Micro 4/3 EM1 - first impressions

Ray Sachs

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Not too far from Philly
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you should be able to figure it out...
I just posted my first impressions of the OMD-EM1 over on MU-43. I've had a loaner for a couple of days and am seriously impressed with it. As, I must confess, I tend to be with nearly everything I get to shoot these days. Won't someone PLEASE make a bad camera so I could have something to complain about!!! Anyway, here's link if interested:

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-Ray
 
Nice review, Ray, and far more down-to-earth and reasonable than some of the technical reviews that make it seem like the E-M1 is light years ahead of the E-M5. Looking forward to your next installment.
 
Thanks, nice read. My 2 cents: the successor to the E-M1with improved sensor could be worth an upgrade. A refined and slightly improved camera over the OM-D except for IQ at a price premium looking too steep for me for the "extra" one gets. It`s mighty expensive when considering size and age of the sensor inside.
 
Ray, good commentary! Love my EM1 so far...

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Thanks for such a practical view. I am looking forward to the images. It won't lure me into the Olympus camp (with the upcoming A7® and the DF) but it sure is an interesting camera.
 
If I was still primarily an m43 shooter, I'd probably buy it. It's a functional upgrade, but not really an IQ upgrade (other than the lack if AA filter). But I've sold almost all of my m43 lenses and basically just use my EM5 with the 75mm f1.8, almost like a fixed lens camera. I have a 14-150 and a 75-300 (that I may sell but will probably keep for that very rare instance I want more reach because it's worth so little these days), but the 75mm pretty much lives on it. So, for that, I won't upgrade. It'll take a big jump in IQ for me to upgrade from the EM5 and even that probably won't do it - it's fine as is. I'll probably always look to put money into the stuff I shoot with every day and m43 just isn't in that role anymore.

-Ray
 
I was able to attend an Olympus show-and-tell session at a local camera shop where they had a bunch of E-M1s, almost every Olympus Micro 4/3 lens and a few 4/3 lenses as well. I struggle to think of anything more that I could want in a camera than the E-M1. I love that even thought Olympus wants to pay homage to the past with their semi-retro styling cues, they haven't held back on any modern technology. What is keeping my wallet in my pocket is that there was very little wrong with it's predecessors either. The E-M5 was something of a landmark camera, and the very few issues I had with it were addressed in the E-P5.
 
I also checked the 12-35 review at slrgear and I was reading nearly same words as 12-40mm:) The reason I checked was the distortion correction which is high on 12-35mm but it doesn't show up in slr gear review so their reviews are based on corrected images...
 
One great thing about the 12-35 is that the center is sharpety-sharp-sharp at f2.8 The borders never seemed to catch up for me when stopped down on landscape shots.
 
Interesting reading. I'm not seeing anything that makes me want to trade or sell my 12-35/2.8, but if I were buying today it would be a hard decision. The OIS and the smaller size of the Panasonic are attractive pluses. All I can say is I'm very glad we have such excellent choices!!!
 
Damn! Even the mysets work in a civilized manner! I used to find Olympus custom settings such a pain in the butt to use that I simply never did. Now, set the camera up the way you want, save as a myset, assign it to a fn button, and VIOLA - it just works! This had been a huge weakness of Oly cameras but even this seems to be solved.

Also, something I mentioned over on MU-43, but maybe worth repeating - the conflict between the eye sensor in the EVF and the ability to use the flip up screen close to your body has also been solved. In the EM5, I had to turn off the eye sensor and just change between evf and lcd manually because anytime I'd hold the camera anywhere near my body using the flip up screen (and I pretty much always used it near my body), the evf would turn on the screen would turn off. Now, the sensor is disabled when you flip the screen out, so that problem is eliminated! Another fine detail thought of. I thought this was some kind of fancy iris detector before someone over on MU-43 set me straight. Bottom line - it works...

-Ray
 
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