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

HDEW have the OM1 on their website now at £2199!

Well done those who got theirs at £1999..........
.... That's very unusual - HDEW are usually cheaper than the 'normal' retailers but don't get access to new products until later after launch.

So being curious I have just spoken to my friend at HDEW and the £2,199 price is currently the lowest they are able to supply it at the moment but they are able to supply it within their usual 5-days from order with payment. Their price will reduce as and when the supply situation changes.

Most photographers are probably a bit too unwilling to fork out the extra 200 squid rather than wait a couple of months but who knows. But if you have a once-in-a-lifetime photo trip coming up fast, then why not.

I pre-ordered my OM-1 from Ffordes for £1990 but paid £250 deposit.
 
.... That's very unusual - HDEW are usually cheaper than the 'normal' retailers but don't get access to new products until later after launch.

So being curious I have just spoken to my friend at HDEW and the £2,199 price is currently the lowest they are able to supply it at the moment but they are able to supply it within their usual 5-days from order with payment. Their price will reduce as and when the supply situation changes.

Most photographers are probably a bit too unwilling to fork out the extra 200 squid rather than wait a couple of months but who knows. But if you have a once-in-a-lifetime photo trip coming up fast, then why not.

I pre-ordered my OM-1 from Ffordes for £1990 but paid £250 deposit.


It looks like the regular suppliers are still offering it at £1999 but have no stock. Perhaps HDEW (or their suppliers) are anticipating that thanks to the extra demand some photographers will be willing to cough up the extra £200; and as you say when it becomes more widely available the price will drop.

I see the 100-400 zoom is in short supply as well.
 
Thank you so much Jeff. That means a lot coming from you. The bright sunlight wasn't doing me any favours. Contrary to what I remembered, I hadn't blown the highlights, but was struggling to preserve them when processing and exporting, so I probably exposed about right. It was the jpegs that were blown.

I used the default Photolab process, then raised the exposure of the whole scene. I definitely lowered the highlights on the bird and possibly for the whole scene - can't quite remember, but I think it could be improved. Unfortunately I clipped his wing on my favourite capture, but you could see his eyes on that one - a beautiful bird!

At some point I will have another go and as you say, selectively process the bird and the background separately - I think that is what is needed. I've just started playing with Capture One and I think that may have a bit more latitude for processing on shots like this.


That's a great photo of a stunning bird. Black and white birds are just about THE most difficult to get a correct exposure for, but I would absolutely select overexposed sections of white plumage and reduce it in your software (as long as it's not blown completely.)
 
Really enjoying the 45mm f 1.8 ! Stupidly small, light and cheap ! Whats not to like !

Say Hello to my friends dog Chester who was looking at my dog !

51997112526_db42e6516d_k.jpg
 
I see the 100-400 zoom is in short supply as well.
.... That's the second time that the Olympus ED 100-400mm has been in short supply. I sold mine within 24hrs of advertising it and I had it for over a year.

And regarding the 150-400mm TC Pro, that has yet to be in stock anywhere since the very few units retailers received to supply pre-orders. It has even gone up in price by about £400.

I spoke to Ffordes this morning about my OM-1 Battery Grip pre-order etc and they told me that all the camera manufacturers were failing to meet the demand for their new products. I was also told that demand for the OM-1 had been the highest for 10 years compared to any other camera Ffordes sell.
 
Onestop Digital have stock of the om-1 at £2,029. Never shopped with them so can't comment on how good a service you get with them.
I will continue to wait with LCE for mine.
 
HDEW have the OM1 on their website now at £2199!

Well done those who got theirs at £1999..........
I was hoping that they would employ there normal reductions when available ,but can’t blame them for getting on the supply and demand bandwagon , saying that with all the problems I keep seeing posted I would be extremely carefull buying grey till things have been sorted out totally .. in fact I have Discounted this body as a possible purchase for at least a year .. just not worth the risk at present… even more so with the current cost of fuel curtailing unneeded travel
 
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That's a great photo of a stunning bird. Black and white birds are just about THE most difficult to get a correct exposure for, but I would absolutely select overexposed sections of white plumage and reduce it in your software (as long as it's not blown completely.)
Thanks Jeremy. I'm glad it's not just me that has found them tricky. It isn't blown, but what struck me was how much I felt I needed to raise the exposure of the surroundings. I've photographed gulls before with no problem, but they are usually against the sky, so not as tricky.

