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

Damn - i keep getting 403 errors for your site Lindsay. Not sure why at the moment. Never been a problem before (another regular LDP blog reader here).

James
 
Lindsay - do you have a link to the 40-150 you use? I see there are two versions one has an R after it. Im very new to Olympus and if Im looking at the correct lens and the shots on your blog they are very sharp. Keep up the great work.
 
Yes i'm on Virgin Lindsay which does have a habit of cacheing sites - your site is blocked from work so i couldn't try it there :(

James
 
james n said:
Yes i'm on Virgin Lindsay which does have a habit of cacheing sites - your site is blocked from work so i couldn't try it there :(

James
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Ah - my system flagged up a couple of Virgin users recently - it's to do with the fairly fussy way that I configured things at my end (I put some stern security measures in place after I was hit with a couple of denial of service attacks last year) and this tends to affect people who view the blog quite regularly. Normally bouncing your router would sort it out since that will generate a new IP address. But if you've tried that and it hasn't helped then I may be able to identify you on my log and resolve the problem manually - I can try and take a look at it tomorrow.
 
Iiyama said:
Lindsay - do you have a link to the 40-150 you use? I see there are two versions one has an R after it.
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By all accounts they're optically identical,
not to be mixed up with the two versions of the DSLR 4/3rds 40-150 which are very different to each other.
 
Fantastic - thanks for that Lindsay - all working now.

I'll catch up with the blog later :cool:

James
 
hi does anyone know if the Panasonic FL220e flash works on an EM5 ?

if so is it fully functional and a worthwhile upgrade to the standard flash

cheers

duncan
 
Picked up a Sigma 60mm F2.8 DN | A at the weekend, haven't had a chance to use it in anger yet due to an extremely busy schedule, will try and get some pics next weekend.

The first test shots are looking very promising, good colour rendition and very sharp, and it only cost me £160.
 
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Still practising with my Olympus OM-D E-M5 and 60mm Macro. Heck of a difference from my 7D and Sigma 180mm Macro.

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A lovely set of images there David! I think you're producing great stuff already!
 
DaiTheDragon said:
Still practising with my Olympus OM-D E-M5 and 60mm Macro. Heck of a difference from my 7D and Sigma 180mm Macro.
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How different is it? as just made the same move and waiting for my 45mm to arrive to use it but read the menu is a little backwards from a canon?
 
Thanks Marcia, Ulfric.
Steve I can't seem to get used to using the rear screen so use the viewfinder instead. Also with the continuous focus I can't tell if it's in focus or not so been using one shot. Need more practice. These were hand held.

Dai
 
Well it arrived this morning so a couple of hours charging the battery and for my favourite subject I went straight down to the sons to take my three Granddaughter down to the park.

Somehow I inadvertently managed to change the setting from raw to jpeg after the first few shots so they were all taken in jpeg..something I never usually do!

I can now see why so many like it and rave about it!

Anyway onto the first pics I took with it.

Madison
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Chelsea
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Scarlett
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A random kid in the park but I could not resist a grab shot.
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This is hopefully a simple one.
What's best Olympus or LR5 for manipulating RAW? The reason I'm asking is that someone I spoke to who does weddings semi pro said he achieved better results using Canon's RAW processing than using PS. That got me thinking, is this true also for Olympus OMD when compared to LR5?

I'm new to RAW, OMD and Lightroom 5. Adds up to a steep learning curve!!

Thanks in advance...
 
Mqta said:
This is hopefully a simple one.
What's best Olympus or LR5 for manipulating RAW? The reason I'm asking is that someone I spoke to who does weddings semi pro said he achieved better results using Canon's RAW processing than using PS. That got me thinking, is this true also for Olympus OMD when compared to LR5?

I'm new to RAW, OMD and Lightroom 5. Adds up to a steep learning curve!!

Thanks in advance...
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Try Capture One.
Having been through all the RAW converters at one stage or another I find it on balance the most intuitive and capable of extracting every last ounce of detail from Oly RAW files.
Olympus software also does a good job but is too clunky and slow in operation for me plus its much less flexible.

