537 replies to this topic

[derway]

Great Alex. This one looks like it will finally do it for m43, and a nice small light weight travel system.

[Alex_Mustard]

I've finished the review. It is long and I have tried to write it as both a review and an introduction to M43 because I hope it is read by more than just M43 converts. It is aimed more at current SLR shooters.

I'll send it to Adam today to upload. It is extensive - so it may take him a while (uploading them is quite a big job). I'll post here again when it is done.

Alex

[Alex_Mustard]

Just spoke to Adam - he is overrun with work today. He'll post it tonight (European time).

Alex

[nachogil]

I am waiting excited!!

[DrMark]

Did you use a pre-production Olympus housing? I thought the housing for this camera wasn't going to be available until July.

--Mark

[Alex_Mustard]

Yes - the housings were early ones. The one in the photos in the review has a serial number of 00019 on it. I expand on this in the review, which should be up any time now. Meant a few teething problems, but nothing too serious.

Alex

[adamhanlon]

Hi folks,

Alex's excellent review is now online here:

http://wetpixel.com/...mpus-om-d-e-m5/

Enjoy it, and, as always, comments are very welcome (either here on the article comments page).

Adam

[derway]

Thanks you guys!

Alex, the half second lag with ttl was disappointing.

If you half press, and lock exposure or something, could your force it to do the pre-flash early? So you could give the final half press at the crucial instant?

Thanks!

[Alex_Mustard]

Hi Don,

Manual is the answer I came up with. But hopefully a more experience user might have an idea for keeping TTL and avoiding flash-lag.

Alex

[Alex_Mustard]

For some reason the images for the review have quite a lot of compression on them and this makes the 100% crops misleading. So I have re-posted them again here and now I can use these versions for the article.

Base ISO 100% crop from 16MP RAW file


100% crop from ISO 400 RAW file. No noise reduction.


100% crop from ISO 800 RAW file. No noise reduction.


100% crop from ISO 1600 RAW file. No noise reduction.


100% crop from ISO 3200 RAW file. No noise reduction.


100% crop from ISO 3200 RAW file. Mild noise reduction applied.


100% crop from ISO 6400 RAW file. Mild noise reduction applied.


100% crop at ISO 640 of no-flash macro at 1/30th with stabiliser


Alex

[loftus]

Great review Alex; I've always loved Olympus for their innovative engineering, compact form etc. In my film days, I switched from Nikon F to Olympus OM particularly when I travelled a lot. They definitely were not as rugged as my Nikons though, with pieces falling off etc. Their lenses have always been top notch.
So many nice camera choices these days - I think digital is really now at the level where it affordably surpasses film, and one makes very few compromises, no matter which brand or format you choose.

Edited by loftus, 01 June 2012 - 12:48 PM.

[derway]

better images yes.

According to imaging resource, the shutter lag testers... The d7000 has a full AF and flash lag of .31 seconds, and the em5 has a lag of .44 seconds.

So a bit more than a tenth second slower. Did it feel more difference than that, in real life?

http://www.imaging-r...000/D7000A6.HTM

http://www.imaging-r...5/omd-em5A6.HTM

[Alex_Mustard]

Good info Don, but the site doesn't do the exact comparison we want, which is pre-focused and TTL flash. As if you were shooting a fish you would be focusing as you waited for the moment to shoot, so the full AF acuisition time is not really relevant as the button would be half pressed. So we should consider the pre-focused time, but with TTL flash (which is not listed in their tests).

Both cameras are very fast if pre-focused 0.05 secs. But if TTL is on I don't think the Nikon (and other slrs) slows down so little as to not be noticeable, but the E-M5 slows down a lot. In manual flash both are very fast.

Alex

[Phil Rudin]

Excellent reading Alex. It is a shame that Olympus would not at least offer a pickup finder for this housing like the ones on the Oly DSLR housings so that the EVF would be of some use. They offered a way for the add-on EVF to be used in the first PEN housing and it was useless for the same reason. To bad they did not learn that many will favor the EVF over the LCD. Also seems a bit short sighted to change the port mount when after market ports for the PEN housing already cover several of the better lenses you reviewed.

Phil Rudin

[devildiver]

Also seems a bit short sighted to change the port mount when after market ports for the PEN housing already cover several of the better lenses you reviewed.

I am not sure if this is correct. According to the housing map (http://www.olympus.c...stem_ptep08.pdf) the PPO-EP01 port being offered is the same port used on the PT-EP01 (E-PL1) housing, it is just removed from the housing ( ) like they would not admit too.

There is an adapter being offered that allows 4/3 ports to be used as well. Hopefully Alex might be able to shed some light on this....

[Phil Rudin]

I hope that you are correct since several ports are already owned by PEN owners that may want to move up.

Phil

[Alex_Mustard]

Many useful points here. Please also feel free to add comments to the end of the review. Wetpixel reviews get much larger reader numbers than most forum threads. Comments and opinion posted below the article will be very useful to anyone reading the review.

Regarding the ports. I don't think PEN ones fit automatically. But I no longer have the housing in front of me, so I cannot confirm that.

The ports I used were Olympus ones. The dome was old and fitted straight on the housing (so presumably the same port mount as older Olympus housings, pre-PEN).

Given that many PEN users are going to fancy this camera/housing, it would make sense for Olympus or another manufacturer to make a port adaptor. It would certainly be a good seller.

Alex

[bkkchriss4]

Great review Alex. I will probably be one of those SLR shooters who downsize! Looking forward to what Nauticam comes out with for this camera.

[girelle]

Great review Alex. I will probably be one of those SLR shooters who downsize! Looking forward to what Nauticam comes out with for this camera.

That is exactly what I was thinking and was about to say ...
Thank again Alex for this so useful report

[Alex_Tattersall]

Out very soon....