em1 + 12-40 unboxing by 43rumors reader Aaron
After four years of a very long silence J. Andrzej Wrotniak is back on line and reviewing the E-M1:
- E-M1 Macro and Close-Ups, based on using three lenses on the new camera, but applicable to the E-M5 as well (Posted 2013/12/09)
- E-M1: image detail and noise at various ISOs — image samples and discussion of results (Posted 2013/12/08)
- Olympus E-M1: The Full Monty: a first look, hands-on impressions, and commentary (Posted 2013/12/07)
- E-M1 samples, Part 2: a detailed look, using the 12-50, 40-150, and 73-300 mm ZD lenses on my standard lake subject (Posted 2013/12/04)
- My Road to the E-M1: introduction to that camera, some historic (and personal) background (Posted 2013/12/02)
- E-M1 image samples, Part 1: straight out of the box (Posted 2013/11/18)
Aaron:“Hey, I’ve created some videos, basically an unboxing of the em1, its grip, and videos comparing the sizes of the em5 to the em1, do share them if you think it’ll benefit others
em1 + 12-40 unboxing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeMxXWi7Fuc
em1 grip hld7 unboxing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyXlbirsgcs
em5/pana1235 vs em1/oly1240 comparison, with and without jb designs em5 grip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQg6JWD8oSo
em5 vs em1 body only comparison, with and without jb designs em5 grip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKg0e0prbgA
panasonic 12-35 vs olympus 12-40 size comparison and overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0cfrX7xLMs”
–
E-M1 Store Links:
Olympus E-M1 body at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto, Amazon DE (via DL), Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL), WexUK, Topshot FI, CameraWorldUK.
Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO Lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, AmazonDE (viaDL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus E-M1 with 12-40mm Lens kit at Amazon DE (via DL), WexUK and CameraWorldUK, Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus E-M1 with 12-50mm Lens kit at Amazon DE (via DL), WexUK, CameraWorldUK, Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus EP-13 Eyecup for E-M1 at Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus HLD-7 Battery Grip for E-M1 at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus LC-62D Metal Front Lens Cap for 12-40mm at Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus LH-66 Lens Hood for 12-40mm at Adorama and BHphoto.
57 Responses
Wow, I’m glad to see he’s back… I loved his page / reviews in the past 😉
Wow, Andrzej Wrotniak!
Double WOW!!!!!!!!!! ……zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……
So good to see Andrzej back his pages and articles were always so informative, welcome back to the fold Andrzej.
Great Christmas gift, Admin! Better than a Police Novel…
In fact A. Wrotnjak has been for years the only and necessary guide we had at 4/3. Not only to assess a camera but more importantly to set it properly, and even to get a picture!
He is the Sherlock Holmes of cameras, and it’s a real honour that he has decided to grace m4/3 as well, after all the dishonourbale squabbles that have plagued the survivors of 4/3, and their desperate mentors at DPR.
He is the first reference when discussing about noise and Dynamic Range, and all things really photographic…
Thank you again for the nice season gift!
Few serious 4/3 users care about, read, let alone write at DPR forums, and for good reason.
(note, I said few, which means that the odd example you are undoubtedly able to find does not at all show me wrong)
Now I’m so confused about settings , I’m afraid to even hold the camera next time I find one in a shop.
the learning curve isn’t steep at all, the e-M1 feels familiar the first day.
Hmm, I have a slightly different take on that, but lets start with where I agree…
When I got my E-M1, I was shooting with it in less then an hour, not the least because the defaults are mostly sane.
So there I quite agree, but the learning curve is still quite steep when it comes to fully personalizing the camera, and taking advantage of all the features that might benefit your photography, or even finding all those features.
I sort of expected that going in, but for all the flack that the Oly menu gets, I really like it. The e-M1 has already taught me that there was life before in-camera color creator and highlight-shadow, but I can’t remember it at all …
I have always said the E-M1 is a technological achievement, at an absolutely unfair price. I am one of those who will skip it – and the decision will turn out to be right. Should it turn out wrong, I will simply buy the E-M1, then :-). I do not skip it because of the price, I can afford it. I do not skip it because it has an unfair price. I skip it because this thing had to be a DSLR, and there had to be another thing, for mFT lenses only. In such a scenario I might already have bought both. But the scenario wasn’t implemented. I hope it will be. If it won’t be, I will be better off again, as I was better off with the E-PM2 instead of the E-M5. What is Wrotniak saying about the E-M5 today? That now it is a poor man’s camera. I Yes! Yes! I know many painfully vain people who paid a lot of money for the E-M5. Now they are selling it at painfully low prices and spending even more painful amounts for the E-M1. LOL! And I repeat again: the E-PM2, costing one fourth of the E-M1, has better ISO capacity (for me this is the most important parameter) than the E-M5 and even MUCH higher ISO capacity than E-M1 itself. LOL!
