Olympus announces the M-D E-M1X, an EOS-1D X Mark II killer?

[CanoKnight]

Olympus going backwards at full speed. Takes a lot of guts to do that. Kudos to management.

 

[Don Haines]

We had film photography, then digital, and we are now moving towards computational photography.

What you should be taking away from the launch of this camera are the things that you can do with sufficient processing power, things like AI autofocus..... how long before they have a bird specific download so that (for example) I can download the chickadee module and the camera knows how to track those little buggers!

What about the in-camera image shifting and combining?

The real difference between this camera and its predecessor is the computing power.

 

[M. D. Vaden of Oregon]

Yeah, it's M4/3.

Yes ... and when I look at the topic title is reminds me of when people name their Chihuahua "Killer" .. lol

 

[Hector1970]

Yes ... and when I look at the topic title is reminds me of when people name their Chihuahua "Killer" .. lol

Intriguing camera. Olympus are a bit doomed with micro 4/3 but really do pull out all the stops. I’ve two Olympus cameras and the lens are great. User interface is terrible on my cameras but newer ones are better. Everything is so much smaller even though this one is a bit more sizable. It’s very expensive for a micro 4/3 camera. I think they will struggle to sell it. Reviews will be interesting. I have a soft spot for Olympus. They are the David versus Goliath in the camera world. They are pushing technology to the max but are hampered by the sensor size. Maybe they can convince buyers small is beautiful but unfortunately it’s also not cheap.

 

[Ozarker]

Intriguing camera. Olympus are a bit doomed with micro 4/3 but really do pull out all the stops. I’ve two Olympus cameras and the lens are great. User interface is terrible on my cameras but newer ones are better. Everything is so much smaller even though this one is a bit more sizable. It’s very expensive for a micro 4/3 camera. I think they will struggle to sell it. Reviews will be interesting. I have a soft spot for Olympus. They are the David versus Goliath in the camera world. They are pushing technology to the max but are hampered by the sensor size. Maybe they can convince buyers small is beautiful but unfortunately it’s also not cheap.

I'll be waiting for the closeout sale.

 

[Don Haines]

If Olympus were to take this technology and mate it to a FF sensor, and then give it the Canon R mount, I’d buy one......

 

[AlanF]

If Olympus were to take this technology and mate it to a FF sensor, and then give it the Canon R mount, I’d buy one......

It’s called the Panasonic S series with an L mount. Seriously, I think Panasonic has seen the writing on the wall.

 

[mpmark]

Lipstick on a pig. This time they put sparkly lipstick.

1. Its micro 4/3, can't complete with a larger sensor.
2. the bokeh is absolutely horrible, like out of a cell phone.
3. colors are bad
4. noise performance is just horrible.

need I say more?

 

[old-pr-pix]

Have you ever actually shot m43? While I readily admit it's not hard to pixel peep and see the differences between m43 and FF, I've never had a client or editor tell me your points #2 - #4. Nor can they tell me which camera system I happened to use unless they saw me shooting. As I get older, weight means a lot to me. I loved medium format for years, but gave it up when I felt FF was sufficient for my use. Now I'm trending toward more use of m43, but I'm not dumping my Canon stuff... not yet anyway. Who knows, maybe the EOS R and RF lenses will prove light enough to keep me in the fold!

 

[Jack Douglas]

Have you ever actually shot m43? While I readily admit it's not hard to pixel peep and see the differences between m43 and FF, I've never had a client or editor tell me your points #2 - #4. Nor can they tell me which camera system I happened to use unless they saw me shooting. As I get older, weight means a lot to me. I loved medium format for years, but gave it up when I felt FF was sufficient for my use. Now I'm trending toward more use of m43, but I'm not dumping my Canon stuff... not yet anyway. Who knows, maybe the EOS R and RF lenses will prove light enough to keep me in the fold!

You're not alone. Provided you can frame a picture the way you'd like it, I'd bet all of our present "decent" cameras would be indistinguishable. We fret too much for our own benefit. Seems there is this problem of aging that needs a solution for many of us.

Jack

 

[Don Haines]

Have you ever actually shot m43? While I readily admit it's not hard to pixel peep and see the differences between m43 and FF, I've never had a client or editor tell me your points #2 - #4. Nor can they tell me which camera system I happened to use unless they saw me shooting. As I get older, weight means a lot to me. I loved medium format for years, but gave it up when I felt FF was sufficient for my use. Now I'm trending toward more use of m43, but I'm not dumping my Canon stuff... not yet anyway. Who knows, maybe the EOS R and RF lenses will prove light enough to keep me in the fold!

