Olympus OM-D E-M5 Officially Announced

I just wish wish wish that damn hump were smaller ...

The hump is not bigger than the hump of the GH2. It is even smaller because it is narrower. However, that's also the reason why it looks so big.

if they're going to make it look like an OM, make it more like an OM-4 ...

I don't care which ancient camera a new camera looks similar to. I care about usability and image quality.

By the way, I shot with a Canon T90 in film days, but the OM-4 was one of my dream cameras.
 
Bill, in the US $999 body only, $1099 for 14-42 kit, $1299 for 12-50 kit. I don't know prices outside of the US.
 
Hoping eventually for a Pen version of this camera to use alongside my GH1 and replace my E-PL1 in a year or so.

I wonder what features of this OMD will eventually show up in the PEN range. Obviously they need to keep withhold features to keep the price difference or will it just be the built-in viewfinder as the only difference.
 
So it looks like the hump has the height that it does above the EVF to make room for the accessory port below the hotshoe (smart hot shoe accessories). I think I would be okay with a plain, dumb hotshoe for the amount of height that would have shaved off. That said, I think the overall size is still manageable.

On the plus side, just read on mu-43 that the shutter may be fairly quiet. Here is what imaging resource said:

Imaging Resource also had a comment on the sound:

"Sound. When we first tried the E-M5, we noticed that the shutter sound was considerably quieter than the E-PM1 I'd brought along. Then we got out the Sony NEX-7 and put it in electronic first curtain mode, its quietest setting, and the Olympus E-M5 was quieter than that as well. Very impressive. The Olympus E-M5 is likely to be an excellent street camera."

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Camera - Hands-On Preview

Hope this is also true with the production camera.
 
How do you feel about the different texture on the black and silver bodies? Part of the appeal of the silver body for me is the leather-like finish, very similar to the skin on my old E-P1.

I like both finishes. The silver version looks more retro than the black version. I don't care about retro, I care about usability. It would be interesting to see, which texture works better. It should not be too smooth, for example. I wrote that I liked both, but tend to prefer the black version because it looks less retro. But I am also not sure, if I like the black controls on the silver body.
 
So it looks like the hump has the height that it does above the EVF to make room for the accessory port below the hotshoe (smart hot shoe accessories). I think I would be okay with a plain, dumb hotshoe for the amount of height that would have shaved off. That said, I think the overall size is still manageable.

On the plus side, just read on mu-43 that the shutter may be fairly quiet. Here is what imaging resource said:

Imaging Resource also had a comment on the sound:

"Sound. When we first tried the E-M5, we noticed that the shutter sound was considerably quieter than the E-PM1 I'd brought along. Then we got out the Sony NEX-7 and put it in electronic first curtain mode, its quietest setting, and the Olympus E-M5 was quieter than that as well. Very impressive. The Olympus E-M5 is likely to be an excellent street camera."

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Camera - Hands-On Preview

Hope this is also true with the production camera.

Exactly my feelings about the hump - and truly wonderful news about the shutter sound!!

Check this video of the weather proofing:
Olympus OM-D E-M5

he takes lots of photos, and with my sound at 100%, I can just make out the shutter sound. Ofcourse this is in a fairly noisy room, but it's definitely incomparable to the shutter sound of the press photog's DSLR's. Also it remains weirdly wonderful to see someone pour water over a camera :)
 
M43 is getting there. I still think I'm going to hang on to my DSLR and GRD though.
When a nonhumped viewfinder and dual dials make it into rangefinder panasonic GX1 body i may make the jump.

I also just looked through the M43 lens lineup and it can be quite expensive if you want a premium lineup.
OMD E-m5, oly12mm, pan25mm, oly45mm =$2600
D700, samyang24mm,35,85,= $3000

The minimal price difference makes me really think about how i want to develop as a photographer.
 
DId you guys see the video on the Engadget site (link on page 2 or 3 of this thread, I believe). You can hear the shutter sound doing 9 frames per second. It's definitely quiet!

I just watched another video. There is a function button on the new kit lens to go with the 2 function buttons on the camera (and the 2 dials). Yay for manual controls. What would you assign to the Fn button on the lens?
 
I wonder what features of this OMD will eventually show up in the PEN range. Obviously they need to keep withhold features to keep the price difference or will it just be the built-in viewfinder as the only difference.

Just the newer sensor will do me just fine. The high ISO capability might be useful, and hopefully it is somewhere near the GH1 at low ISOs for DR. A multi-aspect sensor in a smaller body would be nice, but I don't see Panasonic letting that feature expand beyond the GH bodies, let alone give it to Olympus :S
 
pictor said:
I don't care which ancient camera a new camera looks similar to. I care about usability and image quality.

Good for you.

And indeed, I don't care about ancient camera looks either ... but the aesthetics of a camera do matter to me, as well as what it does and how well it does it ... and this camera just doesn't have a "pick me up and use me" look in my eyes. But I know I'm not with the pack on this one, and of course it may be different in the flesh.

I expect that at the usual £-per-$-plus-a-bit it'll be beyond my reach anyway.
 
I also just looked through the M43 lens lineup and it can be quite expensive if you want a premium lineup.
OMD E-m5, oly12mm, pan25mm, oly45mm =$2600
D700, samyang24mm,35,85,= $3000

The minimal price difference makes me really think about how i want to develop as a photographer.

It depends on how important portability is to you. Just sum up the weights and consider the sizes of the needed bags, too, and you will see a big difference. The difference may be the reason why the Nikon gear stays at home much more often than the Olympus gear. Or in other words, it depends on how much you want to suffer.
 
Yeah, a relatively quiet shutter would be an unexpected bonus with this camera.

-Ray

From Imaging Resource:

When we first tried the E-M5, we noticed that the shutter sound was considerably quieter than the E-PM1 I'd brought along. Then we got out the Sony NEX-7 and put it in electronic first curtain mode, its quietest setting, and the Olympus E-M5 was quieter than that as well. Very impressive. The Olympus E-M5 is likely to be an excellent street camera.

I've seen this confirmed on another site, where the shutter sound was described as "muted" and "charming" :2thumbs:.
 
but the aesthetics of a camera do matter to me, as well as what it does and how well it does it ... and this camera just doesn't have a "pick me up and use me" look in my eyes.

That's ok, but a matter of taste. While I would have preferred a smaller hump, this is no reason not to buy the camera. At the moment I have an E-PL1 with the VF-2 on it. I don't think that this is a beautiful camera. I don't think that my Canon G12 is beautiful, either. But I do think that the OM-D is a very beautiful camera and that it has the right controls at the right position. I consider the usability of the OM-D as very high and expect the image quality as very high, too. That's what counts for me.

On the other hand, there are cameras I don't mind at all, although other people are very excited about them. But I suppose that's ok, too. We can be happy that there are so many possibilities we can choose from.
 
M43 is getting there. I still think I'm going to hang on to my DSLR and GRD though.
When a nonhumped viewfinder and dual dials make it into rangefinder panasonic GX1 body i may make the jump.

I also just looked through the M43 lens lineup and it can be quite expensive if you want a premium lineup.
OMD E-m5, oly12mm, pan25mm, oly45mm =$2600
D700, samyang24mm,35,85,= $3000

The minimal price difference makes me really think about how i want to develop as a photographer.

Why are you cooking the books by specifying manual focus, third party lenses on the Nikon?
 
They are MF only and rather cheap for what they are. Although their image quality is said to be fine, I don't consider them as premium.

Yes the Samyang lenses are all MF but will meter on nikon bodies. I would say the build quality is decent and the image quality is great/equal to Nikons. Nikon AF35mm1.4 vs Samyang MF35mm1.4 --- $1700vs $500.

MF may not be AF but if I moved to FF it would a concious decision and go hand in hand with a more deliberate shooting style with a larger camera.

I'm just debating to myself whether M43 can replace(small/good enough) for my schizophrenic shooting styles of a DSLR and seriouscompact(GRD)
 
Yes, I'm still ranting about this one shortcoming on yet another Oly camera, and I need help understanding ... and chilling ...

Why limit the user's ability to configure the five customizable buttons (Fn1, Fn2, rec, down press and right press) by setting up the camera to allow for: (1) certain functions to be assigned to some and sometimes all of the customizable buttons; (2) not allowing certain functions to be assigned to certain buttons; and (3) and not allowing a SUPER IMPORTANT FUNCTION LIKE METERING to be assigned to ANY OF THE FIVE BUTTONS????

In the past, Oly has made these restrictions without any logical reasoning whatsoever, including on the EP3 and EP2. Those Pens also have four or five customizable buttons. Just like the OMD, the user can assign exposure compensation to any of the customizable button. But Oly wouldn't let the user assign ISO to the top FN buttons where most cameras do place the ISO button at. Sure, ISO already has its own button (on the jog dial), but why restrict the user???

So on the OMD, you can assign ISO to the top buttons now. Thanks. But no metering to any of the buttons?? Why? Exposure compensation can be assigned to all five buttons. A goofy function like "live guide" can be assigned to three buttons. And "underwater scene" can also be assigned to two of the buttons!!! UNDERWATER SCENE over metering???

Is there any logical explanation why Oly (and some other manufacturers) does stuff like this? Are there any technical complexities beyond today's technology for allowing FULLY customizable buttons for users to configure the camera as the USER sees fit, as opposed to what the manufacturers (some who apparently aren't photographers) dictate? Or is this just a bunch of non-photographers making judgment calls without asking photographers what are the functions that people care to have on physical buttons?

Ricoh seems to get it, when it comes to UI. Why can't Oly?

Some people have always said, "a firmware upgrade will resolve this." That sounds like a logical resolution to this issue. But Oly NEVER issued any firmware upgrades in the past that changed any of the custom functions. Heck, even Fuji never changed the idiotic auto-ISO setup on the X100, which was separate and apart from the ISO menu, in spite of lots of complaints about it everywhere in forums! Why? Why? Why???

ps: Maybe I'm the only one that changes metering a lot, so I'm totally crazy. If that's the case, my apologies! Sigh ...
 
ps: Maybe I'm the only one that changes metering a lot, so I'm totally crazy. If that's the case, my apologies! Sigh ...
I pretty much never change metering - I get used to how a camera meters and then I adapt by metering in one position and recomposing and/or using the exposure compensation adjustment. So this omission didn't bother me in the least - I'd have never noticed it but for your level of heartburn over it. I'm just so thrilled to be able to put ISO someplace reasonably close to the shutter button, which I haven't been able to do on any recent Olympus cams. This camera hits pretty much all of the buttons I ever had for an m43 camera - I'd have bought it if ISO was still stuck down on the 4-way controller. Or if the shutter was crazy-loud, or if it had the 12mp sensor...

Whether any of this makes you totally crazy (or even just slightly crazy) is another topic for another day! :D

-Ray
 
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