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

I have a question about the Olympus e pm-2 micro four thirds camera. I have been over on DXO.com's camera compare. I notice that the PM-2's low light sensitivity betters all other Olympus MFT''s cameras including the OM-D10. Can anyone explain Olympus' reasoning for making this entry level camera to the MFT's system more low light capable than even the more advanced cameras in the line?
 
sands said:
I have a question about the Olympus e pm-2 micro four thirds camera. I have been over on DXO.com's camera compare. I notice that the PM-2's low light sensitivity betters all other Olympus MFT''s cameras including the OM-D10. Can anyone explain Olympus' reasoning for making this entry level camera to the MFT's system more low light capable than even the more advanced cameras in the line?
Click to expand...

It isn't quite as simple as an 'Olympus reasoning', there are a number of factors:

1. Essentially the 16mp sensor from all those years ago is still pretty much as good as it gets for m43 and the modern sensors are all but the same, even the 'next gen' 20mp sensor isn't noticeably better
2. IBIS and other gubbins adds heat, which adds noise, the more complex the IBIS the bigger the problem (EPM2 has 2 axis), especially with long exposure
3. DXO ratings need to be taken in context (or largely ignored), in real world usage I don't notice a difference between the EPM2 and any of the other 16mp sensors (except the EM1 for long exposure, which is bad)
 
I wouldn't read too much into DXOmark on the ISO front, according to their list I shouldn't go over 600 ISO on my G80, but it's usable with correct exposure at 3200, some on here will use it up to 6400 without any problem unless you constantly pixel peep
 
If that’s the size of the body it does make you wonder , especially with the something never seen before statement from them . I wonder two sensors. With a splitter for 3D , by not joining in the full frame furor they will definetly have a breakthrough up there sleeves it’s there 100th year camera so something has got to be groundbreaking in it
 
the black fox said:
If that’s the size of the body it does make you wonder , especially with the something never seen before statement from them . I wonder two sensors. With a splitter for 3D , by not joining in the full frame furor they will definetly have a breakthrough up there sleeves it’s there 100th year camera so something has got to be groundbreaking in it
Click to expand...


They claimed that they have an XT3 beater in store, well, that was an earlier rumour at least. So I agree, there's going to be something special about the sensor
 
The problem with high end pricing is you end up niche, especially when competition is so fierce.

It’s all very well targeting professionals and high end amateurs but you alienate other users. So ultimately the more niche you end up, meaning you need an even higher price to try and cover costs or make a profit.

Did Olympus make money before targeting the pro market ?
 
damianmkv said:
The problem with high end pricing is you end up niche, especially when competition is so fierce.

It’s all very well targeting professionals and high end amateurs but you alienate other users. So ultimately the more niche you end up, meaning you need an even higher price to try and cover costs or make a profit.

Did Olympus make money before targeting the pro market ?
Click to expand...
If Sony and Nikon can't derail Canon from the Pro market then Olympus certainly won't, especially with their inferior sensor. Whilst I'm fully aware of the advantages of M4/3, for the vast majority of people who buy the pro cameras the final image arguably counts more than anything else.
 
Olympus has been quite adept year by year in making either very small profits or some quite substantial losses, not a receipe for long term survival. Having said that, other companies aren't doing so well either, with Nikon currently profitable but getting to be a much smaller player in the market. Canon had a poor Q3 report with sales down 15% and operating profit down 45% for Imaging compared to the same period last year. Canon Shares are down by nearly a third from a peak in 2015, whilst Sony shares have almost trebled in the same timeframe, but of course both Companies have fingers in a lot more pies than just cameras and lenses. But Nikon and Olympus are primarily camera and lens manufacturers and are much more vulnerable to decreasing slices of a reducing cake.

My current Olympus Pen has been superceded by the EPL 7/8/9 and my OMD EM 1 and OMD EM 10 are both Mk1 models. There is no compelling reason to upgrade any of these cameras, any enhancements are so minor for my purposes that the huge cost to upgrade simply isn't worth it. Reviewers also seem divided as to whether the 20mp sensor brings that much to the party. So any new OMD will need to have something meaningful and special before my wallet can be prised open, I hope they can, what has been acheived by a comparative minnow is quite remarkable so far.
 
HarveyM said:
Olympus has been quite adept year by year in making either very small profits or some quite substantial losses, not a receipe for long term survival. Having said that, other companies aren't doing so well either, with Nikon currently profitable but getting to be a much smaller player in the market. Canon had a poor Q3 report with sales down 15% and operating profit down 45% for Imaging compared to the same period last year. Canon Shares are down by nearly a third from a peak in 2015, whilst Sony shares have almost trebled in the same timeframe, but of course both Companies have fingers in a lot more pies than just cameras and lenses. But Nikon and Olympus are primarily camera and lens manufacturers and are much more vulnerable to decreasing slices of a reducing cake.

