It brings me back to my days with my three OM-1 film bodies and TRI-X film. What I really love about this thing is that it enables me to SEE the black & white, grainy images IN the viewfinder, which I could NEVER do before with ANY camera. PLUS it lets me apply other types of filters and frames AND see those in the viewfinder, too!! (I especially love the ragged "film-effect" frame.) (My only slight disappointment is that you cannot adjust contrast with many of the art effects, including the "b/w-grainy".) So far Ive shot in available light up to ISO 6400 with NO noticeable noise and excellent sharpness. Youre also not stuck with the old 35mm frame aspect ratio of 3:2, there are choices: 4:3, 3:4, 16:9, and 1:1. Love the 16:9 and 1:1! (Why restrict us on other cameras to 3:2 stills and 16:9 only with movie-making??) I got it with the 12-40mm f2.8 PRO lens, so the whole thing is weather/dust resistant. GREAT setup! Camera comes with a very cute, separate mini-flash, with adjustable bounce angle. It has very good/fast/quiet continuous video focusing as well (which my D750 does NOT). I see nothing bad about the menus which some ppl complain about. I dont get it. Many surprising features. Very happy. LOVE IT. ENABLES ME. EXTREMELY WELL-BUILT!
Antonio M.
4
Going into Micro Four Thirds, I wasnt entirely convinced that the camera could be as good as larger DSLRs. I saw that the sensors were small and grimaced when I thought of low-light performance. When I got the camera, I was blown away by how it was able to take such nice photos in all conditions. While performance above ISO 1600 is poor, it is able to get nice shots on my constant f2.8 PRO series lenses. I would recommend this to an enthusiast looking to upgrade their photography to a new level. I was able to purchase my camera used, and it gave me amazing value and still wonderful camera, showing a good durability. All in all, great value!
Indagarden
5
I replaced my Canon SL1 and was looking for something that would be lighter than the lightweight Canon and the not so lightweight lenses. I purchased the Olympus E-M10 Mark II and it was okay, but the SD card/battery compartment was difficult to use and the SD card slot stopped accepting the SD card so I returned it and decided to upgrade to something weather sealed. I chose the EM-5 Mark II and I am so happy that I did. I walk early in the morning and take pictures of birds and scenery. This camera takes much better images in low light than either the Canon or the E-M10 Mark II; there is much less noise. I shoot raw, and was really surprised that when I want to take multiple images I can just hold the shutter down and it keeps shooting. I also like to do street photography when on vacation. The viewfinder is large and bright. The only downside is it does take a split second to switch from the LCD to the viewfinder when I bring it to my eye, which I know I could fix by turning off the LCD, but I like it for reviewing images. My first SLR was an Olympus OM-1 the smallest SLR at the time. I am very pleased to have returned to Olympus and feel this camera is the most versatile I have owned.
Nuclear Powered Finger Puppet
5
This camera is pretty fantastic-- with a couple of exceptions. The biggest exception is the price. If youre buying new, this camera is more expensive than it should be in 2017. But, it also does things that you cant get for cheaper. I mostly do product photography, so the 40MP high res mode was the biggest draw of this camera. Its limited, obviously, but for still life stuff, its the cheapest way to get that sort of resolution right out of the camera (that I know of). More generally, the viewfinder is big and awesome. The autofocus is very fast in S-AF. Continuous auto focus works, but its not great. Ive gotten some OK shots of my dog running with it, but Im not the best person to test that function. It doesnt seem very fast, though. The build is super solid. Its too small to feel like a tank, but its heavier than my E-M10 mark I, but not really appreciably bigger. The screen is crisp and bright and usable in sunlight, but the bezels around it are pretty big. I feel like the screen could be bigger pretty easily, but everything at this level has the same size screen. The controls are where this camera shines. I didnt like the dials at first, because they werent as clicky and positive as my E-M10, but after using it a big, the E-M10 felt too stiff and somewhat flimsy in comparison. The position of the dials is perfect, and all of the buttons feel solid. The buttons can feel a touch cramped, but they did a good job making it easy to tell which button youre touching by feel. The result is that you dont have to take your eye off of the viewfinder much. The controls are also absurdly customizable. There are 8 customizable buttons (if you include the d pad buttons) plus the little lever switch. Image quality is great. Its a bit behind the best APS-C cameras, but the insane image stabilization makes up for it somewhat. I cant stress enough how good this image stabilization is. The video is solid for 1080P. Again, the image stabilization works wonders here. Video is still a bit of an afterthought for Olympus, so you shouldnt expect best-in-class. The only major complain I have is that theres apparently no way to turn off the screen while leaving the eye sensor on, which would help the battery life a lot. You can assign a button to switch between the LCD and the EVF, but it would be nice if both could be off until you hit a button or put your eye to the viewfinder. I suppose "major complaint is a bit of an overstatement, but it seems like a weird omission, unless I just havent found the right setting. The battery life isnt great, like most mirrorless cameras.