To conclude, the E-M1 is simply a vain boy’s toy. And, of course, I do not question the right of vain boys to rave and brag around. The thing is, I will be raving and bragging around in a couple of month’s time and when Oly will have overcome the current limitations of the sensor and will have become wiser commercially. 🙂
The E-M1 has poorer ISO performance (on idiotic test charts) because it has a better color filter than the E-PM2. Same for the GX7. These are the typical tricks Nikon uses to fool customers who put a lot of weight on DxO test charts. I’m happy Olympus is stepping away from these tactics.
If you look at real world samples you will see that the E-M1 produces much nicer colors and the noise is far more pleasing to the eye than an E-PM2.
The E-M1 is a fantastic camera if you have 43 glass. If not, I guess you might be better off waiting for the E-M6 or just getting the E-P5 with external viewfinder.
Now ,now Mike as I told you when you were a little kid on your way to your special ed class. It is better to Keep quiet and let people think you are dumb than open your big mouth FD and confirm it.
Nikon bodies use the best sensors available in each format, most of them made by the same people who make the sensor in the E-M1.I know thinking hurts Mikey but sometimes its worth it.Sony are usually the best at making sensors .
With this in mind which do you think would be better a smaller sensor that Sony make just for mFT which has a small fraction of the market thus lower R&D and ability to amortize costs .Or a larger APS sensor that appears in Nikon,Pentax,and Sony’s own products.Now imagine there was a great big sensor made by Sony that has nearly 4x the area of the itsy bitsy mFT sensor, what do you think will be the end results.
Oh look, its Mike’s mommy!
“It is better to Keep quiet and let people think you are dumb than open your big mouth and confirm it.”
Hmm yes, good call.
Through, if you do insist on opening your mouth and not wanting to confirm you are an idiot, starting with reading what you reply to helps.
Its a good thing Mike didn’t listen to mommy.
Mike’s Mom is a harsh bitch lol though he did get a few points wrong
“The E-M1 has poorer ISO performance (on idiotic test charts) because it has a better color filter than the E-PM2. Same for the GX7. ”
Rubbish
“These are the typical tricks Nikon uses to fool customers”
Yep, the fact that they happen to have the best sensors with the best performance is just a coincidence
“I’m happy Olympus is stepping away from these tactics”
Yep, they are going for the no improvement in image quality but a boatload of “features” who needs pesky image quality .Photography is all about gadgets ,right lol?
“If you look at real world samples you will see that the E-M1 produces much nicer colors and the noise is far more pleasing to the eye than an E-PM2.”
Not if you look at RAW samples same sensor same results , who would have thought it ?
“The E-M1 is a fantastic camera if you have 43 glass”
Well the fact that it is the “only” camera with a semblance of performance for the huge overweight ,oversized ,overpriced FT lenses makes it fantastic assuming you are not counting image quality as important
You know bitchy or not , Mommy dearest was right!!
Gee, so the E-M5 shoots very nice quality images, but an E-M1, which according to you is exactly the same doesn’t? Curious logic.
Curious also that various places that actually did some measurements on that disagree with you, giving the E-M1 better DR and a fraction more noise. Related? very likely. The same? seeing how the E-M5 doesn’t have pdaf on-sensor, it is a 100% sure bet they are not the same.
Beyond that…
Image quality is an absolute?
Image quality only consists of noise levels, nothing else (like say.. dynamic range) matters?
Also, that Nikon is said to employ some tricks to make the ‘high iso’ score look better then it is in reality does not say they aren’t using the best sensors. 2 different things that aren’t exactly mutually exclusive.
“I have always said the E-M1 is a technological achievement, at an absolutely unfair price.”
That is your opinion, and not one based on good arguments if we go by all your ranting about it.
“I am one of those who will skip it”
So far you aren’t skipping it, you are sprouting rubbish each time it is mentioned.
” – and the decision will turn out to be right. Should it turn out wrong, I will simply buy the E-M1, then :-)”
What is right for you is upto you to decide.
What is wrong is your totally moronic ranting based on a difference between 2 numbers that according to the source of those numbers is totally irrelevant, that according to any basic photography knowledge is totally irrelevant, and that you totally fail to understand.