As one with both, in good light there is no real difference. They both take images that are good enough for reports. In poor light, yes, the 6D wipes the floor with the Oly, but outdoors the Oly is king. It's not just me either, when people need a camera they usually grab the Oly because of the size.

 

[Pape]

on good light and with 50mm tube olympus is sharper than 5dr with 50mm art sigma.
but on long teles they dont seems to do as good ,maybe cause you cant turn design around?

 

[Hector1970]

Lipstick on a pig. This time they put sparkly lipstick.

1. Its micro 4/3, can't complete with a larger sensor.
2. the bokeh is absolutely horrible, like out of a cell phone.
3. colors are bad
4. noise performance is just horrible.

need I say more?

Maybe you should try a modern Olympus
Bokeh I find is very good. Their lens are great and sharp
Colours are very good.
Noise is fine up to about 1600 and then it can't compete with a full frame but its too be expected.

If you said they make their menu systems and touch implementation way to complicated I'd agree.
I've always thought they should have two menu systems - one for the basics and a second for the complicated stuff.
My one has a mind of its own at times.

 

[Ozarker]

Yes ... and when I look at the topic title is reminds me of when people name their Chihuahua "Killer" .. lol

Leave my dog out of this!

 

[Reeperbahn]

I tried it last week while I have been at the Olympus launch event in Europe.
I know the EM1 mkII and used it quite a few times.

The body of the new pro-camera is great. Very good ergonomics but much more compact than you would think from watching the images.

My conclusion is:
It is a very impressive camera. It has literally everything but image quality.

If you don't print big (news, papers and magazines, weddings, online, ...) it is a good system for a very good price.
If you need picture quality at ISO6400, that is not the camera system you want.

 

[Don Haines]

Leave my dog out of this!

That's easy for you to say. I made the mistake of letting kids name the cat, and ended up with "Princess Fluffy Molly Marshmallow Puffhead"

 

[Ozarker]

That's easy for you to say. I made the mistake of letting kids name the cat, and ended up with "Princess Fluffy Molly Marshmallow Puffhead"

 

[M. D. Vaden of Oregon]

Leave my dog out of this!

Hey, I had one too !! Until last July. I named a redwood after her >> http://www.mdvaden.com/redwood_la_leche.shtml

 

[Aglet]

Maybe you should try a modern Olympus
Bokeh I find is very good. Their lens are great and sharp
Colours are very good.
Noise is fine up to about 1600 and then it can't compete with a full frame but its too be expected.

If you said they make their menu systems and touch implementation way to complicated I'd agree.
I've always thought they should have two menu systems - one for the basics and a second for the complicated stuff.
My one has a mind of its own at times.

I agree with your arguments but will point out that Oly's do have a simplified basics menu of sorts, called the SUPER CONTROL PANEL, and it's quickly accessed with a press on the OK button, after which you can select the function and option with scroll wheels or D-pad. It's very intuitive and quick! (Touch-screen too if you have it enabled but I've never tried that)
Between that and the customization options for buttons I rarely find a need to use the C-settings on the mode dial.

see pg. 50 of the user manual
http://olympusamerica.com/files/oima_cckb/em1_markii_enu.pdf

Deep-dive into the regular settings with the MENU button.
It takes some getting used to because of all the control they afford, even on lower end bodies, but it's not hard to use, even if there are better user interfaces on some other brands.

 

[Aglet]

Lipstick on a pig. This time they put sparkly lipstick.

1. Its micro 4/3, can't complete with a larger sensor.
2. the bokeh is absolutely horrible, like out of a cell phone.
3. colors are bad
4. noise performance is just horrible.

need I say more?

Yes, please qualify those opinions.

1. Yup, hard to argue with physics, especially FF.
2. Huh?... Sure, they have more DoF for a given aperture but the bokeh quality is no worse that any other mfr's lens line-up. Some are nice and smooth and others are grunchy, just like Canon's.
3. Huh?... I disagree. Every Oly I've used since they announced the EM10 provides very decent color Q.
4. This, coming from a Canon shooter?..
Again, physics. Larger sensors will win but not by enough to make modern MFT look bad and certainly no Canon crop sensor is going to embarrass it. I'll put this old camera up against any current or recent Canon crop body for IQ across the ISO range and you're going to be hard pressed to show much of a difference. In sensor metrics it falls between 60D and 80D.

attached sample is OOC jpg at 6400 iso from an EM10, not quite as good IQ as the EM1 series.
screenshot of EXIF and a 100% crop as the full image was scaled down by CR site.

I've cleaned up raw files from this little camera as high as 25600 ISO using DXO with results good enough to print 16x12" and the EM1v2 is a little better yet.