Olympus OM-D E-M1: My favorite camera. Key Features of the Olympus OM-D E-M10

One of the few professional food photographers, Sergei Martyakhin, tested the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II.took a series of mouth-watering pictures and talked about his experience in our new review.

Do you have assistants whom you can trust more than yourself (you will understand what I mean later)? I'm not talking about commercial shooting in a studio, where assistants, designers and other necessary specialists will quickly help you shoot, process and deliver a super picture to the client. I'm talking about creativity. The Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II allows me to create and get the results I want away from the studio and away from the computer.

I'm a commercial photographer who specializes in food photography, still life photography, product photography - all of what I call "real estate". My hobbies are an extension of my business (or vice versa), I continue to shoot outside the studio walls.

F 9. 1/4 sec., ISO 500, 24 mm (35 mm eq.)

The Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II combines an advanced, user-friendly camera with unprecedented, fantastic in-camera processing capabilities. The latter caught my attention even more than the camera itself, which everyone praises. I am sure that after my short story you will find in Olympus everything that you dreamed of before, but did not find in other cameras.

I will dwell only on some of the functions that help me in my work and creativity.

Live composite is a small miracle of a photography mode, no one else has anything like it. The camera remembers the light pattern of the frame and allows you to add changes in the shadows at any exposure duration in this mode. You can complement the plot with “strokes” of Light Brush when shooting still lifes, food photography, product photography, interior photography, etc.; you can see the picture changing before your eyes. At the same time, you can bring the plot to perfection for as long as you like or start all over again, giving the plot other accents. As a side note to my description, you can use this mode to shoot Freeze Light while drawing or outlining just about anything. You can complement flash photography with neat lighting or highlights in dark places. The only limitation is your imagination.

F 6.3, 2 s, ISO 64, 76 mm (35 mm eq.)

A very striking illustration of this shooting mode is the ability to collect all the lightning or all the fireworks in one frame.

BK by focus (the camera has 5 different bracketing modes) allows you to make up to 999 takes with a given step. The camera shoots these takes very quickly from the most possible foreground to infinity. You get a series (JPEG and RAW), which, after stitching in the program, allows you to get the maximum possible depth of field. In this case, there is no need for expensive and limited Tilt-Shift lenses. This mode is used not only in landscape, architectural and interior photography, but also in jewelry photography, food photography, and product photography.

And as a natural continuation for Olympus in this mode - “stacking”.

“Stacking” is the ability of the camera to independently shoot and stitch together 8 takes of focus, giving you a ready-made JPEG. A sharp-framed scene is obtained in a few seconds, significantly reducing the time for shooting and assembling the final image. Commercial photographers who shoot jewelry, objects, etc. have long appreciated this opportunity, which other camera manufacturers do not have. I will add that this mode works with both pulsed light and constant sources. The shooting speed of 8 takes is very fast, which, with excellent Olympus stabilization, allows you to take photographs even handheld.
Pro Capture. I use this mode for filming fast-moving processes, for example, “pouring.” The camera allows you to take and capture the best shot by starting to shoot in half-press mode until the shutter is released.

These high-speed capabilities can be supplemented by shooting up to 60 fps in RAW.

One of the great things about our photography is the ability to get a super HD file of 50 megapixels in size.

LiveTime mode allows you to control the duration of exposure on the monitor screen.

In your work, you can use the HDR mode with the ability to shoot 4 frames with different exposures and automatic frame composition.
The format of the article does not allow us to talk about such important camera functions as combined photography, touchscreen and art filters, but, summing up, I can say one thing: for my work personally, the Olympus OMD EM1 Mark II is excellent, and I will be glad if my admiration The features of this camera, which I fell in love with, will also serve you for the joy of creativity and decent income.

“Traffic disputes are the last thing,” so I never think about a camera on the road. It should be small, indestructible, provide a number of clear advantages over competitors and not weigh down the backpack. It just so happened that I took the Olympus OM-D E-M10 mark III with me to Kazakhstan 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 that are suitable for space and weight take up the same amount of time as a full frame zoom, perhaps even less.

