Micro 4/3 The Olympus OM-D E-M5 Experience

It's not like I'm going to dunk it underwater or anything, but have you seen the video clip of the guy who took it into the shower?! Splash proof of OLYMPUS OM-D E-M5 test by taking shower. - YouTube (Don't do this!!) I can understand trying to keep the camera dry as best you can, but there's no way I'm going to ignore one of it's main selling points (to me). I will also be shooting in the snow (as long as it's not too cold). Since it snows here 5 months out of the year, that's another reason.

Kyle, you need the lens. Those abandoned farmhouse shots of yours would look wicked cool with lightning strikes in them!
 
I just noticed that the hood for the 12-50mm is the same LH-55B model that fits the wider 9-18mm, which explains why it is so short. I'm going to get one since I've wanted a hood for the 9-18mm anyway. I can't help but thinking that the 12-50mm should have it's own hood since there is big difference in angle-of-view between 9mm and 12mm, and it's just a simple piece of plastic...
 
Luke, think you hit the key use for me as well... would be super fun to take the camera out in the snow.

I do also miss my E-M5 while I am showering...
 
Another "like" for the E-M5 shutter. Amongst focal plane curtain shutters it's right up there with the best for me. Certainly not "turn on the fake shutter sound on my G1X so I get some kind of audible warning" quiet, but still very discrete. I'm using it mostly with the PL25 so far; haven't really checked to see if it is more muffled with the 12-50mm.
The shutter is amazing Mr Penguin so gentle
 
I got this camera just a week before I went on my New York trip last week and trusted that having had an EP2 and 3 it wouldn't prove too difficult to use once set up. I've got to say that it played second fiddle to the Fuji X Pro1 but that's another story! I took three lenses, the Panasonic 14mm, Panasonic Leica 25mm 1.4 and the Oly 45mm 1.8. I kept the 14mm on the camera almost all the time and it didn't disappoint. I was really pleased with the images quality and the focus speed. I found the PL 25mm far too bulky on this sort of trip. I don't think it balances particularly well and makes the camera very front heavy. You should factor in that I'm a small female and I like one handed shooting when I'm on a sightseeing mission :) I did find that the squishy, small buttons were maddening. I kept whizzing past the settings I wanted and having to go back again. The small delay in the viewfinder wake up was also a bit disconcerting. When raising the camera to the eye to be met with blackness made me think I'd left the lens cap on momentarily. The problem with using different systems at the same time is that you never get to know one camera inside out. I think if this was my only system then I'd soon get used to it's foibles. None of these things would make me sell it anyway. I really like it's compact size and the Oly 45mm lens is a delight to use. I did wonder if I would keep the EM5 once I got back from my trip but I'm very happy with it. Looking forward to the new Oly 75mm lens too.




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Can't wait to see more Christina - I used the same two cameras in NYC and I used the EM5 mostly for street work and for longer or wider focal lengths, and the X-Pro for everything else, plus plenty of street shooting before I had the EM5. I never had an issue with the 25mm on the EM5, but since I'd probably never choose it over the Fuji 35 for that basic focal length and for very low light, I ended up selling it as soon as I got home. I don't need two lenses in a focal length I don't use very much anyway. And the Fuji is just that much better in low light at f1.4. Both are wonderful cameras with different strengths. I ended up shooting mostly with the 18mm on the X-Pro and the 12mm on the EM5 - just a wide angle sort of guy I guess...

Let us know when you get a whole set of photos up somewhere - I look forward to seeing them..

-Ray
 
hmm ... I finally handled one of these little beasts today (LCE Bristol), only for a few minutes but it's how a camera looks and handles that matters most to me (on the basis that none of them are "bad" these days in terms of IQ) ... I've been very sceptical about this camera because not one photo I saw of it made me want to pick one up (I think it's ugly and lumpy) ... but, hey ... I was pleasantly surprised about how well it handles, even though it's smaller than my E-P2, and it suits my hands ... well, if my existing camera didn't still outshine my photographic abilities (and I had a grand going spare :rolleyes:) I'd consider it.

But it still didn't provoke the same batsqueak of desire that the E-P2 did when I first picked it up
 
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