Olympus OM D E M1 Review Introduction and High ISO Shooting

For those of you in Malaysia, you can PRE-ORDER the new amazing Olympus OM-D E-M1 from our Olympus Online Store here (click)

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Touch and Try Session, Kuala Lumpur (21 and 22 September 2013)

 If you happen to be in Kuala Lumpur, you have a chance to touch and try the Olympus OM-D E-M1 in a coming event on 21st and 22nd September!! First come first serve basis, so hurry up and register. I will be there, and hope to see some of you beautiful people there!

Registration here: http://home.olympusimage.com.my/eventlist.php

More information on Micro Four Thirds system here: http://www.olympusimage.com.my/products/dslr/em1/

Important Notes:

1) I am an employee of Olympus Malaysia. I am reviewing the Olympus OM-D E-M1 from a photography enthusaist’s point of view. I was given the liberty to perform the gear review as usual. 

2) This is a user experience based review.

3) All images were shot in RAW and converted directly to JPEG Large Fine via Olympus Viewer 3 (provided by Olympus Malaysia).

4) General camera settings, Noise Filter = OFF, Contrast/Saturation/sharpness = 0, White Balance = Auto (with an option maintain warm color = OFF), Gradation = Normal

5) No post-processing applied to the images. All images were as good as straight out of camera, with minimal cropping for better presentation.

I believe the newly announced Olympus OM-D E-M1 is the camera that many have been anticipating for a long time. This is a professional level camera model, sitting at the flagship position on Olympus system’s hierarchy, making the best of both Olympus micro Four Thirds as well as the DSLR Four Thirds system lenses. Basically, Olympus took in all their existing strengths and combined them all together in their latest Olympus E-M1. Since I am now working within Olympus Malaysia, I have the privilege to be amongst the first to hold and try the E-M1, and the next thing I did was bringing the camera out and gave it a thorough workout. 

E-M1: The Best of Both Worlds

I have been a long time, loyal supporter of the original Olympus Four Thirds DSLR system, and notably Olympus has produced some of the world’s finest lenses in their Zuiko Digital line. I have used my all time favourite ZD 50mm F2 macro, alongside ZD 11-22mm F2.8-3.5 and ZD 50-200mm F2.8-3.5 for both paid assignment jobs as well as casual personal shoots. In fact, Olympus is highly regarded for their high performance zoom lenses, and they have quite a list of professional grade, fully weather sealed lenses to offer from the Four Thirds DSLR Zuiko line, particularly ZD 14-54mm F2.8-3.5, ZD 12-60mm F2.8-4.0, ZD 14-35mm F2 and ZD 35-100mm F2. Those who have used these wonderful lenses before would understand and acknowledge that Olympus knows how to make great performing zoom lenses. 

However, the Four Thirds system users have always felt neglected when Olympus decided to go full force on their micro Four Thirds system, developing more cameras and lenses for the PEN, OM-D and M.Zuiko lenses. In all fairness Olympus still managed to pull out some neat accomplishments, especially with their OM-D E-M5, with image quality surpassing its peers (APS-C sensor DSLR), having the world’s fastest Autofocus, the revolutionary 5-Axis Image Stabilization and the amazing fact that the camera was made of magnesium alloy body and was fully weather sealed. The micro Four Thirds system has matured and come a long way. 

The truth is, the micro Four Thirds system, as great as the OM-D E-M5 could be, it was still not perfect. The key weaknesses are:

1) Non-availability of high quality bright zoom lenses (both standard wide zoom and tele-photo)

2) Focusing speed not optimized in use with Zuiko Four Thirds lenses 

3) Continuous AutoFocus Tracking capability falls below expectations

4) Expectations of better image quality as better and newer cameras are released from competitors. 

Therefore, Olympus’ answer to the above issues comes in the form of OM-D E-M1. E-M1 is a bridge between the DSLR Four Thirds system and the micro Four Thirds system. It is a professional model camera, succeeding the DSLR E-5, and is a much improved version of the OM-D E-M5. The E-M1 is now fully optimized for both the micro Four Thirds lenses (M.Zuiko) as well as DSLR Four Thirds lenses (Zuiko Digital). This was made possible by adding in on-chip Phase Detection AF system built onto the image sensor itself. Having Phase Detection AF not only allows the optimized usage with older Zuiko Digital lenses when it comes to fast Autofocusing, but it also aids greatly in continuous autofocus with tracking capability of the camera, addressing to one of the most commonly pointed out issues of the micro Four Thirds system. More importantly, a completely new 16MP image sensor was developed, with promised better image quality in comparison to the previous E-M5 and even matching up or surpassing the current offerings of APS-C sensor sized DSLRs. Everything that was on E-M5, has been reworked and enhanced a few steps further, and we shall explore the items in my multiple parts review. 

