New E-M5 reviews (Imaging Resource ad Online Photographer)
This week we finally had the answer about the E-m5 sensor manufactorer. As you know i’s a Sony and you may will look to the reviews I link form now on knowing it’s not just a “re-used” Panasonic 16 Megapixel sensor. Here are the links:
Reviews:
Imaging Resource posted the full E-M5 review: “Not only does the Olympus OM-D E-M5 look great, it takes great pictures, meeting or exceeding the quality of some pretty surprising competitors. Its interface is designed with photographers in mind, with ready control dials and a smart interface, all in a very small package.”
Three first reactions at The Online Photographer.
And here are two readers E-M5 works:
Marco: “give a look to what I did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcWds9N_hgc
I wanted to try to test the AF speed of the OM-D with some of my regular 4/3 lenses such as 12-60, 35-100, 50-500 and 7-14. I think that it’s an interesting test to understand how the OM-D performs when using 4/3 lenses. Of course it’s not a great performance, but seeing it filmed may give confidence to doubtful users! Greeting from Rome!”
Cem: “I tried my new OM-D E-M5 last night with 4th of July fireworks. It did an amazing job. I tought you may want to share it so others can see what this camera can do!
here is my flickr link for the album! http://www.flickr.com/photos/cempayzin/sets/72157630429515370/”
E-M5 preorder links:
Amazon, Adorama, B&H, Jessops, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Japan and Digitalrev.
E-M5 Case:
There is the official CS-36FBC Olympus case. A leather half case from Hong Kong. A full leather case with strap from Cina. Than we have half cases from two well known producers, Zelenpol, Kaza and Gariz.
E-M5 Batteries, and other things:
The Olympus GS-4 strap and the DSTE E-M5 batteries you have to use with an extra charger. There is an E-M5 car charger a new E-M5 LCD screen and a Front Cover+ Top Panel.
Tom B
12 months ago |Admin, thank you for yet another review roundup. I am VERY happy with the capabilities of my “legacy” 4/3 lenses on the new E-M5. For what it is worth, here are the lenses I have and my thoughts about Autofocus:
Built-in CDAF:
Zuiko-D 9-18mm – Very useable
Zuiko-D 14-42mm – Very useable
Zuiko-D 40-150mm – Very useable
These all are SLOWER than then the native mu-4/3 lenses that i have, but it’s a difference between focusing like “BAM!” vs “Buum!”, so maybe 30% slower.
PDAF-only
Zuiko-D 50mm F2 Macro – It hunts. OK for static objects / portraits of willing subjects (takes a few seconds to lock on), unuseable for macro, but you are really better off using MF for Marco
Zuiko-D 25mm pancake – The only disappointment. It’s slow, 2-3 seconds to focus. Agian, OK for static subjects and willing portraits, but that defeats the purpose of having a 25mm prime (50mm equiv). Way too slow for quick, candid portraits.
Zuiko-D 35mm f/3.5 macro – Well it does do AF, but very inconsistent. However, this is a specialized lens that I got for cheap, I only use it for macro, and then I use MF or AF then MF fine-tuning. For non-macro work, why bother?
Of course, as has been reported, the super-expensive SWD lenses don’t work well. Anyway, I’m keeping all my 4/3 lenses except the pancake. Just bought the PL 25mm and love it
Also have the Panny 14mm and Oly 45mm F/1.8. All great lenses!
Tom
fan_guo_lai_xiang_xiang
12 months ago |Thanks for this overview. Nice lens collection, by the way!
Anonymous
12 months ago |I think the grip is a must! Even if you take the base off and just use the right-side grip.
bbking
12 months ago |I think the grip is a must! Even if you take the base off and just use the right-side grip.
nik
12 months ago |if only it had an articulating lcd for camwhore
twoomy
12 months ago |“Not just a reused Panasonic sensor”… you mean like the new GF5 and/or G5 is going to have? *sigh* Seems like Pany is recycling ideas the way Olympus was before the EM-5. I hope Pany feels some pressure to up their game next round. I’d much rather prefer less camera iterations and more significant improvements per iteration.
BTW… I have a silver E-M5 coming my way… FINALLY! I can’t wait!
Linh
12 months ago |The 16MP reused in the G5 isn’t that bad really given how new it is. A new sensor every year is not something I’d expect.
However, the GF5…. that old 12MP needs to just die now. It makes no sense to keep it in production rather than try and ramp up quantity for the 16MP sensor so there’s parity across the bulk of Panasonic’s lineup. The cameras are all different enough to sell on their own terms.
Igor
12 months ago |Hmm, I have not seen the real G5 so far.
The GF5 12Mpc sensor is actually great for the low signal-to-noise shooting,
due to its 4.3 Microns size pixels and improved (in comparison with GF3,2,1) circuitry that doesn’t block as much light entering the photosite, giving better low light performance.
