Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II: first impressions. Battery and autonomous work

Not so long ago on our site was given. The review considered key features camera, the ability to shoot photos and videos, as well as the main characteristics. Today we offer a detailed review of the camera for study, in which aspects of the model's structure, shooting modes and creative effects were considered. A camera performance test was performed and sample photos and videos were created in various shooting modes. The Olympus OMD EM1 test model was kindly provided by SPN Ogilvy.

Olympus OMD EM1 test shots can be viewed.

It is worth noting that this was my first acquaintance with a mirrorless camera, so the described sensations will be genuinely fresh and sincere. Well, let's get started ...

Olympus OMD EM1 Flagship Mirrorless Camera

First impression of the Olympus OMD EM1

The first thing that catches your eye when looking at the Olympus OMD EM1 is the compact size of the camera. As the flagship high-tech and feature-rich mirrorless camera, the Olympus OMD EM-1 is no larger than mirror model entry level. Without a lens, the camera appears even more miniaturized. After attaching the lens and taking the camera in hand, it becomes clear that, despite the fact that the weight and size of the Olympus OMD EM-1 is much smaller than that of its SLR counterparts, the camera still sits securely and firmly in the hands. Good stabilization of the model is felt when shooting. I would also like to draw your attention to the rubberized coating of the camera, which contributes to better grip of the hand and the camera.

Olympus OMD EM1 appearance and design

The camera is made in a classic retro style and looks like the best models of the last century. However, the retro body design is all that remains in the Olympus OMD EM1 from the last century.

The body of the camera is made of magnesium alloy, the manufacturers claim that the body of the camera is protected from dust and splashing water. But do not indulge yourself with the thought that this will allow you to go out to photograph in a downpour and not spoil the technique. For extreme photo excursions, it is worth using a special protective box. In terms of temperature limitations, the Olympus OMD EM1 can be filmed at -10 degrees Celsius.

Let's take a closer look at the Olympus OMD EM-1 from all sides, paying attention to the buttons and connectors of the camera.

Olympus OMD EM1 Front Panel

Speaking of the front panel of the Olympus OMD EM1, it is worth noting the white balance adjustment button. There are two buttons on the side of the lens, one of which (top) is a button for adjusting a custom white balance. After pressing the button, a message appears on the display asking you to aim at a white sheet of paper. After aiming at a blank sheet of paper and pressing the shutter button, the camera automatically creates the optimal white balance preset to suit the particular shooting situation.

Rear Panel Olympus OMD EM1

The rear of the camera houses a 3-inch tilting touchscreen display, viewfinder and control buttons. We will pay attention to the display and viewfinder a little later in a separate section, and now we will dwell on the rear panel buttons in detail.

In the upper left corner there is a button with which, focusing through the display is turned on or off. To the right of the viewfinder, at the top, are two buttons. One of them is AEL / AFL - the focus lock button and one of the customizable Fn1 buttons. There is also a switch marked with numbers 1 and 2, with which you can adjust these or those shooting parameters. So, one of them makes it possible to adjust the aperture or shutter speed, and the other to change the ISO value.

Configuring the Fn1 and Fn2 buttons is very simple. The Fn1 button must be pressed and held throughout the entire setup. Then turn the menu dial to select the desired function. To fix the selection, simply release the Fn1 button. Pressing Fn1 again allows you to use the preset parameters.

On the right side of the display are buttons for setting and viewing images. The activated INFO button shows tips for all modes and parameters of the camera. That is, moving through the menu items and choosing various options, INFO displays information about the capabilities of each parameter. You can also use it to change the information displayed on the display, but more on that later. Below the INFO button is a 4-way joypad and an Ok button in the center. The four buttons act as directional buttons when viewing images and when selecting a focal point. The Ok button confirms the selection.

Olympus OMD EM1 Top Panel

The top panel of the Olympus OMD EM-1 contains camera control buttons and buttons for accessing various menu items.

To the right (in the picture) of the viewfinder there is a dial for turning the camera on and off. There are two buttons on the top of the disc. One of them (if according to the picture, then the one on top) adjusts the focus parameters and exposure metering mode, the other (lower) adjusts the shooting mode - sets continuous shooting, self-timer shooting, or HDR shooting. There is a hot shoe on the viewfinder itself, allowing you to connect a flash, recall that there is no built-in flash in the OMD EM-1, but a small external flash is included in the kit.

To the right of the viewfinder is the menu dial. There are 9 different modes on the dial: Manual (M), Aperture-Priority Semi-Auto (A), Shutter-Priority Semi-Auto (S), Programmable Mode (P), Auto Mode, ART Mode - allowing you to choose one of the creative effects, Scene Mode SCN, hiding in itself 25 different preset modes, Photo Story Mode in which the camera takes multiple pictures, combining them into one frame, and Movie Mode. In the center of the disc is a neat lock button for the selected mode. The presence of the button is very convenient and prevents accidental rotation of the dial during active work with the camera.

Next, there is a disk, with which the aperture and shutter speed settings are set, when the appropriate modes are selected, the same button is also used to zoom in on the image when playing back the footage. Right there, on the top panel, there is a Video Recording button. The fact that the video button is located separately is very pleasing, because now, having noticed an interesting plot, you can start shooting a video at any time. To do this, you do not have to waste time searching for the corresponding parameter in the menu items. The movie-record button has a different feel to it, which reduces the chance of accidentally pressing it. Next to the movie button is a second multifunctional button Fn2. On the top panel, in the upper right corner is the shutter button. The shutter button works in the same way as in other cameras. Pressing the button halfway allows you to adjust the focus of the camera, pressing the button all the way down will create a frame.

Olympus OMD EM1 Side Panels

Traditionally, the side models of the camera have connectors for connecting a cable and a memory card. The side panel of the Olympus OMD EM-1 has two connectors on one side - one for connecting an external stereo microphone, the other for connecting a USB cable | A / V Out and HDMI. The fact that you can open the connector cover only by pushing the screen forward a little is a little embarrassing at first and seems inconvenient, but over time, it becomes clear that such a move was made by the manufacturers to prevent accidental opening of the cover.

The side panel, on the other hand, of the Olympus OMD EM-1 hides a memory card slot.

Bottom panel Olympus OMD EM1

The bottom panel houses a tripod mount and a battery connector. To open the battery cover, you need to move the switch to the side, and after opening, move the small red button, the battery will pop out.

Display & Viewfinder Olympus OMD EM1

Olympus OMD EM1 Display

The Olympus OMD EM-1 is equipped with a tilt and swivel touchscreen display with a diagonal of 3 inches or 7.5 cm. The OMD EM-1's screen resolution is 1,037,000 pixels. Large resolution display allows you to clearly convey the details of the color and texture of the subject.

Olympus OMD EM1 allows you to take pictures by focusing using the display. In order to focus on the required area, you just need to touch this place on the screen. At this point, the focus area will be highlighted with a green rectangle. Touch focus can be turned off if desired. It is also worth noting that there are two options for focusing - with the first, you simply focus by pressing, and with the second, touching the display means both focusing and creating a frame. If necessary, the area of ​​contact can be increased.

The fact that the Olympus OMD EM1 screen is swiveling and tilting makes it extremely convenient for macro shooting, video recording and working in bright weather. You can always rotate the screen up or down, depending on the situation. The Olympus OMD EM-1 display can be rotated 50 degrees down and 80 degrees up.

Olympus OMD EM1 Viewfinder

The electronic viewfinder OMD EM-1 has a resolution of 2,360,000 dots. Such a colossal number cannot fail to impress. The main competitors of OMD EM1 - Fujifilm X-T1 and Sony Alpha A7r - are equipped with a viewfinder with the same resolution.

Switching between focusing via the display and via the viewfinder is automatic. On the right side of the viewfinder, at the bottom, there is a sensor, when a shadow hits which the camera automatically turns off the display, allowing the master to shoot through the electronic viewfinder.

As for the image quality in the viewfinder, it is excellent. For users like me, who are accustomed to an optical viewfinder, it may be unusual to see a digital picture instead of a standard image of reality, but you can quickly get used to it. Looking through the viewfinder, below you can see information about the camera settings - the values ​​of shutter speed and aperture, ISO and exposure are displayed, as well as technical information - the battery charge, the number of exposures remaining and the time.

If we talk about the convenience of focusing through the display or the viewfinder, then it is worth noting the following - when manually focusing (manual focusing) it is much more convenient to use the viewfinder, when recording video and photographing in automatic mode, it is much more pleasant to shoot through the display. The fact that the camera has 81 focusing areas is certainly admirable, but switching between areas when focusing through the viewfinder is tiring and slows down a lot. With the help of the display, you have the opportunity to literally “show” the camera what to focus on by simply touching this place on the display. The amazing responsiveness and speed of the OMD EM1 will not keep you waiting for the results.