I am quite happy with it, but I'd be even happier if I hadn't clipped the wing on the other one where he appears to be looking at me :ROFLMAO:
 
Thank you so much Jeff. That means a lot coming from you. The bright sunlight wasn't doing me any favours. Contrary to what I remembered, I hadn't blown the highlights, but was struggling to preserve them when processing and exporting, so I probably exposed about right. It was the jpegs that were blown.

I used the default Photolab process, then raised the exposure of the whole scene. I definitely lowered the highlights on the bird and possibly for the whole scene - can't quite remember, but I think it could be improved. Unfortunately I clipped his wing on my favourite capture, but you could see his eyes on that one - a beautiful bird!

At some point I will have another go and as you say, selectively process the bird and the background separately - I think that is what is needed. I've just started playing with Capture One and I think that may have a bit more latitude for processing on shots like this.
.... Three points I have highlit in bold :

- Why bother shooting JPEGs when RAW files have so much more scope for enhancement and correction?

- Jeff @the black fox taught me to selectively process the bird and background separately but I stopped doing that a long time ago when I added ON1 into my workflow. Personally I prefer to keep my workflow simple as I shoot so many photos and if I get something below my own standard I bin it.

- In Capture One 22, in the High Dynamic Range palette, try moving the Highlight slider towards the left to a high minus value. I usually start with Auto Adjust on that palette. I think there is probably quite a lot of scope in the White and Black sliders too but I have never felt the need to explore those.

Adjusting the Curve can also help.

With the OM-1 I very very rarely need to change my original exposure and the histogram is consistently central without any peaks in any direction.

Unlike a lot of photographers I never use layers or masks.

If you accidentally clip a wing, consider clipping the other wing to change your whole composition - It can then sometimes all look intentional rather than a mistake. For example :

FAST AS A BULLET! by Robin Procter, on Flickr
 
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.... Three points I have highlit in bold :

- Why bother shooting JPEGs when RAW files have so much more scope for enhancement and correction?

- Jeff @the black fox taught me to selectively process the bird and background separately but I stopped doing that a long time ago when I added ON1 into my workflow. Personally I prefer to keep my workflow simple as I shoot so many photos and if I get something below my own standard I bin it.

- In Capture One 22, in the High Dynamic Range palette, try moving the Highlight slider towards the left to a high minus value. I usually start with Auto Adjust on that palette. I think there is probably quite a lot of scope in the White and Black sliders too but I have never felt the need to explore those.

Adjusting the Curve can also help.

With the OM-1 I very very rarely need to change my original exposure and the histogram is consistently central without any peaks in any direction.

Unlike a lot of photographers I never use layers or masks.

If you accidentally clip a wing, consider clipping the other wing to change your whole composition - It can then sometimes all look intentional rather than a mistake. For example :

FAST AS A BULLET! by Robin Procter, on Flickr


That is beyond incredible!
 
That is beyond incredible!
.... I'm not sure what you mean by that. Hopefully you haven't interpreted my post as being anything other than me simply offering a constructive opinion and help to @Bebop .

I should add that as photographers we are each our own enemy and can suffer from being over critical of our own work as we strive to improve.
 
nothing new of note lately the weather has turned les 'orriblis lately up here .. so heres one from the winter a s.e.o taken before the maddening crowds latched on to where they were
the look by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr
 
.... Three points I have highlit in bold :

- Why bother shooting JPEGs when RAW files have so much more scope for enhancement and correction?

- Jeff @the black fox taught me to selectively process the bird and background separately but I stopped doing that a long time ago when I added ON1 into my workflow. Personally I prefer to keep my workflow simple as I shoot so many photos and if I get something below my own standard I bin it.

