Olympus E-M1 and E-M5 II review revisited - massive new firmware updates and speedy Metabones AF

[Andrew Reid]

Can the Olympus cameras compete with a full frame Canon DSLR for those with extensive EF lens collections? And is video quality improved with the epic firmware updates just released?

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[TheRenaissanceMan]

The add-on grip for the E-M5 II has the headphone jack in it. Perhaps you might do some research and mention that instead of just being trite.

[thefactory]

Actually it's the external grip that has the head phone jack. And you need that before you can even attach the battery grip. 

[Andrew Reid]

All that fuss to get a headphone jack!?

[fuzzynormal]

Spot on review. 

As a video shooter I'm in the camp of it's "just good enough."

If the IQ was any weaker I'd probably go to another cam... But I do love the 5-axis for what it lets me do handheld.  Since my gigs are for the web, the IQ is perfectly acceptable. 

Also, the colors look good to my eye. 

Btw, the bat grip w/headphones is great. Not only for the audio, but the ergos of it really helps shooting. 

[sgreszcz]

Spot on review. 

As a video shooter I'm in the camp of it's "just good enough."

If the IQ was any weaker I'd probably go to another cam... But I do love the 5-axis for what it lets me do handheld.  Since my gigs are for the web, the IQ is perfectly acceptable. 

Also, the colors look good to my eye. 

Btw, the bat grip w/headphones is great. Not only for the audio, but the ergos of it really helps shooting. 

I agree with all of this too. I use my e-m5 II as my primary hand-held cam with primes or longer zooms mostly due to the stabilisation and how much I like the colours, especially for people.  It is a toss-up whether I take out my lx100 or em5-II with 35mm as a pocket camera as I still do a lot of still photography.  I like the Olympus Jpegs right out of camera...

i found the Olympus audio input quite noisy with an external mic. What setting do you use, fuzzy?

have you switched to the 'movie' picture profile or do you still use the modified picture profiles?

The firmware update was worth it for me just for the uncropped IBIS in video mode.

if they just took the next steps to get the video to current Panasonic or Sony 1080p quality and allow us to directly change exposure with the dials when recording, it would become an excellent video camera.

As a stills camera, it is second to none, with fast AF, magical IBIS, and unique features like live time and live composite and high resolution mode.

 

 

[Andrew Reid]

The spread of strengths across the camera industry is driving me a bit nuts.

Only Blackmagic do cheap affordable int. 10bit ProRes.

Only Olympus do effective stabilisation.

Only Panasonic do cheap 4K in Micro Four Thirds cam

Only Fuji do a film-inspired shooting experience (although Olympus run them close)

Only Sony max out the specs and do a full frame mirrorless camera

Only Samsung do a really responsive fast ergonomic DSLR-style mirrorless camera

Only Canon... I mean only Magic Lantern do raw video.

 

The A7S II is closest to the perfect camera but the handling is just...so soulless.

Currently I am thinking of keeping hold of the E-M5 II as a stills camera, second to the NX1 and A7S II as my main video cameras.

[DevonChris]

The spread of strengths across the camera industry is driving me a bit nuts.

Only Blackmagic do cheap affordable int. 10bit ProRes.

Only Olympus do effective stabilisation.

Only Panasonic do cheap 4K in Micro Four Thirds cam

Only Fuji do a film-inspired shooting experience (although Olympus run them close)

Only Sony max out the specs and do a full frame mirrorless camera

Only Samsung do a really responsive fast ergonomic DSLR-style mirrorless camera

Only Canon... I mean only Magic Lantern do raw video.

 

The A7S II is closest to the perfect camera but the handling is just...so soulless.

Currently I am thinking of keeping hold of the E-M5 II as a stills camera, second to the NX1 and A7S II as my main video cameras.

Interesting that you are favouring an MFT camera for stills.

I recently sold my D810 and bought a GX8 for 50/50 stills and video. I was concerned about the sensor size, but for the commercial documentary style stills I take, its fine.

The key is the stabilisation. My keeper rate has gone up and having such a small camera with a brilliant lens like the 12-35 is a joy.

The video from the GX8 is excellent too!

[boxtree]

Hi Andrew,

you mentioned you are shooting a tweaked stills picture profile to match the look of Fuji Velvia on the X-T1.

 "I’m shooting on one of the stills picture profile which I tweaked to match the look of Fuji Velvia on the X-T1. I am enjoying the colours out of this camera, once white balance is tweaked to get rid of the bias towards a green tint."

Could you please share these settings as I would love to try them?

Best,

 

Gary.

[Andrew Reid]

I started with Muted, and ramped up the contrast & saturation, then shifted the white balance colour hue away from green.

[Oliver Daniel]

The spread of strengths across the camera industry is driving me a bit nuts.

Only Blackmagic do cheap affordable int. 10bit ProRes.

Only Olympus do effective stabilisation.

