The Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II
has some remarkable and enhanced features, including a new version of the
Olympus 5-axis image stabilization system, which worked extremely well during
our tests. Olympus specifies the benefit of this stabilizer as 5 EV stops. During
our tests we took images with the 12-40mm f/2.8 zoom lens set at 50mm (equivalent:
25mm setting on the lens) and were able to record blur-free images with 1/6 second
instead of 1/50 second, the equivalent of 5 EV stops.
The new AF system is based on
contrast metering and offers a lot of AF modes. Besides the standard single and
continuous AF modes it allows for “AF tracking” and a “Single AF + MF” mode,
which can be used to focus manually even if the AF system is activated. For
manual focusing, the camera offers focus peaking and a magnifier function. In
combination with the excellent electronic viewfinder (2.36 million RGB dots)
manual focusing is easy and comfortable. Nevertheless, we recommend using the
camera in AF mode because it is very fast and reliable, even under bad lighting
conditions and in low contrast scenes.
The E-M5 Mark II doesn't have
an integrated flash system, but is supplied with a small compact flash which is
mounted on its accessory shoe. The interfaces are located on the left hand side
of the camera and covered by plastic cap.
The camera offers all
standard exposure modes, scene modes and additional digital effects (like
“pinhole”, “dramatic tone” or “soft focus”). Exposure modes and the ART or SCN
programs are activated with the large mode dial on top of the camera. The dial
has a locking button to help avoid changing setups by mistake.
Next to the mode dial the
photographer will find a large adjusting lever which is used as on/off switch.
Two parameter dials on the right hand side on the top allow for fast setup of
all parameters like aperture or shutter speed settings. The front dial
encircles the shutter release button.
The camera offers four
function buttons. The user can define the desired function in the setup menu.
By default, the button FN2 offers a kind of gradation curve setting on the LCD
to enhance or flatten contrast in the image.
The small adjust lever on the
back (marked with “1” and “2”) will change the function of the setup dials on
the top. In position 1 they will change aperture and shutter speed (in P mode
+/ EV correction); in position 2 they will change ISO speed settings and white
balance. This function assignment can an also be modified in the menu.
Numerous setup dials and user
defined function buttons allow a fast and intuitive handling of the camera,
even if the photographer wants to set up many parameters manually. The two
setup dials on the right can be easily reached with the forefinger and the
thumb of the right hand.
The camera offers a special
“pixel shift” mode to increase image resolution up to 40 MP. This technique is
known from medium format cameras like the Hasselblad H5D-200c MS and some older
compact cameras like the Ricoh RDC-7 or JVC GC-X1. The built-in image
stabilizer with a moving sensor allows the user to shoot 8 images which are then
shifted by half a pixel each (two images to the right, left, up- and
downwards). The 8 images are combined to form a 40 MP image.
Comments on Image Quality
Color: The color reproduction is very good. The Olympus
tends to a slightly cooler image reproduction, yet the brighter nuances are
located perfectly in the center of the result chart (neutral gray). While other
Olympus cameras usually tend to create a somewhat lower color saturation, the
E-M5 Mark II created slightly oversaturated results.
The skin tone reproduction is
excellent. This applies in our test shots of the color test pattern as well as the
portrait shot. Differentiation of colors is also very good.
Sharpness:
The camera performed very
well in our resolution tests. The test chart was reproduced with 3335 of 3456
lines per picture height, which is an excellent result. High sharpness and
crisp detail reproduction are partially a result of an intense sharpness
filtering of the JPEGs. We noted an overshot effect of 20.4 percent, which is a
little high and caused a clipping warning. Nevertheless, the reproduction of
hard contrast lines and fine details is still natural looking. In addition to
the shot in standard mode, we also shot the ISO 12233 chart in pixel shift mode
and created images with a resolution of 40 MP. In this mode the Olympus
reproduced the chart with 4632 of 5472 lines per picture height. This isn't as
good as the resolution result of the standard test without “pixel shift” but
still an impressive result for an MFT camera.
The new Olympus offers a 3-inch
LCD with 1,037,000 RGB dots. The electronic viewfinder offers 2.36 million RGB
dots and is very helpful for manual focusing.
The camera offers ISO speed
settings between 200 and 25,600. The “LOW” mode is the equivalent to ISO 100
setting and wasn't tested because of its “optional” status. In ISO 200 to 3200
modes the camera offered very smooth and clean images. The luminance noise
factor stays below 1.0 percent and is invisible up to ISO 1600. Color noise is
reduced by an intelligent filtering algorithm. Only at ISO 12,800 did we note
clearly noticeable color noise structures and anti-noise-filter effects; at ISO
25,600 the color noise effects are really annoying.
The dynamic range results are
very good in the lower ISO speed settings. The camera reproduced the Stouffer 4110
chart with a maximum of 11.6 f-stops (and 11.1 in ISO 400 mode), but in higher
ISO speed settings the dynamic range results drop significantly (below 8
f-stops at 12,800 and 25,600).
The fully articulated swivel
mechanism allows the user to flip the LCD up- and downwards and even to the
front of the camera.
Pro:
retro style system camera
compact, high-grade body
excellent image stabilizer
very good image quality (high
resolution, very good color reproduction)
Wi-Fi
a lot of individual settings
and special image modes (live bulb mode; digital effects and more)
very fast AF system (even
though it uses only contrast metering)
extended video capabilities
Con:
slim body may be too small for
large hands (Olympus offers an additional battery grip and an optional hand
grip which can help
menu structure sometimes a bit
too complicated
Notes on Video
The 5 axis stabilizer is very
helpful in video mode. Based on sensor shift technology it can be used with
every lens system – even if you are using third party lenses mounted on an MFT
adapter. The stabilization results are excellent and can be compared with
results of other good optical stabilization system cameras, such as in videos
taken with Panasonic's GH4 with its O.I.S. system.
The camera offers manual
exposure settings for video recording. The additional video shutter release
button can be activated at any time (and in any photo mode), but for manual
exposure settings for videos the photographer has to activate the movie mode
with the mode dial and choose the desired exposure mode (P, S, A and M for
video) in the setup menu. ISO speed settings in video mode are limited to 6400.
There are additional professional
features. The camera allows the user to set up the sound level manually and can
use different time code styles. This offers a more comfortable way of synchronizing
video files in editing software when a scene is recorded with several cameras
simultaneously.
Overall, the Olympus E-M5
Mark II did a good job in video mode. The resolution result is on an average
level for video recording system cameras, but still good. The colors look fine,
but sometimes you may notice a color shift while recording. The changes of the
white balance (WB Auto) aren't as smooth as in recordings with other cameras
and can create a little “color jump” when the camera tries to change its
setting while recording a single scene.
The color result of the test
pattern series of images is very good. The camera showed a neutral color
reproduction with a little tendency into bluish and cooler colors. Color
saturation is very good: only the blue nuances are a little exaggerated.
The results of the dynamic
range tests are similar to the photographic results. The camera achieved a very
high result in videos up to ISO 1600 (10.7 f-stops) and than drops to about 9
f-stops in the ISO 3200/6400 settings. Noise results are very good. Color noise
is noticeable in videos taken with ISO 3200 and 6400.
The lab test and comments were produced by the TIPA affiliated testing lab (Betternet). I serve as a member of the Technical Image Press Association's Technical Committee.
For full specs and other information visit http://www.getolympus.com/us/en/digitalcameras/omd/e-m5-mark-ii.html