Quality and style

When producing its cameras, Olympus initially chose a retro style, which means a combination of high-quality materials and thoughtful lines. However, here design is not an end in itself, since the company's designers do not follow their religion in a unilinear way. The entire OM-D line differs from the simpler Pen in that it has a DSLR design and has a clearly defined grip. Naturally, it was impossible to make the same grip in a compact camera as in a unit, since the body here is almost half the volume. However, the designers didn't just downscale a large camera into a small one, because the body is smaller, but the control wheels are not. Yes, this has led to a slight imbalance in the size of the organs, but the priorities are set correctly, since controllability 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 power switch on the left is made traditional here, and the fingers of my right hand are not long enough to switch it, but this is a proprietary feature of Olympus, so I would attribute 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, the camera will fit in a winter jacket pocket, but is also easy to carry in summer, which is ideal for the traveler. You can really go with her all the time if you want. Today, the standard is generally considered to be a mobile phone, to which the camera naturally loses in terms of compactness, but not nearly as significantly as modern DSLR and mirrorless full-frame cameras. But in terms of quality and flexibility, it will naturally be at its best, especially with the 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. This contains 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 toggle switch of a stabilized lens, 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 keys, thanks to which you can simultaneously take photos and videos, including them in any sequence, a standard navigation block, shooting modes and access to quick menu. The rest is on the touch screen, from which in video mode, for example, you can quite comfortably control shooting.

Functional

In photo mode, I traditionally like Olympus's digital features, which almost no one else has. Live comp has long become an extremely convenient tool for shooting, but every time I discover additional possibilities for using it. There are quite flexible settings for it, allowing you to choose the base shutter speed for the first frame, on which everything will be superimposed. Previously, I was wildly annoyed that the camera would shoot for a couple of seconds and then overlay only the light areas on top, creating tracks from car headlights, but now you choose how much to expose the first frame, and accordingly, you can partly adjust the sensitivity so that the first frame makes less noise . Using this function, you can successfully blur water into fluff, even when you simply do not have an ND filter to shoot at shutter speeds of several minutes; if it is bright outside, the exposure may last a couple of seconds, but the effect will be like an ultra-long shutter speed.

Stabilizer

The biggest strength of the 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 stabilizer. In addition, the result of its work is well influenced by the weight of the camera itself, which is greater here, and the foam is traditionally lighter. Knowing this feature, I became completely impudent while traveling and shot at shutter speeds of a couple of seconds at a sensitivity of ISO 200-400 on the 1.8 primes that I had in the test. Not having to carry a tripod with you is a big help, as are the resulting low-noise images.

Autofocus

The second huge plus is the effective and really working tracking autofocus, which I scoffed at quite a lot, but it clings well even to a single blade of grass dangling in the wind, while not breathing through the lenses in video, but is quite 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 photographing dynamics for a traveler.

Video

We have not separated video from photos for a long time, and the fact that Olympus has brought its capabilities up to modern standards is certainly encouraging. 4K/25 or 30p, depending on your standard, and even with a full stabilizer, will certainly make a difference for many. I noticed that even with the stabilizer turned off, the camera cuts off the image area by about 5%, but I would not find fault with this, since this was done for pixel-by-pixel reading and good sharpness. Naturally, a sharp picture can only be obtained with good glass, but it will really look professional. Olympus here relies on shooting to suit its needs with stylization right in the camera, although there is also a place for post-processing. 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. Duplicating them at the post-processing stage is not very easy for a beginner. The flat profile allows for standard image grading already at the video editing stage. What’s missing is a port for an external microphone, although the company has long provided the ability to synchronize timecode with its voice recorders; bloggers can also use a voice recorder even on their phone. It is usually customary to say that a folding screen is not compatible with blogger interests, but you can always remove yourself from the controls from your phone, and in this case everything will be visible not at a distance of three meters, but from an outstretched hand, which will not only start and stop shooting, but also change almost all its parameters.

Conclusion

Balance is important in life. It is clear that there are no ideal cameras, but there are ones that are ideally suited to your interests. If you are a studio professional or a videographer with a lot of work, of course, you can try to place your own high demands on this camera, but ideally it will only suit you on vacation. She won’t strain her neck, won’t drag her home and put pressure on her conscience with the locomotive’s budget spent on her. It will allow even certain weaknesses, such as the reluctance 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 strives to make the picture ideal for given conditions, providing you with both standard and additional creative options .