See, for example, this and other photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/philou95/6964313358
Philip
12 months ago |It is hardly the “same old sensor”. I have both Gf1 and Gf3 and have compared them. The difference between Gf1 and Gf3 is large (a bit more than half a stop) and Gf5 should be almost another half stop better!
marilyn
12 months ago |we want a rumor about the lens like 14-54 m43 or 12-60m43 grrrr
Viktor
12 months ago |“We” want? Well “we” want a 17,5 mm fast AF.
Anonytrackball
12 months ago |I hope you are well stocked up. You are in for a long long wait.
boh
12 months ago |Got my silver E-M5 couple of weeks back (paid $100 extra to get it from Hong Kong), been nothing but super impressed. I have the E-P3 but lacked the viewfinder and a bit more resolution. I have the 12, 20, 45 combo and it’s so much fun. Quality is superb. Here is on example:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78915644@N06/7512924346/in/photostream
(45mm, 1000/5.6, 200 ISO)
One thing I have noticed (or is it just me?) the blues seem to come out a bit stronger (both on E-P3 and the E-M5)? Don’t really mind it but it just seems different both (sky and water) than I recall when shooting.
Cheers, boh
JimD
12 months ago |Funny how the menu system on any camera is a love hate thing. Here we are 2 reviews one praises the other reluctantly uses.
I suppose I am lucky I like the Olympus menus.
sneye
12 months ago |As a long time Olympus user I never realized how intimidating their menu system was, but then with every iteration there are new sub-menus added and the menu in the E-M5 is truly on the brink of insanity. I hope Olympus will respond to this criticism in the next round.
Bob B.
12 months ago |Don’t get me wrong…I love my OM-D…but the menu system AND touch-screen interface on my GX1 is MUCH more intuitive. The labeled, high quality buttons are better too. Less fiddling. Also…I prefer the custom menus on a dial…It’s just faster & simpler once you set it up.
That being said…give me the Oly output any day of the week!
Chris K
12 months ago |I find the opposite, Bob. I haven’t used the GX1, but I own a GH1 and GF3 and I much prefer the menus of my Oly cameras over my Panasonics. The categorization of the Panasonics isn’t logical to me.
Neither measures up to Canon’s DSLRs, but I prefer Oly.
Ross
12 months ago |I like it too, but then, I’ve only used Olympus DSLR’s (apart from Fuji Ultrazooms) & thought other cameras were strange. After using the E30 I do miss some of the direct buttons though, although the touch screen & Super Control Panel makes things faster.
The Menu system makes sense to me where things are located & I go straight to what I want, having learnt it enough as well.
JF
12 months ago |My E-M5 is quite dead after 2 months, contact problem between body and lenses…must send him for repairing. Won’t have it for next holidays
Otherwise, fantastic camera…
Ulli
12 months ago |well that sucks then, its cool you still have a positive opinion about the camera.
Bob B.
12 months ago |My flash punked out after about 20 fires…..but Oly sent me a new one PRONTO!
Hope this one lasts longer
bbking
12 months ago |Good to hear it’s resolved!
Is everything back to normal now? As in, RC mode works OK?
E-1
12 months ago |Panasonic 12-35 in Germany first sighting below 1099 EUR
1059,25 EUR at Foto Köster
http://www.foto-koester.de/shop/details/Panasonic_Lumix_G_X_Vario_PZ_28_12_35_mm_F_Power_OIS.html
Henrik
12 months ago |Rumour has it on the DPreview site that the talk about the sensor from Sony is actually for an Olympus microscope. Heres the link:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1041&thread=41952049
Not that I really care
I think the whole discussion has gone out of proportion.
Edit: And I just realize that by putting this here Im adding stuff to the discussion
.
ebbesen
12 months ago |The poster on dpreview who started the thread appears to have been lead astray by Google Translate’s failed attempt to translate the Japanese article.
Forum members who do read Japanese (I don’t) do agree with the original conclusion; that the OM-D sensor is indeed manufactured by Sony:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=41956290
Chris K
12 months ago |I never feel so smart as when I read people complaining that a camera’s interface is too difficult to understand. Some are better than others, but difficult to understand? These cavemen aren’t actually using the scene modes, are they?
Godot
12 months ago |I’ve yet to have the pleasure of trying an OM-D for myself, but I am a regular reader of TOP and the comments. Those are not “cavemen”, and very few of them are stupid. Mostly they are older photographers with roots in the film era, and they probably all *detest* scene modes.
They are photographers first and gearheads second, but even when it comes to the gearhead side, being older is a drawback. I assume from your comment that you’re young enough to have used computers since childhood, and they are simple to you. Well, maybe you know some very smart older people who struggle with what you consider very basic computer stuff? I certainly do. It’s not because they’re stupid, it’s because they lack long familiarity and grew up in a very different world. (A world full of things that seem simple and straightforward to them, but would be mysterious and difficult to you and me… for example, I shudder at the thought of trying to do laundry or cook dinner the way my grandmother did, even though these things were straightforward to her, albeit backbreaking work for the most part.)