Optics and Image Stabilization Olympus OMD EM1

The Olympus OMD EM1 is a standard model, which means it is compatible with over thirty lenses today. It can be assumed that the number of standard lenses will only increase. V this example, during the work with the OMD EM1, the M.Zuiko DIGITAL ED lens was used, which will be sufficient for shooting most possible scenes. The focal length range covers 12-50mm, which is equivalent to 24-100mm.

These two photos show the coverage of the lens:

The Olympus OMD EM1 features a 5-axis sensor shift image stabilization. Several options for image stabilization are supported. The camera can shoot without stabilization, in automatic stabilization mode, with horizontal and vertical stabilization.

These two shots were taken with and without stabilization.

So the difference between the images is not noticeable, but at 100% zooming in to the camera's focal points, it becomes clear that the difference between stabilized and unstabilized images is significant.

Image stabilization also worked well during video recording.

The lens has a maximum aperture of f / 22 for the clearest images possible. Narrow aperture is an indispensable assistant in landscape photography... See example below.

When it comes to shooting with a wide aperture, the results were better than expected. Of course, due to the relatively low aperture of the lens, it is not necessary to count on bokeh in the sense in which we are used to seeing it, but the background looks quite attractive. This can be seen especially well in the photo below.

The M.Zuiko DIGITAL ED 12-50mm lens has a MACRO button, which can be held down to set the lens to take pictures of subjects at extremely close range. In this mode, the camera is locked at a focal length of 43 mm and allows you to shoot from a distance of about 10-15 cm. While, in normal focusing mode, the focus distance is several times longer. The MACRO mode allows you to view the details of an object in more detail.

The two photos shown below demonstrate the benefits of MACRO mode:

Autofocus Olympus OMD EM1

Initially, the autofocus system in Micro Four Thirds cameras worked based on contrast information. As technology advances, new and innovative cameras from Olympus and Panasonic, which also include the Olympus OMD EM1, rely on a hybrid autofocus system. That allows you to create high-quality and accurate shots even in poorly lit rooms.

During operation, the Olympus OMD EM-1 has proven itself to be a very responsive and fast model. The camera focused instantly and accurately. As you would expect, the best autofocus was during the day when shooting outdoors, but indoors, in dim light, the camera focused accurately. It took more time to focus, but the shots came out well in focus.

The Olympus OMD EM1 autofocus system includes 81 (9 by 9) focus areas. The focus areas evenly cover almost the entire area of ​​the frame. In addition, it is possible to zone the focus areas by grouping them into 3 by 3 squares. For more detailed focusing, you can choose a division into zones, which includes smaller AF squares. The camera has 37 AF points by phase detection (phase focusing). AF lock is activated by pressing the shutter button halfway, or using a dedicated button.

An important feature of the new camera is its high-end face detection system. The camera is able to automatically detect which eye is closer to the lens, and focus on it.

The Olympus OMD EM1 is a camera aimed at the photography enthusiast, which assumes manual focus. You can work in manual mode while in one of the semi-automatic or manual shooting modes. Practice has shown that focusing manually is still more convenient through the viewfinder rather than the display. Maybe this is an exclusively psychological moment, but when aiming at an object through the viewfinder, you feel closer to it, and nothing around you distracts from the focusing process.

To quickly switch between the camera focusing modes, there is a special button on the top panel, by clicking on which the user can select one of the proposed options: Single, Fixed, Manual, Single focus + Manual focus and Tracking focus.

Burst shooting

Speaking of the autofocus capabilities of the Olympus OMD EM1, one cannot fail to note the high-speed burst shooting. The continuous shooting speed is about 10 frames per second (H). As for the buffer capacity, with a formatted card, the buffer contained 49 photos, which took about 6-7 seconds to process. It is important that when the buffer is full, the camera still continues to photograph at a rate of about one frame per second. To start continuous shooting, you must select the appropriate mode by pressing the button on the top panel of the camera.

Shown below is a series of shots taken using burst mode:

Olympus OMD EM1 Menu

Olympus offers users access to complete information on shooting parameters through the camera menu. In addition, pressing the INFO button provides detailed information on each option, menu item and shooting mode. The help text is very easy to understand, so you can figure out what's what literally during the first few times of using the camera.

The camera provides several formats for displaying information. Switching between these modes is carried out by pressing the same INFO. The first press will display an electronic level on the display showing the horizon tilt to the left or to the right. The following format provides information about the current settings, then an online histogram is displayed, which provides information about the highlights and blackouts of the current scene.

Pressing the OK button allows you to change the current settings for each parameter, depending on the mode. That is, in manual mode you can adjust all parameters - aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, etc. In automatic mode, you can only change brightness / contrast, frame temperature, saturation, etc. Pressing the OK button in Scene mode will allow you to select one of the presets, depending on the scene of the photo.

When viewing the footage, pressing the INFO button will allow you to find out all the information about the image, and the histogram of the frame will also be displayed. While viewing, you can click on a photo in the display and use the slider to zoom in 14 times for a detailed study of the details. The slider needs to be moved up and down and along the arrows to scroll the frame in different directions. Automatically, there is a desire to make a pinch movement like on the display of a smartphone to zoom in, but it does not work.

Such a detailed view of the frame allows you to check the accuracy of focusing and the correctness of the settings, check the photo for the presence of overexposed areas.

Olympus OMD EM1 Shooting Modes

The Olympus OMD EM-1 Mode Dial contains nine presets. Here you will find the following modes: Intelligent Auto, Creative Effects, Scene Modes, Photo Story Mode, Movie Shooting, Manual Mode, Shutter Priority Mode, Aperture Priority, Programmable Mode.

Creative and Photo Story modes make shooting more fun and engaging. In Art mode, you have the opportunity to create a photo in one of the presented effects: Pop Art, Soft Focus, Pale Colors, Light Tone, Grain, Pinhole, Diorama, Cross Process, Light Sepia, Extended Tone, Key Line, Watercolor. After choosing the last ART VKT preset, the camera takes seven pictures in a row with different effects.

Pop Art, Soft Focus, Pale Colors, Light Tone:

Grit, Pinhole, Diorama, Cross Process:

Light Sepia, Extended Key, Key Line, Watercolor:

Photo Story Mode

In the Photo Story mode, the user has the opportunity to combine several frames, which will be automatically combined into a photo collage. There are three different thematic variations of the mode, in each of which you can change certain parameters.

The first version of the Photo Story Mode is shown above. There are four variations of the mode, as well as the choice of the frame and the number of images created in the story.

The next, second version of the photo history mode is conventionally called “Speed”. In this mode, users can show a dynamic event by combining several animated frames into one snapshot. Working in the “Speed” mode, it is possible to change the number of shots. In the pre-installed version, you are offered to take five thematic photos.

The third option for Story Mode lets you create photos with creative frames that convey the mood and atmosphere of a moment.

It should be noted that the presence of the photo history mode makes working with the camera more entertaining and interesting. Despite the fact that all these variations are quite simple in appearance, and can be easily implemented using a graphics editor during post-processing, the fact that you can do it right in the camera is undoubtedly pleasant. With Wi-Fi, these creative shots can be shared with friends with just a few taps.

Scene Modes

Olympus OMD EM1 has 25 scene modes, in which the camera takes responsibility for the correct setting of all parameters - aperture, shutter speed, sensitivity, white balance, etc. scenes covers all possible shooting situations. The following are just a few of the Olympus OMD EM1 scene modes:

Semi-automatic and manual mode

Olympus OMD EM1 provides users with a standard set of semi-automatic modes: Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Programmable Mode and Manual Shooting Mode. We will not dwell on each of them in detail, since all settings are made according to the standard scheme. In semi-automatic modes, the photographer has the opportunity to set one of the parameters, while others will be set by the camera automatically. When working in manual mode, you first need to set the aperture, and then the shutter speed. OMD EM1 provides hints for setting values. It's worth noting that the exposure range of the OMD EM-1 is really impressive. the camera allows you to take pictures with a shutter speed of 1/8000 to 60 seconds.

Filming with Olympus OMD EM1

Olympus OMD EM1 supports MOV (MPEG ‑ 4AVC / H.264) and AVI (Motion JPEG) video recording. In terms of video quality, you can choose from Full HD (1920 by 1080), HD (1280 by 720) or shooting at 640 by 480. Video shooting is available at 30 frames per second. The lack of 24 frames per second will upset serious filmmakers, but even with the existing frequency, you can create beautiful, and most importantly, high-quality videos.