Photos in original quality, taken on the Olympus OM-D E-M10 mark III, can be downloaded from .

In 2012, the second in 2013. I see that these devices are evolving significantly from year to year, so I gladly accepted the invitation to go to Prague in order to test the new Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II.

This camera has two main differences from its competitors: a unique five-axis stabilization system, which allows you to shoot sharp images handheld in the dark at long shutter speeds, and the ability to take 40 megapixel frames, despite the fact that the matrix is ​​only 16 megapixels. How? The answer is under the cut...

In general, I’ll admit right away that I’m not good at writing reviews about cameras. In Prague, I was with the famous journalist Dmitry Krupsky, who specializes in them, so if you want to read a detailed and easily written detailed report on the camera, then this is the place for you.

I’ll tell you more about the emotions that this device evoked in me, but I want to make a reservation right away that I compared it with my Nikon D4, so maybe this is not very fair, since they are in completely different weight and price categories.

1. Ergonomics

After the huge Nikon, this one, of course, weighs nothing. If you attach a large lens to it, the balance of the camera is upset, but due to the overall low weight, this does not interfere.

A very convenient little window that can be unfolded and moved away. You can easily take interesting photos from a low vantage point or by raising the camera above your head.

The control buttons are quite clear and conveniently located. The camera is very smart and you can program every button, of which there are enough, for yourself.

Among the inconveniences: it was not very convenient for me to turn on/off the camera (the button is on the left and you need a second hand to turn it on). I also sometimes lost the settings, because while wearing it on my shoulder, I touched the settings wheels, which rotate too easily, and knocked them down.

Otherwise there were no questions. I got used to the controls pretty quickly.

The camera is also stated to be splash-proof. That is, it is still better not to put it under water, but in heavy rain you can remove it without problems.

2. Stabilization

The camera has five-axis stabilization. These axes are: right/left, up/down and 3 axes of camera rotation (see arrows in the picture). The system is very advanced and thanks to it it allows you to take sharp pictures even in poor lighting. Olympus considers this the main breakthrough and the main feature of its new camera. It's hard to disagree with this.

We shot a lot in the dark. Yes, almost everything! Examples of frames are at the end of the post.

3. 40 megapixels

This is an interesting mode, but it only works with a tripod and is suitable for photographing static objects. The camera takes 8 pictures in a row, each shifted by a poppixel. After this, the image is stitched together and the result is 40 megapixels. Therefore, without a tripod it turns out to be a mess.

Interesting idea and implementation. Photos come out very clear and sharp. Suitable for photographing objects and landscapes in calm weather. Examples of photographs are at the end of the post.

The thief is just one example. This is a crop from the large photo shown in the lower right corner. Please note the number of parts:

4. Video

With this stabilization system, steadicams, gyrostabilizers and other stabilization systems are no longer needed. We shot a short video. Everyone in our group played the role of videographer. For example, I ran after the main characters through the tunnel where Tom Cruise ran before us in one of the Mission Impossible episodes. Not all parts in the video were filmed by us. The ones on the bridge in Prague were filmed without us to make an interesting story. The point is that any untrained person can take this camera and shoot cool videos.

Pay special attention to the moment when the camera “comes out” of the car. They filmed it as follows: one person first rode in a car and filmed, and when the car stopped and the driver started to get out, he simply handed it into the hands of a man on the street and he continued filming.

Notice that there is very little camera shake. This is the work of the stabilizer. All shots were shot in one take& Watch in HD:

5. Painting with light

The camera has a lot of functions, presets, processes and everything you want. In my opinion, even too much. The camera should not take over the Lightroom function.

Separately, I want to talk about the trick of shooting painting with light. If previously light paintings had to be shot in completely dark conditions, now this is no longer necessary. The camera takes a series of shots. It remembers the first frame, and from each subsequent one it takes only new light areas and superimposes them on the previous ones.

I remember in the Maldives I forced my family to sit motionless for 30 seconds while I frantically ran behind me with a flashlight and drew the word Maldives. Naturally, within 30 seconds they were smeared. Here we shot the frame for 5 minutes, but the person in the frame was illuminated once, so it turned out to be absolutely sharp.

