I’ve asked Jon Falk to write a piece about the Olympus OM-D. Jon is the photographer who brought portable flash into the mainstream for working photographers back in the 1980’s. He’s since retired, and retired his big, heavy, traditional cameras for something smaller and lighter but no less potent. I always find it interesting to read about why photographers embrace new systems and new paradigms. Here is his experience adapting to the Olympus OMD.
- JON FALK COMPARES THE OLYMPUS OM-D TO NO OTHER CAMERA -
Confessions Of A Legacy D-SLR Camera User Who Tried The Mirrorless Micro4/3 D-SLR Dark Side And Lived To Tell About It . . .
Oly Photo. ©2012 Kirk Tuck
Every interesting journey begins with the first few tentative steps. If those steps lead to a greater adventure then the whole experience will have been worth the effort. That’s what will unfold here by me writing about my discoveries while using the 16MP micro4/3 mirrorless (d-SLR) Olympus OM-D camera, aka the EM5. There are so many characters in the model name but at least no X’s. But it’s only a matter of time before the EM5X or EM6 rumors start anyway.
I wish to share my discoveries with other photographers who may be collapsing under the load of big cameras, big lenses and big investments to fill big bags . . . all while thinking it’s the burden they are expected to endure while claiming to be “professional” phtoographers.
Cyberspace is full of OM-D reading and viewing material from more sources than one could ever list. Most of them fall short in one way or another; too much pixel peeping, too much “engineer talk”, too many bench test illustrations using resolution charts & colorful objects, and too much drawing lines in the sand stuff while comparing one camera to others and one type of camera to others. Since I’m writing about a camera this will be about photography.
I’m writing about my subjective views based on first hand experiences using the entire Olympus OM-D system of cameras, lenses, accessories. There is even a non Olympus branded lens thrown in for good measure, and some discussion of a couple of more brand X choices. We’re talking everyday use with just me covering a broad range (can you say “potpourri”) of photographic subjects both challenging and less so. In other words “real life” discoveries, results and opinions.
Image quality balanced against the gear’s size, weight and ease of use (or lack of it) are the basic parameters of how I made my choice to move away from a cropped sensor APS-C legacy d-SLR system to the cropped sensor micro4/3 mirrorless d-SLR. In the case of the OM-D the crop factor is x2. A few benchmarks had to be met in order for me to even consider a switch. We’re talking maintaining the ability to print up to 13x19 inches, being able to shoot and design 10x13 inch hard back books using Apple’s iPhoto services, continuing to choke the web in my own way with higher res e-mail photos (somebody at the other end had use for the fat files) and finally to lighten the considerable load when traveling with the intent of making photographs and picture stories along the way.
Some web based camera “reviews” end with the conclusions and then include a list of negative features and discoveries associated with the camera of choice. Mostly they do not bother much with lenses. Again, not here. I’ll lead off with the things I don’t like about the OM-D, even though they pale in comparison to the things I do like.
Top Ten Reasons To Gripe About The OM-D Camera
camera’s power switch is a bad idea and needs to be changed
battery life is inferior to other cameras I have used, including the E-P3 Olympus
+ / - exposure control wheel on camera or accessory grip is “too loose”, easy to move when not intended and bad things can happen
four way navigation buttons are too small and “squishy”
lens hoods not supplied with premium lenses is a cheap shot from Olympus
firmware upgrade scheme is too challenging, forcing me to read too much, know too much, click too much and pay attention too much.
OM-D lacks high speed constant f:2.8 zoom lenses in its gear catalog
no video gripes because I don’t shoot video, but do pay for it in the whole package.
accurate Continuous Auto Focus for sports action is a mystery and may not work
random flashing (but only occasionally with an Olympus FL50R flash in the hot shoe) is a mystery that I have learned to live with
That’s about it. None of these ten reasons have any impact on the quality of images the camera will produce. The JPEG’s are among the best and when I choose to go the ORF (raw) way there are no mysteries when working in Adobe Camera Raw. When shooting JPEG’s I change the settings to some I learned about at DP Review. Search on DP Review for “Olympus OM-D Guides” and the links to three pages titled Getting The Most Out Of The OM-D will pop up. Try some to see if you agree.
