Olympus OM-D E-M5 is a great camera with a lot of improvements over the earlier version of the E M1 camera. An addition like the 5-axis VCM image stabilization is amazing, since it gives the camera five-stop shake compensation. The new 14-150 mm lens gives good quality images, and the fact that this Olympus camera is waterproof only adds to the charm. The Olympus OM-D E-M5 is a great option, and here is why you should consider it.
The 5-axis image stabilization
The Olympus OM-D E-M5 has a great video-capture feature. The 5-axis image stabilization adds to its ability to shoot videos with increased precision. It is much better than stabilization rigs like the Steadicam line, and it is great, even when you use a manual focus video lens while shooting, which is very common with people shooting videos with mirrorless cameras. The Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera can shoot 1080p videos in PAL and NTSC frame rates starting from 23.98p to 60p.
It can also shoot a range of bit rates of up to 77 Ms/s, and uses different codecs like the Long-GOP h.264 compression for rendering high-quality videos. Several timecode options are also available, like free-run mode, headphone jack for audio monitoring, etc. This Olympus mirrorless camera has a high-resolution “Sensor Shift” shooting mode, thanks to the image stabilization and TruePic VII image processor. This is great, since it allows you to shoot a stationary object or landscape photo with the eight-shoot mode.
This produces an image that is equivalent to a 40-MP image. The result is that the image has double resolution, and the RAW file is nearly 64 MB, which is like a standard image. However, this mode works well only with the Olympus Four Thirds lenses that have an f/8 aperture or wider. Olympus has also planned an updated Olympus Viewer 3 software and an Adobe CS RAW plug-in, along with the release of the Olympus mirrorless camera.
Interactive EVF and LCD Touchscreen
Another great feature of the Olympus mirrorless camera is the nearly lag-free electronic viewfinder that is similar to the one present in the previous E-M1 model. It has a 2,360k-dot-resolution screen with a magnification of 1.48x, which is almost like using an optical viewfinder. Along with this, there’s a 3-inch 1,037k-dot LCD touchscreen, which can be swiveled to face the front camera for taking selfies. The LCD touchscreen in the Olympus OM-D E-M5 is also great to use, and the interface is easy to operate. Another feature called the ‘Digital Shift’ lets you eliminate lens distortion, and is highly useful when taking architectural images.
The Olympus modes
The Olympus mirrorless camera also features six programmable buttons, and includes the ‘Shift’ lever that can dual-purpose the command dials with a flick of a switch. Apart from this, there’s the Silent Shooting mode that lets you shoot images of up to 11 fps silently, by using only the electronic shutter. Other modes of this Olympus mirrorless camera include Live Bulb, Live Time, and Live Composite. The Live Bulb mode lets you see the image develop in real time on the LCD screen. It is great for night photography, and there’s no need for high-ISO test shots or guessing the exposure. The Live Composite mode can take multiple images and combine them, exposing bright areas of a changing image into a single shot. Use the Live Time mode for setting long-duration exposures.
This camera is an improvement, with additional features like the 5-axis image stabilization and the amazing lens, which adds great value. The Olympus OM-D E-M5 is a fun camera that makes handling various video and photographic challenges a delightful experience.