At the end of the post there are some more amazing paintings painted with light.

6. Battery

This, of course, is a complete failure. I don’t know how it is in other mirrorless cameras, but the batteries only last about 4 hours. That is, you need to take at least one, and preferably 2, spare batteries with you per day.

7. Accessories.

A full line of accessories will be available for the camera, ranging from an underwater housing and flash to a huge number of interchangeable optics.

8. Image quality

At first I shot everything in raw format and, out of habit, I wanted to process all the photos, but I ran into two problems. Firstly, the camera is still too new and Lightroom does not understand its files and cannot import them. Secondly, if I show processed photographs, it will not be very honest.

Therefore, all the photos in this and the next post are jeeps taken directly from the camera, without any processing (I just corrected the horizon here and there).

See and judge for yourself

7. Conclusions

The Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II is certainly a breakthrough in mirrorless cameras, but in terms of image quality it does not yet reach full-frame DSLRs, so decide for yourself what is more important to you - weight and convenience or picture quality.

Well, now, actually, examples of photographs.

40 megapixel mode. Shot on a tripod. The book was very small in size. If you fully enlarge the frame, you can easily read what is written in it:

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Everyone shot a hundred tripods:

5.

And this was hanging nearby. In general, Olympus compares itself with Sony and Fuji, and treats Canon and Nikon with disdain, as not coming up with anything new and losing the battle. Here, of course, I disagreed with them:

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The moment of filming. Just when the camera was being handed over:

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And this is a shot taken during the shooting of the video. It has a different format:

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Tom Cruise ran in these tunnels in Mission: Impossible:

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A bright spotlight at the end of the tunnel. The picture was very beautiful:

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I ran through this tunnel with the camera at arm's length following the characters in the video. I must admit that the picture hardly shakes:

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And then the camera didn’t have time to adjust to fast movement and the actor got a little blurry:

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We filmed at an old water station. It has not been working for a long time, but all the mechanisms remain:

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They turned on the lights in one of the rooms, blew in some fog for volume, and put two models at our disposal:

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They filmed in two locations: upstairs, where it was brighter, and downstairs, in the light of dim streetlights. Here the camera did not cope with the task very well. The face is all burned out, the shadows are gone. But the picture is sharp, although the shutter speed is only 1/13 of a second. This is the work of the stabilizer:

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It's better here. Here I used -2.3 stops of exposure compensation to bring out the texture on the face. The shadows are gone forever:

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Returned to top:

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General view of the room with lighting scheme:

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The most spectacular thing was painting with light. Everyone was lined up with tripods and given hats - it was cool in the basements:

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Artists' working tools:

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In the next post I will show photos from a walk around Prague taken with this camera, so you can evaluate the quality of the picture in normal urban conditions. Stay Tuned!

A compact and lightweight restostyle camera with the ability to record 4K video, matrix stabilization, a large viewfinder, a tilting touchscreen display... and all this for a very reasonable price. Too good to be true? We will look for shortcomings, because without them there is no such thing. In any case, if you compare solely by characteristics, many competitors pale in comparison to the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III. In fact, the only direct competitor with similar cost, weight, size and functionality is only the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX85. Sony ILCE-6300 is more expensive, does not have matrix stabilization and a touch display, is similar in many respects, but is already significantly more expensive. There is also a Fujifilm X-E3 somewhere nearby, but it does not have built-in stabilization, and the price is much higher. Of course, more expensive competitors are aimed at the experienced photographer, while the target audience of the camera being tested is amateurs and beginners.

Specifications

Appearance

Olympus has been actively using retro design in the design of its cameras since the PEN E-P1 model. Initially, all models were made in this style, but with the advent of the premium OM-D line, pure classics remained only for it. Of course, there are retro notes in the cameras of modern models of the PEN series, but the inscription “Since 1959” on their body would no longer look good.