The people at TOP, starting with the site owner, make a very good point about modern cameras in general: user interface design at the firmware level tends to suck. Even if you are tech-savvy and understand plenty about digital photography at a theoretical level, few people can just pick up any new advanced camera and instantly know how to do everything. That’s because the modern camera is a computer and each brand has its own OS, and those OSes very often have poorly designed interfaces. And even if they aren’t poorly designed, they’re still different from each other. A learning-curve is inevitable.
Compare this to the cameras (especially 35mm SLRs) that those “cavemen” grew up with: most had really, really similar controls and there were very few of them. Aperture ring, shutter speed dial, ASA dial, some kind of DOF preview button or lever, a self-timer, mostly the same system of film loading and so on. If you knew one brand, you knew (almost) all of them or could figure it out very quickly. Of course, if you were serious you would have to understand a good deal of chemistry, optics and physics, but any idiot can grasp all that in 2 seconds, right?
I can pick up any Panasonic camera and be good to go in a few minutes tops. But I’m under no illusion that it’s because Panasonic is so great at UI design. It’s because Panasonic has been mostly consistent over the six years I’ve been using their cameras. If I pick up another brand of camera, chances are there’s going to be a learning curve, and bad design can certainly make it steeper, i.e. genuinely *difficult* to understand.
But maybe I’m just stupid and you’re smart.
JimD
12 months ago |I am over 67. My first camera was a Minolta AL followed by the SR7 and the mighty SRT 101. You are right there was not much to them, but small steps were very high in those days. As one of your ‘cavemen’ I also can cook like your grandmother, meals for 20+ included, in fact I cook most evening meals as well (not into cakes). I also did all the brickwork and landscaping in the garden. I Wash my own clothes, why should my wife have to do it? I also used to pull the car engines to bits and put them back together again. Had to stop that because my back thought it was not a good idea. Yes, I am one of your ‘cavemen’.
I feel sorry for ‘men’ who can’t do these things.
I also have a home built wired and wireless network. I run a couple of computers again home made. I use Win7, AMD 3850 APUs with 8GB ram. The main one having ssd drives and 12TB storage. I run DNLA to my Pany Plasma and old SAGE TV box. My cable TV is diplexed back into my antenna network. My wife manages the remote for the cable TV.
I feel sorry for ‘men’ who have to go and buy every thing already made and working.
No time they say, no time. Well I can do it and I managed business with public and private organisations at senior level at the same time as doing other things.
I feel sorry for ‘men’ who expend their life at work.
I use Olympus 4/3 and M43 cameras. I find the Menu fine. For those that don’t like menus then a different structure may not be a bad Idea. Its only firmware but it is integrated into the system. That is costly to change and then all the testing and then the price!
Godot
12 months ago |Jim,
My point is simply that if someone finds a particular electronic interface too complicated or hard to understand, it doesn’t mean they’re stupid or lazy. It might simply be that they’re accustomed to one way (whether analog or another brand of digital) and find Oly’s particular way difficult to figure out, at least at first.
I can cook and clean too, but if I could get my damned time machine working and zip back to 1930, I’d probably find those simple necessities extremely challenging at first, just because I wouldn’t be familiar with the equipment and chemicals in a 1940 laundry room, or the equipment (or lack of it) in a 1930 kitchen. Not because I’m stupid or lazy. Heck, put a 1930 camera and appropriate film in the hands of one of today’s tech kids and see how well they do. Betcha the answer is “not very”.
I recommend reading the article and comments at TOP. The people there who have issues with the OM-D interface (not all of them do) don’t sound particularly stupid to me. Sounds rather like they have some reasonable complaints.
In your case, you’re obviously familiar with the Oly way, which puts you in the same position as me vis a vis Panasonic: in no position to judge the response of a user who’s completely new to the brand. Through experience and familiarity, we come to see our chosen brand’s logic and when we get the new model can usually find what we need pretty quickly. Using it becomes second nature, and it’s almost impossible for us to imagine how someone totally new to it will see it.
Anonymous
12 months ago |panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 is in fotoboom.com at 925 euros !!!
Paulus
12 months ago |Thanks to Marco and Cem!
Great work!
I like the review from “Imaging Resource” very much.
canon digital photography
9 months ago |Hello there, I found your web site via Google while looking for a related matter, your web site came up, it seems
to be great. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hi there, simply become aware of your blog via Google, and located that it is
truly informative. I’m gonna watch out for brussels. I will be grateful in the event you continue this in future. Numerous people can be benefited out of your writing. Cheers!
On cameras, resolution and hobbits | Hanson Hosein
9 months ago |[...] playing around with the very highly rated, perennially back-ordered Olympus OM-D EM-5 micro 4/3 camera, shooting photos of my kids today on [...]