Only Panasonic do cheap 4K in Micro Four Thirds cam

Only Fuji do a film-inspired shooting experience (although Olympus run them close)

Only Sony max out the specs and do a full frame mirrorless camera

Only Samsung do a really responsive fast ergonomic DSLR-style mirrorless camera

Only Canon... I mean only Magic Lantern do raw video.

 

The A7S II is closest to the perfect camera but the handling is just...so soulless.

Currently I am thinking of keeping hold of the E-M5 II as a stills camera, second to the NX1 and A7S II as my main video cameras.

Have you tried the Sony A7S II with any of the Sony/Zeiss OSS lenses? I've got a 24-70 f4 and it's very good with the 5-axis. It's like a shit steadicam. Works beautifully on the Ronin-M and eliminates the "bounce". 

I'm in agreement with you regarding the handling. The placement of the menu button is very frustrating, and the menu's themselves are a mess. 

I dropped the RX10 II because it was "soulless". The features are great, but using the camera was very boring and rather sterile. Aesthetically emotionless. 

That said, the A7S II is almost an ultimate video artists tool. Adapting all those lenses in full frame is magnificent. 

[Ed_David]

This is great.

I am using one right now for testing.  One thing I have found in an informal test - is that the resolution of the E-M5 ii goes signifigantly up using HDMI out vs the internal h.264 avc-i codec.

Noise goes down.

Thanks for explaining the stabilization - I'll make sure to turn off digital stabilization.

 

Flat movie profile....its called flat. 

Heres how to enable in menu options

http://***URL removed***/forums/post/56844904

[Jimbo]

Good review. I was so close to buying an EM5 II. I wanted to use it alongside my GH4 for work but like many I just couldn't quite get passed the softness of the image. It would have been too much of a contrast against the GH4 shots. Hoping the EM1 II finally equates to an Oly body in my kit, which I'd love as my main stills body too.

Very interesting you find the a7s II handling soulless. It's so important for the pleasure of filming.

Exactly, it's like all the best features are spread across 10 different cameras =/, that's why Panasonic are still the best for my needs. They tick the most important boxes.

[sgreszcz]

The spread of strengths across the camera industry is driving me a bit nuts.

Only Blackmagic do cheap affordable int. 10bit ProRes.

Only Olympus do effective stabilisation.

Only Panasonic do cheap 4K in Micro Four Thirds cam

Only Fuji do a film-inspired shooting experience (although Olympus run them close)

Only Sony max out the specs and do a full frame mirrorless camera

Only Samsung do a really responsive fast ergonomic DSLR-style mirrorless camera

Only Canon... I mean only Magic Lantern do raw video.

 

The A7S II is closest to the perfect camera but the handling is just...so soulless.

Currently I am thinking of keeping hold of the E-M5 II as a stills camera, second to the NX1 and A7S II as my main video cameras.

I find this a bit frustrating too, although it is nice to have so many good options.  Maybe the rumoured Nikon/Samsung deal will shake things up.  I wish that Panasonic and Olympus would collaborate on more than just lens mounts.

I'm quite bought-into micro4/3 as I love the tradeoff between compactness and quality, and I do about 50% stills.  You definitely hit all the key differences and strengths above.  I was thinking of selling EM5II+lenses and LX100 and moving to a A7SII and RX100iv but in the end got the £250 G7 to pair with my LX100.

Thanks for the continued evaluation of cameras like Olympus, Fuji, and Samsung as there are not many bloggers that cover them.  Hopefully the manufacturers read and consider some of the feedback.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

The firmware release notes mentioned a Noise Filter setting for the E-M5 II movie mode, anyone tried it? I saw somewhere two frame grabs saying that was a testing for this mode and the resolution was somewhat better with the Noise Filter disabled.

(cannot test, my E-M5 II is on repairs, sensor burnt with lasers on a concert)

[TheRenaissanceMan]

Only Canon... I mean only Magic Lantern do raw video.

Um...did you forget Blackmagic?

 

[fuzzynormal]

I found the Olympus audio input quite noisy with an external mic. What setting do you use, fuzzy?

have you switched to the 'movie' picture profile or do you still use the modified picture profiles?

As have I.  However, I hook the EM5II up to the Sennheiser EM100 wireless system which I can level-adjust to to push a really robust audio signal to the cam.  I can then dial the camera's input level to the minimum and reduce the noise floor pretty good.  Like the video, the audio preamps are not great, but it's useable enough for what I do to get by.

It's really a nice practical and compact run and gun set-up.  I think I posted a pic of the cam with the audio gear awhile back.

At any rate, the camera is a bit of a compromise all-around, but I think it's a balanced compromise with the 5-axis tipping the scales in a good way.

I'm still shooting my preferred picture profile.  It's similar to what Andrew has mentioned.

[rak_heri]

Does anyone have a video sample of EM5 II with the new firmware?  Hard to appreciate with a still

I sold my GH3 and most of my m43 lenses but I find I can't do quick work anymore. Would love to have a camera as flexible as EM5II (if the video is good, that is)

[thefactory]

All that fuss to get a headphone jack!?

exactly!

[TheRenaissanceMan]

Better than not having the option at all, like the G7 and LX100.