Olympus OM-D EM-5 review
One of the best compact system cameras to date, but there are some weaker areas that we'd struggle to accept at this price
Specifications
17.3x13mm 16.0-megapixel sensor, 4.2x zoom (24-100mm equivalent), 636g
There are masses of options in the menu, ranging from the frame rate of the EVF to the ability to add copyright information to photos’ metadata. However, there are quite a few unexplained phrases and acronyms, such as Level Adjust, Rls Priority C and Live SCP. The latter stands for Super Control Panel, and turned out to be a really useful feature that presents photographic functions in a grid across the screen. This was much easier to navigate than the scrolling column of icons that otherwise appears. We wonder how many users will ever find it.
The controls aren’t all bad news, though. It’s a treat to have dual command dials on such a slim camera, and they’re substantial metal dials, too. People who favour their left eye may find that their forehead hampers access to the rear dial when using the viewfinder, though. The customisable function button on the barrel of the kit lens is a smart move. Setting it to One Touch WB allowed us to calibrate the white balance simply by holding down this button, pointing the camera at a white object and pressing the shutter button. Technically that’s two touches, but it’s still faster than any other custom white balance function we can think of.
Another thoughtful touch is that the screen and EVF don’t have to show the same thing. You can’t look at both at the same time, of course, but there’s an option to show settings on the screen and a live view on the EVF when the camera is raised to the eye. Meanwhile, Olympus has resolved the issue of whether photos should be shown in the EVF directly after capture or whether the live view should continue – the former happens by default, but holding down the shutter button after capture returns almost immediately to live view.
It’s a shame that this behaviour doesn’t extend to continuous mode. 9fps shooting is a superb achievement but it’s hard to follow moving subjects when you’ve only got a succession of captured photos to look at. The buffer was full after two seconds and performance fell to 2.6fps for JPEGs, 2fps for raw, but there was still no live view.
A slower continuous mode proved to be more useful, running at 4.3fps and lasting for 30 frames before decelerating. This mode offered a sporadic and strangely low-resolution live view but it was enough to help us frame shots. The camera also updated the autofocus between shots in this mode. Autofocus performance in general was extremely impressive. We’re not in a position to authoritatively test Olympus’s claim that it’s the world’s fastest, but it’s certainly up there with SLRs and the best CSCs.
Basic Specifications | |
---|---|
Rating | **** |
CCD effective megapixels | 16.0 megapixels |
CCD size | 17.3x13mm |
Viewfinder | electronic (1,440,000 pixels) |
Viewfinder magnification, coverage | 1.15x, 100% |
LCD screen size | 3.0in |
LCD screen resolution | 610,000 pixels |
Articulated screen | Yes |
Live view | Yes |
Optical zoom | 4.2x |
Zoom 35mm equivalent | 24-100mm |
Image stabilisation | optical, sensor shift |
Maximum image resolution | 4,608×3,456 |
File formats | JPEG, RAW; QuickTime (AVC), AVI (M-JPEG) |
Physical | |
Memory slot | SDXC |
Mermory supplied | none |
Battery type | Li-ion |
Battery Life (tested) | 330 shots |
Connectivity | USB, AV, micro HDMI |
Body material | magnesium alloy |
Lens mount | Micro Four Thirds |
Focal length multiplier | 2.0x |
Kit lens model name | M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-50mm 1:3.5-6.3 EZ |
Accessories | USB and AV cables |
Weight | 636g |
Size | 90x122x131mm |
Buying Information | |
Warranty | one year RTB |
Price | £1,149 |
Supplier | http://www.jessops.com |
Details | www.olympus.co.uk |
Camera Controls | |
Exposure modes | program, shutter priority, aperture priority, manual |
Shutter speed | 60 to 1/4,000 seconds |
Aperture range | f/3.5-22 (wide), f/6.3-22 (tele) |
ISO range (at full resolution) | 200 to 25600 |
Exposure compensation | +/-3 EV |
White balance | auto, 7 presets with fine tuning, 2 manual, Kelvin |
Additional image controls | contrast, saturation, sharpness, graduation, noise reduction, colour space, shading compensation |
Manual focus | Yes |
Closest macro focus | 20cm |
Auto-focus modes | multi, flexible spot, face detect |
Metering modes | multi, centre-weighted, centre, face detect |
Flash | auto, forced, suppressed, slow synchro, rear curtain, red-eye reduction |
Drive modes | single, continuous, self-timer, AE bracket, WB bracket, ISO bracket, multiple exposure |