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

RedRobin said:
On the subject of batteries, I would not recommend using any other than OEM and therefore I would recommend against third-party batteries.

I would rather pay to have peace of mind and the knowledge that Olympus/OMD would sort out any issues. It's not worth the gamble. All in my opinion.

I use E-M1X and OM-1 mk2 and previously OM-1 'mk1'. I always use Battery Grips and carry an extra battery plus a portable recharger. I shot over 6,000 frames of women's football (it would be rude not to!) on Sunday and on SH2 Drive at 50fps and no lags nor hiccups, and 1 battery barely emptied (95% remaining).
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Agree, only ever buy OEM batteries.
 
Hanley said:
You don't, when the event finishes the team leader copies the images from your card and you then go home :)

They do all post processing and facial / number recognition
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.... I would not be at all happy with that ~ In fact I simply wouldn't do it. Football clubs and subsequently their players, only receive the photos which I am happy to release and only when they are ready after my culling and editing the RAW files. All the teams I photograph are very happy with that and show their gratitude.

The same applies to the International Horse Trials team I am an invited member of.
 
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Carpy2001 said:
Just ordered my first lenses, apart from lens that came with the camera, I hope they are decent, wanted a 60mm macro but these looked like good value.

View attachment 475101
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Looking up the 60mm it seems is a nice contrasty if slowish AF performance lens.

But it is isn't a Macro lens .... With a significant min focus distance and large maxim magnification ratio. A 1 : 3 ratio might get you 'close enough for close up' cropping in occasionally close up usage.

  • Minimum Focusing Distance
    50cm / 19.7in.
  • Maximum Magnification Ratio
    1：7.2
 
RedRobin said:
.... I would not be at all happy with that ~ In fact I simply wouldn't do it. Football clubs and subsequently their players, only receive the photos which I am happy to release and only when they are ready after my culling and editing the RAW files. All the teams I photograph are very happy with that and show their gratitude.

The same applies to the International Horse Trials team I am an invited member of.
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Freelance sports is a little different.
One company, maybe 2, control most of the events, the one I do work for have the 2 biggest marathons in the UK, London and Manchester, most of the half marathons and a lot of the big 10Ks, all Tough Mudders, Iron Man, Hyrox, all the Macmillan Mighty Hikes, cycling events and many more.

They generally sell their photo packages to participants prior to the event, they then just hire photographers as freelancers to attend the event, you stand where they ask you to, take the pictures and go home, life is so much easier this way, and unlike football, there's money to be made from it :)
 
RedRobin said:
.... I would not be at all happy with that ~ In fact I simply wouldn't do it. Football clubs and subsequently their players, only receive the photos which I am happy to release and only when they are ready after my culling and editing the RAW files. All the teams I photograph are very happy with that and show their gratitude.

The same applies to the International Horse Trials team I am an invited member of.
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Also, when there are 26,000 participants (40,000 in Manchester and over 60,000 in London), you wouldn't be able to cull, edit and provide them to them in the time frame required :)
 
Box Brownie said:
Looking up the 60mm it seems is a nice contrasty if slowish AF performance lens.

But it is isn't a Macro lens .... With a significant min focus distance and large maxim magnification ratio. A 1 : 3 ratio might get you 'close enough for close up' cropping in occasionally close up usage.

  • Minimum Focusing Distance
    50cm / 19.7in.
  • Maximum Magnification Ratio
    1：7.2
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The 60mm macro will have to wait a while lol.
I bought these as an "upgrade" from the 14-42 and 40-150 kit lenses I have, and they were, both together around the same price as a used olympus 45mm f1.7 although a bit slower. Also the price played a part, budget stuff is my only choice lol.
I just thought it might give me a couple of more options, when I am out and about with my camera, which i only use during the day, so no low light shooting.
We will see how I get on lol, but at least I can't lose a lot.
 
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Hanley said:
Yeah I also thought the same and this was the response I got when asking Mr Google.
View attachment 474655
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I've shot football with that lens in absolute downpours and it has been fine.

I find my batteries last much longer than my Canon R5 ones.

Hanley said:
You don't, when the event finishes the team leader copies the images from your card and you then go home :)

They do all post processing and facial / number recognition
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That sounds a fantastic set up. I would set up a code file in Photo Mechanic prior to the match, but still found it horribly stressful trying to identify and tag players quickly. I didn't use my OM kit for the night matches under flood lights for local press - amateur games, so not great lights... but this was before the Om1 came out.
 
ajophotog said:
Great couple of bird shots Steve, that 75-300 mkii does a pretty decent job.
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Thanks Alby appreciate the kind comment.

