Earlier this month I actually borrowed the E-M1 Mark II to see if I would like it. I realized that the E-M1.II, despite being effectively a pro-level body, was actually a tiny bit smaller and only a bit heavier than the Panasonic G90 (but with a much better battery life).
My impressions of the camera are twofold. Physically it appears to be built rather well (although on the camera I borrowed, all three rubber grip covers were stretched and loose), with comfortable shape and nicely spaced controls. It is also not really larger than the Panasonic GX8: the difference in size is mostly due to the grip size, and as soon as you mount any lens on both cameras, they have effectively the same footprint in the bag.
In terms of software / UI, it is... not good at all. Long time Olympus shooters would probably disagree, but its firmware really is one of the most poorly designed pieces of software I have ever seen. In terms of user friendliness, it is about the same as Oracle ERP, and only slightly more exciting to use. And the manual is mostly useless, it is extremely cryptic and not very well organized. I mean, Panasonic or Nikon manuals are not shining examples of beautiful prose either, but at least they are readable.
The camera has extensive customization options, but they are also curiously limited in unexpected ways, for example, there is no way to assign ISO to a button. It can only be set as one of the options for the "Multi function" button or directly assigned to one of the dials if you choose to use the Fn lever to change the function of the dials. Not a big deal for me in the stills mode (I typically use Auto ISO anyway), but still puzzling.
Speaking of the Fn lever, it's a very clever control that effectively doubles the number of control points on the camera, but it's also located in such a way that I ended up poking myself in the right eye every time I wanted to use it while looking through the viewfinder (I use my left eye for framing). This unfortunately rules it out for me as the way to quickly access the settings I need all the time. I thought that maybe I should use it to quickly turn Face Priority AF on and off, but no, you can't do that either. You can use it to switch between two different AF modes (e.g. S-AF with single AF area and C-AF with 3x3 grid), but to enable or disable the Face Priority AF, you have to use the Super Control Panel. If there is a way to set it the way I want, I couldn't find it and would welcome suggestions from long-time Olympus shooters.
But hey, you can directly assign one touch WB to a button (as far as I know, Panasonic cameras can't do that, at least the GX8 definitely cannot), so that's one win for Olympus.
In terms of AF, the camera is a mixed bag as well. I don't usually shoot sports or birds in flight, so I can't comment on its tracking abilities (I suspect they are much better than anything Panasonic simply because it has PDAF). However, in terms of regular single-focus AF it's noticeably less flexible than Panasonic cameras. My main gripe is that the smallest AF area size is pretty huge, whereas on Panasonic cameras you can set it to be much, much smaller. I actually had several shots where I aimed for the eye but the camera focused on the cheek or the eyebrow instead simply because those AF areas are so large. I can't see a way to work around this either (short of using S-AF+MF and adjusting the focus manually). Panasonic also has an extremely useful pinpoint AF mode which really allows you to focus with extreme precision. Olympus also has AF with magnification (page 41 of the manual), but its implementation is noticeably less clever than Panasonic's because the magnified area occupies the whole screen all the time, whereas on Panasonic cameras you get normal framing with an enlarged area in the center of the screen which only shows up while the AF is active. Also on the Olympus, you have to assign this function to a separate button, and then it takes at least two button presses to get to this mode. Once again, perhaps I missed something in the sprawling menus, so I would welcome any suggestions from seasoned Olympus aficionados.
However (and this is rather huge for me), with the latest firmware the phase detection AF works in video! It's not nearly as good as Sony, but obviously much better than Panasonic's DFD setup.
The E-M1 mark II also feels extremely quick and responsive in use, except when starting up—its boot-up time is really quite long and reminds me of my ancient Sony DSC-R1. Disappointing for a camera that was billed as a speed demon. The GX8 is more sluggish in operation, but at least it turns on almost instantly.
In terms of RAW output, the E-M1 mark II is more or less the same as the GX8, maybe a tiny bit sharper and infinitesimally cleaner at higher ISOs, but the differences are purely academic.
In the end, I really would like to make it work for one reason: an Olympus camera with a Panasonic lens is weather sealed, but a Panasonic camera with an Olympus lens is not weather sealed because the rubber gasket on Olympus lenses sits outside the lens mount on Panasonic bodies. I would like to get at least one weather sealed fast prime, but Panasonic only makes them in focal lengths I don't really like (12 and 25mm), so this means that I would need an Olympus to get a weather sealed combo with Oly 17/1.2 or 20/1.4. But it seems at the moment I'm not ready to bond with an Olympus camera. Or maybe I just need to use it for a longer time to get used to its deficiencies.
In the meanwhile, I bought another GX8. It was in perfect condition, the shutter count was less than 5000, and the price was extremely low — how could I say no?..
top-range offer). It isn't more expensive, either. And of course, you then have access to the whole Z system - no more "limitations".
