Camera Labs: Olympus OM-D EM1X Review

• 5 years ago

Gordan Lang does some crazy long reviews so below I have some excerpts from his Olympus OM-D EM1X review.

• Compared to the E-M1 Mark II
  • Shares the 20MP sensor from the E-M1 Mark II
  • Integrated battery grip
  • Larger
  • Toucher credentials
  • Improved AF
  • Better IBIS
  • $2,999
  • Beefed up E-M1 Mark II, but not a replacement
• Only the second camera to use the 20MP sensor
• 7 Stops of compensation or 7.5 with sync IS lenses
• Easy to hand hold beyond 1 second and Gordan made it to 8 seconds without bracing himself
• They have the best IBIS
• First IPX1 rated camera – should survive 10 min of rain and he has taken it out for longer without issue
• He dumped a bucket of water on the camera with Olympus’ permission and it worked fine
• Half the price of Canon and Nikon’s top of the line pro cameras and smaller/lighter than them
• Good power button
• Art filters no longer have a dedicated position
• Dedicated bulb mode
• Control dials no longer on the top, but are now embedded in the body for better weatherproofing
• Lots of buttons on the back and an AF joystick
• Large 0.83x EVF 2.36million dot LCD
• LCD was picked for refresh rate
• Tilty flippy screen so you can shoot selfies of video
• Tap screen for AF points
• Quick menu
• Can swipe through images, but can’t pinch to zoom
• Each battery is good for about 400 shots
• If you’re shooting continuously you can easily get over 1,000
• The camera only shows the status of battery one so if one is low and two is full it will blink at you even though you have an entire second battery to burn through.
• Twin UHS-II cards
• High speed is only single AF and lower speeds can do continuous
• All points are cross type
• Eye AF and tracking AF are much better
• Panning with the electronic shutter can cause some issues
• Pre-shooting works great for shooting birds and the camera works very well for tracking birds, but not as good as Sony
• Can do focus bracketing with up to 999 shots
• Can do focus stacking in camera
• Focus stacking in camera only works with pro lenses
• Can adjust geometry in camera
• The handheld high-resolution mode works well
• The high-resolution shot mode takes a while to process and they take even longer in handheld mode
• Simulation of ND filters in camera works well, but it slows the camera down a lot
• Must be in manual or shutter priority mode to use the ND filter simulation
• Seascape shooters will likely stick to physical ND filters
• Custom AF Zones is a new feature for making your own custom shapes that can be added to the AF zone menu
• Lots of AF customization
• If you have the top dial on bulb timer you can then set up to half an hr in the menus, which makes long exposure easy
• There is a preview mode for long exposure that only Olympus has
• Good geotagging capabilities
• Bluetooth is very useful with the Olympus AP
• Olympus has great color science, but it oversharpens a bit
• Not great high ISO so keep it below 1600
• Great to handhold capture motion blur
• You really don’t need a tripod with this camera
• As ISO goes up the Sony a9 becomes a much better option
• No 4k 60p
• Video is very much like the EM1 MarkII
• Can capture 60fps at 20mp
• 1080 is available up to 120p fps but there is a crop
• No crop at 4k
• Cinima 4k only 24p
• MIS1 adds additional digital stabilization when recording video
• Very stable when filming
• Eerily stable for filming video when you stop moving no matter how long the lens
• Filming with dual IS and non-dual IS lenses is amazingly stable
• There is a mic input and headphone jack
• Not needing a tripod makes it a more portable kit
• Most of the features are available in the E-M1 Mark II
• It’s hard to make the price leap from the E-M1 Mark II and if you can the Sony a9 might be a better value
• The Olympus OM-D EM1X is the biggest/heaviest/most expensive m43 camera yet

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Olympus OM-D E-M1X: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama