Micro 4/3 Possible upgrade to Olympus M5 Mkiii

[Rose McGillicuddy]

HI.

I have a second hand M5 Mkii, which I picked up last year for a reasonable price, and love the size and weight for when I want to carry lighter gear.

Currently the M5 Mkiii is on sale here in NZ, and I'm thinking of upgrading. Just wondering who has upgraded, and what your thoughts are. Does it use the same battery as the Mkiii?

I have a tax rebate, and saw the sale mentioned on a Fb group.

Many thanks
Rose

 

[Rose McGillicuddy]

I have both the OM DM5 iii and the G9...both have their plus and minus issues. I love the G9 for shooting landscapes and wildlife as the EVF is much nicer than the Olympus. The OM is fine but not as nice. Both cameras are durable and if you are concerned with weight the OM 5 iii is the winner. Ergonomics to me through go to the G9. You really can"t go wrong with one or the other. They just are different.

I bought the M5 Mk3 and have been using it almost every day. :loving it.

 

[Rose McGillicuddy]

I ne

Over on the other site , i posted a "rolling review" thread about the 5iii . It may be of some assistance to anyone looking for general user experience. And some more rambling, shambolic thoughts, lol. Short version: The 5iii is great, and embodies the ethos of M43 almost perfectly.

I need to look for it. What is "the other site"?

Thanks

 

[John King]

I ne

I need to look for it. What is "the other site"?

Thanks

Mu-43.com

 

[Rose McGillicuddy]

Mu-43.com

I did wonder

 

[Holoholo33]

Some people have upgraded to the E-M5 III then reverted back to the E-M5 II just because of that metal vs plastic feel. I don't mind the plastic as the rigidity is similar to gripping the plastic handle of a screwdriver. I like the fact that it's lighter 414g vs 469g of the E-M5 II. It has PDAF, 4K, etc., if you need them.

It uses the BLS-50 which is smaller than the BLN-1 found in the E-M5 II but Olympus claims that the number of shots is the same because of battery technology.

By the way, the E-M5 III is NZD400 off at Photo Warehouse.

Yes, according to the specs, the BLS-50 is supposed to yield about the same number of shots in the EM5 III as the BLN-1 did in the EM5 II. I can't say if there is a difference for sure as I have no way to compare, but I would still always bring a spare battery along on a shoot. It certainly doesn't last any longer than the BLN-1 did.

I picked the EM5 III as a lighter, smaller version of the EM1 II because it also has the Hybrid AF (PD-AF + CD-AF), and I wanted something that was still compatible with 4/3rd lenses when I sold my EM1 and EM1 II. The EM5 III replaced an EM10 II in my light kit. To deal with potential tripod socket failure on the 5.3, I have an L-bracket mounted to spread the stress on the tripod mount, plus adding a supplemental grip.

 

[ElliotV]

Great to hear you are enjoying the EM5 III. Mine is a little over a year old and has been my primary camera for awhile. It probably will be joined by a OM1 sooner rather than later. Regardless, I regularly use the Panasonic 100-400mm lens with good results. My plan going forward is to have the Olympus 12-45mm on the EM5 III and the Panasonic on the larger camera.

 

[Iron]

Great to hear you are enjoying the EM5 III. Mine is a little over a year old and has been my primary camera for awhile. It probably will be joined by a OM1 sooner rather than later. Regardless, I regularly use the Panasonic 100-400mm lens with good results. My plan going forward is to have the Olympus 12-45mm on the EM5 III regularly and the Panasonic on the larger camera.

Welcome to the best place on the webverse, @ElliotV!

I've held the E-M5 III in real life and I like how all that tech is cramped into that tiny shell.

 

[pdk42]

I have an EM5.3, and like it a lot. But I hate the way they’ve dumbed down the custom settings. I live with it but it’s a constant frustration. I’m stupified that Olympus paid programmers to remove a perfectly good implementation of custom functions (via MySets) and replace it with the junk in the EM5.3.

 

[RAH]

I have an EM5.3, and like it a lot. But I hate the way they’ve dumbed down the custom settings. I live with it but it’s a constant frustration. I’m stupified that Olympus paid programmers to remove a perfectly good implementation of custom functions (via MySets) and replace it with the junk in the EM5.3.

I posted this info about the Custom Mode dial on the E-M5.3 on another forum. It is interesting, I think:

I discovered that not only are the C2 and C3 settings not sticky (you have to re-activate them if you turn the dial away and then back to "C"), but if you are in C mode and have gone into the menu to set it to use "C2" or "C3" and turn your camera off (as I do to save power), when you turn it back on, it reverts to the C1 settings.

I later tested the E-M5.3 while in C-dial-mode, C3, letting it go to sleep (as opposed to turning it off). When it came back up (from pressing any key), it was still in C3 - i.e. it does not idiotically revert to C1 from sleep, like turning it off causes.

I'm sure some programmer at Olympus got fired for this mistake! A crippleware executive could easily argue that sleep and powering off should work exactly the same way in this regard. They'll probably have a firmware update to fix this oversight!

This does give a user a very good reason to use the technique of letting their camera go to sleep instead of turning it off (I can never decide which is better), at least when using a C-mode other than C1."

 

[pdk42]

I posted this info about the Custom Mode dial on the E-M5.3 on another forum. It is interesting, I think:

I discovered that not only are the C2 and C3 settings not sticky (you have to re-activate them if you turn the dial away and then back to "C"), but if you are in C mode and have gone into the menu to set it to use "C2" or "C3" and turn your camera off (as I do to save power), when you turn it back on, it reverts to the C1 settings.

I later tested the E-M5.3 while in C-dial-mode, C3, letting it go to sleep (as opposed to turning it off). When it came back up (from pressing any key), it was still in C3 - i.e. it does not idiotically revert to C1 from sleep, like turning it off causes.

I'm sure some programmer at Olympus got fired for this mistake! A crippleware executive could easily argue that sleep and powering off should work exactly the same way in this regard. They'll probably have a firmware update to fix this oversight!

This does give a user a very good reason to use the technique of letting their camera go to sleep instead of turning it off (I can never decide which is better), at least when using a C-mode other than C1."

I think eventually the camera will fully power down (default 4 hours I think).

 

[saladin]

I've never liked the "mysets" setup , so I don't view the 5iii arrangement as vastly worse than the mysets cameras. But every Oly/Om camera should have multiple "C" slots on the mode dial imo. Easily the best way.

But I also view the 5iii as a deliberately "simple" camera - just use it as a basic device , classical thought processes and focus on finding good photos. Preferably - but not essentially - with smallish primes.

 

[RAH]

I think eventually the camera will fully power down (default 4 hours I think).

Yes, I think you are right. I wasn't suggesting that you never power it down, just while actually using it in the field. I have usually turned a camera off even when using it when I think I won't be shooting for a few minutes, but when using a custom C position on the E-M5.3, this can really screw you up.