You can start filming instantly any time you work with the camera. Simply press the video button to start recording video. In this case, the settings that were set on the OMD EM1 at the time of photographing will be applied. All creative ART effects are available for video recording, although some of them may change the frame rate.

Sample video shot with Olympus OMD EM1 without using a tripod

The video shown above was taken in windy conditions without using a tripod. During video recording, the focal length of the lens was changed to see if the camera would maintain focus accurately during focusing. The recording process was complicated by the wind. It can be seen that from time to time, the camera loses sight of the subject, and when two flowers with bees appear in the frame at once, some time is lost between the two flowers. Overall, the picture quality is very impressive. Quiet focusing and quiet and smooth movement of the lens are a huge advantage. (I have a standard account in vimeo, and it assumes displaying video in HD format - 720, so the picture is slightly degraded by the site itself).

Wi-Fi Olympus OMD EM1

The Olympus OMD EM1 is the second camera in the Olympus range to offer built-in Wi-Fi. To work with the camera remotely, you need to install the special free OLYMPUS Image Share application. The app works on iOS and Android platforms.

In my case, testing was carried out on iPad 4. After installing the application, it requires a special two-dimensional matrix code. This code will be displayed on the OMD EM1 display after turning on Wi-Fi via the camera menu and selecting Private Connection. The camera of the smart device must be hovered over the code. After that, a new connection appeared in the Wi-Fi settings of the tablet, and in the camera itself, next to the Wi-Fi icon, a unit denoting a connection with one device. You then have access to all the photos on the camera to view and send to the device, the ability to edit existing images on the tablet using the OMD EM1 effects, and the ability to geo-tag the photo. After you send an image to iPad, you can send it to social networks and by email to friends and family.

Remote control of the camera via the display helps with group photography when you do not have a remote control, or in cases where there is a need to remotely control the camera. At the same time, it is important that you can set different shooting modes from the tablet and adjust them depending on the situation.

ISO Performance Olympus OMD EM1

The ISO range of the Olympus OMD EM1 is 100-25600. The light sensitivity performance test of a mirrorless camera was carried out using the example of this picture:

Three areas of the image were selected, for example, the changes and appearance of noise are shown.

The camera performance is really impressive. Images captured at ISO 200, ISO 250, ISO 320, ISO 400, ISO 500 and ISO 640 are clean and sharp, no noise or grain is visible, in fact, the first signs of noise are seen at ISO 800, ISO 1000, ISO 1250s also do not lead to a significant deterioration in quality and are quite acceptable in operation. Starting at ISO 1600, grain starts to show through slowly with each increase in ISO, but the image quality is tolerable. Significant damage to the quality of the photo is seen in the picture with ISO 10000, ISO 12800. Taking pictures at ISO 16000, ISO 20000 and ISO 25600 is worth only in the most extreme cases, and even then, such images are suitable for use only in a small format. The deterioration in quality is clearly visible in the third sample, where small flowers have turned into something completely invisible.

conclusions

Olympus OMD EM1 is an excellent flagship mirrorless camera with an extremely large number of interesting features and capabilities, allowing you to realize the most unusual and original ideas. On the one hand, the Olympus OMD EM1 provides users with a wide range of functions and effects for entertaining shooting, and on the other hand, it allows users to realize themselves as a serious photographer.

Olympus OMD EM1 allows you to take pictures in semi-automatic and manual modes, allows you to focus manually, or use precise automatic focus. A wide range of shutter speeds makes it possible to shoot and moving sporting events, and create photos with motion blur and light trails. Carrying a high-quality lens, you can also take stunning portraits and macro photos.

Although the Olympus OMD EM1 does not support 24 frames per second cinematic, the camera produces beautiful movies with stunning image quality. The swivel display greatly simplifies the process of shooting video and macro photography. Moreover, such a display will be indispensable in street photography, when it is important for the master to remain unnoticed. Hanging the camera around your neck, you can safely take pictures with one touch on the display, without aiming at the viewfinder in full view of the model and without taking a photo, without looking through the viewfinder, relying only on luck.

The compact size of the Olympus OMD EM1 makes it a welcome companion when traveling and hiking. In order to take the camera with you, you only need a small bag for the camera.

A few words from the author

Throughout my testing of the Olympus OMD EM1, I wondered “ Who is this camera really for?“. And here's what I think about this

The Olympus OMD EM1 will be a real treat for both photography enthusiasts and photography enthusiasts. The Olympus OMD EM1 is a camera you can grow with. Novice photographers and the younger generation want to have in their arsenal a camera that will be easy and fun to use, which will be able to create beautiful photos and videos without much effort on the part of the photographer. They want a miniature and lightweight touchscreen camera for more convenience and convenience, and preferably with Wi-Fi capability. At the same time, experienced photographers are not interested in creative effects and standard modes, they are interested in manual focusing and full control over camera settings - aperture, shutter speed, white balance. All this is foreseen and implemented in the Olympus OMD EM1 at the highest level. This is not one of those models that can get bored after half a year, this is a camera that fully meets current needs, which means that it will delight its owner for many years to come. The high cost of the model (the price for the Olympus OMD EM1 is about $ 1,500) may scare away potential buyers, but buying a camera with an eye to further photography enthusiasm you will not regret it, besides, the Micro Four Thirds standard provides a wide selection of all kinds of lenses.

Experienced professional photographers The Olympus OMD EM1 may be interesting as an additional model. The OMD EM-1 does not lag behind its mirrored competitors at all, but the fact that so many features can fit into a small and light body will seem strange to customers. Many ordinary people who do not follow the development of technology in the world of digital photography believe that Good camera must be big and heavy with giant lenses. Today, this cliché has long remained in the last century, and perhaps in a couple of years it will not surprise anyone. wedding photographer with mirrorless.

General remarks

In terms of structural strength and assembly reliability Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II made me happy. These, of course, are not cameras of the early 2000s, made in Japan, but today it is quite a reliable camera. The cover of the memory card + battery compartment looks somewhat strange. it is not spring-loaded, as is usually the case. Or too weak a spring ... It is inconvenient to pick it out.

On the back side there are control buttons (I write in diminutive, since they are very small). Menu button, Info button, joystick for moving around the screen.

These buttons are often needed, because, for example, only through the menu can you enable functions such as HDR or bracketing. Changes the file format and functions of the LCD screen through the menu.

Using the joystick, you can navigate the picture during playback (by the way, the view button is at the bottom and is rather small and not particularly convex), but the left joystick button is almost close to the LCD screen - this is inconvenient.
In short, when designing a miniature camera, you should probably think about the fact that it will not be operated by mice, but by full-size people who will be much more comfortable if the buttons are convex and they can not only be seen, but also felt. This is a complaint far from only (and not so much) to Olympus mirrorless cameras, but to all mirrorless cameras in general.

There is such a type of mirrorless users as people over 50 with not very good eyesight due to their age (what can I say, even with young people nowadays, not everything is okay with vision due to the dominance of all kinds of gadgets and TV). They would be happy to use without SLR camera, which will allow you to get rid of the heavy and large (subjectively) burden in the form of a DSLR, but how will they look out for these micro inscriptions? Wear glasses every time?
I understand that this camera was designed by a 20-year-old guy whose vision is one.

Viewfinder

The electronic viewfinder is a separate topic of conversation. I am always against the electronic viewfinder because it does not show a natural picture, but what electronics can convey today. And even in Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II EVF costs 2.36 million pixels (which is quite a lot!), but in terms of color reproduction, it cannot be considered ideal, so I did not really like how it displayed the result of the polarizing filter.

pictured B + W ND-Vario

Given that the camera has a stylized pentaprism-like bulge, why not make an OVI? For its connoisseurs ... This is, of course, a dream ... "The more electronics - the better!" modern marketing

Image quality

The (technical) quality of the images depends on several factors:

Characteristics of the sensor / camera matrix (resolution,)
- lens (resolution, contrast, characteristics at different focal lengths in the case of a zoom lens)

Permission

I was always skeptical about cameras with a large crop factor. For the simple reason that there is a limit to pixel reduction and it is achieved very easily, after which detail disappears and does not save even the most best lens... And of course the impossibility of having a normal quality ultra-wide-angle lens.

V Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II we have a crop of 2.0 and a sensor size of 17.3 x 13.0 mm. This is a quarter of the full 35mm frame and during my filming I felt the limit of the resolution of this matrix.
Here we have a pixel density of 266 pixels / mm and this is a record among those cameras that I know. Canon 5Ds gives 242 pixels / mm, Canon 7D mark II gives 243 pixels / mm.

If Olympus made a full-frame camera that its resolution would be 9310 x 6384 pixels, which corresponds to 60 megapixels!