Elsomalo
5
I had the original Olympus OMD E-M5 and it still works, but gave the old one to my daughter and bought this updated version. Not much has changed, and the pictures are still amazing, but does have some nice updated features (love that I can transfer pics via WiFi -great for vacation.) I am a loyal Olympus user and really feel the camera works as well as a quality DSLR. The lens collection continually updates - love the PRO series lenses. This is an easy to use camera with TONS of features. Take terrific pictures even for those who simply want to take photos on the auto function. Love it!
Apollo
4
I got this mainly for 2 things... The stabilizer and that I needed a second body for my M43 setup. When youre someone who does video and stills like me, you have to choose your body carefully. You typically either go with Panasonic who typically doesn’t have body stabilization but has amazing video support an performance, and their glass is typically more expensive or… you go with Olympus who has cheap beautiful Glass and bodies with image stabilization but with lackluster video quality and support. In the past I had chosen to buy Panasonic bodies and Olympus Glass and used gimbals and tripods to stabilize my shots… I just couldn’t pass on the fast cheap glass that Olympus was offering but I couldn’t give up the video quality that Panasonic had. I was stuck in-between the two. Then came the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II. So first the things that I love… -The image stabilization… I’ve been able to get sharp clear shots at shutter speeds of 1/4 of a second handheld, when anything below 1/60 of a second on my GH3 was pretty much unusable handheld. -The build quality is really nice. I love the metal dials and body. It feels like a tank. -Sometimes you really can’t grasp the size of something until you put your hands on it but this camera is really small. I really like that, I travel a bit so it’s always nice to be able to save room when you can. This does come with some drawbacks but I’ll talk about that in a bit. -40mp mode is really cool even though I won’t ever have a real use for it but for still life and product shots this is a game changer for some. -The fully articulating LCD touch screen is one of the reasons I hadn’t touched a Oly before. I’m really glad to see it here. -The improved all around video support and performance. Oly is finally serious about video. -included attachable flash. For the longest time I’ve always said that the onboard flashes of cameras nowadays are horrible. It’s nice they didn’t waste space on the camera. -Focus Peaking… it’s one of the best I’ve used and much needed -Weatherproofing… lot of cameras have it these days but it’s still nice they included it. Now for the things I don’t like… -While the video support and performance is much improved there isn’t any 4k support. This camera would have turned some serious heads when the gh3 came out but now in 2015 it’s lagging a little behind in that area. -The size is a great thing for space but it lends itself to some handling issues. Sometimes I don’t feel like I have a good grip on it even though it feels pretty comfortable in the hands. It also leads to my next issue… -battery life… it’s really not all that great… I really wish they had put in a bigger battery. From what Olympus has said, this will last about 310 shots, 40 or so down from the original E-M5 Mark I. The Panasonic lasts for twice as long. -no onboard audio out jack for monitoring your audio while recording. You have to buy the battery pack (279 USD because you can’t buy it separately from the camera grip right now) -menus… They aren’t as intuitive as they could be and I find myself having to take more steps to get to things that on other cameras would be only a few steps. Granted, I love all the customization. Things that would like on the next version… -4k…please -USB Charging through the camera… it would be nice to have one less charger on long trips… anything to save space. -Ability to take high res shots of people and handheld. Olympus has already said they are working on this… lets hope they keep their promise. -simpler menus but still full featured -higher flash sync speed, I doubt they could do anything with a leaf shutter but I can wish! In conclusion… For the price and minor gripes… this camera is probably one of the best M43 cameras on the market. It looks nice and feels solid. Pros and hobbyists will love the performance (minus the battery life), and if you’re a product photographer or looking to get into product photography…This will be a great way to get into the industry with high res shots. People starting out with photography will need to be a little weary of the menus, it doesn’t hold your hand. If you take the time to learn the menus and their function this could be a camera that grows with you.