- In Capture One 22, in the High Dynamic Range palette, try moving the Highlight slider towards the left to a high minus value. I usually start with Auto Adjust on that palette. I think there is probably quite a lot of scope in the White and Black sliders too but I have never felt the need to explore those.

Adjusting the Curve can also help.

With the OM-1 I very very rarely need to change my original exposure and the histogram is consistently central without any peaks in any direction.

Unlike a lot of photographers I never use layers or masks.

If you accidentally clip a wing, consider clipping the other wing to change your whole composition - It can then sometimes all look intentional rather than a mistake. For example :

FAST AS A BULLET! by Robin Procter, on Flickr
Many thanks Robin. I'm certain that @stickytape meant that that was a truly wonderful shot and I completely agree with his sentiments - just wonderful!

I don't shoot Jpeg, only RAW. It was when I was exporting that I realised it was then showing with clipped highlights afterwards. They weren't blown in the raw, so all good on that front. My main concern was causing noise in the rest of the scene with trying to raise the exposure, having underexposed for the bird. It's not a biggie really, but it was the first time that I thought it was a tricky situation to handle and where the cameras dynamic range might make a difference.

I am quite liking Capture One though I was getting myself in a bit of a muddle with the export. It seems the crop options are linked with the export options. If I do a severe crop, I was concerned that I might accidentally be increasing the size on export - Can it do that?(Edit: I don't want it to do that). I need to sit down and do some proper learning :) I've now set the crop back to be 'original' which seems to be working for me better now.

Good idea on the cropping to deal with the clipped wing except I don't think my bird was at such a lovely jaunty angle. I could go dutch and put him at that angle :) I will investigate an alternative composition - thanks.
 
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I am quite liking Capture One though I was getting myself in a bit of a muddle with the export. It seems the crop options are linked with the export options. If I do a severe crop, I was concerned that I might accidentally be increasing the size on export - Can it do that?(Edit: I don't want it to do that). I need to sit down and do some proper learning :) I've now set the crop back to be 'original' which seems to be working for me better now.
.... The latest version (22) of Capture One (C1) revised its Export feature and offers various recipes/presets which you can create as your own presets including the file format, size, and also options for a watermark.

However, personally I don't do any cropping of my images until after applying any noise reduction (ON1 NoNoise AI). I don't do any sharpening in C1 either and only as part of the AI within NoNoise. I'm not recommending that my workflow is what everyone else should adopt but only that it suits me and my subjects.
 
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.... I'm not sure what you mean by that. Hopefully you haven't interpreted my post as being anything other than me simply offering a constructive opinion and help to @Bebop .

I should add that as photographers we are each our own enemy and can suffer from being over critical of our own work as we strive to improve.
Sorry I was meaning to the image - as in incredible, as in a compliment haha!
 
.... The latest version (22) of Capture One (C1) revised its Export feature and offers various recipes/presets which you can create as your own presets including the file format, size, and also options for a watermark.

However, personally I don't do any cropping of my images until after applying any noise reduction (ON1 NoNoise AI). I don't do any sharpening in C1 either and only as part of the AI within NoNoise. I'm not recommending that my workflow is what everyone else should adopt but only that it suits me and my subjects.
Your honestly wasting your time and effort on this Robin .,I know from previous chats on forums ,camera club members etc .. there will be virtually no one that does things identically to you ,this all depends on software used , computer or Mac based ,spec of the users equipment , skill set of user etc
Most people tend to be stuck in a well it works for me mode … and simply won’t change just for change sake … I have over time tried out variations on a theme and unless I make a note of what I have actually done at the time trying to re.create six months down the line is impossible .
In other circumstances I know photographers that have all the top end gear many thousands of pounds worth that a poor OAP like myself drool over then they just shoot in j.peg or don’t publish shots in case someone steals the photo . Or have steam powered computers that take hours to download from there 60mp files ..
 
I am currently experimenting with different software so I appreciate hearing about other people's processes at the moment. I do agree @the black fox that we are all different - with different opinions on what we like too at the end of the day, but I am thankful to @RedRobin for sharing especially because I have On1 and am a beginner with Capture One.

