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Author Topic: Olympus OMDE M5 ii SENSOR question  (Read 453 times)

Laminarman

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Olympus OMDE M5 ii SENSOR question
« on: January 24, 2025, 10:43:56 am »

I have been generally happy with my OMDE M5ii as a travel camera.  My main camera is a Nikon D850 and I do mostly landscape but when traveling it's the Olympus.  I have Zuiko lenses and have no intention to change brands for a carry camera.  My question is about the sensor in the OM 1ii vs the OMDE M5ii.  I have seen some websites say they are the same sensor while other sites say they are not. I did not move from the OMDE5ii to the iii because the dude at BH said not to waste the money.  I am NOT a pixel geek and really could care less about all the nitty gritty details (for God's sake I still shoot film for the look).  I simply want to know if folks thinks it's worth the price to sell the OMDE5ii for the M1 as far as image quality goes.  Low light and image stabilization would also need to be a step up.  I print up to 16x20 max.  If I try to read pixel/sensor reviews I get bored to tears, I care more about tonality and detail noise so while traveling overseas I want my carry camera to give me the most bang for the buck it can. Any thoughts are appreciated. I tend to trust folks personal experience vs reviews anyways.
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degrub

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Re: Olympus OMDE M5 ii SENSOR question
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2025, 05:29:33 pm »

i would rent one first.
https://www.lensrentals.com/rent/om-system-om-1-mark-ii-mirrorless-camera

my understanding is that it does better on bird/animal tracking  due to the significantly increased number of phase sensels versus the OMD EM5 or original EM1 sensors.
i use my OMD EM1 with original 4/3 Olympus digital lenses and am debating getting an OM 1 when the used price comes down a bit.
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Laminarman

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Re: Olympus OMDE M5 ii SENSOR question
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2025, 06:09:19 pm »

Great advice, never knew I could rent one  :)
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mcbroomf

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Re: Olympus OMDE M5 ii SENSOR question
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2025, 06:12:55 am »

In addition to rent and compare you can also download raw files from somewhere like DPreview to compare.

The sensors are completely different.  16MP vs 20MP and 20MP is stacked

https://www.dpreview.com/products/compare/side-by-side?products=omsystem_om1ii&products=oly_em5ii&sortDir=ascending
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Laminarman

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Re: Olympus OMDE M5 ii SENSOR question
« Reply #4 on: January 25, 2025, 09:15:22 am »

Thank you. I've seen a lot of conflicting information and should learn not to pay attention to "blogs." 
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Arlen

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Re: Olympus OMDE M5 ii SENSOR question
« Reply #5 on: January 27, 2025, 10:16:41 pm »

I upgraded from the E-M1 iii to the OM-1 ii a few months ago. I find it to be a big and worthwhile improvement, for my interests. Among many other things, image quality and low light performance (noise) are noticeably better, the image finder is brighter and clearer, it is quicker to focus, and its ai focusing capabilities on some subjects are quite astounding. It can pick out a bird's eye to focus on pretty routinely, even when the bird is in a clutter of branches. I'm very happy with it.
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Laminarman

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Re: Olympus OMDE M5 ii SENSOR question
« Reply #6 on: January 27, 2025, 10:23:40 pm »

Thank you Arlen
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NikoJorj

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Re: Olympus OMDE M5 ii SENSOR question
« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2025, 08:10:08 am »

In the image quality area, there is not a huge gap between the already-good 16MP and the newer, better 20MP sensors. See for yourself with DPReview's raws eg.
As said, the difference will be much more striking in AF capability.
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Nicolas from Grenoble
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Olympus OMDE M5 ii SENSOR question
« Reply #8 on: February 07, 2025, 04:13:57 pm »

I upgraded from the E-M1 iii to the OM-1 ii a few months ago. I find it to be a big and worthwhile improvement, for my interests. Among many other things, image quality and low light performance (noise) are noticeably better, the image finder is brighter and clearer, it is quicker to focus, and its ai focusing capabilities on some subjects are quite astounding. It can pick out a bird's eye to focus on pretty routinely, even when the bird is in a clutter of branches. I'm very happy with it.

Thanx for this info. I have the E-M1 mark 2 and use it mostly for local grassroots bicycle racing and birds in flight (or just standing still) photos. It's not easy (for me) to judge low-light high-ISO noise in the DPReview comparisons and I appreciate your real world experience.

I had an E-M1X for a while and was similarly amazed at its ability to find birds in the middle of tree branches.

To the OP, I have both the E-M5 mark 2 and mark 3 and there is a noticeable improvement when going to the 20 mpix sensor. You should note that the new OM-3 has the same innards (more or less) as the OM-1.
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Robert

Laminarman

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Re: Olympus OMDE M5 ii SENSOR question
« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2025, 02:16:51 pm »

Thank you Robert. I took delivery of the OM1 last week and to me it's an improvement on several fronts over the EM5. Not only in image quality (not a drastic improvement) but certainly in ergonomics, focus ability and low light, plus what I think is a better menu system and C1-4 knob.  Now if they'd just put the on off button in the right place!!
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