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

Has anyone made the switch to the em1 mark iii from a Sony or any full frame mirrorless camera? If so, do you have any thoughts on how they compare from an image quality and dynamic range perspective? Can you still get decent night sky images?

It's the image stabilisation which is attracting me the most to the OM system, no tripod whilst hiking mountains would be lovely
Hi Ian,

Yes, I went from a Sony A7R2 to an EM1 MK2 and I don't miss anything other than it's night sky potential.

You can still do it with the Olympus gear but personally I'd use Topax DeNoise / LR DeNoise if doing it.

Other than that it's a brilliant system (I used to have an EM5 MK2 before going full frame).

Would I go back? Nope.

Is my back better for it? Yep.

Do I get the same amount of dynamic range? Couldn't answer that one but I can say that the Olympus doesn't hold me back from shooting anything so far encountered.

Terry.
 
Super set terry
 
Super set terry
Thanks Jeff really looking forward to your OM1 output Thought the Kingfisher was great. Even though the EM1X was and is still a great camera the OM1 is a step up in acquiring focus for for birds in flight I think you will enjoy the next few weeks particularly if you get the shorties visiting the estuary I am still learning the art of wildlife photography and post processing a very enjoyable learning experience I have to say thanks again for your kind comments
 
Cheers Jeff (if that was meant for me) :LOL:

Every time I think about selling the 7-14 F2.8 Pro I go out and take some images I just know I couldn't have got without it.
To many Terry's Terry
 
Hi Ian,

Yes, I went from a Sony A7R2 to an EM1 MK2 and I don't miss anything other than it's night sky potential.

You can still do it with the Olympus gear but personally I'd use Topax DeNoise / LR DeNoise if doing it.

Other than that it's a brilliant system (I used to have an EM5 MK2 before going full frame).

Would I go back? Nope.

Is my back better for it? Yep.

Do I get the same amount of dynamic range? Couldn't answer that one but I can say that the Olympus doesn't hold me back from shooting anything so far encountered.

Terry.
Thank you Terry, good to know, does the Olympus have bracket capabilities anyway? I still tend to do that anyway to capture more shadow and highlight detail on my landscapes so dynamic range isn't super important for me anyway. I might miss the low light noise performance but I have access to my girlfriend's Z6 for that anyway
 
Thank you Terry, good to know, does the Olympus have bracket capabilities anyway? I still tend to do that anyway to capture more shadow and highlight detail on my landscapes so dynamic range isn't super important for me anyway. I might miss the low light noise performance but I have access to my girlfriend's Z6 for that anyway
It has all the bracketing you could want and more.

Focus bracketing, exposure bracketing

This may help.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT0gQ6RBuWY
 
Panasonic s5 gear sold, incoming e-m1 mark iii and 40-150mm f4 pro to go alongside the pana 20mm 1.7.

In a few months I'll grab a 12-40 2.8 as well, and finally work toward the 60mm macro. Absolutely chuffed. I loved my e-m1 mark ii, and I'm really looking forward to the digital ND filter, handheld hi res and even better image stabilisation.

I went out to hold a few bodies, and decided the g9 was too big for my hands. The e-m1 just fits so well! Absolutely chuffed. The 40-150 4-5.6 R lens is an old fave of mine, but I had a go on the f4 pro and it is a huge step up in sharpness while still being incredibly tiny so I'm thrilled to have that.
 
Nice terry
 
Panasonic s5 gear sold, incoming e-m1 mark iii and 40-150mm f4 pro to go alongside the pana 20mm 1.7.

In a few months I'll grab a 12-40 2.8 as well, and finally work toward the 60mm macro. Absolutely chuffed. I loved my e-m1 mark ii, and I'm really looking forward to the digital ND filter, handheld hi res and even better image stabilisation.

I went out to hold a few bodies, and decided the g9 was too big for my hands. The e-m1 just fits so well! Absolutely chuffed. The 40-150 4-5.6 R lens is an old fave of mine, but I had a go on the f4 pro and it is a huge step up in sharpness while still being incredibly tiny so I'm thrilled to have that
Panasonic s5 gear sold, incoming e-m1 mark iii and 40-150mm f4 pro to go alongside the pana 20mm 1.7.

