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Yesterday DxOmark published the full Olympus E-M5 sensor test. DxOmark still didn’t test some cameras like the Fuji X-PRO 1 (same sensor as the new X-E1)the Samsung NX20 and the Canon EOS-M. But I stitched together all best mirrorless cameras to get an overview of the quality of the different mirrorless systems/sensors.
All we can say is that Sony sensors are on top. The Sony NEX-7 is the best ranked camera and close behind we have the Pentax K-01 (with Sony sensor). On third place the Olympus E-M5 (again Sony sensor). Of course, this alone doens’t say if a camera is good for you or not. There are many other aspects that DxOmark doens’t analyze (like resolution, Image stabilization, RAW quality and so on). So don’t be to serious when talking about these results 🙂
19 Responses
The K-01 might be ugly as mud, but it does perform!
samsung & leica are just joke w/ bigger sensor…
specially at low light!
New Samsung 20 mp sensor is quite good in RAW, definitely on par with Canon. Old 14.6 MP sensor in linked NX11 test is 3.5 years old and was below average then. Not a camera to compare with.
Eric
I find “ISO sensitivity” graph for E-M5 rather interesting. According to those measurements, actual ISO is more than twice below that specified by manufacturer. So, impressive max. ISO of 25600 becomes not-that-impressive 11848.
Those ridiculously high ISO settings are just for marketing. Besides, the E-M5 has that 5-axis IBIS, so not much need to go that high of an ISO… unless you’re trying to freeze a bat while in flight in a cave I guess.
Impressive results for sure. Stabilization may indeed reduce the need for higher ISO but at a price. Even casual situations people can move and you need some shutter speed that’s typically in the handhold range anyway.
Ignore the ISO sensitivity graph, that is only good for making the rest of the charts accurate so they are compared on equal ground. Cameras that have lower sensitivity than indicated are generally the better performing cameras, and ones that have higher tend to be worse performing (look at D2h for example). If you go to a site that only compares based on the ISO setting of the camera you get unequal comparisons as the images aren’t exposed the same.
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Compare-Camera-Sensors/Compare-cameras-side-by-side/(appareil1)/793%7C0/(brand)/Olympus/(appareil2)/736%7C0/(brand2)/Sony/(appareil3)/663%7C0/(brand3)/Canon
It’s impressive that the SNR levels along the ‘measured iso’ values of the E-M5 on screen mode is essentially the same as the NEX-7 all the way to 12800. On ‘print’ mode, it starts to lag slightly behind past 3200 measured (or when set at 6400).
DR, tonal range and color sensitivity of the E-M5 all look pretty good too. Coupled with good lenses like the 25/1.4 and 45/1.8, it looking like a fine system.
Sony RX100 is on par with em5 except the high iso
Just high ISO. That’s probably the most important value and the hardest to overcome with additional gear or software tricks.
They are all equally important… This high ISO is the most important thing on a camera is nonsense!
“This high ISO is the most important thing on a camera is nonsense!”
See how DxO test cameras and read what I’ve written:
They test DR, color depth and high ISO. Out of those three values I think that high ISO is the most important. Other two can be bettered using lightning aids, multiple exposures and software corrections. I never said that high ISO is the most important thing on a camera. That’s a nonsense :).
No, but I think the High ISO score is the most telling for camera performance. The low ISO DR on the new line of Sony sensors is very good, but honestly don’t think that the score is telling the entire picture.
Sony rockssssssss. Em5 is just a joke with its high price and false iso.
Don’t let your fanboyism blind you from reality. Look at all the graphs compared to the NEX-7 and it’s very close. Considering it’s body price is $100-200 less than the NEX-7 body but comes with more things like IBIS, weather sealing and touch OLED, the E-M5’s price is more than reasonable. It gets even cheaper when good lenses are added: Panasonic 20/1.7 on E-M5 ($1300+) vs Zeiss 24/1.8 on NEX-7 ($2200+).
this is very funny…. the E-M5 sensor is made by Sony!
2 points seem to be important.
– the Nex 7 rating does noit match the visual “relaity”, because of the high density of the smaller pixels the visual noise is much more disturbing “in praxis”.. see here for ex.: http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Olympus_OM-D_E-M5/high_ISO_noise.shtml
– as a result of this, it looks as if the sensor development has reached a very high level, where every photographer can choose a system according to his needs, especially visually (depth of field) and physically (size, esp. lenses!).. and here the mFT has the most advantages.. for architecture and landscape it is also visually “better”, because it delivers much more “sharpness” over the field in relation to the same angle of view.
taking into consideration, that ONLY the e-m5 has an internal stabilizer for legacy glass, it is the true winner: you can comine it with Voigtländer, Zeiss and even Leica lenses WITH stabilization…
thats the whole point IMO
Lol a thousand dollar or more lens on the em5 with its tiny sensor. I rather throw my money away. That ibis is nothing when you’re object is moving even just a tiny bit.
Good lenses need good sensors, something like nex5,7, Fuji or Leica.
Have you even held the E-M5 yet? Go into any camera store with your own camera, shoot some video while walking around in the store, and then repeat the move with the E-M5. You’ll be blown away by how superior the Olympus 5-axis IBIS is in comparison to ANY other camera.