New Olympus OMD E-5 Camera

[Kai]

I've had an Olympus OMD-E-5 camera for about a week now.

It's a replacement for my Olympus PEN E-P2

(both are micro 4/3 format.)


So far, I am really in love with this camera. Build quality is excellent. Image quality is excellent. It's very small (virtually the same size as my E-P2) but ergonomics are still good. Image stabilization is nothing short of amazing. It's highly configurable, so I can make the functions I use often very accessible.

Everything about it seems designed to allow you to just take pictures instead of fiddling with the camera.

I don't think I will need/want another camera for a long long time. The OMD is really pretty close to perfect for my needs.

 

[Trompe le Monde]

what lens are you using with it?

i cant be bothered with the kit zooms. 20mm (40mm FF equivalent) F1.7 is arriving in the mail today.

+good build quality. weathersealing is nice.
+touch-button LCD with the one-screen-config layout is very convenient (F scrolling through menus!!!).


having not been able to take pictures with the prime lens i want yet, cant comment on picture quality.
but i do have 2 gripes:
-placement of power switch -- BOO
-buttons are wayy too "squishy" and should be more "clicky"

 

[Kai]

I have a bunch of lenses:


Micro 4/3 lenses:

7-14 Panasonic
12 Olympus
12-50 Olympus (a good kit lens. Nice macro capability Weather sealed)
9-18 Olympus
20 Panasonic
25 Voightlander (f: 0.95, manual focus) (pretty new. Haven't used it too much yet, but so far, I like it.)
14-42 Olympus
45 Olympus (My #1 favorite)


Non Micro 4/3 lenses

135mm Canon FD
85mm Canon FD (f: 1.2) (Perfect lens for taking pictures of your kids doing theater and other situations where you need a good low-light telephoto.)

50-200 Olympus 4/3 (new, haven't used it enough to really have an opinion.)

85-300 Canon FD (big, monstrously heavy, but lots of reach.)

(Canon FD are used with a Novoflex adapter and are manual focus, the Olympus 4/3 lens uses an Olympus adapter and keeps auto focus)



Out of these lenses, my favorites are the 7-14, the 20, the 45, and the 135.

The 7-14 is big, but I really like the extra angle of view and perspective of the ultra wide lens when it's at 7mm. When weight and space don't matter, this is my wide of choice.

The other two wide angle lenses, the 12 and the 9-18 are much much smaller than the 7-14. The 12 is a good lens, and is very sharp. For some reason, however, at the wide end, I find myself wanting zoom capability more often than not. The 9-18 is very compact, and it's what I take if I want a wide zoom and need to save weight/space. The 12-50 is a good lens, but it's big. It's got decent macro capability.

The 20 is small, light, and super sharp. The 45 is almost as small, is also light and super sharp. Out of all of my lenses, I seem to take my favorite pictures with the 45.

The 135mm is a great street photography lens for the kind of street shooting I do. I tend to keep my distance from my subjects, and the 135mm is very compact with decent brightness (f: 2.8) and good sharpness. It's my go-to telephoto.

What's really nice is the small size of the primes. I took a trip where I needed to have everything in a very small pouch. I took the camera body, the 12, the 20, and the 45 primes. It all took up as much space as a single DSLR body with no lens. It's just a really flexible system. I'm really happy with it.

I know I'm in the minority, but I like the placement of the on/off switch. It's out of the way where it is. I like having only shooting controls on the top plate. The button feel doesn't bug me either. I can tell by touch when I've depressed a button, even when wearing thin gloves. That's really all I care about.

 

[Trompe le Monde]

i finally received the 20MM 1.7 lens yesterday and took some shots of it... at night!!!!


-the focusing is bang on. point and snap and point and snap. extremely low "miss rate"
-the manual focusing, even with fly-by-wire (i.e. electronic response), is effective! the 20mm lens has a large focusing ring so its easy to actuate. moving it automatically swaps to MF mode and screen does 10x magnification. no peak-focusing feature required. [my x100 is TERRIBLE at MF]
-the dynamic range... SUPERB. really, really good. you wouldnt think its m4/3 sensor
-image stabilization really works. 1/30 shots were crisp (even after i had a few drinks)
-i didnt use the settings much... but changing all the photo settings is quick and easy

compared to fuji x100?
-i didnt have a problem with olympus' EVF.... but theres no way EVF compares to OVF. optical viewfinder = brighter, larger field of view (beyond the photo 'frame')
-x100 is a few steps forward in terms of ISO performance
-x100 pictures simply has more "character"
-x100 has extremely useful 3-step neutral density filter for day-time shooting

olympus = if you want a more "automated" experience. point and click and get a good photo? this one's for you
fuji = if you have more patience. and know how to "work around" the camera and its idiosyncracies... this one's for you. much more "zen" experience"

 

[A Y]

Thanks for the impressions. I'm seriously thinking about this camera or the NEX-7. At first, I was worried about the lack of peaking for MF, but it sounds like the auto-magnification works well? Can you manual focus fast, or at least as fast as the old split-prism screens?

The other worry was a lack of really fast lenses with AF, but it sounds like Olympus will be trying to fix that soon with the 75/1.8. With the NEX-7, you could get the LA-E2 and use some really nice, fast glass from the Alpha side (eg. Zeiss 135 and 85).

 

[Kai]



Thanks for the impressions. I'm seriously thinking about this camera or the NEX-7. At first, I was worried about the lack of peaking for MF, but it sounds like the auto-magnification works well? Can you manual focus fast, or at least as fast as the old split-prism screens?
The other worry was a lack of really fast lenses with AF, but it sounds like Olympus will be trying to fix that soon with the 75/1.8. With the NEX-7, you could get the LA-E2 and use some really nice, fast glass from the Alpha side (eg. Zeiss 135 and 85).

Auto magnification works well. I find I can focus just about as well as I could on my split prism F1. I don't even use magnification most of the time with my manual focus lenses.

I have a detailed write-up on my blog here:

http://www.larsonweb.com/blog/

 

[A Y]

Thank you! That was a very useful write-up. My film days were with Canon FD as well --- A-1, AE-1P, and T-70.