You may find the full specification on Olympus’ official website here (click). I shall highlight some of the specifications which I think are important as follows:

1) NEW 16MP LIVE MOS SENSOR
This new 16MP image sensor has no Anti-Aliasing filter, promising even greater level of fine details captured, though the pixel count stays the same as the E-M5 and E-P5. The new image sensor also has improved noise control which we will explore further specifically in this blog entry.

2) DUAL FAST AF
E-M1 now employs both contrast detect AF that originally provided E-M5 with world’s fastest AF when used together with M.Zuiko micro Four Thirds lenses, as well as new on-chip Phase Detect AF built on the image sensor for use with Four Thirds DSLR lenses. The Phase-Detect AF will also greatly improve the Continuous AF with tracking.

3) TRUEPIC 7 Image Processing Engine with FINE DETAIL PROCESSING 2
The new image processing engine is updated with optimization for different lens profile to correct distortion, chromatic aberration, compensation for diffraction softness and Moire correction. Every lens (Olympus lenses only) mounted on E-M1 will be automatically optimized with the Fine Detail Processing 2.

3) Built in super large Electronic Viewfinder (similar specifications with VF-4) with Adaptive Brightness Technology, new Color Creator (which I shall explore in my later blog review entries).

4) IMPROVED 5-AXIS IMAGE STABILIZATION
Believe me when I say the 5-Axis IS gets better and better, with enhanced algorithm to provide better efficiency for shooting at extreme slow shutter speed than what the E-M5 can do.

5) FULL WEATHER SEALING

Dust-proof, splash-proof, and now, the E-M1 is the worlds first Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera that is FREEZE-PROOF  down to -10 degrees Celcius.

6) 2x2 dial control, and built in Wi-Fi features (fully integrated with smart devices for iOS and Android platforms)

The Survey Poll on Facebook Page: Results

A few days ago I posted a poll on my Facebook Page to have a quick survey on which review items to be prioritized for my coming camera review. 120 people responded (as of 9 September 2013) and this provided me with useful information, thus based on the results of the survey I shall arrange my blog review parts according to the popularity voted. The highest percentage goes to comparison with E-M5, which was unexpected and to be entirely honest I did not consider doing any comparisons at all initially. Since this is quite high in demand, I will be doing side by side comparisons between the E-M1 and E-M5, but in a later part for obvious reasons. I want to explore capabilities and features specific to E-M1 first, since this is the E-M1 review after all, and following that, would be a full comparison with E-M5.

My blog review layout shall be as follows:

Part 1: Introduction and High ISO Shooting

Part 2: Image Sharpness, Continuous AF capability and Handling

Part 3: Compatibility with Four Thirds Zuiko Digital DSLR lenses

Part 4: Comparison with E-M5, Fine Detail Processing 2 and Wi-Fi functions

Part 5: M.Zuiko 12-40mm F2.8 Pro lens review and Conclusions

Please note that this is only an initial plan and may be changed if necessary.

HIGH ISO SHOOTING

I am fairly sure that one of the main things everyone had in their mind is how much better can the micro Four Thirds sized image sensor in E-M1 be than the previous E-M5, knowing that it was the best in class, and surpassing even most APS-C sized DSLR sensors. One of the main parameters used to gauge the performance or ranking of a camera is the high ISO shooting (though I may not necessarily agree with this, but this is a generally accepted opinion). E-M5 was a game-changer, drastically closing in the gap between mirrorless interchangeable lens camera system and conventional DSLR system. To be worthy of a top of the line flagship model, E-M1 is equipped with an all new image sensor, and surely we all have high expectations from this new image sensor in a professional grade camera.

To test the high ISO performance of the E-M1, I have brought the camera to Aquaria KLCC, the location with one of the worst ever lighting condition I can think of for torturing the camera’s low light shooting capability. The only time I did so for a camera review was my very first review for an Olympus gear, the Olympus DSLR E-5. It has been 3 years since then, and it is the right time to revisit the Aquaria and push the E-M1 to the limits. The challenges posed while shooting inside Aquaria KLCC not only include very, very dim available light, but also dealing with poor light quality (horrible blue color cast). Flash was not permitted to protect the animals and sea creatures. On top of that, the creatures do not stay still, they constantly move at quite a fast pace, consequently necessitate the need to bump up the ISO sensitivity a few notches higher to have sufficient shutter speed to freeze motion. I dare say that photography conditions rarely get worse than what was encountered here.

Lets get right to the point: how did the camera performed?

Important note: please do not use the following images to review the image sharpness. I was shooting through glass with scratches and patches of wet spots (water condensation, they keep it humid for the creatures to survive). The following images are only valid to strictly demonstrate high ISO shooting. Also note that noise filter was OFF. Full size unedited images (straight convert from RAW in Olympus Viewer) are available for download at the end of this blog entry.

ISO 16,000

M.Zuiko 75mm F1.8 lens, ISO 16,000, 1/160sec, F1.8 

100% Crop from previous image

ISO 8,000 

M.Zuiko 12-40mm F2.8 Pro lens at 40mm, ISO 8,000, 1/50sec, F/4

100% Crop from previous image

ISO 6,400 

M.Zuiko 75mm F1.8 lens, ISO 6,400, 1/200sec, F/4

ISO 1,600 

M.Zuiko 12-40mm Pro at 35mm, ISO 1,600, 1/60sec, F5

100% Crop from the previous image

I think most people would think I am crazy to start my review photographs with extreme high ISO images. Kicking off with an ISO 16,000 image of an adorable otter may be on the extreme side of things but it is very evident even from this single image to display a huge step upward in terms of high ISO performance on the E-M1. I dare say that the ISO6,400 image of the iguana was completely usable with details still intact. The bar of usable high ISO has been raised, by how much, is not for me to conclude in this entry. I shall do a full side by side comparison with E-M5 in my later blog review entries. From rough observation, E-M1 has confidently more than one stop EV improvement over E-M5. 

I think the crucial difference observed thus far was the level of details being retained, even at very high ISO. Even at ISO 16,000, somehow the chroma noise (color noise) was suppressed and only luminance noise was visible. The luminance noise was not destructive, it added structure as well as maintaining very useful details. At ISO 8,000, the 100% crop of the frogs eye still showed impressive sharpness. These high ISO settings posed great challenge even with highly respected APS-C sized DSLRs.

Things get even more interesting as I ventured into the ocean tunnel, when all the sea creatures were constantly in motion. Again, do take note that the glass was very thick, not fully transparent and worse, full of scratches. It was rather difficult to get completely sharp images, unless I was on the other side of the glass, swimming side by side with the sharks. Ok maybe that was not such a bright idea, but we would have to make do with what we can. Therefore please understand and forgive the slightly fuzzy images, and as I have mentioned before, strictly use these image samples on this blog emtry to review high ISO performance only. 

One interesting thing to note, though the glass was in badly scratched condtition, the M.Zuiko 12-40mm F2.8 focused amazingly well. There was very rare case of hunting, but the lens, in combination with the E-M1 always successfully locked in focus, extremely quickly. In such terribly dim condition (just check the EXIF data!) the lens still managed to perform so well, even without the AF assist light. 

ISO 6,400

M.Zuiko 12-40mm F2.8 Pro at 12mm, ISO 6,400, 1/80sec, F2.8

ISO 5,000 

M.Zuiko 12-40mm F2.8 pro at 12mm, ISO 5,000, 1/80sec, F2.8

ISO 5,000 

M.Zuiko 12-40mm F2.8 Pro at 12mm, ISO 5,000, 1/80sec, F2.8

ISO 4,000 

M.Zuiko 12-40mm F2.8 Pro at 12mm, ISO 4,000, 1/80sec, F2.8

ISO 5,000 

M.Zuiko 12-40mm F2.8 Pro at 32mm, ISO 5,000, 1/80sec, F2.8

Besides Aquaria KLCC, I have also brought the E-M1, with the amazing Zuiko Digital 7-14mm F4 lens for some night landscape shooting around Kuala Lumpur area. It was actually raining that evening, and still drizzling with varying intensity, but that was not a problem because both the E-M1 and 7-14mm lens were fully weather sealed. I mounted the camera on the tripod so I can shoot a same scene, but with varying ISO from 200, all the way up to 25,600. To compensate for the varying ISO, shutter speed was adjusted accordingly. The built in Image Stabilization was turned off, and I used 2 seconds self timer to mitigate any unintended shake after pressing the shutter button. 

The first scene was shot right in front of the KLCC Twin towers. The lens was pointing upward, and we had light rain, hence you might find a few water spots in the images. I had to constantly wipe the front lens element. Bear in mind that all the following images are also available for download in full size, unedited JPEG format, at the end of my blog entry. 

HIGH ISO COMPARISON TEST 1

ISO 200

Zuiko Digital 7-14mm F4 lens at 7mm, ISO 200, 0.67sec, F8

ISO 800 

Zuiko Digital 7-14mm F4 lens at 7mm, ISO 800, 1/5sec, F8

ISO 1,600 

Zuiko Digital 7-14mm F4 lens at 7mm, ISO 1600, 1/10sec, F8

ISO 3,200 

Zuiko Digital 7-14mm F4 lens at 7mm, ISO 3,200, 1/20sec, F8

ISO 6,400 

Zuiko Digital 7-14mm F4 lens at 7mm, ISO 6,400, 1/40sec, F8

ISO 12,800 

Zuiko Digital 7-14mm F4 lens at 7mm, ISO 12,800, 1/60sec, F8

ISO 25,600 

Zuiko Digital 7-14mm F4 lens at 7mm, ISO 25,600, 1/125sec, F8

AMAZING 5-Axis Image Stabilization

During the product briefing with Olympus Malaysia staff I was told that the 5-Axis Image Stabilization has been improved further. My spontaneous reaction was, come on, what else do you expect us to do with the Image Stabilization? In my OM-D E-M5 review previously I have stated that I can shoot confidently with shutter speed as slow as 1/2 second hand-held, and I believe that is already more than sufficient for most shooting needs. In case where we need to shoot slower than half a second shutter speed or for long exposure shooting, logically we would use a tripod. The existing 5 Axis Image Stabilization was already effective and sufficiently capable for handheld shooting. 

