still prefer the tilt screen of the mark I cameras over the fully articulating screen of the Mark II's. I sold the EM5-II as was struggling to justify having this with the 12-40mm as a travel system that didn't get used, went right round the houses with 1" compacts, Fuji etc and decided that Olly was the best compromise. When coming back the choice was between the EM5-II that I was very happy with before, and the EM1. The reason I chose the EM1 was that it is much better balanced than the EM5-II when using the 12-40mm imo. Also, that slight extra width means that I can grip the camera without my fingers catching on the lens, which I couldn't with the EM5-II (I have shovels for hands ;)). Overall I prefer the EM1 to the EM5-II, the only thing I prefer on the EM5-II is that there's less noise on long exposures. But as I don't do these very often with the Olly, and the fact that Olly has a system to reduce noise on long exposure (by taking a second blank pic) it's not really an issue.

Just make sure whichever you get you get it in silver ;) :p
 
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