I know Topaz recommended doing the noise reduction first, but that is really interesting about the sharpening @RedRobin - I have barely delved into sharpening with C1.

I've just had a play with my clipped wing photo and run it through On1 NoNoise (albeit afterwards!!). I am finding I need to roll off the sharpening a bit in On1 when I've done it in this order (which I agree is probably back to front).

I like his eye, but otherwise it leaves a little to be desired. So here it is processed in Capture One, noise reduced in NoNoise and then downsized in DxO Photolab - a little bit of everything :LOL: This won't be my new workflow, but it's all good practice.

I'll shut up about this now as I feel I've been hogging the thread.

Em1iii 300mm+1.4 ext f/5.6 1/2500s ISO 400

20220327-BC132601-C1 On1.jpg
 
I am currently experimenting with different software so I appreciate hearing about other people's processes at the moment. I do agree @the black fox that we are all different - with different opinions on what we like too at the end of the day, but I am thankful to @RedRobin for sharing especially because I have On1 and am a beginner with Capture One.

I know Topaz recommended doing the noise reduction first, but that is really interesting about the sharpening @RedRobin - I have barely delved into sharpening with C1.

I've just had a play with my clipped wing photo and run it through On1 NoNoise (albeit afterwards!!). I am finding I need to roll off the sharpening a bit in On1 when I've done it in this order (which I agree is probably back to front).

I like his eye, but otherwise it leaves a little to be desired. So here it is processed in Capture One, noise reduced in NoNoise and then downsized in DxO Photolab - a little bit of everything :LOL: This won't be my new workflow, but it's all good practice.

I'll shut up about this now as I feel I've been hogging the thread.

Em1iii 300mm+1.4 ext f/5.6 1/2500s ISO 400

View attachment 349978
.... Oooh, that's really nice - Great facial expression and I can see why you were disappointed about clipping the wing.
 
The clipped wing in my mind does not distract from a superb photo . Your lucky to have got that close ,well done
 
I am currently experimenting with different software so I appreciate hearing about other people's processes at the moment. I do agree @the black fox that we are all different - with different opinions on what we like too at the end of the day, but I am thankful to @RedRobin for sharing especially because I have On1 and am a beginner with Capture One.
I assume you have found that you can have four images open at the same time in the C1 viewer pane (cmd+click on an image to add), which can all be edited. You can have more than four, but four is the maximum that works for me. And if you hold down the shift key when zooming or moving an image all four move or zoom n sync.

"Cmd + T" and "Cmd +B" will hide/show the tools panel and the browser, so you can get the images as big as possible. You can also hide the labels (e.g. the exposure info). I've set up a key stoke (Ctrl+shift+L) to toggle them off and on, but it's in the menu somewhere. Again this maximises the image size when making comparisons.

As well as individually editing an image by selecting them, you can also edit all four at once using the speed edit keys, which is a great tool if you want to add an identical adjustment to all four comparisons. And indeed a very fast way of editing, especially as you can have an image full screen for editing without any distractions of toolbars, menus or sliders.

You may know all this, but I reacted to the "beginner" comment, and C1 has a steep learning curve !

As an aside, for modest ISOs, I would try to get to grips with C1s native noise and sharpening tools (including using lumamasks, the threshold settings in sharpen, and style brushes to selectively noise reduce and sharpen). Qualitatively, I have found I prefer the results I get from C1 compared to those I get from the "AI" programs, which can sometimes create some weird artefacts. I also felt that for small amounts of upsizing (up to x2) I preferred the C1 results to GigaPixel AI.

The AI programs still give fantastic results of course, but I've found it useful to to learn how to get the maximum out of C1, before routinely using an AI option.
 
Still look very good to my eye, what did you think of the 12-100?