I was going to be proven so WRONG, and honestly, I was still quite shocked at this discovery. 

After the ISO comparison shoot in front of KLCC Twin Towers, I decided to shoot hand-held and see how far I can push the slow shutter shooting with the 5-Axis Image Stabilization. 

Since we can confidently shoot at 1/2 second with the E-M5, I started by shooting with 1 second shutter speed on the E-M1. The first image reviewed was SHARP. I thought, well, maybe it was luck that I managed to hold my hands steady for that 1 second shot. So I tried again. And again. And again. To my horror (at that moment, this was the word that popped out in my mind) ALL of my shots came out SHARP! That 5-Axis Image Stabilization did something and whatever it did I was getting sharp images, shot after shot. 

HANDHELD AT 1.6 SECONDS Shutter Speed

ZD 7-14mm at 7mm, ISO200, 1.6sec, F9

It is one thing to have steady hands and pushing slow shutter speed shooting, sometimes we get one or two sharp shots out of a series of trials. And even the successful images may not be 100% blur free, there would still be traces of blur/shake. The 5 Axis Image Stabilization in the E-M1 gave me 100% hit rate when shooting at 1 second hand-held, and that was something I never saw coming, or thought possible. 

How about 2 seconds?

When I reviewed the 2 seconds shutter speed image, I wished there was someone around to record the expression on my face because I really do not know how to explain what I felt to you guys. Seriously, 2 seconds shutter speed image, sharp, shot after shot. It is very hard to believe, and I agree it is quite impossible to do hand-held shooting at 2 seconds, especially me because I do not exactly have steady hands. Furthermore I was shooting while standing straight, with nothing to lean on or brace myself against. The M.Zuiko 7-14mm F4 lens was not exactly small, and it was very heavy on its own. I do not quite know the logic behind how the 5-Axis Image Stabilization works, but it just did, and I have evidence to show you. 

I have compiled 11 full resolution photographs to show you that I have taken multiple trials of 1 sec and 2 sec shutter speeds in the download section at the end of this blog, and they were all sharp. Of course at 2 seconds you can see small traces of blur, but I am sure you will find the images still very usable. 

Do not take my word for it, as usual I always suggest that you find an E-M1 and test out the 5 Axis IS and see how effective it is in steadying your shots. As I said I do not have the steadiest hands around, and in the hands of those who spent time in challenging hand-held shooting, I am sure they can do better than me. 

Now that I was left speechless with the 5-Axis Image Stabilization trials, I went on doing another high ISO comparison scene, with similar setup as before, at KLCC Park. 

HIGH ISO COMPARISON TEST 2

ISO 200 

Zuiko Digital 7-14mm F4 at 7mm, ISO 200, 13sec, F9

ISO 800 

Zuiko Digital  7-14mm F4 at 7mm, ISO 800, 3.2sec, F9

ISO 1,600 

Zuiko Digital  7-14mm F4 at 7mm, ISO 1,600, 1.3sec, F9

ISO 3,200 

Zuiko Digital  7-14mm F4 at 7mm, ISO 3,200, 0.6sec, F9

ISO 6,400 

Zuiko Digital  7-14mm F4 at 7mm, ISO 6,400, 1/3sec, F9

ISO 12,800 

Zuiko Digital  7-14mm F4 at 7mm, ISO 12,800, 1/6sec, F9

I could not finish the test of ISO 25,600 because after the ISO 12,800 shot it started to rain very heavily, and I was already drenched from the earlier drizzling. And I did not intend to catch a bug just before publishing my review!

Again the chroma noise was very well controlled yet at the same time useful amount of detail was able to be maintained all the way to ISO 6,400. In fact the ISO 12,800 image is quite usable with some application of noise reduction and a little sharpening. 

When it comes to high ISO shooting and tolerance to noise, it differs from one to another. What may appear to be acceptable level of noise to me may not be the same case for you. However it is also a stretch too far to expect any image sensor to deliver images completely free of digital noise. In fact even full frame DSLR image sensor would exhibit visible noise shooting from ISO 3,200 and beyond. Of course it all comes down to how well the cameras built in noise reduction software in handling the high ISO noise. In this blog entry I have taken all shots with the Noise Filter set of OFF. The files would surely look cleaner with a little bit of noise reduction applied. 

