This blog post is an on-paper comparison of the feature sets of these cropped sensor cameras, particularly looking at sports/wildlife capabilities but also the range of lenses.

When comparing a smaller 2x crop sensor such as the Olympus has with these APS-C 1.5x or 1.6x crop sensors, you can expect high ISO noise to be perhaps 0.5 EV better on the APS-C, while shallow depth of field potential is likely to be 1 stop better with the APS-C size sensor assuming similar aperture lenses of similar field of view.

On the other hand, the Olympus sensor size allows for shorter lenses and greater telephoto reach for similar size lens, and the laws of physics means there should be opportunity for less optical aberrations from edge to edge as aberrations generally increase exponentially from distance from the centre.

Taking all this into account, the image quality of these cameras should be reasonably comparable and largely dependent upon which lens is being used, accuracy of focus and how much camera shake there is – and on all these point, Olympus tends to be a winner, and Olympus is a clear winner when it comes to the availability of an enormous range of dedicated fast CDAF optimised, silent lenses designed for the sensor.

Olympus E-M1 II vs Canon 7D II:

First, let’s look out how well the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II Micro Four Thirds camera compares with Canon’s flagship APS-C 1.6x cropped sensor sports dSLR, their Canon 7D Mark II.

	Olympus OM-D E-M1 II	Canon 7D Mark II
Price at Amazon.com	$US2000 body + $US2499 for 300mm f/4 IS lens = $US4500	$US1499+$US1999 for 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens = $US3499 but it is only f/5.6 at 400mm and images will not be as sharp and you only get 4EV not 6.5EV of IS
sensor	20mp 2x crop	20mp APS-C 1.6x crop
Weight	574g body + 1270g lens = 1.8kg	910g + 1.64kg for 100-400mm lens =2.55kg
Size	134 x 91 x 67 mm body + 93mm x 227mm lens	149 x 112 x 78 mm body + 193mm long lens which extends on zooming
image stabilisation	sensor based 5 axis 5EV + 6.5EV Sync IS	lens 4 EV OIS in stills, no sensor IS
Shutter speed range	60sec -1/8000th (1/32,000th electronic)	30sec-1/8000th
Flash x-sync	1/250th sec, slow sync, 19 output levels manual	1/250th, slow sync
radio TTL remote flash	No	Canon, Profoto, Bowens, Godox, PocketWizard, etc
Viewfinder	2.35mdot EVF, eye sensor auto switching, 120fps, 6ms reaction time, 21mm eyepoint, 0.74x magnification, minimal blackout in burst mode	optical, 0.63x magnification, mm eyepoint, minimal blackout in burst mode; not usable when mirror locked up such as in vibration reduction shooting, Live View, and in video shooting
LCD screen	1mdot articulating touch screen, AF Targeting Pad feature	1mdot, fixed NOT touch sensitive
video	awesome image stabilisation 4K 24/30p 236Mbps Cinema 4K quality mjpeg; 4:2:2 uncompressed video directly from the HDMI port, lenses optimised for video work	no 4K video; 1080/60p but HDMI out is only 1080 8bit, lenses not optimised for live view or video work
Burst rate	18fps with C-AF x 77RAW or 60fps with S-AF in electronic mode x 48 RAW; 10fps C-AF mechanical shutter x 148 RAW;	10fps with C-AF, max 31 RAW
Top panel dual dial + 2×2 system	Yes	No
AF	121pt Dual Pixel cross type CDAF/PDAF, closest eye detection AF, all working video mode including subject tracking	65 cross type PDAF with limited coverage, plus on sensor dual pixel for live view mode, face detect AF only in live view mode and no closest eye detect AF; no subject tracking in live view; 1 central point is dual cross;
Hi-Res mode	Yes, 50mp/25mp jpeg, 80mp RAW	No
Live BULB, Live TIME, Live Composite, 60sec timed, Live Boost EVF	Yes	No
Dual card slots	2 x SD (1 is UHS-II)	1 x CF, 1 x SD, no UHS-II
Auto HDR, Auto focus stacking, Keystone compensation	Yes	No
Pro service support	just building infrastructure	Advanced, mature pro service
AF fisheye lenses	several including the unique Olympus mZD f/1.8 fisheye	NONE – only full frame or 3rd party MF lenses
“14-28mm” pro lens	7-14mm (14-28mm) f/2.8, 534g, 106mm long, 0.2m close focus, no filter, MF clutch, $US1299	EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 not a pro lens, no STM, no IS and only 16mm at wide end
“24-70mm” pro lens	12-40mm (24-80mm) f/2.8, 382g, 84mm long, 0.2m close focus, 62mm filter, MF clutch, $US740 or 12-100mm (24-200mm) f/4 IS PRO	EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS but not STM
“70-200mm” pro lens	40-150mm (80-300mm) f/2.8, 760g, 160mm long, 0.7m close focus, 72mm filter, MF clutch, $US1399, opt. 1.4x converter	EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM but this is not a pro lens
“50mm” pro standard prime lens	Oly 25mm f/1.2	EF 35mm f/1.4L, EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM but this is really a 38mm eq. lens and not a pro lens
cropped sensor dedicated AF lenses	more than 40	mainly consumer type EF-S lenses
CDAF and video optimised lenses	more than 40	4 EF-S STM lenses
cropped sensor dedicated AF super telephoto lenses at least 300mm in full frame terms	300mm f/2.8, 300mm f/4 OIS, 90-250mm f/2.8, 40-150mm f/2.8, 150mm f/2.0, 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5, Pan. 100-400mm, numerous 300mm zooms (note 2x crop factor)	EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM
full frame fast AF super telephoto lenses at least 300mm in full frame terms	nil	EF 70-200mm f/2.8 or f/4 IS, EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6; EF 200mm f/2.8, EF 200mm f/2, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS II, EF 200-400mm f/4 IS with extender, EF 300mm f/4 IS, EF 300mm f/2.8 IS, EF 400mm f/5.6, EF 400mm f/4 DO IS, EF 400mm f/2.8 IS, EF 500mm f/4 IS, EF 600mm f/4 IS, EF 800mm f/5.6 IS