In The Interest Of Transparency
I was drawn to the micro4/3 method out of sheer survival needs. Getting older takes a toll. I needed to lighten my load of camera gear but not sacrifice little or anything I needed while shooting (see paragraph 3). I first dipped my “shutter toe” into the micro4/3 pond using a 12MP Olympus E-P3 camera with only a few selected lenses. Long story short my experiences there led me to embrace the higher resolution OM-D once it became available. Since then I have assembled a total system around the OM-D. My cropped sensor legacy d-SLR gear may be gone but the full size sensor d-SLR gear still lives with me. I’m hedging my bet now, so to speak. Too soon to know if it’s days are numbered? It’s getting old, though, while the honeymoon I’m now having with the new toys continues. I bought the gear written about here with my own money and I have no association with Olympus other than the one way flow of my money to them.
Stalking The World Small(er) Camera Style
There is no better way to get off the jacked up ISO treadmill, and all the associated chatter about “noise”, than to buy and use a camera that offers selected high speed PRIME lenses, not just slow speed zoom lenses. “Zoom with your feet and suck the light in with your fast lenses” became my new mantra. You know, like the old days with three Leica rangefinder bodies and three prime lenses . . . just not a longer tele. That long lens task might have been accomplished with a 180mm f:2.8 or 200mm f:4 on a Nikon F version. Yeah, those old days. I chose the OM-D to do nearly everything I need these new days.
I’m having a flashback: I did recently shoot a “decent” image at ISO 25,600 with a slow lens on the OM-D and was surprised that the end result was actually viewable, maybe even usable. Whew! I haven’t tried that again, figuring to quit while I was ahead : > )
ISO 25,600 !!!!
In my case the fast glass now includes prime Olympus’ 12mm/2.0, 45mm/1.8, 75mm/1.8 versions and a fine 20mm/1.7 from Panasonic (apply your own x2 math to those numbers for equivalent focal length in micro4/3). Additional fast zooms could expand these horizons if Panasonic’s pair of f:2.8 zooms for micro4/3 can find their way into my toy box. They would be the 12-35mm and the 35-100mm versions. I fondled this pair at the recent October NYC photo show and concluded 24-70mm and 70-200mm Panasonic equivalents would be substantial OM-D compatible lenses for photojournalists not in war zones or looking for Constant Auto Focus sports action success, event/wedding photographers, travel & portrait shooters and of course rich folks who enjoy photography. A small downside to buying Panasonic image stabilized lenses like this is you pay for features that will never be used on a body with built in I S (OM-D). Every lens by anyone mounted on an OM-D will be stabilized whether or not the I.S. is built into the lens. Soon there will be web reports and lens tests featuring the Panasonic 2.8 duo. Anxious dreamers can only hope they are sharp lenses. As of this writing Olympus does not seem interested in offering these sorts of lenses, or even improving/modifying (from 4/3 to micro4/3 without an adapter) their excellent 50-200mm f:2.8-3.5 zoom. If they asked me I’d say a 40-150mm/2.8 and a 12-42mm/2.8 would be nice. Here’s hoping they’re listening.
The high speed prime lenses I use are very sharp; the best being the 75mm/1.8 and the last best being the 12mm/2.0, with the 20mm/1.7 and the 45mm/1.8 right in the middle of best. Translated: They are all terrific. Enough with the cheerleading.
My only complaint about the prime lenses noted is that three of them are small and therefore sometimes “fussy” to get off and on a camera body in the heat of a lens changing flurry. So I mount two or three of them on two or three bodies and don’t change them during shooting. That’s also how we did it in the old days. Come to think of it I am not crazy about chrome lenses but up until now that’s the only way the prime Olympus versions are made (12mm f:2.0 is now black but at a jacked up price). I’ve heard that Leica has a branded really fast 25mm/1.4 “normal” lens that works just fine on an OM-D, but at a typically hefty price.