ZD 7-14mm F4 lens at 7mm, ISO 200, 20sec, F7.1

100% Crop from previous image

ZD 7-14mm F4 at 7mm, ISO 200, 8sec, F9

I understand that some of you may not trust the images being displayed here, since they have been reduced in resolution, and obviously compressed to a certain degree. It is difficult to judge the image quality with so much size reduction, hence as usual, for your pixel-peeping pleasures, I have compiled selected images in full resolution (unedited, unprocessed, and converted directly from RAW to JPEG Large Fine via Olympus Viewer 3) for your download as follows:

E-M1 FULL RESOLUTION SAMPLE IMAGES HERE

DOWNLOAD 1

High ISO Image Samples (click)

DOWNLOAD 2

5-Axis IS Test, slow shutter speed handheld (click)

I was very pleased to find that the Olympus OM-D E-M1 did not disappoint when it comes to high ISO shooting, and as a bonus, the newly improved 5 Axis Image Stabilization allowed me to slow down my shutter speed to 2 seconds and still be able to shoot confidently. The high ISO images were richly detailed and noise level was very well controlled. I shall do side by side high ISO shooting comparison with E-M5 vs E-M1 in my later parts of blog reviews. 

Coming up next, PART 2: Image Sharpness, Continuous AF with tracking capability and Handling.

Just a little teaser. We already know that Olympus cameras with combination with amazingly sharp lenses such as M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro can produce images that are full of fine details. Now Olympus has decided to remove the Anti-Aliasing filter from their image sensor, surely an important move to improve the level of details captured! Added the new Truepic 7 Image Processing engine, with improved "Fine Detail Processing 2", how much better can the E-M1 output get?

Theory may usually differ from practical real life application. So I shall leave you with a 100% crop image from my coming Part 2 review. 

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Olympus OM D E M5 Review Street Shooting and Final Words

Olympus Malaysia has unveiled their official pricing for the OM-D E-M5 and they are starting to take local pre-order (9 to 31 March 2012). There are promotions with FREE gifts too, choice of MMF-3 adapter or 32Gb Sandisk EXTREME card. Do check out their official promotional page here (Click).

Important Notes:

1. This is a user experience based review.

2. All images were shot in RAW and converted directly to JPEG Large SF (super fine) via Olympus Viewer 2 version 1.3 (provided by Olympus Malaysia).

3. General camera settings, Noise Filter = OFF, Contrast/Saturation/sharpness = 0, White Balance = Auto (with an option maintain warm color = OFF), Gradation = Normal, Picture Mode: Monotone

4. No post-processing applied (except picture mode set to "monotone") to the images. All images were as good as straight out of camera with minimal cropping for better presentation.

5. Lenses used for this entry: M.Zuiko 12mm F2 and 45mm F1.8

This entry is the final part of my Olympus OM-D E-M5 review episodes, please read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 if you have not done so.

In this Part 4, I shall be summarizing the important highlights of my findings while shooting with Olympus E-M5 in the previous parts of my review. I shall also be discussing about a few negative points of the camera which I thought could have been improved. Basically you will find the summary of pros and cons of the Olympus E-M5, based on my brief encounter and shooting experience with it over the weekend.

In addition, I believe Olympus E-M5 is a very capable street photography machine. Street photography has been picking up pace all around the world lately. In my final shooting session with the Olympus E-M5, I have brought the camera to my usual shutter therapy session, doing street shooting at my favorite grounds in Jalan Masjid India and Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur. Therefore, I shall talk about how well the Olympus E-M5 performs as a street photography camera, and how I find it suitable for my shooting style and preferences.

Video by FULLCIRCLEPIX

Awesome music by SILENT SCENERY

Track title: Tale of a Wooden Door

Kindly visit Silent Scenerys Facebook Page

This video highlights me in action shooting the streets. This was my first time seeing myself doing my shutter therapy. Quite interesting to see myself from a third persons perspective. Thanks again Sanjit for the wonderful video.

All the photographs in this entry were taken in the above-mentioned street shooting session in Jalan Masjid India and Chow Kit, hence let’s just take all the technicalities out of the way. In street photography, technical perfection is not a priority, there are many things that will help you make the shot, which I will discuss in the later part of the entry. You all have seen many photographs as examples of what the Olympus E-M5 is capable of producing in my previous three parts (almost 100 photo samples) with dozens of full size JPEG downloads, where you can scrutinize the sharpness of the images, the high ISO and dynamic range performance, as well as judging the beautiful Olympus signature colors. Since I was doing my shutter therapy session, it was a personal shooting experience, and I shall be presenting all my street photographs in black and white instead. I want to draw your attention away from pixel-peeing and being a technical nerd, and just turn your street photography mode “ON” for this entry. Why, you ask? Because I love street photography, and only by really doing what I usually do in street photography with the E-M5, can I tell you, honestly and fairly, how the camera fares in my shooting session.

Concurrent Events

Clouded by Bubbles

Play date.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT E-M5

IMPROVED IMAGE QUALITY (High ISO, Dynamic Range and Resolution)

Olympus cameras over the years have been plagued with a universally agreed presumption that they all lag behind competition when it comes to high ISO shooting and dynamic range. Having the smaller sensor size in comparison to APS-C and Full Frame DSLR is the main attacking point used by competitors to talk Olympus down. I have to admit, despite having wonderful camera system with loads of innovative features and well thought out designs for practical photography usage, ultimately the world still chases high ISO and megapixel race (so sad, right?). It is a huge news that Olympus finally, has caught up with the best in class (APS-C DSLR) in terms of image quality.