The lack of pro quality compact EF-S dedicated lenses for the Canon is partly made up thanks to access to the large range of pro EF full frame lenses, but these are unnecessarily large, heavy and expensive for a cropped sensor dSLR, but if you also own a full frame Canon dSLR then you will accept this compromise.

The Canon EF 400mm f/4L DO IS lens is heavy, expensive, not quite as sharp as the Canon EF 400mm f/2.8 but much more compact and less expensive, and given it has IS and the bigger, cheaper Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L doesn’t, this is the lens I initially chose to compare with the Olympus 300mm f/4 to get IS and the 600mm equivalent field of view. The Canon lens is very sharp wide open, although a little softer at f/5.6-8 and does give the Canon 7D II combo perhaps 0.5 EV ISO advantage over the Olympus but at a big cost in money and weight. The Canon lens uses drop in filters and has close focus to 3.3m and perhaps 4EV OIS whereas the Olympus lens is at least as sharp, just over half the weight, much lower price, less intrusive, has silent AF optimised for video and CDAF, uses normal 77mm filters, has close focus of just 1.4m and 6.5 EV of Dual IS so you know which combo I would prefer!

The cheaper Canon alternative is the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L which lists at $US1179 on Amazon and weighs the same as the Olympus lens at 1.25kg, but is substantially longer at 257mm and of course it has no image stabilisation at all.

Perhaps a more exciting Canon alternative is the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens which lists at $US1999 which does have a 4EV OIS and weighs 1.64kg and focuses as close as 1m, but is a little soft at 400mm wide open at f/5.6 and needs to be stopped down to f/8 to get anywhere near the level of sharpness as the Olympus wide open at f/4.

Unless you need radio TTL remote flash or you have a stack of pro Canon lenses, the Olympus E-M1 II easily beats the aging Canon 7D II on nearly every parameter – although C-AF Tracking may still beat the Olympus.

E-M1 II vs Fijifilm XT-2:

	Olympus OM-D E-M1 II	Fujifilm XT-2
Price at Amazon.com	$US2000 body + $US2499 for 300mm f/4 IS lens = $US4500	$US1899+$US1699 for Fujinon XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 OIS WR lens, but optically will not be anywhere near as good as the Olympus prime as it is much softer at the telephoto ends even stopped down and no close focus limiter switch = $US3599
sensor	20mp 2x crop	24mp APS-C 1.5x crop
Weight	574g body + 1270g lens = 1.8kg	507g + 1375g for lens =1.9kg
Size	134 x 91 x 67 mm body + 93mm x 227mm lens	133 x 92 x 49 mm body + 95mm x 211mm lens
image stabilisation	sensor based 5 axis 5EV + 6.5EV Sync IS	lens 4 EV OIS in stills, no sensor IS
Shutter speed range	60sec -1/8000th (1/32,000th electronic)	30sec-1/8000th, (1/32,000th electronic)
Flash x-sync	1/250th sec, slow sync, 19 output levels manual	1/250th, slow sync
radio TTL remote flash	No	No
Viewfinder	2.35mdot EVF, eye sensor auto switching, refresh 120fps, 6ms reaction time, 21mm eyepoint, 0.74x magnification, minimal blackout in burst mode	2.35mdot EVF, 0.77x magnification, significant viewfinder blackout in burst mode above 5fps, refresh 60fps (100fps with battery grip)
LCD screen	1mdot articulating touch screen, AF Targeting Pad feature	1mdot, 3-way tilting NOT touch sensitive
video	awesome image stabilisation 4K 24/30p 236Mbps Cinema 4K quality mjpeg; 4:2:2 uncompressed video directly from the HDMI port, lenses optimised for video work	4K video; 1080; F-Log Gamma
Burst rate	18fps with C-AF x 77RAW or 60fps with S-AF in electronic mode x 48 RAW; 10fps C-AF mechanical shutter x 148 RAW;	14fps electronic but rolling shutter may be problematic; 8fps mechanical (11fps with battery grip), max  30 compressed RAW at 8fps
Top panel dual dial + 2×2 system	Yes	No
AF	121pt Dual Pixel cross type CDAF/PDAF, closest eye detection AF, all working video mode including subject tracking	325 pt Hybrid PDAF but C-AF may not be up to pro sports yet
Hi-Res mode	Yes, 50mp/25mp jpeg, 80mp RAW	No
Live BULB, Live TIME, Live Composite, 60sec timed, Live Boost EVF	Yes	No
Dual card slots	2 x SD (1 is UHS-II)	Two UHS-II SD Slots
Auto HDR, Auto focus stacking, Keystone compensation	Yes	No
Pro service support	just building infrastructure	minimal
AF fisheye lenses	several including the unique Olympus mZD f/1.8 fisheye	NONE – only 3rd party MF lenses
“14-28mm” pro lens	7-14mm (14-28mm) f/2.8, 534g, 106mm long, 0.2m close focus, no filter, MF clutch, $US1299	XF 10-24mm f4 no IS and only 15mm at wide end
“24-70mm” pro lens	12-40mm (24-80mm) f/2.8, 382g, 84mm long, 0.2m close focus, 62mm filter, MF clutch, $US740 or 12-100mm (24-200mm) f/4 IS PRO	Fujinon XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R OIS WR
“70-200mm” pro lens	40-150mm (80-300mm) f/2.8, 760g, 160mm long, 0.7m close focus, 72mm filter, MF clutch, $US1399, opt. 1.4x converter	Fujinon XF 50-140mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR
“50mm” pro standard prime lens	Oly 25mm f/1.2	XF 35mm f/1.4 or  f2 (NB. also the lovely XF 56mm f1.2)
cropped sensor dedicated AF lenses	more than 40	about 15
CDAF and video optimised lenses	more than 40	about 15
cropped sensor dedicated AF super telephoto lenses at least 300mm in full frame terms	300mm f/2.8, 300mm f/4 OIS, 90-250mm f/2.8, 40-150mm f/2.8, 150mm f/2.0, 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 , Pan. 100-400mm, numerous 300mm zooms, (note 2x crop factor)	Fujinon XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 OIS WR
other		AE bracketing only ±2 not ±5; need to buy and use the battery grip to get faster burst, and faster AF as well as faster EVF refresh rate which is half that of the Olympus by default.

It will be interesting to see how the high ISO and C-AF performance compares with these cameras, I suspect Fuji will win the high ISO and the Olympus will win the sports shooting capabilities.

The sharpness at 600mm equivalent focal length (ie. 400mm at f/5.6) on the Fujifilm XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR is very soft compared to the Olympus 300mm f/4, ePhotozine’s tests show the Fuji’s centre is about 2100LW/PH and edge is 1400LW/PH compared to the Olympus which is around 2700LW/PH at centre and at edge, and these both hit around 3100LW/PH stopping down to f/5.6 while the Fuji lens struggles to get to 2500 by f/11 and the edge is still only around 1700! The Fuji lens is optically more comparable to the Panasonic 100-400mm lens but the Panasonic lens gives even more telephoto reach of 800m on the E-M1 II.

Another peer camera is the Sony a6500 which is a APS-C 1.5x crop mirrorless camera which like the E-M1 II has fast on sensor PDAF autofocus, 5 axis image stabilisation (although allegedly not as effective as on the Olympus), 4K video, nice EVF, and touch screen, is smaller but not as weatherproof, lacks the ergonomics and pro features of the E-M1 II for example, shutter only goes to 1/4000th sec, only one SD card slot and, like the small battery is on the bottom, at max burst of 11fps, live view is disabled (as with the Fuji) . The a6500 size and smaller grip will make holding larger lenses much more uncomfortable than with the E-M1 II.