Spencer Johnson
5
Let me just start off by saying: I LOVE this little camera! As a disclaimer, I am new to mirrorless camera / enthusiast-level photography but I have spent hundreds of hours researching cameras over the last 6 months. I almost purchased a Nikon d5500 before finally settling on buying this camera in black with the Olympups 14-42 EZ with the LC-37C lens cap and the Olympus 40-150mm. I also ended up buying the Olympus 25mm f1.8 prime a month or so later. One of my main priorities in a interchangeable lens camera system was compactness and portability, and this camera fit the bill perfectly. Having had a chance to use it for 2-3 months now, and continuing my research of the competition, I feel pretty confident in my evaluation of the pros and cons of this camera. I will just hit on the standout points that helped me decide to buy this camera, and leave the more exhaustive reviews to the professionals: Pros: - Size: Like I said above, this size of this camera was a big deciding factor for me. I wanted something small and portable that I could take with me on all my vacations, including tropical / hot places, and not feel like I was about to die lugging this beast of a camera with me everywhere. As part of researching which camera to buy, I borrowed my buddys Canon t5i on a trip my girlfriend and I took down the Pacific Coast Highway, and we just didnt love the added bulk that the body and three extra lenses added to our trip (and that camera isnt even that big compared to some DSLRs!). This camera hit the sweet spot offering good image quality, a good lens selection, portability, and quality. - Build quality: I absolutely love the build quality of this camera. This is a huge pro in my book. It is a magnesium-alloy metal body, and it feels very solid and durable in my opinion. In researching, I also tested the Sony a6000, which is plastic, and the metal build of the Olympus feels 10x better than the a6000. I realize there is a significant price difference, but in my opinion paying a little bit more for a camera with much better construction is worth it. You get what you pay for. - Lens selection: If youre looking at this camera, you probably already know that the m4/3 camera system offers the best native lens selection of any mirrorless camera system. Obviously, many systems make use of adapters to extend the compatability of lenses, but most of those solutions are clunky and not optimal. So far, in my experience, lenses have been high quality yet with reasonable prices. If youre looking for a system that you can grow into that wont break the bank, m4/3 will do the job for you. - Customization: This camera is extremely customizable. Ever single button on the camera can be repurposed from the default settings. You can even set different user profiles and change between them at a flick of the switch. Cons: - User Interface has a little bit of a learning curve: The menu system / user interface of this camera is definitely not the most intuitive. For experienced photographers, this probably wont be much of a problem, but for someone like me, that is just learning the basics of photography and interchangeable lens camera systems, it was definitely intimidating. The screen kept shutting off randomly, I couldnt figure out how to easily switch between auto and manual focus, and changing certain settings required diving into complex menus, etc. In using my friends Canon t5i I initially found that I preferred the Canon user interface. However, watching a few youtube videos helped a lot, and now I actually prefer the Olympus menu system for the amount of customization that it contains. - Price: This camera definitely is a little more pricey than its competitors. If youre looking for absolutely best bang for your buck, I would say look elsewhere (Sony a6000, Nikon d3300, Nikon d5500 would be my top picks ATM). However, for me, there were a lot of factors that went into my decision besides price. Overall, I am very happy with my purchase of this camera, and would definitely recommend it to someone who is looking for a balanced, lightweight, portable camera.
Hank
5
I ended up returning this camera even though I really wanted to live it. It looked just like my old OM from film days and I really liked that camera. The problem with this camera (for me) was that first it has one memory slot, the battery runs out fast and my biggest problem was that I could not get one picture to come out in focus. Now, that could be an issue with my copy but it left a bad taste in my mouth. This is a small camera as opposed to my Nikon D750 but that is the beauty of the micro 4/3 systems. They are really small and the lenses are lighter and a little cheaper. I will get a micro 4/3 as my second camera eventually once the lens choices have increased.
Jerrry Dalton
5
This a great M43 camera. I love the retro styling and it has great image quality. It did take quite a bit of time to setup, and the menu system is not intuitive. But there is a plenty of info on-line to assist. Another nit is that it is too easy to bump the back knob and change a setting. However after setting it up, and using enough to learn it, this is my definite go-to camera. I am not using my DSLRs these days.
DZRhino
5
Bought a refurbished unit from Beach Camera as I needed a second body. Wow, I am impressed. It came early, looks like a brand new camera and has everything in the box that my 1st unit had. These units are refurbished by Olympus and show exactly the same number of shutter activations that my brand new one did. Olympus always shows some shutter count as their quality control at the factory tests the camera before shipping it out . . . some manufacturers dont. When you get an Olympus refurb, make sure the seal is unbroken on the box. See the attached picture (this was after I broke the seal and opened the box). You get a 90-day warranty on the unit. I think my E-M5 MkII is the best camera system you can buy. I have two of the Pro lenses and several other Oly lenses as well as a couple of Panny ones. I had the original E-M5 and upgraded to the newer model to get the 40-megapixel landscape ability as well as WiFi. Discovered a host of improvements, some small, some really great to see. Well worth upgrading.
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