Edit: Great set there Paul.
 
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David, Paul

These are fantastic images. Just proves once again there is no need for big clunky heavy inconvenient CaNikons

I've just sold all my Canon equipment and am waiting to see what, if anything, is announced by Olympus in September before taking the plunge
 
Lindsay D said:
Lovely images Paul! Looks like you're enjoying your new camera already.
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Thank you Lindsay and indeed I am, problem is I want a 70-300 and 60mm Macro now......and I'm broke.:D


Engineer73 said:
David, Paul

These are fantastic images. Just proves once again there is no need for big clunky heavy inconvenient CaNikons

I've just sold all my Canon equipment and am waiting to see what, if anything, is announced by Olympus in September before taking the plunge
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Thank you and I'm sure you will not regret it. I already had the E-PL5 so knew image IQ was not going to be a problem:)
 
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Just got a E-M5 and 45mm. Just wondering if any settings are a must to change first as I've heard Olympus are good at hiding setting :D
 
Greytop said:
Try Capture One.
Having been through all the RAW converters at one stage or another I find it on balance the most intuitive and capable of extracting every last ounce of detail from Oly RAW files.
Olympus software also does a good job but is too clunky and slow in operation for me plus its much less flexible.

Edit: Great set there Paul.
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Thanks for the reply. Prior to my message above I had actually downloaded a copy of LR5 and with this in mind I'd like a view from others please, which is better, the Olympus software that came with the camera, or LR5.
As I'm a virtual novice when it comes to digital processing, do I need to download the latest RAW from Adobe? Only bought LR5 a few weeks ago (as a download) when I heard about the PC World deal, paying £65 or thereabouts.
 
Many thanks Ulfric, that's helped tremendously. Very good of you to post the links.

Presumably this is the route most, if not all, OMD users take when importing RAW.
 
Mqta said:
Presumably this is the route most, if not all, OMD users take when importing RAW.
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Sorry, that guy doesn't seem to understand what LR is and how to use it properly (!)

LR is a raw file developer and just because the default settings don't produce what you want doesn't mean you should revert to another program to apply the preliminary settings. Once you convert to TIFF you lose some of the flexibility of LR (ability to set colour balance, ability to apply colour profiles....) which reduces the latitude you have for making corrections to the image. The reason the Olympus software does "better" is that it reads the exif information and then applies the same profile as the JPEG engine does in-camera. LR doesn't do this as it doesn't have the camera manufacturers presets programmed in as presets.

What you should do with LR is process a RAW file so that it looks how you want it to, then save that set of processing as a preset. When you import raw files you then apply that preset which gives you a "better" starting point for further processing of the raw file.

The bottom line is LR - like any other processing package - takes a while to learn. It took me about a year to get my head around how it worked and what ALL the menus do in the develop pane (Camera Calibration was the last one to fall into place for me, and this is one area you lose the flexibility by going to TIFF and is probably the most important one IMHO). LR is a very capable tool, you just need to learn to use it properly and that means investing time to understand what it does and how it works.
 
Many thanks Andy for your comprehensive response.
LR it is then, at least I know now.
Can anyone recommend a book to help level the learning curve? I prefer reading to watching videos, as it suits my method of learning better.
 
Mqta said:
Can anyone recommend a book to help level the learning curve? I prefer reading to watching videos, as it suits my method of learning better.
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You really should check out Julianne Kosts videos at adobe.tv

Not only is she a good teacher, just watching then gives you an idea of how the program works. And they are 10-15 minutes long - so just long enough to be informative and still short enough to be interesting.
 
I'll give that a go, thanks.
Just one more question (sorry), I've imported from SD card using LR5 import, the resultant files have .ORF extension. Is that a good starting position for LR?
You can see from the last comment how much of a novice I am, but we all have to start somewhere, don't we.
 
Yes. ORF = Olympus Raw File.

Take one representative file and start playing with the sliders, moving them back and forth individually to see what they do. The great thing about LR is it is completely non destructive. You can always back out changes at any time simply by clicking on the history step you want to get back to.

