Olympus GAS attack!!!

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Fordsabroad

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Gordon
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I certainly don't need it, I have a canon R5 and plenty of glass. but after a conversation with Black Fox (when I bought your gimbal). I keep sneaking a look at the OM - M1 mk 3.
So maybe some of the dedicated users on here can persuade me against it!!!
I keep seeing mention of hand held shots of 2+ seconds, I can't do this with my R5. Is this regularly achievable or a bit of poetic license?
Are the real time, built in ND filters and composite functions just a bit of a gimmick or genuinely as useful as they appear and are they easy to use.?
I like shooting occasional BIF, Landscape and play with a little macro (not bugs). I would dabble with astro.
I can achieve all of the above with the canon gear I have but when that gas bug starts itching sometimes you have to scratch it!

Should I decide to scratch it is the current Black Friday deal worth it? £1600 with a free 17mm 1.2 lens (non stabilised I believe). HDEW sell the body for £1119. I would probably buy the 12 -100 pro lens as a general purpose lens. ( other recommendations welcome).
I appreciate there will be lots of different views but would welcome your comments.
 
LOL 1st off it’s a good system but different to the FF that everyone craves , the gimmicky bits you mention are useful as long as you use them that’s your perogative … the deal you are seeing does indeed include a non stabilised lens but you don’t need it with 5- to-7 stops of i.b.i.s .. LOL … the only lenses that need I.s are the long reach ones I.e 300 and above and big zooms . . You will gain with light weight of both camera and lenses as I told you mine with the 100-400 +t.c which = 1154mm in FF terms weighs in at just under 2kg . The lens i.s combined with pitch and yaw synch on the body doesn’t require the use of a tripod ,hence you got my gimbal . I think the best term you can use is it gives you freedom , I go out walkabout with a fully weather resistant set up camera lens ,t.c and spare battery in a pocket . …
No need for covers ,bags ,tripod etc . …. Yes you will get more crop ability with FF but that’s the only advantage . Why not pop along to a dealers and try one in your hand if it feels right scratch that itch
 
Fordsabroad said:
I certainly don't need it, I have a canon R5 and plenty of glass. but after a conversation with Black Fox (when I bought your gimbal). I keep sneaking a look at the OM - M1 mk 3.
So maybe some of the dedicated users on here can persuade me against it!!!
I keep seeing mention of hand held shots of 2+ seconds, I can't do this with my R5. Is this regularly achievable or a bit of poetic license?
Are the real time, built in ND filters and composite functions just a bit of a gimmick or genuinely as useful as they appear and are they easy to use.?
I like shooting occasional BIF, Landscape and play with a little macro (not bugs). I would dabble with astro.
I can achieve all of the above with the canon gear I have but when that gas bug starts itching sometimes you have to scratch it!

Should I decide to scratch it is the current Black Friday deal worth it? £1600 with a free 17mm 1.2 lens (non stabilised I believe). HDEW sell the body for £1119. I would probably buy the 12 -100 pro lens as a general purpose lens. ( other recommendations welcome).
I appreciate there will be lots of different views but would welcome your comments.
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I've got the R5 AND the EM1 Mark 2.. and the mark 2 is a nice little thing. Can't say I've had chance to use it much yet, but it's a brilliant product. Think the R5 is the one that will stick around for every though.. just nice to have the best of everything!
 
Similarly, I have a Nikon D500 and some lenses (FF and DX), but I gave in to Olympus GAS early this year and have the EM1 Mk 2 and various lenses now, I think mainly because I've always preferred cameras that are smaller (hence my love of film Pentaxes) and since I have no need for supersized prints, M43 suits fine. Jeff's BIF/wildlife shots have shown me the way!
 
lindsay said:
Similarly, I have a Nikon D500 and some lenses (FF and DX), but I gave in to Olympus GAS early this year and have the EM1 Mk 2 and various lenses now, I think mainly because I've always preferred cameras that are smaller (hence my love of film Pentaxes) and since I have no need for supersized prints, M43 suits fine. Jeff's BIF/wildlife shots have shown me the way!
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Praise indeed ,thank you sir
 
Putting in perspective Gordon ,yes it’s a superb system that in a lot of ways is superior to a lot of other brands ,BUT the menu system i# not intuitive it has to be learnt ,but once mastered it does fall into place . A lot of the terminology is alien to the other systems but does what it says on the tin , I don’t think as yet I have found any user that does things exactly the same . But saying that the pure vibrancy of the raw files and the colours hit you in the face .. pity your so far away
 