I relied on the pixel density when shooting the desert and canyons, and in general my hopes were justified, but if you increase the frames, you can see that they do not "pull" at 16 megapixels. The detail is good, but slightly increased and its threshold is visible.

I do not think that another lens instead of the kit 14-42mm will greatly improve the situation. I already shot at F5.6-8 apertures, which neutralized the difference between top-end "glasses", which are optimized for open apertures and budget ones.

My conclusion: For an amateur photographer, this resolution may be quite enough, but for a professional landscape lover it is not enough. Next time I would like to have a camera like Canon 5Ds.

Dynamic range

Dynamic range y Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II quite decent, contrary to expectations. It copes quite well with both underexposure and overexposure.

An example of underexposure and shadow detail pulled out.

A shot with a full range of brightness from white to black, from black fabric on the sleeves of the toddler's jacket to the white sand on the right.

the picture is not processed

And if you add a little contrast and sharpness ...

It copes very well with a scene with a large difference in brightness!

Now let's try to overexpose a little ...

Very good result for a small sensor.

For example phone iPhone 4S it does not cope with such a difference in brightness. It's sad enough because Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II can't glue panoramas!

If you have not read the previous article, with examples of pictures of the canyon, then I foresee exclamations that it is a sin to compare a camera and a phone, but.
Programmers Apple We did a very good job on this very moment and at the moment I see no reason to try to glue panoramas with mirrorless cameras with ordinary lenses.

Noises

Yes, there is enough noise. But they did not surprise me, because such a high pixel density on such a small sensor. But there are no such obvious noisemakers as in Fuji.

Of course, the result will be dark or normally exposed. Consider this when using your cameras. If the camera does not have strong noise at ISO 800 with a normally exposed photo, then with an underexposure at ISO 800 and stretched at least one stop, the picture will be completely different. This applies to all cameras. It is important if there is enough light on the matrix. No light - no detail due to loud noises.

Here is a photo taken with a slower shutter speed (so that there is no "shake") and then stretched 1.8 stops in a RAW converter.

Color rendering

The color rendering of the matrix consists of several parameters:

Color depth (physical, not virtual)
- ADC quality
- white balance

Color depth
Color depth on Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II declared in 36 bits, i.e. 12 bits per channel. Not very much on the one hand, but in general, by eye, it should be indistinguishable from 48 bits, for example. The important thing here is rather the structure of the matrix, how many photodiodes are responsible for the green-yellow spectrum, to which our eyes are most sensitive. The matrix here is typical, Bayer, with an emphasis on the yellow-green spectrum, so in theory there should be no problems with color reproduction (at least if you don't arrange "laboratory" tests).

ADC quality
The quality of the ADC with such a miniature sensor size can play a bad joke with any matrix. you have to do it with high quality and not too expensive, which is much more difficult to implement on a miniature scale.
Those. in theory, such a high pixel density should produce stunning color uniformity, but not due to technological limitations.

White balance
It would seem a completely virtual parameter from the world of computers, not cameras, but how often do we manually set the White Balance? I shoot, put it on my iPhone and marvel at the beautiful blue sky (albeit noisy) and beige rocks. I immediately raise the camera Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, I take a picture and see that the rocks have become more yellow, and the sky is more cyan.
Where is the truth, brother?

filmed with iPhone 4S

We can argue to the point of hoarseness that this is not a physical characteristic of the camera, but in fact it is an important parameter. 99% of photographers shoot with autoBB (mine). Therefore, there are often battles "Nikon Sinit", and "Canon blushes". In fact, the problem is in the color profiles of these cameras and their interpretation by the RAW converter.

Things can get to the point that an amateur photographer categorically does not like a completely high-quality camera, simply because the colors come out of it somehow different from those of a neighbor (with a canon, for example).

Lens

About lens Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14-42mm 1: 3.5-5-6 EZ I have nothing special to say. The resolution at closed diaphragms is normal, it corresponds to the sensor. It catches glare quite well in some zoom positions, but mostly handles side light well. There are no complaints about the lens or the matrix in this regard (for example, unlike Fuji).

If you really want to, you can "steam" any lens, and even a zoom lens, even more so. Therefore, in such favorable conditions, I found his weak point.

The zoom on this lens is electronic, it is enough to create a small twisting force in a certain direction on the zoom ring and the lens will work. I prefer manual zoom lenses. In particular, it also consumes a lot of the battery (which, by the way, is also warned about in the manual for the camera). Accordingly, the "manual zoom" here is also electric and does nothing to save you from wasting precious electricity.
That's because people ... They knew that the battery capacity would be severely lacking, but also the zoom was set only electric, getting off with a line in the manual with a warning ...

Battery operation

This is the "weakest point" of the camera. Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II... I went on a trip with one battery. I left very quickly, and the camera was not mine.
Nowadays, when buying a mirrorless camera, do not forget to buy a suitcase of batteries for it. I'm exaggerating, but you definitely need to buy 3 pieces of batteries right away.
Otherwise, instead of full-fledged shooting of interesting scenes, your trip will turn into a fight for current leakage.

To begin with, I usually use a Canon 5D mark II DSLR camera with a battery grip. It happens from time to time I forget to charge it and I manage to shoot a photo session on the remaining charge. Remembering my previously used 1D series camera, this does not surprise me at all and I consider it normal.
I never forgot to charge the mirrorless Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, but the sockets in the rented apartment were loosened and the children touched the plug. As a result, upon arriving at the area, when I gasped at the beauty of the picture that opened to me, I reached for the camera, the camera merrily covered me with the inscription “Battery is discharged”.
I had no words. We drove for an hour to this place in the heat, in order to be left alone with the opening landscape, without a camera. Only a landscape photographer can understand me.

What have I done? I shot panoramas on iPhone 4S as well as I could. Then I published a photo in a group on Facebook and invited everyone there (I needed to raise money for a trip to this place). Those interested shared the cost of the trip with me and everything turned out to be feasible.
Paradox, but the phone saved me. That is why on the next trip I took with me not only Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, which I checked 10 times in terms of battery charge (There is also a catch, one missing particle on the battery icon means almost complete discharge. That is, there are only two states of the battery indicator: the camera is fully charged and the camera is completely discharged. Try to determine the current charge from intuition or the energy of space if you are a real Jedi), but also a fully charged phone with a powerbank and a Canon IXUS soap dish, which I usually use for underwater photography.

desert set

- GPS Garmin 60 CSx
- "kangarushka" because it is very hot during the day, but in the late afternoon it can be very cold and windy
- light filters of all stripes of which the most useful is a polarizer
- a set for cleaning photo optics from Carl Zeiss
- 80cm reflector from Falcon Eyes (in case of portets)
- digital camera Canon IXUS (just in case)
- a powerful lantern (1800 lumens, everyone was very impressed in the evening, when it got dark quickly. You can say it became the salvation of the whole group that time)
- Manfrotto pixi tripod (a useful and light thing, especially in the dark. Well, for selfies too :))
- KATA backpack (for all occasions. In this case, I put a stone from the desert there, wrapped in polyethylene. It was very easy :))

Outcomes

Based on the results, I can say that the camera Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II it turned out very decent and I did not regret that I took it with me. Yes, it was possible to shoot better with a SLR camera, especially with the same Canon 5Ds or something with a high pixel density and high overall resolution. Could have been better shot on Sony A7 II, A7R, A7R II with lens ZEISS Batis 25/2(and also need ZEISS Batis 85 / 1.8 for the portrait!).

But such solutions would have been much more expensive and at that time I did not have them. And the goal was specific - to test the camera Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, kindly provided to me by Alexey Litvin, for which many thanks to him!
By the way, he is selling his Canon 1D mark IV, so whoever needs it - contact me, I'll tell him.

In terms of noise Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II makes a relatively strong noise, therefore it is advisable to use it in sunny weather. The in-camera gimbal works well. Maybe on Sony A7 II better (my feeling), but not bad here too!
Lens i would Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II I did not take it. The "whale" zoom is more than enough and you are unlikely to see something fundamentally new on the super-fix from Olympus. And here the most useful focal lengths are already closed: 25mm (landscape) and 85mm (portrait).

What else to look for is a flash. The built-in flash is very weak. I strongly recommend getting some good off-camera "on-camera" flash, perhaps from Canon and launch it using a radio synchronizer ( Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II allows you to do this). If I still get a folding softbox 60x60cm, then miraculous portraits from nature "in your pocket."