This has been explained so often to you by so many people, that the only thing you are achieving here is making yourself look like an idiot.
“I do not skip it because of the price, I can afford it. I do not skip it because it has an unfair price.”
Through you keep pushing that as ‘argument’ regardless, actually, you started out this post with it.
“I skip it because this thing had to be a DSLR, and there had to be another thing, for mFT lenses only”
Go buy a K-30 instead if that suits you better.
Those who have been able to try both the E-7 prototype and the E-M1 prototype rather disagree with you, and as owner of both m4/3 and 4/3 lenses, I totally disagree with you. I’ve already spent enough time in the past on explaining why, and why you are wrong, not in wanting something else, but because of the arguments you use, because those arguments simply don’t hold up to scrutiny and tend to be based on clear lack of understanding of what you are talking about.
Each time I post an opinion on the low ISO capacity of E-M1, strongly and objectively based on DxOMark data, you post a counter opinion invariably twice more verbose, claiming yours is on behalf of the masses. If it is truly on behalf of the masses, then my opinion qualifies as at least twice more important for them than I have ever hoped for. And I thank you deeply for this revelation. 🙂 My opinion counts!
I don’t speak for any kind of majority or ‘the masses’, and neither do you, despite you often acting otherwise (claiming you speak on behalf of thousands of fourthirds users)
But I do point out that you don’t understand the things you are basing your opinion on at all.
For my three nice m43 lens I have two m43 bodies. I have a lot of 43 glass and I want a DSLR. I have three E-type DSLRs and they work fine. But they will end their life cycle. Why not make a DSLR? One. A simple question with no possible valid answer. Sigma are doing fine with one DSLR. Oly are doing wrong without any.
Are you sure you have any camera beside a smartphone? There would be nothing wrong to admit it, and it would make your life so much easier… 🙂
If the question is for me, I have no smartphone and I have five Olympus cameras and ~15 lenses. And I am forced to migrate to Pentax – been considering what and why these days. Major reason: inadequate Oly behaviour. Secondary reason: the Samyang 10mm 2.8 is coming. On Oly it will be 20mm (while I have 11-22), on Pentax (with IS) 15 mm. Alternative solution: E-PM2, the ISO champion, with Samyang 10mm and Metabones – will yield 14.2mm. But there is lack of clarity as to Metabones availability and possible side effects …
Yes, they are putting a gun to your head, forcing you to go Pentax,
But please do, it would rid us of your uninformed rants.
When you say iso champion, are you talking jpegs? Cause they have the same sensor, so the statement really makes no sense at all
No he is talking about a less then 1/4 stop difference as measured by DXO.
Of course, that is dxo, and he ignores their qualifying statements about their measurements, but.. its not about jpegs.
But I wonder, where have you been hiding to have missed his posting of this same nonsense to each and every thread about the e-m1 in the last month or so…
Unfortunately this year due to Health issues a bad financial year, sooo i put the em1 in the wanna have locker for some time, my e3 works fine, so will have to be patient for some time lol….
This guy is an IDIOT! I have no clue why would anyone pay any attention to what he has to say.
He was thinking about getting a refund because there was a scratch on his sleeved box?? Really?
Very happy to see Andrejz back.
It seems to me that for a “popular” and “great” camera, there’s a whole lot of pumping going on.
And it can only be because of the high price.
Too many cameras with far superior IQ only a little higher priced.
Superior IQ yes, far superior, no. It’s the whole package I bought into, that makes the E-M1 far superior to ME compared to anything anybody else offers. I am very happy with it as an overall camera system I carry anywhere with complete confidence.
With essentially the same IQ as the e-m5, is it really worth almost twice the price?
For some yes, for others no. Depends on what you need and like.
Go try one, its gonna tell you much more about if its worth the price to you then anyone on any forum can.
E-M1 is only worth it if you have 43 glass. If not you are better off getting the E-M5, E-P5 or waiting for the E-M6.