It is a breath of fresh air when the image quality in the new 16MP LIVE MOS Sensor used inside the E-M5 has spotted a huge jump of improvement over the previous Olympus models. Usable, clean ISO6400 images with minimal chroma noise and still maintaining good amount of details is unheard of from Olympus, until the E-M5 arrived. In fact, at ISO3200 and below the images appear to be excellent, and I will have no hesitation using such settings when necessary. When I was shooting with the E-5 (my main camera), I would have had to think a lot more before turning up to ISO1600. Similarly applied to dynamic range, where transition between the bright and dark areas is smoother, and the E-M5 did a splendid job in maintaining details in both the highlight and shadow region, even being used at higher ISO settings (up to ISO800). This surely is a sign of better things to come for Olympus system, both micro 4/3 as well as the native and much neglected DSLR 4/3 system.

I was very glad to find Olympus finally breaking the barrier they set for themselves when they restricted their Pixel count to only 12MP a few years ago. I agree 12 MP is sufficient for most usage today, but sooner or later, when everyone else is having higher and higher megapixel count, the old 12MP will not be able to keep up anymore. I am not supporting the megapixel race, but having a little bit more will surely be advantageous to any photographers.

Religious Man

Gold

Difference in Decades

Food in mouth

NEW 5-AXIS IMAGE STABILIZATION

I was surprised when I found out that I was able to shoot sharp images, not just by luck, but confidently doing it again and again with the new IS system built inside the E-M5 body. The furthest I dared to push shooting handheld was the shutter speed of half a second. I believe if you want to shoot anything with ONE second or more shutter speed, you might have thought of that in mind before hand and prepared a tripod along with you. Being able to shoot half a second hand held and get away with many sharp images surely opened up a whole new world of possibilities.

As evidence, you may download half size JPEG samples (no need for full size, since the purpose to show the images is to prove that I have taken many shots with half a second shutter speed, yet they all turn out to be sharp).

IMAGE STABILIZATION TEST

Half Sized JPEG downloads (click here)

The IS works wonders when I was shooting macro. Firstly, the effect of the IS can be seen through the viewfinder while I was shooting, and this helps to mitigate the “shaky and jumping” view, thus greatly improving comfort while shooting. I rarely find blur images as I did extreme magnification macro shots, holding the E-M5 with 50mm F2 macro lens (mounted via MMF-3) by one hand. The new IS certainly added a lot of flexibility when it comes to real, practical shooting.

Besides hand held slow shutter speed, and shooting extreme macro, the new IS also benefits handheld video recording, as shown in all the videos taken by my dear friend Sanjit. He shot all the footages hand-held with another E-M5 on his hand, and we shall be exploring the video capabilities of the E-M5 in a separate entry, and I shall get Sanjit to talk about that instead. As you know, I am a photographer, and I know nuts when it comes to video world.

VERY GOOD HANDLING

The E-M5 by itself is very small, and does not offer good enough balance and gripping, especially for larger hands. However, coupled with the additional battery grip pack, HLD-6, the story changes. I find myself loving the horizontal grip (landscape) a lot, and it certainly added the much needed bulk and weight to steady my shots better. I personally find the portrait grip being added to be a little too large and heavy for my liking. Nonetheless, having options to add on is a smart move, and I must admit there are people who want the camera to be as small as possible. For me, balanced handling is more important, and yes, I highly recommend the use of HLD-6, if you intend to shoot with larger lenses (eg telephoto-zoom lenses).

I also like the rugged construction and built of the camera. It felt very solid in my hands, and perhaps, up to date, E-M5 has the best built of all mirrorless (or compact system cameras) cameras in the market. I often complain on how fragile the PEN series cameras are, easily dented and cracked if you unknowingly knock the camera on hard surface, or have minor accidents. Strong magnesium alloy body on the E-M5 is surely adding confidence to the photographers like me, who usually handle their equipments very roughly.

Innocence

Looking for an answer

Negligence

Same Level

OPTIMIZED STRAIGHT OUT OF THE CAMERA JPEG

As always, Olympus produces excellent out of the camera JPEG files, with very accurate auto white balance, true to life colours, pleasing skin tones, and optimized resolution, maintaining great amount of details. I know many photographers shoot RAW most of the time, but having a reliable JPEG engine will surely come in handy in many situations when you do not have the time to transfer your images to your computer and do our photoshop magic.

USABLE ELECTRONIC VIEWFINDER

I do not think that the electronic viewfinder is perfect, but having one makes a whole world of difference, especially when it comes to manual focusing works, and shooting directly under the bright sun.