The 75-300 has worked a treat for me especially for the money but now I’m thinking of something a bit longer. The 100-400 appeals but not sure I could hand hold, I’ve not got a steady hand. I’m also thinking of getting used OM-1 mki instead and sticking with the 75-300
 
jakeblu said:
Thanks Alby appreciate the kind comment.

The 75-300 has worked a treat for me especially for the money but now I’m thinking of something a bit longer. The 100-400 appeals but not sure I could hand hold, I’ve not got a steady hand. I’m also thinking of getting used OM-1 mki instead and sticking with the 75-300
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If you can stretch to the 100-400 mkII Steve it is very easy to hand hold with the dual I.S. it was the biggest thing I noticed going from the mk1 to the mk2.
Cotswold cameras have grey at £849. That is where I got mine from.
 
RedRobin said:
.... You are not wrong ~ The Oly 40-150 F/2.8 PRO is absolutely weather resistant to a IP51 certification. The OM 50-200mm and OM-1 mk2 are both IP53. I had my 40-150 from 2019 to this year and it was subjected to many many long sessions in pouring rain and without those fiddly third-party covers which become saturated.

TIP : Don't use neoprene covers on lens bodies other than on the lenshood only because they get saturated with water! The people who sell those covers, usually camouflage patterns, don't tell you that.
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I've just ordered the OM 50-200mm 2.8 this morning.

Initially I was going to return the 40-150mm 2.8 but, I paid £799 for it so I think I'll just keep hold of it, there will be times when I want a bit more reach but on a smaller lens, this is ideal.
For sports, the newer and faster AF on the 50-200 will work better for me, and of course the better weather sealing.
 
Had a partial button lockup on my OM-1 mk2 today.
All had been working fine, not taken a lot of pictures, only 100 in the session.
Most of the buttons stopped responding, arrow buttons, menu, drive modes all unresponsive. OK button would bring up the control panel, but could not move around the options.
Would take pictures ok as it was set.
Took a battery removal to get it working again.
Will keep an eye on it
 
Seems quiet round here at the moment, so ... here's one from last week's short break in the Lake District. This was hand-held with the OM3 and Leica 12-60.

Waterfall in Monochrome by Stephen Lee, on Flickr
 
Stephen L said:
Nice! I took the exact same shot a couple of years ago!
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curiously I only seem to have one from the station (and in the gallery) and I'm not even sure I recognise this shot despite having been there 3 years ago. I mean it's not exactly a big place.... Probably just the lighting.
 
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So I did my first sports job with micro four thirds on Sunday and it went very well.
I used the OM1 MKII paired with the M.Zuiko 50-200mm f/2.8 lens.

My thoughts (and I know it's only after 1 job)
  1. Super, super light, especially compared to my Canon kit.
  2. I was able to use my smaller Lowerpro bag, it was so much lighter and easier to carry around (I also had the 12-40mm 2.8 lens and a second OM1 MK II in the bag)
  3. Paired it with the grip as I shoot running events portrait, I didn't feel it added any noticeable weight
  4. Batteries seemed to last very well. I shot 17,500 shots and didn't get through 3 batteries
  5. I set drive mode to SH2 but limited the frames per second to 12.5
  6. AF was set to Continuous AF, initially with subject detection on but I turned it off and found it better
  7. Picture quality was excellent, I was shooting in JPEG large (Normal) which gave files 4-5MB in size which is perfect
  8. The 50-200mm lens was excellent, giving me the ability to go out to a full frame equivalent of 400mm was very useful
Cons - none so far :)

I went all in for this job, it was in Bath so quite a long drive and I didn't take any Canon equipment with me as a backup, but I was confident this kit would deliver.
I'll attach a couple of examples (but this forum tends to kill picture quality)

2026-03-15 13.46.20.jpg
2026-03-15 12.04.05.jpg2026-03-15 12.35.11.jpg2026-03-15 13.17.44.jpg
 
Hanley said:
So I did my first sports job with micro four thirds on Sunday and it went very well.
I used the OM1 MKII paired with the M.Zuiko 50-200mm f/2.8 lens.