In a few months I'll grab a 12-40 2.8 as well, and finally work toward the 60mm macro. Absolutely chuffed. I loved my e-m1 mark ii, and I'm really looking forward to the digital ND filter, handheld hi res and even better image stabilisation.

I went out to hold a few bodies, and decided the g9 was too big for my hands. The e-m1 just fits so well! Absolutely chuffed. The 40-150 4-5.6 R lens is an old fave of mine, but I had a go on the f4 pro and it is a huge step up in sharpness while still being incredibly tiny so I'm thrilled to have that.
Can I ask why the change ?
 
Can I ask why the change ?

Warning - essay incoming. TLDR - I like smaller cameras and lenses.

I used to shoot m43, and really loved it. I liked the size and feel of everything, loved the insane IBIS and automations like focus stacking. Results were excellent and I just enjoyed the tiny, jewel-like lenses.

I sold up and went to the S5 because the camera body was similar in size (slightly bigger than e-m1 ii) and the kit lens was similar in size to the 12-40mm 2.8 (20-60mm 3.5-5.6). I wanted to enjoy the benefits of sharper, lower noise photos. Most of my photos are shot around 40-50mm or 100-300mm equiv focal length, which are attainable on bigger sensors easily enough. Sort of. Long lenses for ff are more expensive!

While the kit lens was excellent, it didn't feel quite as nice as the similar size pro lenses I was used to. I found image quality from the lens comparable - not better, but similar and very good. In low light, results on the S5 were typically the same or slightly worse than the m43 kit because the ibis was not as good so I'd need to use a higher iso. The compact lenses were fantastic (85mm and 50mm),built well, weather sealed etc but I rarely used them at f1.8 because too little was in focus. They didn't focus particularly closely either. So, I was usually shooting the 50mm and 85mm at f/2.8 or f4 for depth of field and by that point I was using much larger lenses for similar results to the m4/3 kit. Yes, the photos were a bit cleaner and a bit sharper, but I didn't enjoy using the equipment much and it was bigger - the oly 45mm 1.8 is TINY compared to the compact Panasonic 85mm 1.8, and while results were technically noticeably better on the Panasonic I wasn't taking it out as much so I wasn't taking as many photos.

On body size, yes, the S5 is pretty small. However it is amazing what a difference a mm here and there makes to comfort. The e-m1 ii is easily the most comfy camera I've held, for my (small!) hands at least. I could carry that thing on a wrist strap all day. In comparison, the S5 feels much bigger.

I kept taking the epl7, 20mm 1.7 and 40-150 r lens out in favour over the S5. As I wasn't using it much, I decided to sell it and get kit I much preferred to use, so I have an em1 iii, 40-150mm f4 pro and 45mm 1.8 on the way, and soon I'll grab the 12-40mm zoom to round it out. The 40-150 pro gets to nearly half size macro which is plenty enough for me so I don't even need to buy a macro lens anytime soon.

The final piece was long lenses. I don't use lenses beyond a 300mm equivalent often, but the 40-150mm f4 pro is *tiny* compared to, say, a full frame 70-300mm variable aperture. Yes, the full frame would be about as sharp, have a bit more bokeh and slightly cleaner results but honestly, I wouldn't want to carry it. It's funny how not compact a "compact" 70-300mm lens is - it weighs just under 800g where the olympus pro is literally half that. Yes, it's not strictly equivalent, but that only matters if I'm taking it out and taking photos.

On noise performance and technical image quality - I sometimes, for fun, use an old Sony A350. It has a 14mp CCD sensor, which is about as noisy at base iso 100 as a m43 camera at iso 1000 or 1600. I like the camera, it's a flimsy plastic toy that has screw drive af lenses from the 1980s but takes beautiful photos in good light, as you'd expect. With the new noise reduction features in lightroom I am able to get much cleaner images from that - effectively, low noise became even less of a draw toward larger sensors. Applying the same noise reduction to m43 images and I've got a stop or two better noise performance without the need for a bigger sensor.

If you want a budget ff mirrorless camera, I can recommend the S5 very highly. The lenses are relatively compact, light and weather sealed. They're modern so they're stupid sharp wide open, but they're also a fair bit bigger than the 50mm lenses of DSLR cameras - presumably the price of wide open performance.

Sorry for the long post. I feel a bit silly to be honest - I was very excited with the pana kit. It has beautiful image quality, good autofocus (even if contrast detect it never let me down), the body was comfy, the menu system was simple and easy to use. I just didn't find it much fun, lenses were much larger and more expensive and the results were not worth the effort and expense for me. Your mileage may vary!
 
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Warning - essay incoming. TLDR - I like smaller cameras and lenses.

I used to shoot m43, and really loved it. I liked the size and feel of everything, loved the insane IBIS and automations like focus stacking. Results were excellent and I just enjoyed the tiny, jewel-like lenses.

I sold up and went to the S5 because the camera body was similar in size (slightly bigger than e-m1 ii) and the kit lens was similar in size to the 12-40mm 2.8 (20-60mm 3.5-5.6). I wanted to enjoy the benefits of sharper, lower noise photos. Most of my photos are shot around 40-50mm or 100-300mm equiv focal length, which are attainable on bigger sensors easily enough. Sort of. Long lenses for ff are more expensive!

While the kit lens was excellent, it didn't feel quite as nice as the similar size pro lenses I was used to. I found image quality from the lens comparable - not better, but similar and very good. In low light, results on the S5 were typically the same or slightly worse than the m43 kit because the ibis was not as good so I'd need to use a higher iso. The compact lenses were fantastic (85mm and 50mm),built well, weather sealed etc but I rarely used them at f1.8 because too little was in focus. They didn't focus particularly closely either. So, I was usually shooting the 50mm and 85mm at f/2.8 or f4 for depth of field and by that point I was using much larger lenses for similar results to the m4/3 kit. Yes, the photos were a bit cleaner and a bit sharper, but I didn't enjoy using the equipment much and it was bigger - the oly 45mm 1.8 is TINY compared to the compact Panasonic 85mm 1.8, and while results were technically noticeably better on the Panasonic I wasn't taking it out as much so I wasn't taking as many photos.

On body size, yes, the S5 is pretty small. However it is amazing what a difference a mm here and there makes to comfort. The e-m1 ii is easily the most comfy camera I've held, for my (small!) hands at least. I could carry that thing on a wrist strap all day. In comparison, the S5 feels much bigger.

I kept taking the epl7, 20mm 1.7 and 40-150 r lens out in favour over the S5. As I wasn't using it much, I decided to sell it and get kit I much preferred to use, so I have an em1 iii, 40-150mm f4 pro and 45mm 1.8 on the way, and soon I'll grab the 12-40mm zoom to round it out. The 40-150 pro gets to nearly half size macro which is plenty enough for me so I don't even need to buy a macro lens anytime soon.

The final piece was long lenses. I don't use lenses beyond a 300mm equivalent often, but the 40-150mm f4 pro is *tiny* compared to, say, a full frame 70-300mm variable aperture. Yes, the full frame would be about as sharp, have a bit more bokeh and slightly cleaner results but honestly, I wouldn't want to carry it. It's funny how not compact a "compact" 70-300mm lens is - it weighs just under 800g where the olympus pro is literally half that. Yes, it's not strictly equivalent, but that only matters if I'm taking it out and taking photos.

On noise performance and technical image quality - I sometimes, for fun, use an old Sony A350. It has a 14mp CCD sensor, which is about as noisy at base iso 100 as a m43 camera at iso 1000 or 1600. I like the camera, it's a flimsy plastic toy that has screw drive af lenses from the 1980s but takes beautiful photos in good light, as you'd expect. With the new noise reduction features in lightroom I am able to get much cleaner images from that - effectively, low noise became even less of a draw toward larger sensors. Applying the same noise reduction to m43 images and I've got a stop or two better noise performance without the need for a bigger sensor.

If you want a budget ff mirrorless camera, I can recommend the S5 very highly. The lenses are relatively compact, light and weather sealed. They're modern so they're stupid sharp wide open, but they're also a fair bit bigger than the 50mm lenses of DSLR cameras - presumably the price of wide open performance.

Sorry for the long post. I feel a bit silly to be honest - I was very excited with the pana kit. It has beautiful image quality, good autofocus (even if contrast detect it never let me down), the body was comfy, the menu system was simple and easy to use. I just didn't find it much fun, lenses were much larger and more expensive and the results were not worth the effort and expense for me. Your mileage may vary!
I understand what you are saying….