IMPROVED BATTERY LIFE

The new battery is a lot better than the BLS-1 (as used in all previous Olympus PEN cameras). In most of my shooting session (except the butterfly park), I did not kill the battery, and the capacity was sufficient to last me until I reach home, with more than 400 shots each session. I cannot tell you how many total shots a single charge can last, because I immediately charge up the battery once I got home, before I head out again. I only killed the battery in butterfly park after over 300 shots, mainly because I used the add-on flash to fire and trigger the extermal flash FL-36R wirelessly in ALL my shots. Considering the heavy use of the add-on flash and incredible amount of chimping in butterfly park (yes I do chimp a lot, when I needed to ensure my focus accuracy when I manual focus), that was a respectable performance.

Plastic

Unsure

Street tailor

Crossing lines

Waiting for the world to pass

There is no such thing as a perfect camera, and obviously there are also things that I wish could have been improved in the Olympus OM-D E-M5.

WHAT I DISLIKE ABOUT E-M5

FOGGING ISSUE

I managed to test the weather-sealing of the camera twice. The first encounter was shooting in the rain at Bukit Bintang during nighttime, as I have blogged in Part 2 of my review. The second encounter was having the camera run under small sprinkling water fountain in the Butterfly Park, KL, as shown in Part 3 (the last part of the video). In both encounters, the Electronic Viewfinder fogged up from the inside, with the moisture appearing as a thick white blanket covering the view. Both my camera and Sanjit’s camera experienced the same problem, because we both shot in the rain. Logically, being a weather-sealed camera, the moisture should not have gotten inside. I have no such problem with my previous DSLR E-520 and E-5, when I brought the cameras to high humidity places such as the rainforest. I have also placed the E-5 directly under a running waterfall (small one of course) and there was no moisture ingress into the viewfinder. Being rated as weather sealed, I am surely not expecting this issue to be found on the E-M5, following Olympus’ great reputation with their previous weather sealed cameras since E-1 days.

Update (14 March 2012): In all fairness, the fogging in the electronic viewfinder did not cause any hiccups or issues to the cameras performance, everything continued to operate fine as usual. As an alternative, the live view on the 3 inch OLED screen still appear to be as clear as ever, and was used an alternative to compose my subjects instead. The fogging in the viewfinder lasted for about half an hour, on both Sanjit and my E-M5 units. I hope that Olympus somehow will rectify this issue before the first batch of E-M5 mass production hits the market.

NO SUPPORT OF PDAF LENSES

There is no doubt that E-M5 has very fast autofocus. However, there is no improvement when it comes to using the older 4/3 DSLR lenses that worked optimally with phase-detect autofocus system. I think a lot of us, long time Olympus users who have held onto the marvelous Zuiko lens lineup, would appreciate some sort of engineered compatibility on the micro 4/3 camera system to enable “reasonable fast and usable” focusing with the 4/3 lenses. That would open up the micro 4/3 to a more complete range of lenses, including some very respectable fast zoom lenses, which the micro 4/3 line up is seriously lacking at the moment. I am not sure how Olympus is going to fix this missing link, but if they did, the micro 4/3 system from Olympus will step up to another level, mainly because of how excellent their Zuiko lenses already are. It is my wish that Olympus will not take this lightly, as they still have many 4/3 system users.

Late market

Friendliness

Painful truth

Honest living

CONTINUOUS FOCUSING WITH 3D TRACKING

While I did notice some improvements with the continuous focusing on the E-M5, especially when face detection is turned on, I still feel that there is much to be improved. Do cut the camera some slack, because I have tested the camera in very difficult shooting conditions. Perhaps, in good lighting situation, the camera would have fared better. However, as I tested the continuous focusing in my shooting sessions, I did miss a lot of focus (Turkish Dance in Part 1 review). Not being happy with the results I was seeing, I decided to switch back to the default Single AF and the original single click autofocus was fast enough for me to capture a high hit rate. Bear in mind that I am not a continuous focus shooter, and probably do not exactly know how to optimize the usage of it. Well, perhaps I was being misguided by that ballet dancing girl as advertized in the youtube video (click). That sort of superb continuous AF performance was nowhere seen when I was shooting the Turkish Dance on stage !

However, the continuous focusing seems to work better in video recording, based on my observation while Sanjit was shooting. Lets explore this in a separate entry, where Sanjit will share his video shooting experience with the E-M5.

OPTICAL VIEWFINDER

As much as I have noted the importance of having the electronic viewfinder and how it has improved overall shooting experience, I still think that nothing beats shooting through a real, large, bright Optical Viewfinder. I like the idea of what you see is what you get through the viewfinder. The Electronic Viewfinder is built to mimic the end-result after you click the shutter button. It may be useful to some, but I prefer to see what is happening during the process of shooting, not after. I want to see exactly what my eye can see without any modifications, and I believe 100% real life representation of the optical viewfinder helps in this regard. Perhaps (once the technological barriers have been broken down) a hybrid viewfinder of some sort, for example an optical viewfinder with electronic display overlay will benefit the photographer with the best from both worlds.