I was so surprised voluminous instruction to the camera - as much as 167 pages! I barely mastered it and just for the sake of an overview (so as not to miss any important function). This is another weird moment with this camera ... A camera for book lovers :)

So that is all. We will stay with you for the winter! :)
And we say hello to all Dahab residents who will celebrate New Year in Egypt!

a rare frame is cut from a video taken with a phone - I photograph

P.S. Who can guess which fruit / vegetable is in the photo? :)

Bonus - source files from the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II

Is there a built-in "shot enhancer" in the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II

I took one of my photos taken at ISO 800 (I rarely shoot at such a high ISO) in the format RAW, opened it in Adobe camera raw and set all settings to zero. There is no contrast from the converter, no sharpening or noise reduction.

I opened the same RAW file in RAWDigger and saved Tiff... Opened it in Adobe photoshop and attached to the first open file. Here's what happened.

I bought my first digital camera in 2002, a couple of months after moving to Moscow. At that time, respectable photographers did not yet take digital seriously, but I was really sad on film. After the very first acquaintance in 1999 with a simple Epson camera, the sensor resolution of which was already equal to one megapixel, I realized that it was mine. Unfortunately, at that time, desires did not yet coincide with the possibilities, but as soon as they approached, I immediately began to choose a digital camera.

For some time I looked closely at Fuji's “soap dish” with a mind-blowing matrix resolution (as much as 4 megapixels!), But Evgeny Kozlovsky said that soap dishes are for suckers, and only DSLRs are the choice of serious guys. I trusted Kozlovsky, and in the end I bought the Olympus Camedia C-2500L. At that time (in the spring of 2002) it was on sale for the third year already, it was not a special miracle of technology. But on the other hand, it cost about $ 700. It was very humane at that time.

What can you say now, 14 years later, about the quality of shooting with a quasi-SLR with a 2.5 megapixel matrix? Yes, now smartphones are better at shooting. But then for me personally it was like a breakthrough into another dimension. And the 64 megabyte card seemed almost endless.

But after a year, the capabilities of the C-2500L began to be missed. I sold it to my friend Yura, whose camera worked well for many years, and I myself bought an Olympus Camedia E-10. And now it was already quite cool. “Ten” captured reality so cleverly and beautifully that even after a decade I am very pleased to look at many frames. A lot of them were filmed - many thousands. And for work, and on trips, and for the soul. I really liked that the camera and I have the same ideas about beauty. I confess I've never been a hardcore photographer and still prefer to use the automatic modes. No, if I press, then, of course, I will set everything up as it should be. But it is better, of course, to just press a button - and make it beautiful. So on the E-10 it was like that. In automatic mode, she shot exactly the way I liked it. As I would configure myself.

But the years passed. After the not very successful model E-20, some fermentation and throwing began in the Olympus camp, but Canon and Nikon, on the contrary, made significant progress. And when it came time to upgrade the camera, colleagues at "Computerra" persuaded to take Nikon D70. I can't say that I didn't like the camera at all. After all, she shot in RAW, a format that can fix many of the flaws after the fact. But in automatic mode, it turned out not at all what I wanted. And in the first months after parting with E-10 it was terribly uncomfortable. Then I got used to where to go. But the memory of the camera, with which we lived in complete harmony, remained.

I will not describe all my cameras, I will move on to the main thing. In the fall of 2014, Alex Exler asked me to take me to Moscow Olympus camera OM-D E-M1. And he said that if I wanted to, I could film it.

I flew home, inserted a card into the camera, took some pictures ... and was stunned. The same feeling came back as ten years ago with the E-10. The camera "saw" the world in exactly the same way as I did. But, of course, it has become an order of magnitude better - faster, more convenient, more accurate in details. I had no plans to change the camera. At that time, we were quite happy with the Sony RX100, a completely unique device, after meeting with which I sold a Nikon D90 DSLR and thought that I had stopped carrying a camera with me forever, which was very different in size from a pack of cigarettes.

But, having shot on the OM-D E-M1, I realized that the harmony with the RX100 came to an end. Over the years, I began to photograph less, as they say, for the soul, and much more - for work. A typical scenario is to go somewhere, click 300-400 frames within a couple of days, select 50 of them and use them in an immediately written reportage. At exhibitions and conferences, few people think about the right light on the stands. More precisely, it sometimes seems to me that people are trying to complicate the work of photographers as much as possible. Decorate everything with some kind of creepy neon, darken the areas where new products are, cover them with the most glittering glasses in the world. All this is treated in Photoshop. And if you shoot in RAW, it is treated almost without traces. But it takes a lot of time. When you, after winding a couple of tens of kilometers around the exhibition, write a text in the room, then select those 40-50 frames, and then treat almost every one of them ... Well, you usually finish at two in the morning, of course. But then, with some nervousness, you react to questions - how is Las Vegas? How is London? Fuck knows how. I have not seen them.

But the E-M1 shot right away. And even the lens profiles were recorded in the RAW files themselves, which eliminated the need to correct optical distortions (any "zoom" has them, regardless of price). And I caught the white balance correctly. And focused instantly. And wonderfully blurred the background.

In general, the E-M1 left me, but the longing for it remained. I looked at how much it was being sold, and it seemed a little expensive. I needed a version with an Olympus ED 12-40mm f / 2.8 Pro lens, where the 2.8 aperture is maintained throughout the entire focal length range. It was this combination that provided such delightful results. But invest a hundred thousand rubles at once ...

I decided to try Sony camera a6000, which was sold in the States in May 2015 at a marvelous discount in honor of Mother's Day. Moms-photographers were probably wildly delighted. With two lenses, it cost me about 45 thousand rubles.

Good camera, no doubt about it. Probably, if I hadn't tried the E-M1, I would have been filming and praising it. Still, the difference with Olympus was so noticeable that after a month and a half, I sold the a6000 and took the kit version of the OM-D E-M1 with the correct lens. The final straw for the decision was the lack of a standard microphone input on the a6000. At that time, I was seriously planning to write video on an industrial scale, and I did not categorically smile at me to buy some kind of hellish design instead of the already existing normal microphone.

And since June 2015 I've been shooting with Olympus again.

Why do I love the Olympus E-M1?

You can, of course, write "for everything" and put an end to it. But this will not be very polite towards the reader, albeit honestly. I'll tell you more in more detail.

This model belongs to the class of mirrorless cameras. The first representatives of this tribe did not please with anything special, but gradually they learned to shoot no worse than SLR cameras of a similar price range with much more compact dimensions. Yes, I’ll make a reservation right away that it’s better not to read any further for harsh guys and girls who consider everything with an incomplete frame of garbage. Full frame, no doubt, great thing. And if you a) can afford it, b) you can fully use its capabilities and c) are ready to carry the carcass itself and suitable lenses with you, respect and respect you. No, seriously, I understand perfectly well that more can be achieved in a full frame. But for my needs and, I'm afraid, opportunities as a photographer, buying a full-frame camera is a waste of money.

There is one more ... piquant moment. Recently I spoke with a really good photographer who has a full arsenal of professional equipment. And he complained that he often had to carry a large camera with him solely to appease customers. They judge the photographer solely by the size of the camera and lens, and if the dimensions are not impressive, they start to resent it. Incidentally, I ran into this a little when I drove with the RX100. You take pictures of some exhibits at the stand, and the staff politely clarifies: they say, should they send you normal photographs later, otherwise nothing sensible will come of this pukalka.

True, there was another case. About a year and a half ago, I photographed Noel Lee, the owner of Monster, and asked him not to be surprised at the size of the camera. And he answered - why be surprised, she is cool, I myself have such. And took out of his pocket RX100.

But we got distracted. The E-M1 uses a 4/3 MOS sensor developed by Panasonic. It is relatively small in area - almost one and a half times smaller than APS-C, not to mention Full Frame. Nobody canceled the laws of physics. But in digital photography it is not only the size of the sensor that matters, but also how the lens is sharpened for it. And also the quality of software algorithms. The example has already set my teeth on edge that Sony photomodules for some reason shoot much better in smartphones from other manufacturers than in Xperia ... The sensor resolution is 16 megapixels, which is not a record for today, but this indicator is not critical to me at all. Anything over 10 megapixels is already more than it actually needs.

The E-M1 came out in 2013 and Olympus has been continuously improving it since then. At the end of 2015, the fourth version of the firmware was released, which added a number of really useful things. For example, macro photography with eight focusing points at once, from which you can then choose one to your liking. I mention this at the beginning of the camera story to highlight 2 things. The first is that despite its solid age at the present time, the company does not forget about it and continues to improve. So, right now I looked into the firmware section and found a completely new firmware released on February 4th. The second point is that the E-M1's performance reserve is so large that even years later it allows you to add resource-intensive functions. In 2013, when the camera first came out, it became a real breakthrough and received a bunch of prestigious awards. But even now it is absolutely modern. And so far no chips have been invented that would be important to me, and which would not be in it.

So - about what is important to me.

