Three weeks in Japan with the E-M1

[PeterAit]

I wanted to share my experiences with this camera – not a full field report by any means, as that’s already been done on LuLa, but a few observations that may interest some folks.

All in all, I love this camera. I took it on the trip, rather than my full-frame Nikon kit, because this was a family vacation and not a photo expedition, so weight and bulk were a consideration. Lenses were the 12-60mm and the 50-200mm Olympus 4/3 lenses used with an adapter. These lenses are from the Olympus “high grade” lens series and provide terrific optical performance. About 85% of my photos were taken with the 12-60mm, it’s a great lens with a focal length range that perfectly suits my shooting style. I wish the 50-200mm f/2.8 were available as an f/4.0 because the 2.8 is on the heavy side, negating some of the supposed advantage of a M4/3 system. Still, it’s a great lens.

I used the E-M1 with the optional battery grip, which greatly improves the camera’s handling. Having 2 batteries is not a big deal for me because my more contemplative shooting style means that a battery swap is rarely problematic, but some photographers may find the extra juice useful.
I have only 2 beefs with the E-M1. The first is the autofocus, which is just not quite up to snuff compared with some other cameras, such as the Nikon D600. It works well enough in most situations, but I found myself fussing with it or resorting to manual focus in some situations where I thought autofocus should have worked without an issue.

The other is the design of some controls, permitting inadvertent changes. In particular, the front dial, which is concentric with the shutter release and controls exposure compensation, is easy to turn accidentally. Also, the arrow buttons, which change the placement of the autofocus region, are very easy to press in error.

Now it’s time to get back to going through the 2400+ photos I took on the trip! Here’s the first one I processed, taken at the Kenninji Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto using the E-M1’s excellent HDR feature and processed in HDR Expose 3.

[Telecaster]

Peter, my hands must be sized & shaped a bit differently to yours as I've had no issues with button or dial placement on the E-M1. (Panasonic's GX7 is another story…) My hands are on the small side for someone my height, a product of my mother's DNA.    Also, just to note, I've assigned exposure comp. to the rear dial. The front dial sets Tv or Av depending on shooting mode.

Re. AF: with 4/3 lenses the E-M1 is indeed fussy. AF performance with m43 lenses depends to an extent on the individual lens. My two Panasonic kit zooms (14–45 & 45–200mm) are fine accuracy-wise but not exactly speedy, while my Oly primes and 12–40mm zoom are very fast, accurate & consistent.

In use, once set up & fine-tuned, the E-M1 is among the most enjoyable cameras I've ever owned.

(Attached photo taken with 4/3 50–200mm, f/3.5 & ISO 640 at the long end.)

-Dave-

[PeterAit]

Hi Dave,

You may be onto something regarding hand size and the E-M1. I have unusually large hands, maybe that contributes to my accidental changing of certain settings. Now that I am aware of the problem, I do it less and try to always check the settings before snapping a pic.

[nma]

Peter, your comments about autofocus and the E-M1 should be extended. I have the m.Zuiko 12-40 zoom, the Oly 60 mm Macro and the Pany 35-100 Zoom. All three focus much faster than, say, my Canon 70-200 F4 zoom. The focus accuracy is excellent, too. For the landscape photographer, there is NO downside to focusing the micro four thirds lenses. Not so with the E-M1 and the older 4/3 lenses. My understanding is that the 4/3 performance is OK, whereas, I find the m43 performance is very fast and accurate.

[Kevin Raber]

Nice to hear your experiences.  I believe I mentioned the same in my article.  I have no focus speed issues with the 12-40 pro lens.  Very fast.  The new 40-150mm which I am working on a report on now is very fast and oh what a nice lens.  It's an interesting time in the mirror less market.  The Olympus and the Fuji X-T1 are my favorites.  The new Graphite X-T1 is so very nice.  I am working on a small report on that one too as well as a three weeks with the Fuji X-T1.  Stay tuned.

Kevin Raber

[bcooter]

No mirrorless I've used, especially the em-1 track focuses in still photography very well.  The hit rate is about 50%.

It's freaky fast in static objects, but once things start moving it falls down.

The panasonic gh4 will track focus with stills but not well in video as the 4k processing overtaxes it.

The gh3 track focuses with video but is weak in stills.

The Canon 70d in video focuses like a $800 a day hollywood focus puller.  It's almost amazing.

The Fuji I briefly tried, wasn't wild about the files, so didn't explore it well.

I love the feel of the em-1, think it's close to the best built camera (outside of a leica s series) I've ever held, but in image quality it's not equal to the previous em-5 which has amazing color response, hidden in a tiny little prosumer body.

I'd love to Olympus to knock it out of the park and do a full frame or apsc camera, with strong video support, at real 10 bit video recording, but I don't think that will happen with Sony pulling the strings.

I think the Sony A7 series is the olympus full frame and will continue to be so.

It's a shame because Olympus really does have camera dna in it's history, where sony has lost that "wow it's a Sony" cachet.

Now it's oh yea, another month, another Sony.

IMO

BC