Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II Review

INTRO

- If you have read my previous posts you must be familiar with the reason on why I choose this camera over a conventional DSLR.
- This article is more like me describing my feeling of using this camera rather than a spec sheet display.
- This review is based on my use of this camera with the M.Zuiko 12-40mm F2.8 Pro lens.
- I'm in love with this camera. 😃

DESIGN, BUILT & FEEL

OM-D E-M5 II & 12-40mm Pro

From my perspective, the OM-D E-M5 II is the best designed M43 camera that Olympus has ever made. (Looks are subjective, so.) It's all retro and classy and at a glance, it's a film camera but looks closer and you will find the obvious digital elements. Make no mistake under this retro body there are technological marvels and it delivers. It's a beautifully put together piece of art, and I simply don't know how else to put it.

The body is made of Magnesium alloy and is weather sealed to a good extent. The buttons have a quality feel to them and the dials, yeah the dials are just beautifully designed and its a joy to use.

But the main thing is the feel of holding and using this camera that will set the experience apart from using other cameras. It's a completely different thing. It's small but hefty. It's pretty and brilliant. It's just art.

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II

ERGONOMICS

OM-D E-M5 II & Pentax-M SMC 50mm f1.4

This is not a camera that I felt was spot on when I used it for the first time. The lack of a proper grip is the culprit here. For someone who is familiar with DSLR's and other Mirrorless camera's like the GH4 or the E-M1, this is something that will be noticed first. But it doesn't take a lot of time to get used to. For me, the first 30 minutes were kind of weird but then I forgot and my hands and the way I hold adjusted without my notice. The lack of grip aside, this camera is perfect for my hands. The plethora of nicely spaced buttons and the dials made me change the various parameters while shooting a breeze.




IBIS

@F2.8, 2s, ISO-200, 25mm (50mm eq) - HANDHELD

The 5-axis IBIS or In-Body Image Stabilization is the best thing about this camera from a technological point of view. This feature actually changed the way I shoot in low light situations and it is just incredible. For the people unaware, this is a sensor based stabilization and the benefit is that any lens mounted onto this camera with or without adapter becomes stabilized, and the old vintages lenses include. And it's not just a mediocre stabilization but one of the best out there. I can easily get 1s exposures handheld at up to 40mm (80mm eq), but sometimes I get a full 2s shot like the construction site photo here. If there was no stabilization, I won't be able to use an ISO-200 but something like ISO-6400 at least. The only thing to consider is that there should not be any moving subjects in the frame but also, sometimes, moving subjects can be used creatively.
In short, the IBIS pretty much compensates for the mediocre low light performance of the M43 sensor compared to the full frame counterparts.

Also, the 5-axis IBIS works in video mode as well.


IMAGE QUALITY

From my experience, the image quality is great. Olympus is well known for the way the colors are rendered and in my experience it is true. Here are some unedited JPEG's straight out of the camera, so check these for yourself. All images are taken in Fine JPEG mode with the white balance set to Auto, in Natural picture profile with default contrast, saturation or sharpness.

F2.8, 40mm, ISO-400

F2.8, 12mm, ISO-200

F2.8, 40mm, ISO-400

F5, 12mm, ISO-400

F2.8, 30mm, ISO-200

F2.8, 40mm, ISO-250

F3.5, 12mm, ISO-400

I was surprised with the street shot because the camera really nailed the colors as it was in real life, one of my favorite out of the camera JPEG since I've seen many cameras struggling in such situations.

F5, 40mm, ISO-200, 1/125s

Here is an edited RAW file with a huge crop. This demonstrates some of the capabilities of this camera with a pro lens.

More than a 100% crop from the above image

This camera with a pro lens doesn't behave like it has got only 16 megapixels, the detail retention and quality is just amazing.


DYNAMIC RANGE

So the colors are the main thing I noticed and the second thing is the detail rendition. The JPEG engine resolves so much detail without making the photo looking over-sharpened. The RAW is just another level, and I could edit them in Lightroom to get even more details and it just doesn't feel like I'm dealing with a 16MP sensor. The RAW files provide great dynamic range and this below pic is just an example.