An absolutely essential thing in a modern camera is Wi-Fi support... It allows you not only to download photos to your laptop, if you forgot to place a card reader in the latter, but, more importantly, provides quick synchronization with a smartphone or tablet. Olympus E-M1 has everything at its best here: there is a convenient application for iOS and Android, through which you can send ready-made pictures to your phone / tablet, and use the latter as a wireless viewfinder. Now, during incendiary presentations, I can take high-quality pictures and instantly send them to the editorial office or upload them to Facebook. Taking pictures immediately on a smartphone is not an option: in the twilight, even the best models cope so-so, and the optical zoom in mobile devices so far a rarity.

The second useful thing is HDR support. When shooting against a light source (alas, sometimes you have to), too much detail is killed without HDR. There are two HDR modes on the E-M1, basic and advanced. In both cases, the camera takes a series of shots at different shutter speeds, and then prepares something like the arithmetic mean based on them. The result differs in quality and time required for shooting.

The third thing I really like is the large touch-sensitive viewfinder with a rotating mechanism. That is, of course, I mainly look through the peephole, but if you have to hold the camera over your head, the screen helps a lot. There, at the same time, you can select a focus point and even immediately take a picture with it. When viewing photos on the screen, they scroll like on a smartphone screen with gestures.

Five-axis optical stabilization is built into the carcass itself, which means that the owner of the camera has the opportunity to save on lenses. Without much hope, I bought an inexpensive M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 40-150mm 1: 4.0-5.6 R (from 10 thousand rubles in Moscow), and suddenly found that it was possible to shoot sharp shots with a relatively slow shutter speed at the maximum zoom. Yes, in terms of clarity, it is still inferior to M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12–40mm 1: 2.8 PRO, but this masterpiece is worth about 50 thousand for a reason. The aperture of 2.8 across the entire range in combination with lightning-fast autofocus is, I tell you, just a miracle. He is not a fan of carrying several "glasses" with him and changing them during work, and he was tempted to choose a universal ultrazoom. But for now, drawing ED 12–40mm 1: 2.8 PRO keeps you from experimenting. Masterpiece! It also has an interesting feature - with one movement of your hand you can switch between automatic and manual focusing.

With the first versions of the firmware, the E-M1 was consuming the battery. In the review by Alex Exler it is said that there were enough frames for 200. Now it has been repaired: I, I will not lie, I did not count it on purpose, but one charge is enough for 400-450 frames for sure. An incident happened to me in January: I flew to CES, the first day I frantically photographed from morning to evening, on the second day I also clicked heartily, but somewhere around lunchtime an icon blinked - they say, the battery is running out, needs to be charged. And then I discovered that I had forgotten the charger at home ... There was nothing suitable for reasonable money in the nearby shops, and I somehow did not smile at paying 70 dollars. And I went to the Olympus booth. He explained the situation and asked for help. I thought they would just charge my battery. But instead, the bearded guy took his copy of the E-M1 out of his bag, pulled out the battery and gave it to me. I shot with her until the end of the exhibition, making a total of 932 shots. And the second battery by that time still retained 30 percent of the charge. So count it. Yes, I note that I shot in RAW, and in JPEG, the power consumption is less.

The video shoots wonderfully. The new firmware added a variable frame rate and such a professional thing as synchronization with a linear PCM recorder. The built-in microphone records sound very well, but connecting a lavalier, thanks to the presence of a connector, is not a problem at all. The only thing is that when shooting in maximum quality, you need a fast memory card. Having burned myself on the slow ones, I now use Kingston SDA3 with a maximum write speed of 80 MB / s. She is fine.

Total

You know, I'm probably not the coolest photographer. My daughter is shooting much better. It is not so much the artistic value of the shot that is important to me, but its informativeness. And also the ability to instantly capture some situations, scenes that exist for a few seconds. I also regularly shoot reports - about people and devices.

In this sense, the Olympus OM-D E-M1 is ideal: if I deliberately press the shutter button, the frame will be of high quality. Of course, if I start shooting without the flash of a hare rushing across the field in pitch darkness, I’m unlikely to get something sensible. But even in the twilight, I take off my very fast moving children from my hand, and it turns out well.

The magnesium alloy case with dust and moisture protection will allow you not to worry especially if you unsuccessfully attach a backpack or get caught in the rain with the camera. By the way, I apologize that there is a lot of dust in the portraits of the camera itself: this does not interfere with work, and when you fly in and hit a good 70 thousand miles together, what will not settle.

Is the E-M1 the best mirrorless camera in the world? I have no idea. But it's definitely best camera that I have ever had. Satellite camera. Assistant camera. I understand that there are no miracles. But it's a pity that she was not with me ten years ago. Some pictures with technical defects caused by the technical constraints of that time, which I keep as documents of my time, could be shown to others.

Personally, the only thing I miss in the camera is the automatic shooting of panoramas. They can be easily stitched together later from several shots, but, getting used to this function on Sony, it is difficult to wean. At the same time, panoramas are now perfectly captured by smartphones, so if you suddenly need it urgently, there are no problems.

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“Traffic disputes are the last thing,” so I never think about a camera on the road. It should be small, indestructible, give a number of clear advantages over competitors and not pull a backpack. It just so happened to Kazakhstan, I took an Olympus OM-D E-M10 mark III with me for a whole month - as it turned out, despite its size, it is an extremely powerful tool, especially if you get hold of three or four good lenses, which in terms of space and weight take the same amount of time as a full-frame zoom, and perhaps even less.

Quality and style

Olympus initially chose the retro style in the production of its cameras, which means a combination of quality materials and thoughtful lines. However, design is not an end in itself here, as the company's designers do not follow their religion in a single line. The entire OM-D line differs from the simpler Pen, just in the design for a DSLR and has a pronounced grip. Naturally, in a compact camera it was impossible to make the same grip as in a unit, since the body here is almost half the size. However, the designers did not just rescale the large camera to the small one, as the body became smaller, but the control wheels did not. Yes, this led to a slight imbalance in the size of organs, but the priorities are set correctly, since it is controllability that is primary, and not stupid adherence to the aesthetics of style, because our fingers do not get smaller from a small camera. Naturally, the grip here is not so confident, and you hold the camera with three fingers of your right hand, but, thanks to the protrusion at the back, it is quite confident. However, for the sake of following the style, the left-hand toggle switch was made traditional here, and the length of my right fingers is not enough to switch it, but this is a proprietary feature of Olympus, so I would refer my opinion to taste, you can get used to it.

Compactness and convenience, functionality and ergonomics

Compactness is the main advantage of the micro-4/3 system, and here the ten is significantly ahead of both the five and the one. If you add a compact lens here, the camera fits in your pocket winter jacket but it is also easy to wear in summer, which is ideal for the traveler. You can really walk with her all the time, if you wish. Today, the standard is generally considered a mobile phone, to which the camera, in terms of compactness, naturally loses, but not so much as modern DSLR and mirrorless full-frame cameras. But in terms of quality and flexibility, it will naturally be at its best, especially with good lenses that are in the system. Well, in terms of functionality and convenience, the camera is probably not inferior to other cameras at all.

First of all, the organization of the shooting space through the quick menu is done very well here. Here are the basic settings for photo and video shooting, but also here you select the focus mode, image stabilization settings, which is important when you need to turn it off, as is done with the stabilized lens toggle switch, and a number of other settings. You can control the quick menu with wheels, keys, and fingers. The location of the buttons on the body is reduced to an expanded, but necessary minimum, these are the obligatory two wheels for control, separate shutter buttons, thanks to which you can simultaneously take both photos and videos, including them in any sequence, a standard navigation unit, shooting modes and access to quick menu. The rest is on the touch screen, from which in video mode, for example, it can quite comfortably control shooting.

Functional

In photo mode, I have traditionally enjoyed Olympus' digital features, which virtually no one else has. Live comp has long been extremely convenient tool for shooting, but every time I discover for myself additional possibilities of using it. There are quite flexible settings for it here, allowing you to choose a base exposure for the first frame, on which everything will be superimposed. Previously, I was wildly annoyed that the camera shoots for a couple of seconds, and then superimposes only light zones on top, creating tracks from the headlights of cars, but now you yourself choose how much to expose the first frame, and accordingly, you can partially adjust the sensitivity so that the first frame is less noisy ... Using this function, you can successfully wash water into fluff, even when you simply do not have a ND filter, so you can shoot at shutter speeds for several minutes, if it is light outside - the exposure can last a couple of seconds, but the effect will be like an ultra-long exposure.