My current Olympus Pen has been superceded by the EPL 7/8/9 and my OMD EM 1 and OMD EM 10 are both Mk1 models. There is no compelling reason to upgrade any of these cameras, any enhancements are so minor for my purposes that the huge cost to upgrade simply isn't worth it. Reviewers also seem divided as to whether the 20mp sensor brings that much to the party. So any new OMD will need to have something meaningful and special before my wallet can be prised open, I hope they can, what has been acheived by a comparative minnow is quite remarkable so far.
Click to expand...

Olympus aren't primarily camera/lens manufacturers, both their Medical Business and Scientific Solutions Business are about twice the size of their Imaging Solutions business in terms of revenue and they are both running in profit (albeit severely dented this year due to a variety of factors).
 
HarveyM said:
Olympus has been quite adept year by year in making either very small profits or some quite substantial losses, not a receipe for long term survival. Having said that, other companies aren't doing so well either, with Nikon currently profitable but getting to be a much smaller player in the market. Canon had a poor Q3 report with sales down 15% and operating profit down 45% for Imaging compared to the same period last year. Canon Shares are down by nearly a third from a peak in 2015, whilst Sony shares have almost trebled in the same timeframe, but of course both Companies have fingers in a lot more pies than just cameras and lenses. But Nikon and Olympus are primarily camera and lens manufacturers and are much more vulnerable to decreasing slices of a reducing cake.

My current Olympus Pen has been superceded by the EPL 7/8/9 and my OMD EM 1 and OMD EM 10 are both Mk1 models. There is no compelling reason to upgrade any of these cameras, any enhancements are so minor for my purposes that the huge cost to upgrade simply isn't worth it. Reviewers also seem divided as to whether the 20mp sensor brings that much to the party. So any new OMD will need to have something meaningful and special before my wallet can be prised open, I hope they can, what has been acheived by a comparative minnow is quite remarkable so far.
Click to expand...

Hear, hear!

There's a constant forcefulness about all of these manufacturers - telling us we need the latest and greatest. I can understand it from them, they need to be seen to innovate, update, hold consumer's interest. What I do not get is the same consistent bullying nature from other photographers, pressing others to upgrade every chance they get as if they owned shares. All these BS rumours of M43 dying is a prime example, created by vloggers and forum warriors. Why do FF photographers want all of us shooting FF? For one it would show many of them up! I know M43 photographers who are a lot more competent and shoot much more pleasing images than the bulk of stuff I see around shot by those same bulster FF shooters - that is, when they even take pictures! The gear that's already on the market isn't going to spontaneously combust because a certain format isn't doing so well! Also every other day I'm seeing threads across other forums created by FF users who want to switch to M43 ... so where do these impending doom rumours hail from originally? My guess would be those mainly FF oriented manufacturers. It's not really hard to kick off, have some of your 'ambassadors' or shills write up articles or vlog about how dead a smaller system is - push it enough that millions of readers and viewers get the point and it spreads like a virus. It's really sad, as they're trying to brush a system that got many a hobbiest into photography under the carpet.

And none of this would bother me so much if it wasn't for the fact it is actually working! Now we're seeing M43 users in panic mode, thinking it's the end of the road because Olympus are trying something new. 'OMG a bigger camera!!' The body size thing doesn't matter near as much now because other systems are shrinking, but look at the lenses! They are what really adss the heft, your bag of M43 primes and compact zooms are still going to be a hell of a lot lighter overall on your shoulder. And the mini bodies that have been there up to a decade, are still available, you don't have to upgrade is right! We're discussing profits and sales like we know what's what, let Olympus worry about what Olympus do. Your Oly cameras and lenses are just fine, they're not going to suddenly rot. And even if the system is on the decline, it'll be years, not months before it completely faded.
 
I recently moved over to Olympus EM1 MKii from various other systems because of what it can do and how well it works for me. You still have this happening with a lot of people, and I have another friend that has recently gotten into M43.

I will note, despite the worthy comments just above, I would not have moved over to M43 on the previous models. The EM1 MKII seems like a big jump from the MKi and previous models to me. I had am EM5 MKII before I got the EM1 MKII and properly moved over, and although I loved the size and design, it felt like a step back in abilities ( I appreciate this is not the top end/ flagship model). It was still a good camera, and more than enough for a casual shooter.

Without digging myself too big a hole, there is a benefit to finding a niche outside of FF. Fujifilm a great example of having APSC and ‘medium format’ cameras that thrive outside of FF. As someone else mentioned above, Olympus have brought at lot to the world of photography and cameras over the years, and are quite adept at pulling it out of the botties when needed. I am looking forward to seeing what they do for their 100th.
 
Right, my Helios 44-M and adapter have just arrived in the post. Do i just stick it on, change to MF mode and go from there ? I read about activating focus peaking for extra accuracy
 
damianmkv said:
Right, my Helios 44-M and adapter have just arrived in the post. Do i just stick it on, change to MF mode and go from there ? I read about activating focus peaking for extra accuracy
Click to expand...