To be honest, I didn’t use the lens as much as I’d have liked to as we were on a road trip with 10 cars or so…There’s nothing wrong with it at all, very very versatile as you’d expect, IS is amazing, great quality

I hired it for £30 for 4 days to see whether I “should” ( in my mind ) slim down my kit to the 12-100 and 25 f1.4 . The lens is quite large and so it’s a squeeze to fit it in my small Lowepro Nova travel bag with the e-M1.2 and the P25. Of course I could change my bag again but then I get into leaving stuff at home due to loss of portability IYKWIM

At this stage, I wouldn’t buy one unless it was an absolute bargain and too good a price to refuse
 
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I am currently experimenting with different software so I appreciate hearing about other people's processes at the moment. I do agree @the black fox that we are all different - with different opinions on what we like too at the end of the day, but I am thankful to @RedRobin for sharing especially because I have On1 and am a beginner with Capture One.

I know Topaz recommended doing the noise reduction first, but that is really interesting about the sharpening @RedRobin - I have barely delved into sharpening with C1.

I've just had a play with my clipped wing photo and run it through On1 NoNoise (albeit afterwards!!). I am finding I need to roll off the sharpening a bit in On1 when I've done it in this order (which I agree is probably back to front).

I like his eye, but otherwise it leaves a little to be desired. So here it is processed in Capture One, noise reduced in NoNoise and then downsized in DxO Photolab - a little bit of everything :LOL: This won't be my new workflow, but it's all good practice.

I'll shut up about this now as I feel I've been hogging the thread.

Em1iii 300mm+1.4 ext f/5.6 1/2500s ISO 400

View attachment 349978
Looks good to me - especially the expression on the bird's face. You must have really p@$%d him off :D
 
To be honest, I didn’t use the lens as much as I’d have liked to as we were on a road trip with 10 cars or so…There’s nothing wrong with it at all, very very versatile as you’d expect, IS is amazing, great quality

I hired it for £30 for 4 days to see whether I “should” ( in my mind ) slim down my kit to the 12-100 and 25 f1.4 . The lens is quite large and so it’s a squeeze to fit it in my small Lowepro Nova travel bag with the e-M1.2 and the P25. Of course I could change my bag again but then I get into leaving stuff at home due to loss of portability IYKWIM

At this stage, I wouldn’t buy one unless it was an absolute bargain and too good a price to refuse
Thank you for your thoughts, interesting to know what others think about this "Marmite" lens.
Really like mine, yes its a bit big and heavy, but no worse than carrying two lenses to cover the same range.
Just can't be bothered with lots of primes, 12-100 and 8-18 covers pretty much all I need most of the time
 
I think that this ( for me ) is caused by using the P25 f1.4 99% of the time. So i have a bag of lenses i rarely use... If i sold these and changed to the 12-100 would I have a big lens i rarely use instead of 4 little ones..

I appreciate this is non sensical BTW :banghead:
 
I'm kind of sort of thinking about getting another Olympus machine, seeing as the price of the used kit prices has been driven down with the release of the new OM-1.

The two machines I am looking at is:
OMD 1 MkIII
OMD E-M1X

Yes I know the 1X is a bigger machine, I am OK with this.
But is there much of difference between the two machines as in performance wise?
I am kind of drawn to the E-M1X because of the AF it has with its ability to pick up on cars/bikes.
 
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HDEW have the 12-45 F4 pro at £339 delivered in a white box split from kit, quite good price I thought

Certainly is an excellent price for a great little lens.
Really impressed with mine that complements my GX9 very nicely
 
Had a e mail from UK Digital 150-400mm in stock if anyone is waiting or tempted I have already sourced mine
 
Had a e mail from UK Digital 150-400mm in stock if anyone is waiting or tempted I have already sourced mine
.... Calling @The Duke of Bork in case this is of interest to you re your future trip.

The new price increase is now the standard retail price as far as I know.
 
Now sold through E-Group
.... No surprise there! Wildlife and action photographers who are prepared to spend the money are very keen to buy this lens.

Wildlife photographer and OMD Ambassador Brooke Bartleson (one of the best and most dedicated wildlife photographers in my opinion) did a very interesting OM telephoto lens comparison video. The conclusion being that it comes down to what the individual photographer wants to achieve :

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4PB-1vwOIE
 
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