Stabilizer

The most strong point Olympus is its image stabilizer, which in the advanced version is only present in the OM-D, while the Pen series has a slightly simpler one. In addition, the weight of the camera itself has a good effect on the result of its work, which is larger here, and the foam is traditionally lighter. Knowing this feature, I was completely insolent on the trip and shot at shutter speeds for a couple of seconds at ISO 200-400 on the 1.8 fixes that I had on the test. The absence of the need to carry a tripod with you is a very serious help conceived, as well as low-noise pictures as a result.

Autofocus

The second huge plus is the effective and really working tracking autofocus, which I scoffed at quite a lot, but it clings pretty well even to a lone blade of grass dangling in the wind, while not breathing lenses in the video, but rather fast in photo mode to refocus between frames in series. Here it is not as fast as in the E-M1, but more than sufficient for capturing the dynamics of the traveler.

Video

We have not separated the video from the photo for a long time, and the fact that Olympus has tightened its capabilities under modern standards certainly happy. 4K / 25 or 30p, depending on your standard, and even with a full-fledged stabilizer, will certainly make the weather a lot. I noticed that even with the stabilizer turned off, the camera cuts the image area by about 5%, but I would not find fault with this, since this was done for per-pixel readout and good sharpness. Naturally, a sharp picture can only be obtained with good glasses, but it will really look professional. Here Olympus relies on shooting to fit his needs with stylization right in the camera, although there is also room for post-processing here. The color can be flexibly adjusted in the menu, you can apply any of the digital filters present in the camera, even the external effects of motion blur or old film are present. It is not very easy for a beginner to duplicate them in post-processing. The flat profile enables standard image grading as early as the video editing stage. What is missing is a port for an external microphone, although the company has long been providing timecode synchronization with its dictaphones, bloggers can also use a dictaphone even in their phone. It is usually customary to say that the flip-up screen is not compatible with blogging interests, but you can always remove yourself from the control from the phone, and in this case everything will be visible not at a distance of three meters, but from an outstretched arm, which will not only start and stop shooting, but also change almost all of its parameters.

Conclusion

Balance is important in life. It is clear that there are no ideal cameras, there are those that are ideally suited to your interests. If you are a professional studio or videographer with a lot of work, of course, you can try to put your own demands on this camera, but it will ideally suit you only on vacation. She will not pull her neck, drag her home and put pressure on her conscience with the budget of the locomotive spent on her. It will even allow certain weaknesses, such as unwillingness to carry a tripod and a mountain of iron everywhere, while meeting almost all the needs of a traveler who does not want to limit himself to poor phone quality, but who wants to make the picture ideal for these conditions, providing you with both standard and additional creative opportunities ...

Photos in original quality made with the Olympus OM-D E-M10 mark III can be downloaded from .

Yes. The Olympus EM-1 is an amazing camera. The true standard-bearer of the Micro 4: 3 system, and on its banner can be seen a mirror crossed out in blood-red. A real revolution is brewing in the photography industry, similar to the one that has already happened with it: with the general transition from plates to film, and from film to digital.

Olympus OM-D EM-1 vs. Nikon D600: Flagship mirrorless vs. full frame

The last mirrorless camera I used before the E-M1 was the Fujifilm X-S1. It was 2012, and every iron was hearing “Sexy and I Know It,” and I remember that the impressions of this camera were mixed. As it seemed then, all the "killers" of DSLRs coming out are doomed to languish in the bags of geeks, and in the worst case, as with the X-S1, to suicide. Everyone calmly continued to use their D5100, although even then it was clearly felt: someday mirrorless cameras will set the heat.

Olympus OM-D E-M1

After all, what is, in essence, a SLR camera? What does she need a mirror for? Answer: for focusing and sighting. It does not participate in the process of forming the picture itself directly. And if so, then the question of complete abandonment of this complex mechanism is only a matter of time. Provide him with technology, and it will evolve to the desired level. The mirror will become as anachronistic as hard drives in laptops, for example. However, then, in 2012, it was still early.

This is the main reason for such flattering reviews from professional amateur photographers. They picked up the new Olympus and ... “Oh my God! She focuses so fast! And as much as 10 frames per second! Wow, and there is almost no noise! We must take it. " Initially low expectations are already easy to surpass, and Olympus did it with a large margin. So much so that there was a seditious temptation to start comparing them with, wait, wait, full-frame cameras!

Indeed, after all, everything in which mirrorless cameras previously lost so openly to traditional Nikon and Canon were no longer relevant. Journalists writing about technology suddenly began to realize that there are no really good reasons to carry 3-5 kg ​​of equipment with them.

And, it should be noted, not only journalists were affected by this fad. Many photographers were happy to test these cameras, including the E-M1, and were delighted. Nevertheless, unlike the geeks, for some reason they were in no hurry to change their heavy full-frame sets of "carcasses" and optics for them. Although they seem to be messing with cameras a lot more, their weight should be more of a concern. At first, for himself, the author explained this solely by habit. That is, there are no rational arguments. However, after some reflection, the author came to a slightly different opinion.

A successful shot can be approached from two ends: from the "form" side and from the "content" side. There is no point in arguing which is more important, although there is such a temptation. However, there is no reason to believe that any technically taken shot will be a masterpiece.

The only difference is that the "shape" is still easier to control. If a person knows how to use a camera and RAW converters, then he will always produce a more or less stable result. I must admit that the OMD E-M1 is perfectly sharpened in order to bring the photographer as close as possible to his future masterpiece.

For starters, as already mentioned, the camera is really small. Therefore, you can carry it with you at least every day. Each photographer will confirm the wisdom: you see all the best and most interesting when you don't have a camera with you. With this it is practically impossible, because taking it with you "just in case" for a walk or work is not difficult.

Gallery of pictures.

Everything was filmed with one of the best "zooms" in the Olympus 14-40 / 2.8 line, and there were no questions directly to the technical side of the picture quality. Yes, I had to tighten up the sharpness during processing, chromatic aberrations took place, but on the whole it was quite worthy. We would like to separately praise the E-M1 color, it is very “dense” and “harmonious”.

That being said, if you are an antisocial introvert and hate too many people paying attention to you, you will be inconspicuous with the Olympus E-M1. By the way, this is especially important in street photography, the less you look like a professional, the better.

By the way, there are entire courses for photographers in which they are taught not to be ashamed of people on the street. Fortunately, cameras like the OMD EM-1 make it really easy to shoot someone on the sly. Let's say, in front of you, in the subway, sits someone amazingly colorful. So colorful that it is embarrassing to get a "DSLR" and it is not clear how the character will perceive it. What, then, does the happy owner of a mirrorless camera do? Imperceptibly pops the camera out, directs the lens in the right direction and ... launches a special application on the smartphone. And already in it, he carries out sighting, focusing, turns the settings and does everything that a "mirror" would do in plain sight. Agree, it's much quieter this way. Especially when you consider that not all SLR cameras are equipped with a flip-down display, but only younger models. OMD EM-1, by the way, has it, despite the professional status of the model.

That is, not only is this camera not a burden to carry with you every day, it can also be used to shoot in almost any situation when not everyone would get a large camera. Naturally, this increases the chances of filming something interesting. To this must be added the almost silent operation, especially compared to the full-frame DSLR counterpart.

And a few words about endurance. Since the matrix is ​​half the size of a full-fledged 35 mm, in order to obtain an image of the same scale, a lens with half the focal length (in comparison with the same full frame) is required. That is, if we want to get a picture of 50 mm, we need to take 25 mm. This is an advantage in situations where we are shooting handheld, as the famous formula says: "Blur appears at shutter speeds slower than the reciprocal of the focal length." That is, at 50 mm you can normally shoot handheld at shutter speeds shorter than 1 / 50th of a second. And by 25 mm already at 1 / 25th. Given the equivalence of these focal lengths (albeit ephemeral), we get a two-fold advantage. This is one point.

The second is related to the number of megapixels. When doubling their number on the matrix, the shutter speed should be increased by the root of two times. There are relatively few of them in the E-M1, 16. In a full-frame Nikon D600 or 6D, which is similar in price, it has 24 megapixels, and in some D800 there are already 36, therefore, shutter speeds on it should be set one and a half times shorter.

Well, the third feature is the merit of the E-M1 specifically, and not the laws of physics. The point is in the five-axis stabilizer of the matrix, which adds three or four more "stops" to the photographer. None of the SLR cameras have this anymore. It should be noted that stabilizers are sometimes found in lenses, and even then, mainly, in telephoto lenses.

Thus, it turns out that Olympus is just perfect for tripodless shooting of stationary subjects. It's another matter how relevant it is at all. By personal experience, the author has much fewer problems with the camera not shaking than with fixing the objects of the shooting directly. The camera, in which case, you can almost always find something to put on. And to ask the jumper to freeze in the air, alas, will not work. We'll have to twist the ISO, which is always a compromise with the picture quality.