My thoughts (and I know it's only after 1 job)
  1. Super, super light, especially compared to my Canon kit.
  2. I was able to use my smaller Lowerpro bag, it was so much lighter and easier to carry around (I also had the 12-40mm 2.8 lens and a second OM1 MK II in the bag)
  3. Paired it with the grip as I shoot running events portrait, I didn't feel it added any noticeable weight
  4. Batteries seemed to last very well. I shot 17,500 shots and didn't get through 3 batteries
  5. I set drive mode to SH2 but limited the frames per second to 12.5
  6. AF was set to Continuous AF, initially with subject detection on but I turned it off and found it better
  7. Picture quality was excellent, I was shooting in JPEG large (Normal) which gave files 4-5MB in size which is perfect
  8. The 50-200mm lens was excellent, giving me the ability to go out to a full frame equivalent of 400mm was very useful
Cons - none so far :)

I went all in for this job, it was in Bath so quite a long drive and I didn't take any Canon equipment with me as a backup, but I was confident this kit would deliver.
I'll attach a couple of examples (but this forum tends to kill picture quality)

View attachment 477092
View attachment 477093View attachment 477094View attachment 477095
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This is good to hear. I've been approached to shoot a corporate golf tournament and wasn't sure if my EM1 OM-D would be appropriate. If it all comes together I think that I'm going to purchase an OM3 as a second/back-up body.
 
Darkslinger said:
This is good to hear. I've been approached to shoot a corporate golf tournament and wasn't sure if my EM1 OM-D would be appropriate. If it all comes together I think that I'm going to purchase an OM3 as a second/back-up body.
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So I also did my first corporate event with the OM1 MKII on Tuesday.

The Bank I work for was holding an all day Tech Summit, consisting of 6 key notes and 2 break out areas where internal teams and suppliers had stands, so I photographed all the key notes and captured some candids from the stands.

As I went direct from the half marathon in Bath on Sunday evening to Milton Keynes, I had the 2 OM1 MKII bodies with me, and I also took my Hasselblad X2DII.

I've shot all previous events here on my Canon kit so I was a little nervous that maybe I was risking missing something.
I shot a combination of shots on the Hasselblad (mostly with the 28P lens) and used 2 OM1 MKII bodies, with a combination of 50-200mm 2.8, 12-40mm 2.8 and 9mm 1.7

The day was a success and I didn't feel like I missed the Canon at all, I knew the image quality from the Hassy was insanely good anyway, but the MFT images were perfect.

I'll continue to hold on to Canon gear for a while but I can see me selling it all within 12 months.

I haven't posted any images as they aren't the most exciting, boring coprorate speaking :ROFLMAO: but can share a link if anyone wants to see.
 
Hanley said:
So I also did my first corporate event with the OM1 MKII on Tuesday.

The Bank I work for was holding an all day Tech Summit, consisting of 6 key notes and 2 break out areas where internal teams and suppliers had stands, so I photographed all the key notes and captured some candids from the stands.

As I went direct from the half marathon in Bath on Sunday evening to Milton Keynes, I had the 2 OM1 MKII bodies with me, and I also took my Hasselblad X2DII.

I've shot all previous events here on my Canon kit so I was a little nervous that maybe I was risking missing something.
I shot a combination of shots on the Hasselblad (mostly with the 28P lens) and used 2 OM1 MKII bodies, with a combination of 50-200mm 2.8, 12-40mm 2.8 and 9mm 1.7

The day was a success and I didn't feel like I missed the Canon at all, I knew the image quality from the Hassy was insanely good anyway, but the MFT images were perfect.

I'll continue to hold on to Canon gear for a while but I can see me selling it all within 12 months.

I haven't posted any images as they aren't the most exciting, boring coprorate speaking :ROFLMAO: but can share a link if anyone wants to see.
Click to expand...

Thanks Paul, yes, I'd like to have a look.
 
Darkslinger said:
Great set Paul, I particularly like the shots of the random interactions at the booths. Was the woman taking headshots working with you as well? Or did the company spring for two different photographers?
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Thanks Bill

No, she was someone they brought in, as I was in and out of all the keynotes and in between both event spaces I couldn't also stand in one place and do headshots so she was a local girl, she was really nice, I was chatting to her for some time (probably boring her about photography :ROFLMAO: ) and I got her to do my headshot so I'm waiting to see how it turned out.
 
Darkslinger said:
Great set Paul, I particularly like the shots of the random interactions at the booths. Was the woman taking headshots working with you as well? Or did the company spring for two different photographers?
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I don't get paid for these jobs by the way :ROFLMAO: this is just me in my day job getting paid my regular salary, but spending the day taking pictures for them instead of attending boring meetings :ROFLMAO:
 
The below isn't meant to put Micro Four Thirds down at all (after all I still own 3 Olympus bodies and about 7 lenses, and have no intentions of selling them), as I do still genuinely have a soft sport for the format.