RAW directly converted to JPEG via Lightroom

The RAW file with basic adjustments

There are other images that blew me off, this is just an example.

ISO

Talking about ISO performance, for my use I find the Image quality superb up to ISO-4000, and after that, I really needed to work on the RAW files to get the best out of the file. So I would set the ISO limit from 200-4000 almost all the time. Here are some high ISO Images ranging from ISO-1600 and above. All are RAW edited in Lightroom.

ISO-1600, F 7.1, 1/2s, 12mm

ISO-3200, F 2.8, 1/40s, 21mm

ISO-2000, F 2.8, 1/40s, 12mm

ISO-3200, F 5, 1/13s, 12mm

ISO-4000, F 4, 1/60s, 29mm

ISO-10000, F2.8, 1/160s, 32mm

AUTO-FOCUS SYSTEM

I use single point AF almost 90% of the time, and I find the AF quick..like really quick. Even while using the touch AF via the rear LCD, the camera does a fine job 85% of the time. I've tried C-AF at times, employing all 81 points and letting the camera choose the AF and tracking, and I've got some fine results. It's decent, but that's about it. My beloved OM-D won't compete with DSLR's in C-AF with tracking, it's just, it simply cannot. But I'm okay with it since my use doesn't need much tracking and all.
In short, the AF system is great while using S-AF mode but lacks performance using C-AF. And earlier I said 85% because there are times when the system goes haywire...I mean, the camera shows that it focused but when viewing the photo, the image will be terribly off focus, I mean by a good margin. This is something that I've encountered from the beginning and hoped would change with a firmware update but it hasn't. I'm using v2.2 now and this issue still persists.

BATTERY

I get around 350 shots per charge and Olympus says that using the quick sleep mode, we can get around 700 shots but from my experience, I got around 500. It's decent, but I don't use that mode now since it takes a couple of seconds to start up from the sleep...so I might miss the critical frame.


EXTRA FEATURE - Hi-RES MODE

Long story short, in this mode the camera captures 8 shots making full use of the impeccable IBIS system to move the sensor around by 0.5 pixel...the end result is a huge 64MP RAW for a 40MP JPEG file. The resolution is real and its not up-scaling of a 16MP image. The end result is mind boggling, as you can see in this image below. Its a 64MP JPEG converted from RAW, so you can download it and check for yourself.

F2.8, ISO-200, 1/13s - 64MP JPEG converted from RAW

There are limitations in this mode. We can use this mode for static subjects only, though there are situations where we can use this mode to our advantage for moving things like a waterfall or a busy water stream..where this helps to give a long exposure look. (This also depends on the shutter speed used). The next is, we need a tripod or a steady base to rest the camera to use this mode. The ISO limit is capped to 1600 and the slowest shutter speed which can be used is 8s. But when the conditions are right, with the use of good lens, the results are stunning.

VIDEO

Though I'm not a videographer, the 5-axis IBIS makes the video shooting experience a breeze. Its super smooth and the best thing is, like I said, we can use any lens from any format with the help of an adapter and the camera stabilizes the image for us. It is magical. We can choose any frame rate irrespective of the NTSC/PAL region selection..so 24p, 25p, 30p, 50p, 60p is available at your disposal. The maximum bit rate is at 77mbps but that's all what I can say about it since I've not played much with video, but I'm learning and will soon catch up and will write a review on the video front as well.

Here is a video clip I shot and shared in my YouTube channel.

SUMMARY

As a camera, as a tool, the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark 2 is amazing. I have got great images with this camera and the size, feel and the outstanding IBIS system just makes the experience a whole lot different from using a conventional DSLR.

I'm in love with this camera...its not only a tool to me but also my friend. Someone I love to take with me no matter where I go and the best thing is that, it just doesn't feel like a materialistic thing but something with an emotion, its a part of me now.