“Superior IQ yes, far superior, no”
Well considering how many folk here seem to get all hot an bothered about fractions of a stop better performance on an mFT camera. The fact that the E-M1 our flagship can be outperformed in image quality by even the cheapest low end cameras with low grade sensors from Sony & Nikon that cost a fraction of the price is rather worrying. The A3000 with kit lens costs 1/5th of the price of the E-M1 body only.
http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Olympus-OM-D-E-M1-versus-Sony-A3000-versus-Nikon-D3200___909_906_801
No doubt the E-M1 is a great machine with excellent build quality and great feature set but in the end image quality is king.For less money you can buy weather sealed high feature set models with significantly better image quality { over a stop in some areas] such as the D7100.For £50 less you can buy the Sony A7.mFT has only one thing going for it size. The next gen APS sensors are due out soon in the Nex 7 replacement, considering that the current gen of APS models already comfortably outperform the E-M1,there has been no real advance in high ISO since the 2009 GH1 says it all.Despite what the Olympus loons tell you lol the E-M1 is very poor at high ISO unless you like mush
http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Olympus-OM-D-E-M1-versus-Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-GH1___909_630
“Well considering how many folk here seem to get all hot an bothered about fractions of a stop better performance on an mFT camera.”
Oh they do?
Except for idiots like Jankoff, people are rather saying that a fraction of a stop doesn’t get you any real-world improvement that you’d notice.
So go stick your strawman there where the sun doesn’t shine.
You may not have noticed but a lot of APSC cameras have the same sensor and it is the features that differentiate them.
Pentax K50 and K5ii
Canon Rebel and 7d
Nikon D3200 and D300s
And too many Sony cameras to remember as they release them so often.
This is the same as Olympus where up to the E-M1 all their cameras used the same sensor.
Now if you’d prefer a Sony A3000 over something like an E-M1 feel free to buy it.
I have a feeling your ‘user experience’ may be somewhat disappointing
I have no independent information about this site, but it’s interesting how it compares the e-m5 to the new e-m1:
http://snapsort.com/compare/Olympus-E-M5-vs-Olympus-OM-D-E-M1
The e-m5 gets an 87, and the e-m1 gets an 85.
“Slightly lower noise at high ISO 826 ISO vs 757 ISO
Help
The E-M5 has a slight edge (0.1 f-stops) in low noise, high ISO performance”
Well that’s going to make a huge difference to your photographer.
Feel free to ignore other image parameters like colour depth and dynamic range.
And the improved focusing, extra features, improved sealing, better buttons, much better viewfinder.
If they’re not important to you get the E-M5
Even I had the money to get the E-M1 I wouldn’t, since there are little differences in IQ. There are two features I miss, the Colour Director and the built in HDR, but I can work around them.
Instead the E-M5 has an unexpected benefit in small size/added grip, which means that I can use it either with pancakes or sizeable lenses.
Interesting to see what the coming cheaper OM-D makes of all these features
My respect for Wrotniak dates from the times when Oly E cameras were more difficult to handle. They had kittle dynamic range, poor sensitivity, perhaps not differently from coeval APS, but the smaller sensor made things trickier. So A.W. taught us how to tweak the noise filter, the contrast, and the sharpness – Low, Low- in order to maximise results.
These days are over, but it is interesting to see how he accepts undeservedly the EVF, while other keep fearing it – older people becoming stuck in their ways. Olympus is one of the two or three oldest camera makers and therefore it takes a good interpreter, an unconventional one to show the hidden subtleties. Among the cons he puts the junk on the main wheel. I might agree or not, Olympus needing all the consumers it can. But it would be nice too to have a bare bones camera.
Spurred by the raving about VF-4, had a look at it a couple of days ago. Was even ready to pay its exorbitant (like for so many other Oly products) price. Apart from being larger, it turned out to be hardly any better in any meaningful way than the VF-3 that I have. So, high intellectual reasoning 🙂 about today’s EVFs will not conceal the fact that they suck. Flicker. Maybe they will not in the future. But when?
Really? Are you sure you even clean it before putting it in the proper eyesocket? Or did you put it elsewhere? 🙂
The problem with the VF-4 is that the black is never really black, and thus you are always reminded that it is an EVF.
The A7 viewfinder on the other hand has the deepest black. It is also the same magnification and resolution as the VF-4. With the Sony finder you forget that it is electronic. A huge step forward in my opinion!
It is interesting that every review I have read comparing the Sony A7 EVF and the Olympus E-M1 EVF concludes that the Oly version is best. So who to trust? The best is, of course, to test it yourself. However, if that is not possible, I’d choose to trust a reviewer that is not anonymous.
Blacks are better, rest of the colors aren’t.
This may be a matter of preference, but I rather take good colors in the VF over a black that is so black I will never realize it is an EVF.
“These days are over”
The e-m1 is even further behind the best APS than the original FT models were behind in their day.
“The e-m1 is even further behind the best APS than the original FT models were behind in their day.”