However, I've recently taken delivery of a new Sony A7CR, as a small EDC and for Holidays etc. One of the big advantages of MFT when I was running Nikon DSLR's was size and weight, with my Olympus kit always coming in quite a bit smaller and lighter than the equivalent Nikon kit, and thus ideal for travel. However, I was a little surprised when unboxing my A7CR at how small and light it was for a 61mp full frame camera, and coupled with my 2 "Travel" lenses (the Sony 16-35 F4 and the Sony 20-70 F4) was amazed to see the combinations matched or were smaller and a little lighter than the Olympus travel kit I would have normally took (an OM-1 body and the Leica 8-18mm F2.8-4 and the Olympus 12-40 F2.8 Pro). See below for a comparison.

Before anyone says it, yes I'm sure there are smaller and lighter MFT options available, but the below is based on what I actually own.



So my question is, do we think that MFT has lost or at least is losing, it's main advantage in size and weight ? Now, I'll be the 1st to admit that when it comes to long lenses, perhaps the tables turn, but with the new Nikon Z 400 F4.5 and 600mm F6.3 PF lenses weighing barely more than a 300mm F4 Pro from Olympus and hardly any bigger, then maybe this advantage is being eroded as well ?

Now I know before anyone says it, the OM-1 and A7CR are very different cameras - the OM-1 is a speed demon, much better viewfinder and rear screen, twin card slots, and all the Olympus AI trickery. However the A7CR counters with an amazing 61MP sensor (that's even 26mp in APS-C mode), a dedicated photo/video/slow motion switch, and better and sharper video (with access to all colour profiles in 10bit 422 colour depth - not just log), and access to (if required), an amazing arsenal of glass (much like MFT) However the point of this post, is that as I haven't really used my MFT kit for a few months now, I was shocked when I compared the sizes and weights for this FF kit vs MFT ?

So, do you think OMS and Panasonic need to do something radical to keep the format relevant in these days of the continued onslaught of FF cameras tempting people away to other formats, or do you think they are fine as they are and will just weather the storm ?
 
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I think it all depends on your use case.

I have 2 OM bodies - OM 1Mark II and OM 5 Mark II. I've only just got the OM 5 but for me its a travel body coupled with the 14-150 or 12-45 f4. Its noticably smaller than the OM1 in my hands.

For my wildlife shooting I will continue to use the OM1 with grip and 100-400. I don't need this kit to be as small.

Its all small compared to my old Canon DSLR kit.

Neil
 
Sootchucker said:
The below isn't meant to put Micro Four Thirds down at all (after all I still own 3 Olympus bodies and about 7 lenses, and have no intentions of selling them), as I do still genuinely have a soft sport for the format.

However, I've recently taken delivery of a new Sony A7CR, as a small EDC and for Holidays etc. One of the big advantages of MFT when I was running Nikon DSLR's was size and weight, with my Olympus kit always coming in quite a bit smaller and lighter than the equivalent Nikon kit, and thus ideal for travel. However, I was a little surprised when unboxing my A7CR at how small and light it was for a 61mp full frame camera, and coupled with my 2 "Travel" lenses (the Sony 16-35 F4 and the Sony 20-70 F4) was amazed to see the combinations matched or were smaller and a little lighter than the Olympus travel kit I would have normally took (an OM-1 body and the Leica 8-18mm F2.8-4 and the Olympus 12-40 F2.8 Pro). See below for a comparison.

Before anyone says it, yes I'm sure there are smaller and lighter MFT options available, but the below is based on what I actually own.



So my question is, do we think that MFT has lost or at least is losing, it's main advantage in size and weight ? Now, I'll be the 1st to admit that when it comes to long lenses, perhaps the tables turn, but with the new Nikon Z 400 F4.5 and 600mm F6.3 PF lenses weighing barely more than a 300mm F4 Pro from Olympus and hardly any bigger, then maybe this advantage is being eroded as well ?

Now I know before anyone says it, the OM-1 and A7CR are very different cameras - the OM-1 is a speed demon, much better viewfinder and rear screen, twin card slots, and all the Olympus AI trickery. However the A7CR counters with an amazing 61MP sensor (that's even 26mp in APS-C mode), a dedicated photo/video/slow motion switch, and better and sharper video (with access to all colour profiles in 10bit 422 colour depth - not just log), and access to (if required), an amazing arsenal of glass (much like MFT) However the point of this post, is that as I haven't really used my MFT kit for a few months now, I was shocked when I compared the sizes and weights for this FF kit vs MFT ?