The new product is housed in a plastic case with small aluminum inserts. At first glance, the premium series and the absence of magnesium alloys in the design are bad manners. But let's not forget about the cost of the camera, which already in our retail is about $800, i.e. comparable to such amateur devices as, for example, . There are no premium materials, but the camera still looks great, and the build quality is high. In addition, when working with a camera in the cold, a plastic case is much more convenient and pleasant to use than a metal one. Among the features of the new product, it is worth noting the slightly larger handle, which makes it easier to operate the camera with one hand.

At the front there is a lens mount and an LED autofocus illuminator. At the back to the right of the tilting display there are keys for locking exposure/focus, entering the main menu, changing the information display mode, deleting, switching to viewing mode, as well as a round multifunctional 4-position pad with an enter key in the center.

At the top center there is a pop-up flash with a hot shoe at the base, as well as a pair of microphones. To the left of the flash there is a power lever, which is also a pop-up flash lock, and a mode menu key. On the right side there is a round shooting mode selector, digital zoom and video recording keys, as well as a pair of control dials, one of which has an integrated shutter key.

The display is exactly the same as its predecessor - tilting, touchscreen, with a resolution of 1040 thousand dots. Of course, cameras with much higher display resolutions are now available on the market, but they are all significantly more expensive than our test subject. The display has wide viewing angles, so it’s easy to see the image even when viewed from an acute angle. The white brightness with standard settings is 336.5 cd/sq.m, and if you turn the backlight brightness to the maximum value, it is 822.51 cd/sq.m, while the brightness of the black field is 1.07 cd/sq.m. In general, you can work with the camera even when direct sunlight falls on the screen.

But the touch control of Olympus cameras leaves much to be desired. It is there, but it’s as if it’s not there, especially when compared with its main competitor, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX85. You cannot control the main menu using the touch display; the quick menu is also accessible only using physical keys; multiple touches are not supported, so you have to scale the footage by calling the touch slider. It’s good that photo swipe gestures are supported. The advantages of the touch screen include the ability to smoothly control shutter speed, zoom, aperture and sound level in video recording mode, as well as the ability to select the focus point when viewing the image through the viewfinder. But Olympus was a pioneer in the introduction of touch control in mirrorless cameras, so from each new product you expect significant progress in this area, but there is still none. And don’t forget that the camera is primarily aimed at beginners, some of whom may have never seen a push-button mobile phone.

The menu of the previous OM-D E-M10 models was extremely similar to the user interface of the older Olympus premium cameras. In the new product, the menu has been significantly simplified. In addition, an “advanced shooting mode” has been added, which will be especially useful for novice photographers. In order not to bore you with a description of the interface, below are several screenshots for your reference.

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Features and additional functions

All unusual camera operating modes are placed in a separate “Advanced shooting mode”, the transition to which is carried out when the operating mode dial is moved to the “AP” position. There are modes for shooting with long exposure, multiple exposure, HDR, silent mode (electronic shutter), panoramic shooting, keystone correction mode, as well as exposure bracketing and focus bracketing modes. The latter mode will be especially appreciated by lovers of various small “items”. It is noteworthy that all of the listed modes are not fully automatic, and the user is free to make a lot of corrections in the settings, including shooting in RAW. By the way, in HDR mode, shooting in RAW is also possible, but only when selecting RAW+JPEG, while shooting exclusively in RAW is not possible in this mode.

Keystone correction in the camera menu

Like all competitors, the camera under test is equipped with a WiFi module. There are no Bluetooth or NFC modules. However, even without NFC, setup is quite quick - just install the Olympus Image Share application on your smartphone and take a photo of the QR code on the camera screen. With a wireless connection, you can view the footage and send it to your smartphone. Of course, remote control is also provided, and not only photo but also video shooting is supported. But in the case of video recording, the resolution cannot exceed 1920*1080 pixels, the quality is reduced, the bitrate is reduced (to the “Fine” quality mode), and the flow rate is up to 30 frames per second. During remote control, the delay on the smartphone screen is almost unnoticeable. With remote control, it is possible to adjust the shutter speed, aperture opening, sensitivity, white balance, as well as zoom control (provided that an electrically driven lens is used), both in photo and video modes.

Camera in action

The length of time it takes to prepare the camera for use depends on the type of lens installed. With the included M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens, the first shot can be taken only 1.17 seconds after turning on the power. But here you need to take into account that a lens with a motorized drive takes time to reach its working position. When attaching conventional lenses, the first shot can be taken 0.51 seconds after turning the power lever. Far from a record, but not bad.

