Olympus OMD. Any good ?

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Discussion

stuttgartmetal

Original Poster:

8,108 posts

215 months

Sunday 16th October 2016
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For years I used Olympus gea.
Loved the quality of it
Had an OM1
Then an OM2SP
Finally an OM4Ti
Beautiful
However when I turned digital I had a Canon 20d bought for me
A brilliant and capable bit of kit
They can be bought for peanuts now.

A friend turned up at Goodwood yesterday with an OM D
It looked and felt stunning
So good, and compact.
Anyone got one they can give me an opinion on.

I just take pictures of the dog up the end of the garden.


Thanks in advance.

CooperD

2,851 posts

176 months

Sunday 16th October 2016
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I bought one in January and also got a 40-150mm lens as part of the package. I had an Olympus E410 prior to this with an 70-300mm lens. First thing I noticed was how light it was. The E410 alone weighed more than the OM-D and lens combined, It takes very good pictures. I do a lot of horse racing photos and it's ideal for that. It also has a teleconverter so you can increase the lens magnification. I have had Olympus cameras since the early 1980's when I was bought an OM10 as birthday present so have always been a fan of them. This OM-D is probably the best one yet and is very easy to use. I couldn't recommend it more highly,

stuttgartmetal

Original Poster:

8,108 posts

215 months

Sunday 16th October 2016
quotequote all
Thank you for your reply CooperD
Has anyone an understanding of the evolution of the OMD ?
Has there been an upgrade since it was introduced, and if so what's the improvement, and therefore which one is best.


damianmkv

631 posts

142 months

Sunday 16th October 2016
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"Best" depends on your needs of course. Olympus would say the e-m1 is best but it's a few years old and about to be replaced. If you want tracking, the e-m1 is best ( but not fantastic tbh ), if you want long exposures the e-m1 isn't good as it suffers badly with LE noise so even the original 5 and 10s are better.

I started with an em-10 which was great but a little small for my hands so I upgraded to the e-m1 as it feels better balanced in my hands due to the grip. The lenses I have are samyang 7.5 fisheye, oly 9-18, 12-40 pro, sigma 30 f1.4 and 40-150 pro + TC.

I have zero issues with IQ in general, the camera is fast to focus for portraits but can miss on quick moving objects where the subject changes direction of where contrast is low. If you push the shadows / highlights, things can get a little mushy.

I've been using m43 for nearly 2 years and I think I'll continue. I'd love less depth of field ( not going to happen ) - the em1 mk2 will deal with many issues I have ..... but I won't be an early adopter due to the price being £1500+

djsmith74

371 posts

149 months

Sunday 16th October 2016
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I bought the EM5 when it first came out (was using a Canon 60D at the time) and haven't looked back. Done approximately 20-30k shots and it's been a cracking little camera. The kit lenses are better than you think and the Pro lenses are supposed to be superb (there's a 12-100mm out soon, which is the equivalent of 24-200mm) and I use. 17mm prime on mine most of time which turns it into an excellent little walkabout set-up. I have no issues with image quality right the way up to ISO6400 and the 5-axis image stabilisation is staggering at times. This is my Flickr album list and most of the shots from the last few years were taken with the EM5.....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/28703702@N08/albums

The range comprises of the EM10. EM5 and EM1, all of which are now in Mk2 guises. I'd recommend the EM5 Mk2 as you get a better EVF than the Mk1 along with a number of improvements. If that's too rich then the EM10 Mk2 is a belter (my girlfriend shoots with it) and is very similar to the EM5 save for weather sealing. It's worth hunting for deals as she got an EM10 twin lens kit for just over £500 from Jessops, As I say he kit lenses are better than you think.

If you need more info let me know.

Gad-Westy

14,520 posts

212 months

Monday 17th October 2016
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Not much to add to this other than to say I'm another happy OMD user, in my case an Em5 mk2.

The micro four thirds system is maturing nicely now that it's been around a few years. I don't think there are any real gaps in terms of lens and accessory availability. That goes right the way from tiny pancake zooms and primes (check out the size of the Panasonic 14mm 2.5 for example) right through to fast telephoto zooms and primes and everything in between. And some of the lenses really are special.

The OMD range goes like this

EM10 - most basic but still feature packed, no weather sealing
EM5 - A few more features again and weather sealed
EM1 - A bit bigger and integrated grip like a DSLR in miniature. A few more features again.

They are now all on the mark 2 version though I doubt the EM1 mark 2 has hit the shelves yet.


stuttgartmetal

Original Poster:

8,108 posts

215 months

Tuesday 18th October 2016
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Thanks for posting guys
DJ, those Glasgow images are stunning
Sounds like I'm after an EM5

Great stuff guys.