Agree with everything Jeff has posted I moved away from Canon 1DX and various zoom lenses to Olympus I have the EM1 mark 2 and the EM1X along with the 100-400 and the 300 great cameras and lens combo like Jeff has mentioned the Olympus menus are intailly a bit overpowering but with plenty of you tube and the fantistic Olympus users thread on TP I soon picked up the knowledge the best thing for me is I can go out all day with the E1MX and not feel knackered at the end of the day unlike previous combinations. The olympus cameras can be customised to your own needs great system
 
Fordsabroad said:
I keep seeing mention of hand held shots of 2+ seconds, I can't do this with my R5. Is this regularly achievable or a bit of poetic license?
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Robin Wong is or at least was an Olympus visionary but he's very honest and fair about strenghth and weaknesses.
Here he demonstrates what can be done.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q1S9V3J3lU


Olympus put stabilisation on the sensor - even my little M10ii has 5 axis.
The 17mm really doesn't need stabilisation.
Some of the longer telephoto lenses and super zooms feature stabilisation that syncs with the camera on the M1 line

I'd recommend a read and probably a question or two in this thread which moves reasonably fast.
www.talkphotography.co.uk

Olympus OM-D E-M5, E-M1, E-M10 - Mk1, Mk2 & Mk3 Owners Thread

one from the comfort of my settee this morning through double glazing golden blue by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr
www.talkphotography.co.uk www.talkphotography.co.uk
 
I have the Oly EM1mk3 and the 12-100mm lens amongst others. I do occasional BIF shots and Landscape, Macro and Astro. I was a Nikon user but switched to Oly 4 years ago and sold all my Nikon gear. I have never looked back. The features you mentioned are certainly not gimmicks and they all do what they say on the tin.
I regularly do handheld shots at 2 or more seconds. The Astro focussing is simply a game-changer and that works handheld or on a tripod.

I know some of the people on here from another site and if you look at their images on Facebook it shows you what's possible.
 
I cannot fault my EM1MKII and my combination of 12-40 F/2.8 and 40-150 F/2.8 (plus 1.4x adapter) covers everything I have needed it to do.

The High Res is very good, the pro capture is great for capturing birds taking off (Jeff likely has it nailed without PC) and the tracking I have found to be very reliable when shooting motorbikes at the track. I'm about to start doing some Live Composite work and I just can't wait.

I don't find a need to go into the menu so much these days as I set up the stuff I use most of the time on buttons or the C1/2/3 options on the dial.

Can you tell I love it? ;)
 
To cut a long story short, I moved from Nikon FF then Sony FF back down to m4/3 a couple of months ago. I had previously been a pioneer user of m4/3 when they developed from regular 4/3. I now own a GX9 and an E-M1 ii, with a host of prime lenses and a peerless 12-100. Almost exclusively, a landscape/travel/industrial heritage shooter. Cannot see me going back to the heavy FF lenses any time soon.
 
Thank you all for your replies and thank you Jeff for taking the time to phone me and talk through the system with me. I am just about convinced that I am going to give the Em1 mk iii a try but would appreciate some advice on the lens set up. The package on offer of a body, 12 -100 pro lens and a "free" 17mm 1.2 lens is an option at (£2399) but I noticed that there is a 12 -200 mm available as well, has anyone any experience of this?

I will try and save money where I can but do not wish to penny pinch at the expense of quality and the ability to handhold in low light. I shoot landscapes and wildlife and would like to do a little more astro/milky way images. Would the 17mm 1.2 be a good lens for this or would the 12 - 100 do a decent job?

I am not against buying grey or S/H. I am sure there are some non Olympus lenses that will do the job but I do not have the knowledge of the system to know good uns from bad uns! I have generally found that you get the best from properly matched kit, but this comes at a premium.

On my canon kit I mainly use the 24 - 240 lens and the 15mm - 35. for landscape so this range on the olly would be fine. I do not want to carry too many lenses at one time, this would defeat one of the advantages of the system.

I have longer lenses for wildlife and would look to get the 100 - 400 plus converters at a later stage.

Any advice and recommendations that you can offer would be very much appreciated.

AMcUK that video you linked too was amazing - thank you.
 