The claimed continuous shooting speed is 8.6 frames per second, which was confirmed during measurements, and the camera achieves the stated speed when using both JPEG and RAW formats. It is noteworthy that even when software processing or noise reduction is activated, the continuous shooting speed does not decrease, and this is expensive. This is primarily due to the powerful 4-core TruePic VIII processor (it is worth noting that the flagship camera OM-D E-M1 Mark II uses a pair of the same processors). When shooting in RAW, the camera is capable of shooting a series at maximum speed lasting 22 frames, and when shooting in JPEG - until the memory card is full. But for such results you will have to fork out for an SD UHS-II memory card, because when using even the fastest SD UHS-I cards, the burst duration is 10 frames in RAW and 21 frames in JPEG.

Autofocus in the camera only works in contrast mode, while many mirrorless cameras, thanks to phase sensors built into the matrix, are capable of working in hybrid mode. The camera provides a variety of zone selection modes, including the ability to select by moving your finger across the screen while viewing through the viewfinder, which is very convenient. When using the included M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens, the camera was able to focus on the test pattern in 0.36 seconds. This is a good result, because, for example, the person we tested was able to focus in only 0.46 seconds. But at the same time, it should be noted that the DSLR camera in Live View mode was able to focus in 0.09 seconds. In terms of autofocus sensitivity, there is nothing supernatural - during testing, the camera was able to focus at illumination of 0.52 lux, which approximately corresponds to a level of -2 EV. Here modern Panasonic cameras are ahead, because they often easily cope with the task at illumination of -4 EV, and in such darkness even the eyes are no longer an assistant.

With manual control, the focusing area can be increased by 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 times, which allows you to target the subject even in the most difficult conditions. In addition, there is a “focus peaking” function with the ability to select one of 4 colors for highlighting the sharp edges. This function will be useful not only for fans of manual optics, but also for fans of macro and product photography. It is worth noting that a huge set of cheap Soviet optics can be easily installed on Olympus mirrorless cameras via an adapter, including those for the M39 mount for rangefinder cameras (in the case of using lenses for the M39 on SLR cameras, only macro photography is possible), which generally cost mere pennies at flea markets ($2-5).

Exposure pairing is possible in PASM modes, which is standard for the vast majority of system cameras. But in the settings of the exposure metering mode, in addition to the standard trio (matrix, center-weighted, spot), there are “light zone” and “shadow zone” modes, which are proprietary features of Olympus cameras. In addition, it is possible to separately adjust light, medium and dark tones, which allows you to publish a photo without further processing and even without the need to shoot in RAW (of course, if urgent publication via a smartphone is required). Metering proved to be quite accurate, and in testing the metering error was only -0.1 EV, which is almost impossible to notice without comparison with a reference image.

In terms of the number of white balance settings, the camera under test is not inferior to much more expensive cameras. Of course, there is a set of presets (sunny, cloudy, shade, incandescent, fluorescent, flash), an automatic mode with the ability to activate the function of preserving warm tones, as well as manual input of color temperature. In manual mode there are 4 cells for storing settings, which is rare in relatively inexpensive cameras.

Noises

The maximum ISO level is 25,600. The minimum sensitivity value in the standard range is ISO 200, the extended range also includes ISO 100.

click on thumbnails to view full size

When determining the level of luminance noise in numerical terms, shooting was carried out both in RAW format and in JPEG format with noise reduction disabled. The shooting was carried out in RAW+JPEG mode, that is, frames in both formats were obtained simultaneously. As can be seen in the graph, when shooting in JPEG, starting from ISO800 sensitivity, hidden noise reduction algorithms are activated. This is not to say that the noise reduction is too active, but at the maximum sensitivity value the difference reaches 5.7 dB, and this is almost a twofold difference in the noise level.

