{"id":6707,"date":"2014-12-30T19:26:45","date_gmt":"2014-12-30T09:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/?p=6707"},"modified":"2015-01-04T12:02:37","modified_gmt":"2015-01-04T02:02:37","slug":"finally-olympus-enticed-me-to-buy-the-olympus-om-d-e-m1-thanks-to-some-unbelievable-post-xmas-price-reductions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/?p=6707","title":{"rendered":"Finally Olympus enticed me to buy the Olympus OM-D E-M1 &#8211; thanks to some unbelievable post-Xmas price reductions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wiki\/doku.php?id=photo:olympusomdem1\" target=\"_blank\">Olympus OM-D E-M1 Micro Four Thirds camera<\/a> is the flagship of the Olympus camera line up &#8211; but until now, I have resisted buying it and have been happy with my awesome <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wiki\/doku.php?id=photo:olympusomdem5\" target=\"_blank\">OM-D E-M5 camera<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>I had not been that excited by the E-M1 for a number of reasons:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>it is too big for MY liking\n<ul>\n<li>the E-M5 was the perfect size for me &#8211; able to fit in a jacket pocket with a pancake lens, and able to handle larger lenses well with the 1st stage of the HLD-6 grip.<\/li>\n<li>the E-M1 is wider and much the same otherwise as the E-M5 with the HLD-6 grip in place which makes it too big to get into most pockets, plus it is a touch heavier.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>unlike the E-M5, one handed operation is more difficult &#8211; it is really a 2 hands camera\n<ul>\n<li>you need your left hand to turn it ON and OFF as that switch is now located to the left side of the top panel &#8211; impossible to reach with your right thumb<\/li>\n<li>the AFL\/AEL button is now further from your right hand so if you are using it one-handed, your thumb needs to stretch more &#8211; and I use this button a LOT<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>it was too expensive at $US1599 for the body<\/li>\n<li>the button positions were very different to my E-M5 which makes using both concurrently annoyingly confusing<\/li>\n<li>long exposure thermal noise is substantially worse than with the E-M5<\/li>\n<li>most of my photography is with still subjects so I really did not need the C-AF and PDAF &#8211; although it would be nice to get AF back with my many Four Thirds lenses<\/li>\n<li>most of the other improvements do not really make my photography better except for niche areas &#8211; although there are quite a few<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Likewise, as nice as the Olympus mZD 12-40mm f\/2.8 PRO lens is, it was not really exciting me as:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wiki\/doku.php?id=photo:olympusmzd12-40pro\" target=\"_blank\">Olympus mZD 12-40mm f\/2.8 PRO lens<\/a> is rather big and heavy for Micro Four Thirds (although much smaller and lighter than a dSLR or Sony equivalent)\n<ul>\n<li>it is the same length (84mm) but lighter (382g\u00a0 vs\u00a0 460g) than the Panasonic 14-140mm lens<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>62mm filter thread is larger than most other MFT lenses &#8211; but at least is the same as my Panasonic Leica-D 25mm f\/1.4 and my Panasonic 14-140mm lens\n<ul>\n<li>to use my Metz ring flash, I will need a step down ring 62-58mm and this will cause a little vignetting in the corners<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>it is known to break at the mount if dropped -perhaps that is a sacrificial\u00a0 design feature to allow easy repairs<\/li>\n<li>I already have 12mm f\/2.0, 20mm f\/1.7, and 45mm f\/1.8 lenses &#8211; all of which are individually smaller and lighter, with better low light performance than the zoom lens and perhaps better optical image quality &#8211; but none are weathersealed!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>But then DigiDirect changed my mind overnight!<\/h2>\n<p>But when <a title=\"DigiDirect\" href=\"http:\/\/www.digidirect.com.au\/slr_cameras\/olympus\" target=\"_blank\">DigiDirect <\/a>advertised the Olympus OM-D E-M1 with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wiki\/doku.php?id=photo:olympusmzd12-40pro\" target=\"_blank\">Olympus mZD 12-40mm f\/2.8 PRO lens<\/a> for a ridiculously low $AU1373 when the $AU is worth only 81 US cents, and the usual price for the combination is well over $AU2000, I just had to buy it as I was getting the camera for $AU800 (they were selling the E-M1 body only for a low $AU878 and the 12-40mm f\/2.8 lens by itself reduced from $AU899 to $AU719), and the lens for only $AU537.<\/p>\n<p>ps. they are selling the E-M5 for a ridiculously cheap $AU449 &#8211; that is one awesome camera and at that price is amazing value &#8211; assuming you don&#8217;t need PDAF, C-AF, WiFi.<\/p>\n<h2>Some other reasons to buy:<\/h2>\n<p>At this price I was willing to overlook the flaws with both the camera and the lens, and there were some other almost compelling reasons for the purchase:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the rumours of the features of the forthcoming E-M5 replacement camera due in Feb 2015 were not exciting me as I don&#8217;t really need 40mp capability, but I would like PDAF for my Four Thirds lenses which have been relegated to my cupboard for too long &#8211; and alas it is looking as though the E-M5 mark II will not be getting PDAF.