Exactly true! And infuriatingly priced at the same time.
@Jerkoff…why would you be infuriated by the price of a camera you don’t like or want? Perhaps you need to go back to troll school, your ability to twist logic convincingly is sadly lacking.
Its a good question, that it infuriates him is clear tho from the over a month of repeated ranting by him.
Why would we bicker about APS when we earned in one sensor’s generation two stops of DR and two of sensitivity?
http://www.43rumors.com/e-m5-raw-dynamic-range-test-by-pekka-potka-body-only-really-in-stock-at-adorama/
And not even happy with that Olympus added 4 stops of IBIS, an accomplishment that allowed it to distance any other brand of the small format.
I guess that in this forum one keeps the trolls liars to kick them in the rump, while they clean the floors, shaking their long ears with asinine brays…
This guy…….”there is a line on the box i should go for a refund”. He should worry about the poor picture and video quality instead of the box. But he should get a refund and get an EM5 because there is not much improvement. M43 last moments…
Troll.
Hmm. My recent email from Olympus apologising for the delay for the HLD7 grip as they have had ‘unprecedented’ demand for this camera.
And as you keep on telling us it’s not cheap.
Suspect reports of their death have been much exaggerated.
What will Oly do in the EM6?
With the IQ already very similar between the EM5 and EM1, and both having weather sealing (but EM1 being more robust), and the EM1 having more buttons and direct controls and the grip, what could the EM6 do to differentiate itself?
To me, it seems like the way to differentiate the EM6 will not be on changing the features or IQ, but it will be price. Imagine if it launches at $799 with a kit lens, adds a mic jack, and focus peaking, but is otherwise the same as the EM5. Interesting?
ENGINEERING TYPES PLS WEIGH IN: Could a camera with lower megapixels gain ISO performance? If so, would you trade 16 for 12 and a big gain in high ISO? That would be something I’d consider, although the 5 axis stabilization seems like a better ISO strategy.
Differentiate itself from what? The E-M1? E-M5?
I own both E-M1 and E-M5, and to me it seems they are different in more then the few things you mention:
– viewfinder
– PDAF for 4/3 lenses
– continuous focus that works much better then any other m4/3 camera
Just to name a few things.
Considering Olympus has suggested they want a low, medium and higher level OM-D body, the better question is.. what would an E-M6 look like if it has to differentiate itself from an E-5 (justifying a higher price for the 5)?
With regards to lowering resolution: yes, but you can achieve pretty much the same by downscaling your 16mp picture to 12mp. However, you won’t be able to upscale your 12mp picture and get more then 12mp in real data, so all things considered, its not a good approach.
I’m not saying that the EM1 doesn’t have other things to set it apart from the EM5. Just wondering aloud what Olympus will do to with a new EM. While I can see a fair amount of space between the aging but still excellent EM5 and the latest EM1, it doesn’t appear that there is enough space in between the two of them for a new camera and price point. They could go in the other direction and place it between the EM5 and the Stylus, but that would mean releasing a less capable EM5, which seems less interesting as well, personally. It gives them a more affordable option to build market share, I suppose. But as the EM5 ages and the price drops, that becomes a pretty attractive entry, so this will need to be extremely aggressive on price. I hope they keep the weather sealing as a standard EM feature, regardless of whatever else gets pruned back….
@Doug
A new EM (rumored for early next year) is extremely likely to sit below the E-M5, and not between the E-M5 and E-M1. Olympus has indicated there will be 3 OM-Ds concurrently available, an ‘entry’ level one, an ‘advanced amateur’ one, and a ‘pro’ one. Seeing how the E-M1 is marketed as ‘pro’ and the E-M5 as ‘advanced amateur’, its obvious the entry level spot is still open.
I bet it will not have weather-sealing, and will miss out on a few other things (possibly slower shutter, likely less capable ibis), but will keep the new processing of the E-M1, including things like focus peaking, smaller AF points and all that.
With an E-M5 replacement due later that same year, that also makes quite a bit of sense to me. Yes, the E-M5 will be more interesting for those needing weather-sealing, but, otherwise such an entry-level OM-D may well be more interesting feature-wise for most people.
Obviously, a by then almost 2 years old camera with a somewhat reduced price may be a more interesting deal for some, you typically buy better build quality and handling by buying an older but higher level model instead of spending the same or a bit less on the latest and greatest entry level. Do you want the latest tech or do you want a better built and handling but somewhat older camera, that is typically the question.