Stabilization

The camera has a built-in 5-axis stabilizer with a claimed efficiency of 4 EV when tested using the CIPA method. The efficiency is not the most impressive, since the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II claims a gain of up to 5.5 steps. But unexpectedly, the test subject showed even better results. This may be due to the lighter weight of the camera, which makes your hands less tired. But even without comparison with the flagship, the result seems incredible - 10 frames out of 10 are clear even at a shutter speed of 1/6 second. In general, Olympus has once again proven that its stabilizers in photo mode are the best. In fact, by holding your breath and standing still like a statue, you can get a blur-free shot when shooting handheld at shutter speeds of a few seconds, but this assumes normal use of the camera.

Flash

The camera's flash is not particularly powerful - the guide number is only 8.2 at ISO200. It can only be used to wirelessly “ignite” flashes when synchronized via the light channel. But there are quite a lot of settings for such a budget little thing. In addition to the ability to select modes (synchronization on the first or second curtain, red-eye correction mode), a power divider is provided (1/1.3...1/64). Of course, when using a built-in flash, the presence of a divider is not relevant, but when installing on-camera speedlights, this is already a plus, because you can make settings without using the external flash menu. There is also a function for adjusting the duration of the synchronization speed, with the minimum being 1/250 s, while the main competitor has 1/160 sec.

It is also worth noting here that Chinese manufacturers have already mastered not only manual, but also TTL flashes for Olympus. The same Godox has an excellent solution with a guide number of 60 at ISO100, a swivel head and a built-in radio synchronization module, and for only $110. Of course, this is not a relevant proposal for a flagship, but for a relatively inexpensive camera it is an excellent solution, which just a couple of years ago simply did not exist for the Olympus system, which forced many potential buyers of budget cameras to look towards the Canon system (for some reason, budget Nikons Until now, when working with an external flash, the functionality has been significantly reduced), for which Chinese TTL flashes have appeared quite a long time ago.

Photo examples

Video recording mode

A relatively inexpensive camera with many bonuses, such as matrix stabilization, which also works in video shooting mode, and in addition to everything else, it can record 4K videos. But you shouldn’t expect a miracle - both in FullHD mode and in 4K mode, the color representation is only 8-bit, and the color subsampling is 4:2:0. But it is possible to record in 1080/60p mode. There are no microphone or headphone connectors. To record high-quality sound, you can use an external HDMI recorder or voice recorder. The camera, of course, does not support time codes, but you can synchronize the sound during subsequent video processing with a banal clap of your hands instead of a “cinema” clapper-number. In general, you can get out. It is noteworthy that the “focus peaking” mode works when shooting video. Inexperienced operators can completely trust the automatic focusing, because it works correctly and discreetly, which is pleasantly pleasing. In video mode, the stabilizer accurately determines the panning mode, so no jerks appear during vertical and horizontal panning. And in general the stabilizer works exemplary.

Example of 4K video recording (3840*2160 pixels)

Example of 1080/60p video recording

Sample 1080/30p video recording

Battery and battery life

The camera uses a BLS-50 lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 8.7 Wh, which is the same as the previous model. Battery life when tested according to the CIPA standard increased from 320 to 330 frames. Most likely, the new processor turned out to be a little more economical, because the power of the built-in flash, display and battery, which directly affect battery life, remained unchanged. With normal everyday use, the battery lasts for 350-400 shots. If you don’t forget to turn off the camera, then you can safely count on half a thousand, which is a very good result for a compact mirrorless camera. But still, SLR cameras are far ahead here. Charging the battery from a USB bus/charger is not supported, so you can only replenish the charge from a mobile battery using a variety of Chinese adapters, which is not very convenient.

Conclusion

I liked the camera, very much. Of course, there are some shortcomings, but even flagship cameras have plenty of them. The Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III is a great mobile and, importantly, multifunctional tool at a reasonable price. It is small and light, making it perfect for street photography. Thanks to the excellent 5-axis stabilizer, it is capable of taking blur-free shots at huge shutter speeds of several seconds, allowing you to use minimum ISO even at night. That is, in low light conditions, you can obtain a noise level and dynamic range comparable to expensive flagship DSLRs, which in such conditions are simply forced to use high sensitivity values. The focus bracketing function allows you to use the camera for subject and macro photography. In addition, the camera is capable of recording 4K video of good quality. In addition to this, there is a viewfinder and a tilting touch display, which adds to the convenience. In general, a complete set for the price of a budget DSLR.