I have the em1 mkiii and love it, the image stabilisation is so good that I rarely use a tripod, and I hate tripods so that’s a win! I have the 12-40 f2 and also the 40-150 f2, but also bought a 12-200 as a ‘walk around’ lens, when I just wanted the camera and one do it all lens for the possible off the cuff shot when going out to take pictures is not the prime purpose. The 12-200 is not weather sealed but nevertheless I think it’s a cracking lens. Smaller and not as heavy as the 12-100. I used to own a 12-100 and can honestly say that both lens deliver excellent sharpness, I have been very pleased with the 12-200.
 
Olly B said:
I have the em1 mkiii and love it, the image stabilisation is so good that I rarely use a tripod, and I hate tripods so that’s a win! I have the 12-40 f2 and also the 40-150 f2, but also bought a 12-200 as a ‘walk around’ lens, when I just wanted the camera and one do it all lens for the possible off the cuff shot when going out to take pictures is not the prime purpose. The 12-200 is not weather sealed but nevertheless I think it’s a cracking lens. Smaller and not as heavy as the 12-100. I used to own a 12-100 and can honestly say that both lens deliver excellent sharpness, I have been very pleased with the 12-200.
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Thank you that is helpful. Did you notice any difference between the 12 - 100 and the 12 -200 when taking handheld long exposures?
 
I haven’t tried handheld long exposures, sorry, so can’t help on that one. It can certainly give good images down to a fairly low shutter speed, but when doing the 20s type long exposures, I have used the dreaded tripod. May experiment later, if the weather eases up!
 
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I predict you will eventually have a Peli case with an Oly body and about 5 or 6 lenses, some of which will be prime. Yes, I speak from experience! :D
 
Funnily enough bought one this morning
 
I am not sure of the size and I am away from home at the moment. I currently use it for storing my canon gear in. It holds at least 2 bodies and 5 lenses. Too big for the equivalent olympus kit but I will just have to try harder to fill it!!
 
I know I’m late to the party and mostly your questions have been answered. I have used m43 on and off for 7 years but I also have a d500 and d600.

For what I shoot, the d500 is for fast moving sports, the d600 for detail automotive needs and the m43 for everything else. That said, I prefer m43 - the others are tools for the job.

I got an em1.2 a few months back and have used it for 2.5s exposures for fireworks hand held without issue. It really is so easy to do. If you get a lens such as the 12-100 f4 to go with the mk3, I think you’ll be amazed.
 
after comments here I had to try this shot . normal room lighting 3 l.e.d ceiling light fitting .(warm light) shot taken hand held with the 100-400 lens at 100mm .iso800...f5.0 ... 1/3rd sec across the room .dont know how valid it is to the discussion but good enough for my liking .
itch by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr
 
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Box Brownie said:
Re: Peli case for storage (?)
Which one/size(s) do you guys get?

TIA :)
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I will take a photo of it... watch this space. It is a 1450 protector with an insert rather than the foam. Might be a bit tricky getting all this in with the foam. IMG_7129.JPG
 
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The em3 should be with me shortly along with a couple of lenses covering 12mm - 400mm. Does anyone have a recommendation for a wider, preferably auto focus, lens, something equivalent to a 14 or 15mm FF would be good?
 
I am lusting after either the Panasonic 8-18 or Olympus 8-25. Unfortunately my wallet says no. I do have the Laowa 10mm, which, though manual focus, is very sharp, and tiny. MF doesn't really matter much at this focal length.
 
I’m very late to this thread; just joined TP.

I shoot astro with an Olympus EM1.3 and the f2.8 7-14mm. It’s a good combo partic with the starry sky focus on the EM1.3. I only realised how good it is when I was trialing the Canon R5 and R6 and I was struggling to focus on the stars.

The live composite is a bit of a gimmick for star trails. As you end up with a JPG that will include satellites, planes etc. I’ve found it’s better to remove satellite infected shots and then stack them in post.
 
Might as well add my experience ! Recently returned to M43 after using Fuji and FF and don’t regret it a bit !

Bought a mint Em1 Mkiii from LCE with under 600 shots for £950 and it’s superb - the best grip of any camera I have ever held !

Image quality is excellent on my 27” iMac and although I fully except FF has its advantages I don’t think the majority of enthusiasts really benefit from them that much. Features like HHHR, ND filters etc are really useful - the image stabilisation is brilliant.

I love the weight of M43 cameras and in particular the lenses, there is such a great choice - I have the 12-45 which for me is the perfect kit zoom lens, the bigger 8-25 (although still small and light in comparison - imagine a FF 16-50 equiv) the plastic fantastic 40-150R and recently the jewel that is the 45mm 1.8.
 
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