In general, a good picture at high ISO has always been the adoration of professional amateur photographers. Almost the first thing that people rush to check with the camera is how it shoots at ISO 6400.

It is worth noting - very passable. The conclusions are based on the results of indoor shooting, where the author had a Nikon D600 + 80-200 / 2.8 and an E-M1 with 14-40 / 2.8 with him. Of course, Olympus E-M1 lost, but the gap cannot be considered catastrophic. Personally, the author did not have any questions about focusing speed and camera behavior in conditions close to combat.

Shots at high ISO values.

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But we will repeat, only about noise. Up to ISO 3200 it is quite tolerable, and large values ​​are rarely needed. For those who are “exceptionally frequent”, Nikon D4 and Canon 1Dx are created.

The minimum ISO is rather high - 200, on the other hand, the shutter speed of 1/8000 compensates for this. In other words, there is no lens that the camera cannot tame the light from.

It's actually quite convenient to manage all these parameters. Olympus is often criticized for the inconvenient menu, and we, in general, in some ways agree with its critics, but it is impossible to say that the author suffered a lot because of him (most of the shooting is done in RAW, in manual mode with automatic ISO and focus point metering).

On the contrary, the camera menu seemed like a breath of fresh air after, for example, Nikon. Nicely designed, with dynamic pop-up prompts, plus, the touch display makes it easier to communicate with the camera. Definitely Olympus is committed to the future by all possible ways, take at least a connection to a smartphone via Wi-Fi. This is really a very useful technological gadget for the camera "for every day".

What's on the other side of the scale? The enthusiasm that appears quickly fades away when processing photographs. It immediately becomes clear: something is wrong with these pictures. A full-shot tempted look immediately notices this. Immediately, perhaps, to the main claim.

Everything in the frame

According to the laws of optics, the depth of field (DOF) depends on how wide the aperture is, the focal length of the lens and the distance to the object. And if the first two parameters have no connection with the size of the matrix, then the situation is different with the distance.

Depth of field E-M1.

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Depth of field of the full-frame Nikon D600.

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Having set the goal to equally scale the object in the frame, in the case of a smaller matrix, you will have to move away from it. This will lead to the fact that the depth of field will increase and you will not be able to use one of the main artistic techniques. In addition, the fastest lenses available for the EM-1 (f / 0.95-f / 1.4) are without autofocus. If they only shoot portraits, there will be no big problems, but if you use them in reportage shooting? But this is not so bad.

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By “cutting out” its core from the frame, we violate its spatial-perspective structure, which makes the picture appear flat. It’s not for nothing that many art schools strictly prohibit “cropping” photographs, preaching the principle “the more you cut from your photo, the more I cut off from your assessment”. Alas, no technical tricks can solve this problem. A picture from a full frame and even from a one and a half crop will always be "more voluminous" and "airy". And this is an objective reality.

Summer pond. Nikon D600

Spring Pond, Olymus OM-D E-M1.

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The second advantage of "adult" full-frame cameras is the "margin for error." An underexposed or, on the contrary, an overexposed frame, if the case is not entirely difficult, can almost always be "pulled out". In addition to the banal insurance, the sensors of cameras such as Nikon D600, D800 or 5DM3 allow you to shoot at low ISO values, and then pull information out of the shaded areas in the editor. Dynamic range depends on ISO, the lower it is, the higher it is. The advantage of underexposing is that with the same amount of noise, the dynamic range remains large. Unfortunately, this will not allow us. Either immediately shoot with sufficient exposure, or then, through a veil of tears, click on “Remove” next to each failed masterpiece.

Despite the fact that the micro4: 3 cameras are close to top-end cameras in terms of noise and dynamic range, it is worth remembering that “closer” does not mean “caught up”. Younger full-frame cameras like Nikon D600 or Canon 6D for the same price, in addition to all the above advantages from an artistic point of view, are technically superior to the flagship E-M1. The difference is not an order of magnitude, but it is. You can already compare the noises. And here is the dynamic range of the E-M1:

Dynamic range E-M1.

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To have a truly impressive rate of fire (no joke, 10 frames per second is the level of the Nikon D4 for $ 5000), the manufacturer did not raise the number of megapixels above 16. Actually, D4 has exactly the same number. Only no one in their right mind would prefer the E-M1 to Nikon's flagship for reporting, and for more mundane purposes, they are not enough. We repeat once again, it is clear why there is so little, there would be more on such a matrix - noise and dynamic range would suffer greatly, - the matrix is ​​small. On the other hand, the half-size matrix (2-fold "crop") is a deliberate choice of Olympus. These are their problems, invented by them for themselves.

Having worked with the Nikon D600 and its 24MP sensor, 16 million pixels are no longer taken seriously. Of course, the main benefit from them is the opportunity for a radical crop (sometimes it is still needed). Sharpening and noise reduction also work better on multi-pixel cameras.

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Not that it was fundamentally important, but it was worth mentioning.

That is, at the output, the picture on a number of parameters will be worse from a two-fold "crop" than from a full frame. Some of them are incorrigible in principle, these are the features of the system as such. The difference in parameters such as dynamic range and noise level at high ISOs was leveled out only due to a serious increase in the cost of the camera. Actually, that's why we compare the EM-1 with the younger full-frame cameras, since they cost the same. It was fair to compare with "cropped" cameras, but is it worth paying twice as much for compactness ... However, it's up to you to decide.

And okay, if it was only about depth of field and dynamic range. Some of the problems came to light during the filming process.

Mirrorless cameras are not taken seriously. We do not make excuses for these people, but this is a given that photographers have to live with. When people see a person with a huge black camera in their hands and a "pipe" sticking out of it, they understand: "a person is busy with business, do not interfere with him." From time to time the author takes pictures of events and perfectly felt this difference in attitude when he switched from a crop to a full-frame DSLR camera. People turn to you for photos, assuming that since your camera looks professional, then you yourself are a professional. With a mirrorless, uninitiated people won't take you seriously. Sometimes that's a plus. But more often than not.

The viewfinder is only in the characteristics, in fact, it does not exist. Yes, absolutely, compared to what happened a couple of years ago, the progress is amazing. But, thank you, this is not an optical viewfinder even close. That the author separately disappointed in it: it seems to be digital, but for some reason the main display feature - displaying the result in real time - it is not endowed with. That is, you shoot one thing, and at the end you get something completely different. We could forgive the optical viewfinder, we understand what we are sacrificing, but not the digital one. Why is it needed in this form? And the very quality of the image in the viewfinder subjectively leaves much to be desired.

Has been tested for about a week. During this time, the author has not learned how to press the shutter button so as to get exactly as many frames as needed, because the button is too sensitive. Apparently, the problem can be solved only by slow and painful addiction, or by disabling continuous shooting as such (which is hardly convenient). Otherwise, the memory card (SD in the E-M1) is instantly filled with unnecessary material and gives the photographer time to rest and think. Installing 5 instead of 10 frames per second also does not solve the problem - it's about the same as drowning not at 30 meters, but at 15 meters. The difference is small. Again, the subjectively controlled 5.5 frames on the D600 seem preferable to the author.

Do you know what is one of the main reasons photographers attach the battery pack to the camera? Beyond the obvious. A camera with a "handle" is much more comfortable to hold. Many people prefer cameras like D3, D3s, 1Dx precisely because of the convenience of the grip. And we understand them. In this configuration, a really large camera is really more convenient to shoot. For some reason, many people forget about this when they talk about the size of mirrorless cameras as an advantage. In some cases, large "DSLRs" are not just made large.

And finally, the author is forced to award Olympus OM-D E-M1 with the status a la "expensive gadget for iPhone". You see, when you get your Nikon D600 or Canon 6d you are buying the entry ticket to the world of full frame cameras. Serving it with lenses, you also make a reserve for the future, you can use all your optics with the most advanced cameras in the industry, if you decide to buy or rent them in the future. Where to grow with the E-M1? There is nothing better for this system and it is unlikely that there will be anything. Fundamentally better, the author means.

Olympus E-M1 - a luxurious embodiment of an idea compact camera on every day. The camera is fast, advanced, compact with great color - there is a lot to admire. But regarding the statements that the top representatives of Micro4: 3 can compete with semi-professional mirror counterparts, we have a number of doubts, which we stated above. To summarize, it is not a competitor to a full frame of the same cost. Olympus mirrorless cameras embody ideas that are completely different from full-frame cameras, so such cameras can only be considered as a load to the existing system. They are certainly more convenient to shoot, but photographs from it are much more "boring". At the same time, it is still inferior to the junior full-frame semi-professional camera in the "basic disciplines": speed, noise and dynamic range.