I can tell you are eager to get some processed images, but take an hour or two to really play with the program (in Develop mode) to see what it can do for one photo you have. As the saying goes, good things come to those who wait ;)
 
Hi all, i have to say i am sorely tempted by moving to a smaller system.

Unfortunately my pocket isn't deep enough to trial a system built around the omd alongside my d7100. So will have to spend some time thinking about it.

Also slightly worried about the potential cost. My current lens line up
Samyang 8mm
Nikon 10 - 24
Tamron 17-50
Nikon 35
Sigma 105 macro

Lets say for the sake of argument i get £950 for the above. How much on top will i need to get a similar kit in m43?

I guess i need the following:-
Samyang 7.5 (£264)
olympus 9-18 (£486)
panasonic 12-35 (£849)
panasonic 25 1.4 (£439)
Olympus 60mm f2.8 (£399)

Assuming i can get each of them in good condition second hand, that will mean i have to find about £1k for the move to m43? Is there a cheaper way?
 
Rapscallion said:
Hi all, i have to say i am sorely tempted by moving to a smaller system.

Unfortunately my pocket isn't deep enough to trial a system built around the omd alongside my d7100. So will have to spend some time thinking about it.

Also slightly worried about the potential cost. My current lens line up
Samyang 8mm
Nikon 10 - 24
Tamron 17-50
Nikon 35
Sigma 105 macro

Lets say for the sake of argument i get £950 for the above. How much on top will i need to get a similar kit in m43?

I guess i need the following:-
Samyang 7.5 (£264)
olympus 9-18 (£486)
panasonic 12-35 (£849)
panasonic 25 1.4 (£439)
Olympus 60mm f2.8 (£399)

Assuming i can get each of them in good condition second hand, that will mean i have to find about £1k for the move to m43? Is there a cheaper way?
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Assuming you can live with a slightly older/cheaper body you might make some cash between it and your D7100 although you might miss a bit DR/High ISO performance, something like a G3/G5+12-35 might not be too far off your D7100+17-50. If you want to stick with top of the line (O-MD/EP5/G6) you will have to compensate with some cash.

Have you considered the Fuji X system? the X-E1+18-55 can be had s/h for less than a new Pana 12-35 alone, and about as much as a s/h one. It is a cracking piece of glass too and not really any bigger. It is not a a constant 2.8 (it is 2.8-4) but it has a really good OIS.

There is already a brilliant 35mm 1.4 which can be found s/h in the classifieds for less than £300 (bought me one last week for 285 and have seen one for 275), there is a 2.8 60mm as well for marginally more than the 35 s/h. There is no ultra wide zoom yet but there will be one near the end of the year if you can wait. Not sure about the Samyang.
 
Rapscallion said:
Hi all, i have to say i am sorely tempted by moving to a smaller system.

Unfortunately my pocket isn't deep enough to trial a system built around the omd alongside my d7100. So will have to spend some time thinking about it.

Also slightly worried about the potential cost. My current lens line up
Samyang 8mm
Nikon 10 - 24
Tamron 17-50
Nikon 35
Sigma 105 macro

Lets say for the sake of argument i get £950 for the above. How much on top will i need to get a similar kit in m43?

I guess i need the following:-
Samyang 7.5 (£264)
olympus 9-18 (£486)
panasonic 12-35 (£849)
panasonic 25 1.4 (£439)
Olympus 60mm f2.8 (£399)

Assuming i can get each of them in good condition second hand, that will mean i have to find about £1k for the move to m43? Is there a cheaper way?
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My question to you is whether you really need all that? There is quite a bit of overlap and very wide focussed. Also the 12-35 is as good as equivalent to a Nikon 24-70, huge step up from that 17-50 you had. I would argue that you could just get the 12-35 and take a step or two backward :D Perhaps even get a Olympus 45mm f1.8 instead of the 60mm f2.8 and use extension tubes and focus manually if you are really into macro...Job done and tons of money saved :thumbs:
 
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