Minuses:
– the materials of the case do not match the premium series (but the plastic case is more comfortable in the cold);
– no connectors for microphone and headphones;
– the touch control system is poorly developed;
– autofocus sensitivity is lower than that of the main competitor from the Panasonic camp;
– there is no possibility of charging the battery from a USB bus/charging;
Pros:
– design and ergonomics;
– light weight;
– support for SD UHS-II format cards;
– Possibility of touch selection of the focus point when viewing through the viewfinder;
– focus bracketing function;
– remote control function with the ability to shoot video;
– excellent 5-axis stabilizer;
– support for 4K video recording;
– battery life (in comparison with the main competitor).

There are few changes to the latest update to Olympus's smallest OM-D camera, with improved autofocus and 4K video rounding out what was already a capable piece of hardware.

There's an interesting paradox in the consumer products industry today: Phone makers are constantly working to make the cameras in their products work like "real" cameras, while camera makers are finding ways to make their products more like phones.

The new Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III mirrorless camera features an updated touch interface with smartphone-like controls, the company says. Olympus is pitching it directly to phone photographers, citing the camera's ability to capture blurry and "worthy images" even in dark scenes where phone cameras typically fail.

Olympus has always tailored its compact, budget-friendly E-M10 models to appeal to casual users. But early adopters looking to move from smartphones to compact cameras found Olympus cameras to be complex. Olympus told the press that the Mark II aims to demystify this, and was developed in part as a response to user feedback.

The company admits that the camera isn't a huge evolution over its predecessor, but the E-M10 Mark III does deserve a few decent features for serious shooting, including 4K video, five-axis video stabilization, increased ISO (from 1600 to 6400) and a 121-point system. autofocus from the flagship E-M1 Mark II. The camera also inherits the TruePic VIII image processor from the E-M1 Mark II, which helps with noise reduction, and continuous shooting speed increases to 8.8 fps from 8.5 in the E-M10 Mark II. Battery life is 330 shots on a single charge (versus 320 in the Mark II).

What's new in the camera?

For the most part, however, the new Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III is very similar to its predecessor, both in appearance and specs (only slightly better). The device uses the same 16-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor, five-axis stabilization with four stops of vibration reduction, a 2.36 million pixel OLED electronic viewfinder, and a tilting LCD display.

Olympus is re-tooling touch autofocus and shutter controls, but they don't feel new either, at least on paper. Users will have more control thanks to the higher density of AF points, but from a technical perspective, there are a few features here that are truly new.

The Mark III will be an incremental upgrade from the Mark II. That's not necessarily a bad thing: the OM-D E-M10 Mark II is a very capable camera, and Olympus would probably prefer that current E-M10 users upgrade their product line to the midrange E-M5 or flagship E-M1 camera. The E-M10 Mark III's job appears to be to bring phone photographers into the world of interchangeable lenses, larger cameras, and it certainly has the features and performance to do so.

The E-M10 Mark III will begin shipping in late September for $650 for the body or $800 with the EZ MZZIKO 14-42mm lens.

First impressions

We had the opportunity to try the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III. We can't comment on image quality as we weren't able to view any photos, but since the hardware uses similar components to the Mark II, we expect image quality to be just as good. With 4K on board, the Mark III addresses one of the shortcomings we identified in our Mark II review.

The retro design gives the camera an attractive appearance. Like the Mark II, the Mark III is a very compact and lightweight camera. Paired with a small lens and convenient to carry. The grip has been redesigned to provide better one-handed grip for the camera. Olympus said the Mark II's optional grip was not popular, so they improved the grip and eliminated the accessory. The scale numbers here are also larger and more clearly marked. Overall, Olympus said the Mark II and Mark III are similar, but the Mark III was designed to allow the consumer to control the camera and access more advanced features than before.

While we didn't find the Mark II difficult to operate, the Mark III has a modified auto mode that can detect the type of scene you're shooting, including subjects and exposure. It can even detect moving objects faster. Although we weren't able to test it, Olympus said scene detection should be significantly faster thanks to the TruePic VIII processor. We also like the new Quick Access button, which gives you quicker access to shooting options.