Strategist

Different worlds

Chill

Three Men and a road divider

Now or Never

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY WITH OLYMPUS E-M5

Recently, it is interesting to note that some cameras have been designed to fit the “descriptions of a street photographer’s machine”, and being marketed as such. Street photography is an important genre of photography and is being practiced widely everywhere in the world. How does E-M5 fare in street shooting?

First of all, I really treasure the smaller sized and lighter camera for street shooting. It makes walking long distances more comfortable, and I was able to hold the camera with one hand while I was hunting for subjects. Furthermore, people are less “threatened” when you point a smaller sized camera at them, a camera that does not scream paparazzi or serious photographer who has ulterior motives when you shoot them. Generally, the locals here would quickly associate anyone who has huge black professional cameras with large lenses as someone who works for the media, being a reporter or journalists working for the local newspaper, trying to do some story in their local neighbourhood. Giving out that kind of impression when you use a large DSLR will pose some kind of intimidation to your street subjects, and they will react differently to you when you approach them. Most of the time the attention you get with large cameras will hold you down and prevent you from getting the “natural” look from your subjects. People are less friendly when they think that you want something from them.

Having the small E-M5 that appears retro (like a film camera) is less intimidating, and I find my street subjects to be more acceptable when I go near them. It is either they do not care at all since I do not look like I pose a threat with such a small camera, or I look more like just another person in the crowd. I was able to blend into the street much better with smaller cameras like E-M5 and any other Olympus PEN cameras, than larger alternatives such as my E-5. If you are serious about street photography, you would agree that blending in is an important part even before you start clicking the shutter button.

On the streets, it is not about capturing nice colours or aesthetically pleasing shots all the time. It is about capturing emotions, expressions of people passing by in that small trace of time, and moments that happen so briefly that you capture that one frame to tell a wonderful story. Being able to capture the decisive moment (as popularized by Henri Cartier Bresson, and no I am not a fan of his) will demand a lot from the camera, when it comes to Autofocus. Having very fast, accurate and reliable autofocus in the E-M5 allowed me to nail my shots at that precise moment I wanted the shutter to click. I know many people rely on zone-focusing (lets hope this statement wont spark a whole new firestorm elsewhere), personally I prefer NOT to use zone focusing because I want bokeh and I use high shutter speed on the streets, hence good Autofocus is a necessity for me. Of course you may devise your own shooting style that fits you, but you have to admit that being able to focus and freeze the moment instantaneously is crucial in street photography. Any lag or pause will surely cause you to miss precious moments, and those moments will not repeat itself. Olympus has advanced their Autofocus mechanism so well that if I miss any shots, it was due to my own fault for not pressing the shutter button fast enough.

Intense

Open

Umbrella

Stealth, is another important weapon in street photography. All street photographers will tell you the same thing: GET CLOSER to your subjects. How can you get close enough without polluting your scene with the subject being aware of your presence and that he is being photographed? This is the area where I find the tiltable OLED screen with touch screen shutter activation to come in very handy. The trick of not drawing attention from the crowd is not to have eye contact. If you do not look into your subject directly, he would not know that you were shooting him, and this is the safe and good approach to get near your subject. Shooting from waist level, with the tilt screen facing upwards towards me, I can frame my subjects just by looking downwards, without establishing eye contact with my subject, and then I do not even have to press the shutter button to cause any alarm, I just touched the screen to shoot. I have used this trick on the E-M5 for quite a number of shots in this entry, and they all turned out to be very natural and as if I was not there at all. I was close enough, and I still can get “unposed” natural expression on my subject’s faces.

Of course, another important factor not to be forgotten, would be the very muffled, soft, shutter sound. Thanks to the new shutter mechanism encased inside the thick magnesium alloy body shell, with full weather sealing, the shutter sound is soft and rounded. Being on the street, it was almost inaudible, and this added a lot of advantage when you intend to be stealthy.

I find myself enjoying shooting the street tremendously with the E-M5. In comparison to the E-P3, I welcome the better handling due to the beefier added horizontal hand grip, the tiltable OLED screen and also the much quieter shutter sound. Indeed, the Olympus E-M5 is well suited as a street photography weapon.

Small opening

I thank you all beautiful readers for being here supporting my review work on this blog, and all the kind, encouraging remarks I have received from you all. It has been a great honor and privilege to be able to test, shoot and write about the new Olympus OM-D E-M5. The encounter was very brief, but I have truly enjoyed myself, and the experience was very fulfilling. I appreciate the overwhelming response in comments, emails, and any feedback.

While I have finished my part of user experience review focusing on photography alone, Sanjit, the great friend who have shot me in video all this time will have something to say about the video capabilities on the Olympus E-M5. I shall feature him on my blog soon to talk about that.

If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to say something in the comment section on this blog entry, or email me directly at hamish7ian@gmail.com

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