<\/li>\n<li>it is unlikely an E-M1 mark II will be coming in the next 12 months<\/li>\n<li>with the poor $AU, future imports are likely to be priced substantially higher<\/li>\n<li>I really do want PDAF and C-AF tracking that sort of works<\/li>\n<li>I love using flash outdoors so the boost in flash sync to 1\/250th sec with external flashes and the built-in PC sync outlet will make my life easier<\/li>\n<li>the Live Composite mode sounds like something I would like to experiment with, and as I do not use Photoshop, I can&#8217;t readily achieve this effect myself in software with only Lightroom<\/li>\n<li>the sensor based image stabiliser is even better than on my E-M5 and I do like to push hand held limits of shutter speed<\/li>\n<li>the improved EVF allows one to see down to magnitude 6 stars instead of only magnitude 3-4 stars (with a 25mm f\/1.4 lens and Live Boost = ON) which makes astrophotography and low light work that much easier<\/li>\n<li>the WiFi smartphone control and image transfer could be quite useful<\/li>\n<li>as I shoot a lot of manual focus with legacy lenses, the addition of focus peaking will make a great addition to magnified view mode<\/li>\n<li>I discovered on<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/?p=6457\" target=\"_blank\"> my snow trip<\/a> last year, and in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/?p=6700\" target=\"_blank\">Xmas party photo booth shoo<\/a>t I did last week that I really do need a quality zoom lens, and better still that it is weatherproof<\/li>\n<li>I get an extra BLN-1 battery and charger and these sell for a silly $AU90-100 for each of these\u00a0 &#8211; so I figure I am paying only $600 for the camera \ud83d\ude42<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>\u00a0What about other cameras instead?<\/h2>\n<p>Well, I did look at a few.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Canon 7D Mark II:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>nice dSLR and would work well with my Canon L lenses<\/li>\n<li>but I don&#8217;t do much sports photography and I do have the Canon 1D Mark III<\/li>\n<li>and I need reading glasses to operate it just as with any other dSLR &#8211; with mirrorless cameras I don&#8217;t need to take my eye from the camera for the far majority of functions &#8211; unless I need to delve into the menu system which is rare during a shoot.<\/li>\n<li>the future is mirrorless<\/li>\n<li>it can&#8217;t do closest eye AF &#8211; and I have grown to love this accurate AF without need from AF microadjustments which plague all dSLRs<\/li>\n<li>I have had enough of carrying around those heavy lenses<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Sony A7ii:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>now this does interest me as it is not only full frame mirrorless but has sensor based IS, albeit not as effective as the E-M1<\/li>\n<li>it is not yet available and when it does come, it is likely to be $AU1798 body only, then I would have to buy Sony lenses or resort to using my heavy Canon lenses in slow AF or MF mode &#8211; neither excite me &#8211; great pics perhaps but not much fun<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Sony A7R:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>full frame 36mp mirrorless<\/li>\n<li>but really need to use this on a tripod otherwise one is wasting all those megapixels and just clogging up your hard drive<\/li>\n<li>and again, I would have to buy Sony lenses or resort to using my heavy Canon lenses in slow AF or MF mode &#8211; neither excite me &#8211; great pics perhaps but not much fun<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Sony A7S:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>full frame 12mp mirrorless<\/li>\n<li>no sensor based IS so not interested<\/li>\n<li>would give me perhaps 2 stops better high ISO but has its own issues and again, I would have to buy Sony lenses or resort to using my heavy Canon lenses in slow AF or MF mode &#8211; neither excite me &#8211; great pics perhaps but not much fun<\/li>\n<li>I would get better resolution images from the E-M1 and have much more fun<\/li>\n<li>might be great for videographers or those really serious about astro scapes (night landscapes with the Milky Way &#8211; although I am growing a touch tired of seeing these)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Fuji XT-1:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>a nice cropped sensor mirrorless and expensive but no sensor based IS and I would have to buy Fuji lenses so not interested<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wiki\/doku.php?id=photo:panasoniclx100\" target=\"_blank\">Panasonic LX-100<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Micro Four Thirds sized sensor in a petite camera with some awesome features:\n<ul>\n<li>lovely 3x zoom 24-75mm (in 35mm full frame equivalent) f\/1.8-2.8 OIS zoom with 3cm close focus is perfect for most travel needs<\/li>\n<li>built-in EVF<\/li>\n<li>nice dials for aperture, shutter speed, etc<\/li>\n<li>multi-aspect sensor<\/li>\n<li>flash sync at all speeds thanks to leaf shutter<\/li>\n<li>40fps electronic shutter mode (to 1\/16,000th sec)\u00a0 and 11.9fps mechanical shutter<\/li>\n<li>4K video<\/li>\n<li>fast AF, focus peaking, eye detection AF, etc<\/li>\n<li>WiFi smartphone control<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>but for me it was a touch too small and had no tilt LCD and no touch screen and at around ~$AU900 was a touch expensive, although maybe worth it for many given its great feature set<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>So now I have an E-M1:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>first step was to update firmware as this will rest most of your settings, so you may as well get in done first<\/li>\n<li>next set date and time<\/li>\n<li>then to configure it the way I like it:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>cogs A:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>AEL\/AFL set to S1:C2:M3<br \/>\nMF assist = OFF<br \/>\nAF illuminator = OFF<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>cogs B: buttons\/dial\/lever:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Fn1 = peaking<\/li>\n<li>Fn2 = magnify (to keep similar settings with E-M5)<\/li>\n<li>REC = keystone<\/li>\n<li>right button = ISO (to keep similar settings with E-M5)<\/li>\n<li>down button = WB (to keep similar settings with E-M5)<\/li>\n<li>rear buttons = direct mode so I reduce the chance I accidentally change the AF region position<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>cogs D: display:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Control Settings: PASM = Live SCP on, Live Control = OFF (I love the Super Control Panel)<\/li>\n<li>Info Settings: Playback Info: histogram and highlight\/shadow ON<\/li>\n<li>Info Settings: LV Info: histogram, level gauge and highlight\/shadow ON<\/li>\n<li>histogram settings: Highlight = 245 (to avoid blown highlights when shooting ETTR metering)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>cogs E: exposure:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Noise Filter = LOW (or OFF)<\/li>\n<li>Antishock = 0 sec to enable electronic 1st shutter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>cogs G: color\/WB:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Keep warm color = OFF<\/li>\n<li>Flash WB = OFF<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>this means that the other functions are accessible via:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>front buttons:\n<ul>\n<li>one-touch custom WB<\/li>\n<li>depth of field preview<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>2&#215;2 switch = 1:\n<ul>\n<li>top left control, front button drive\/self timer\/ HDR modes<\/li>\n<li>top left control, rear button &#8211; exposure meter modes \/ focus modes<\/li>\n<li>front dial: exposure compensation (or aperture if in Manual mode and no action in iAuto)<\/li>\n<li>rear dial: aperture or shutter depending on exposure mode (no action in iAuto)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>2&#215;2 switch = 2:\n<ul>\n<li>top left control, front button bracketing modes \/ bracket actions<\/li>\n<li>top left control, rear button &#8211; flash exposure compensation \/ flash modes<\/li>\n<li>front dial: ISO<\/li>\n<li>rear dial: WB<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wiki\/doku.php?id=omd:start\" target=\"_blank\">more here<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>In conclusion&#8230;<\/h2>\n<p>Despite the above, <strong>I have been extremely impressed with the capabilities of the E-M1 thus far<\/strong> &#8211; the C-AF tracking actually works fairly well in good light and with a contrasty subject, while I can do hand held photos of stars with my 25mm f\/1.4 lens at ISO 3200, 1\/4 sec and get lots of stars &#8211; I doubt any other camera could achieve that without a tripod.<\/p>\n<p>The focus peaking, 2&#215;2 switch, extra buttons (such as custom WB, DOF preview) and remote control via iPhone is fantastic.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, my old Olympus FL-50 flash which would only sync at 1\/160th sec on my E-M5 now can sync at 1\/250th second &#8211; very handy indeed when you need every bit of power and shutter speed for those outdoor shots.<\/p>\n<p>Better still, when used with external &#8220;manual&#8221; flashes such as with my Canon 580 EX II, <strong>I get FULL SYNC without need for FSS or Super FP modes with full frame coverage of flash up to 1\/500thsec<\/strong>, and can even <strong>push it to 1\/840th sec<\/strong> with only ~20% of the top of frame not lit by the flash &#8211; now that is incredible for outdoor flash &#8211; better than my Canon 1D Mark III even with HiSync using PocketWizard technology!!<\/p>\n<p>I have 2 little disappointments:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>when using a Four Thirds lens with CDAF optimisation such as my lovely Panasonic Leica-D 25mm f\/1.4 lens, the E-M1 insists on using PDAF and not CDAF (CDAF worked quite well on my E-M5 with this lens).<\/li>\n<li>whilst the camera allows +\/- 5EV exposure compensation, in manual exposure mode, it only displays +\/- 3EV exposure metering &#8211; this is annoying when using spot metering on a white or black target.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Overall, I am very happy indeed!!!<\/p>\n<h2>If high quality video is more important to you:<\/h2>\n<p>Andrew Reid of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eoshd.com\/2015\/01\/eoshds-top-5-cameras-year-2014\/\" target=\"_blank\">EOSHD.com chose his 5 best video cams of 2014<\/a> which are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Used Canon 1D C<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Sony A7S &amp; Atomos Shogun combo<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Panasonic GH4<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Samsung NX1<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Nikon D750<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>honorable mentions:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Panasonic LX100<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Olympus OM-D E-M1 Micro Four Thirds camera is the flagship of the Olympus camera line up &#8211; but until now, I have resisted buying it and have been happy with my awesome OM-D E-M5 camera. I had not been that excited by the E-M1 for a number of reasons: it is too big for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,3],"tags":[287,18,241,14],"class_list":["post-6707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cameras","category-photography","tag-e-m1","tag-four-thirds-micro","tag-micro-four-thirds","tag-olympus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}