Pretty much, stick the adapter to the lens and mount as you would any other. I never rely on peaking - some find it really useful, but I find it can be slightly off at times. If you're planning to shoot against any foliage backdrops select blue for the peaking, yellow, white or green will be useless, and sometimes red if there's berries/red or orange leaves etc - little tip there :) I use zoom to focus, I forget how you do it on Olympus but on my G80 I only need click the left direction button with an MF lens attached and zoomed box appears within the main frame. I know I did similar when I had the EM5, it'll be easy enough set up either way

You will have to tell the camera the FL of the lens the first time as far as I recall on Oly, input the actual FL [58mm in this case], don't double it. That's how I roll at least
 
Last edited:
As with Keith the only changes I make on the g80 is focal length of lens ,and the camera asks for that when you turn it on , then just focus till it’s sharp in v.f or on screen easy peasy , . In fact I can honestly say I have never had @ badly exposed shot
 
That is intriguing ... now it's beginning to make a bit more sense. The processor needed to ramp up speeds quick enough to rattle off high res 80mp images hand held will require a tonne of juice to keep running. Also, the state of that comment section, what a bunch of plebs ... again only concentrating on the size. They weren't going to buy it no matter I'll bet, just something to moan about
 
Cagey75 said:
That is intriguing ... now it's beginning to make a bit more sense. The processor needed to ramp up speeds quick enough to rattle off high res 80mp images hand held will require a tonne of juice to keep running. Also, the state of that comment section, what a bunch of plebs ... again only concentrating on the size. They weren't going to buy it no matter I'll bet, just something to moan about
Click to expand...

I put a grip on my EM1MK11 just to make it bigger
 
I had one for my G80 which made it like a mini D4 - I sold it to fund something or other as ever, but keep meaning to buy a third party replacement. Thing is, size doesn't = weight, adding a battery pack to an em1mkII doesn't make it as hefty as a Nikon D4, not even close - and if this hand-held high res feature works well, i would be interested, imagine this for macro, landscape, wildlife [for slower moving creatures I would imagine, like a perched bird] - the crop-ability on top will be very significant
 
I live in London, in Lewisham, which is not renowned as being particularly green, but actually has some nice pockets. That said, I didn't expect Kingfishers when I moved here many years ago. Saw one fleetingly a year ago, but today found a new place, and got lucky. Will take the tripod next time which should produce a sharper image, but for now I'm happy!

Kingfisher_ by alligator1975, on Flickr

Cropped from different image

Kingfisher__ by alligator1975, on Flickr
 
akr said:
I live in London, in Lewisham, which is not renowned as being particularly green, but actually has some nice pockets. That said, I didn't expect Kingfishers when I moved here many years ago. Saw one fleetingly a year ago, but today found a new place, and got lucky. Will take the tripod next time which should produce a sharper image, but for now I'm happy!

Kingfisher_ by alligator1975, on Flickr

Cropped from different image

Kingfisher__ by alligator1975, on Flickr
Click to expand...


You're lucky, chances of me capturing a KF, even along the nearby river bank where they are known to frequent, are between slim and none.
 
Super shots WD
 
Cagey75 said:
You're lucky, chances of me capturing a KF, even along the nearby river bank where they are known to frequent, are between slim and none.
Click to expand...

I've read seeing some of these Kingfishers can be easier as they are more used to human presence (no choice really...) and wildlife that exists tends to be more condensed to certain areas - I did quickly go back today and saw another one, but too far away for any shots, but in 2 in 2 days is promising. Anyone London based who reads this it's Brookmill Park. I take my kids walking past some of the small rivers here, and M4/3 mean I can carry the gear with me and have it at the ready, though with the boys in tow chances are somewhat diminished!

the black fox said:
Super shots WD
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm still debating what to do with my kit, the grass is always greener as they say. One thing for sure, M4/3 has got be back out and taking photos, something I had stopped doing.
 
Olympus omd em10 mark ii eyecup. Mine has come off somewhere and I've lost it.
Anyone know the correct name (code) for what I'm looking for? There seems to be a standard and a extra large.
 
Skyline said:
Olympus omd em10 mark ii eyecup. Mine has come off somewhere and I've lost it.
Anyone know the correct name (code) for what I'm looking for? There seems to be a standard and a extra large.
Click to expand...
I would have thought standard for the om10
 
Can you change the colour of focus peaking on the em10 mk2 ? White isn't always good
 
damianmkv said:
Can you change the colour of focus peaking on the em10 mk2 ? White isn't always good
Click to expand...

Press Menu
Select Cogs/Custom menu
Select Disp/.)))/PC
Scroll Down Until you get to Peaking Settings
Select Peaking Settings
Select the Peaking Color option and change it to a different colour
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top