I have an S5 and 20-60 and love the image quality and range of the lens. I mainly shoot landscape and travel to love the 20mm wide end. But I do miss something a little longer - there is no other lens I would want to buy for it though, just too big.

Some of my favourite images have been taken with m43‘s gear and I do miss the smaller size !

Did you just part ex your S5 ?
 
I understand what you are saying….

I have an S5 and 20-60 and love the image quality and range of the lens. I mainly shoot landscape and travel to love the 20mm wide end. But I do miss something a little longer - there is no other lens I would want to buy for it though, just too big.

Some of my favourite images have been taken with m43‘s gear and I do miss the smaller size !

Did you just part ex your S5 ?

Yup. Tried selling for £150 more than trade and failed, and an em1 mark iii came up on mpb reduced so I went for it. Got the 40-150mm black Friday cheaper than used (not cheap, mind!) and already have the 20mm 1.7. Mpb are also sending the 45mm 1.8.

The S5 and 20-60 is a match made in heaven, but I can't afford to have multiple systems really. The 40-150mm pro arrived today and even on the epl-7 (which is contrast detect af only, and an old model!) it looks and feels great, focuses accurately and fast and is plenty sharp. I'm happy to be back with my dinky kit.

So that means I'll be trading in for the S5 again in a few months... ;)
 
Yup. Tried selling for £150 more than trade and failed, and an em1 mark iii came up on mpb reduced so I went for it. Got the 40-150mm black Friday cheaper than used (not cheap, mind!) and already have the 20mm 1.7. Mpb are also sending the 45mm 1.8.

The S5 and 20-60 is a match made in heaven, but I can't afford to have multiple systems really. The 40-150mm pro arrived today and even on the epl-7 (which is contrast detect af only, and an old model!) it looks and feels great, focuses accurately and fast and is plenty sharp. I'm happy to be back with my dinky kit.

So that means I'll be trading in for the S5 again in a few months... ;)
That's my concern although the price of them second hand is so cheap it wouldn't cost too much to go back to an S5 - who did you trade it in with ?
 
Like many 150-400 owners I have updated the firmware had a small window to try it out this morning couldn't see any difference to be honest

My real reason for posting is I am amazed how far processing software has come in the past few years

This morning the weather was poor with light being dull and overcast I did have a wander along my local canal and saw this kestrel a little too late out the corner of my eye

The unedit photo is a poor picture technically shutter speed to low 1/2000 ISO 3200 lens maxed out reach with TC engaged so F5.6 etc and to be honest I didn't pan the shot too smoothly but despite this with the aid of Lightroom Denoise Topaz sharpen and lightroom masking managed to at least get a record shot which is still not sharp enough for my liking

This does not excuse getting in right in camera at the point of taking the picture but as I have said I was caught off guard

It does make me think what will AI will do for photography? I really do not see me wanting to use to AI happy to use the current tools I have but always striving to get it right in camera first

Before

kestrel unedited by Terry Warne, on Flickr

kestrel edited by Terry Warne, on Flickr
 
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Afternoon all,

Does anyone have any experience with OM Systems cashback?

I bought a lens on 27th October when they had their cashback week. It arrived on the 31st and I immediately filled in the claim for online. I have an email confirming receipt of the claim but since then radio silence. They said in the email they'd confirm the claim within 14 working days and today is day 14. Annoyingly I didn't have an account with them at that point so have no tracking online.

Just wondered if this was the norm with them.

Thanks,

Neil
 
Afternoon all,

Does anyone have any experience with OM Systems cashback?

I bought a lens on 27th October when they had their cashback week. It arrived on the 31st and I immediately filled in the claim for online. I have an email confirming receipt of the claim but since then radio silence. They said in the email they'd confirm the claim within 14 working days and today is day 14. Annoyingly I didn't have an account with them at that point so have no tracking online.

Just wondered if this was the norm with them.

Thanks,

Neil
It is my understanding that the claim application confirmation email has within a 'support' email address to ask such questions. Have you requested support information via that route (yet)?
 
Yep no response yet which is why I thought I'd see if anyone had any experience. I'm just impatient.
 
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