So, do you think OMS and Panasonic need to do something radical to keep the format relevant in these days of the continued onslaught of FF cameras tempting people away to other formats, or do you think they are fine as they are and will just weather the storm ?
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I get your point, and that is why I'm sticking to the smaller OM bodies. Indeed, even though there's not a lot of weight difference, I am seriously considering "downsizing" my OM3 to an OM5ii. Plus, I don't use the extra features the OM3 has. And for that reason also I have an Olympus E-M10iv as a carry-all camera.
 
Hanley said:
For very lightweight and high megapixels I use my Fuji GFX100RF which is super small, light, 100MP with a fixed 28mm lens

I think my wife will submit divorce or death if I order any more kit (still eyeing up the Hasselblad 35-100) :ROFLMAO:
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A small price to pay ;) :p
 
Just checking with anyone with a om1 mkii but is there anyway to have procapture set to a button? At the moment I have it set to one of the custom modes but really want to use that mode for something else. I assumed i would be able to set it to a custom button and put it on my custom mode thats set to birds in flight but I cant find procapture in the custom button setting unless i am missing something
 
peat said:
Just checking with anyone with a om1 mkii but is there anyway to have procapture set to a button? At the moment I have it set to one of the custom modes but really want to use that mode for something else. I assumed i would be able to set it to a custom button and put it on my custom mode thats set to birds in flight but I cant find procapture in the custom button setting unless i am missing something
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FWIW
I have Pro Cap as an element in one of my Custom settings and I have allocated that Custom set to a Custom Button.

HTH:)
 
peat said:
Just checking with anyone with a om1 mkii but is there anyway to have procapture set to a button? At the moment I have it set to one of the custom modes but really want to use that mode for something else. I assumed i would be able to set it to a custom button and put it on my custom mode thats set to birds in flight but I cant find procapture in the custom button setting unless i am missing something
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So you can't assign ProCapture direct to a button, you will have to setup ProCapture on a custom setting, say C4, then assign C4 to a button, if that makes sense.
 
Sootchucker said:
The below isn't meant to put Micro Four Thirds down at all (after all I still own 3 Olympus bodies and about 7 lenses, and have no intentions of selling them), as I do still genuinely have a soft sport for the format.

However, I've recently taken delivery of a new Sony A7CR, as a small EDC and for Holidays etc. One of the big advantages of MFT when I was running Nikon DSLR's was size and weight, with my Olympus kit always coming in quite a bit smaller and lighter than the equivalent Nikon kit, and thus ideal for travel. However, I was a little surprised when unboxing my A7CR at how small and light it was for a 61mp full frame camera, and coupled with my 2 "Travel" lenses (the Sony 16-35 F4 and the Sony 20-70 F4) was amazed to see the combinations matched or were smaller and a little lighter than the Olympus travel kit I would have normally took (an OM-1 body and the Leica 8-18mm F2.8-4 and the Olympus 12-40 F2.8 Pro). See below for a comparison.

Before anyone says it, yes I'm sure there are smaller and lighter MFT options available, but the below is based on what I actually own.



So my question is, do we think that MFT has lost or at least is losing, it's main advantage in size and weight ? Now, I'll be the 1st to admit that when it comes to long lenses, perhaps the tables turn, but with the new Nikon Z 400 F4.5 and 600mm F6.3 PF lenses weighing barely more than a 300mm F4 Pro from Olympus and hardly any bigger, then maybe this advantage is being eroded as well ?

Now I know before anyone says it, the OM-1 and A7CR are very different cameras - the OM-1 is a speed demon, much better viewfinder and rear screen, twin card slots, and all the Olympus AI trickery. However the A7CR counters with an amazing 61MP sensor (that's even 26mp in APS-C mode), a dedicated photo/video/slow motion switch, and better and sharper video (with access to all colour profiles in 10bit 422 colour depth - not just log), and access to (if required), an amazing arsenal of glass (much like MFT) However the point of this post, is that as I haven't really used my MFT kit for a few months now, I was shocked when I compared the sizes and weights for this FF kit vs MFT ?

So, do you think OMS and Panasonic need to do something radical to keep the format relevant in these days of the continued onslaught of FF cameras tempting people away to other formats, or do you think they are fine as they are and will just weather the storm ?
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Quiet a interesting p.o.v Andrew , likewise I have been a pro.active MFT user for several years ,but have felt something lacking recently mainly after viewing photos from other brands , I have recently switched my main camera to a Nikon Z8 coupled with a couple of native Z mount lenses and a few F mount ones . And although the wildlife lens I use is the 180-600 I’m not really noticing any extra weight in use ,probably down to good balance and ergonomics, and in PP the larger file sizes have given me back the desired I.q . I also focus point check shots from both cameras and find the Birds Eye I.d on the Nikon is far more accurate than the Olympus one
 
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