But not all photography demands wide apertures in dim light. That’s where the Olympus slow glass comes in. Zooms to be specific. By the way, Panasonic makes lots of lenses that fit the OM-D. More choices. The most conventional and useful Olympus zoom is their 14-150mm variable aperture (translated: slow) version. At the equivalent 28-300mm range it is better than any similar zoom I used before in APS-C times. That makes it a pretty substantial general purpose lens for daylight and flash photography, all while being comparatively small and lightweight. At the more extreme wide zoom range we’re talking their 9-18mm variable aperture Olympus lens. It’s an 18-36mm equivalent small lens right in line with being two of the three zooms required to feel equipped.
Enter now the 75-300mm zoom. Every serious travel shooter needs a “safari” lens and for daylight purposes this 150-600mm equivalent variable aperture Olympus lens fills that need. Again, my zooms are very sharp and this last one stretches the equivalent focal length at a price and size that does not require you to refinance a mortgage or to hire a sherpa to haul it around. It has a limit, though, and speed is it. This is where boosting the ISO in daylight comes in handy. The OM-D camera has produced for me excellent images at ISO’s up to 1600, even higher. Bottom line is these three sharp, relatively small zooms covering the equivalent 18-600mm range is a pretty sweet place to be when working in a usable range of ISO’s. No back breaking war stories are likely to result from this approach.
Zoom lenses are steadier to handle on the camera if the Olympus accessory battery power grip is attached to the camera. Not only is there a second battery in the power loop but the added weight and mass of the grip makes for steadier handling when the shutter trips. As a matter of fact the power grip and the 75mm f:1.8 lens are perfect together for the same reasons two of the larger zooms benefit. Speaking of steady, Olympus OM-D 5-way axial image stabilization system simply rocks. The beauty of the accessory power grip is that it is modular in two parts; one is a slim base with an added finger grip and shutter button/control wheel and the other part is the actual extra battery holding base that also offers vertical shooting controls, a shutter button and a control wheel. Either way some part or all of the grip has to be removed to replace a dead camera battery. The grip’s battery just pops out of one end when the cover is opened.
Did someone say the battery word? I should point out that no speed records are set when charging one up from dead, and Olympus still saddles the user with the stupid long A/C cable instead of flip out plug prongs to make for a simpler device. Slow camera battery recharge as a bad thing pales in comparison to the initial (for weeks) lack of availability of additional Olympus brand batteries for the then new OM-D, a situation that has since cleared up.
My camera straps & Oly split rings stay in the box in favor of using modular straps from OP/Tech USA. These straps are made to easily and quickly clip on and off the cameras, are adjustable in length and comfortable around the neck. It’s best to hang the heavier camera/lens combo off the shoulder and use the lighter versions around the neck. I think I use their Bin/Op Strap-QD but they make so much stuff ya gotta check out their web site and videos.
There are two viewing features that may help set the OM-D on a par or above other mirrorless d-SLR cameras in its class. One is the excellent electronic viewfinder in the camera. It was a terrific version called the VF-2 when attached to the E-P3 as an accessory and it appears to be the same one integrated into the OM-D’s body bump where no traditional prism is installed. The second is the tilting rear LCD screen. Raised up high and dropped low down LCD viewing for shooting situations that cry out for different angles just adds another dimension to the camera’s range. I don’t use the touch screen feature of the LCD so grabbing it to position it for shooting is not a problem. Turned on in the menu touch screen could be a problem if the camera’s rear screen is handled or if the camera is carried on a neck strap with the touch screen enabled. Fumbling fingers or a bumpy ride in front against your belly can make the camera shoot photos not usually worth saving.
Photos worth saving might happen if certain FACE recognition auto focus menu features are chosen. For instance, beyond simple face recognition there is a setting for EYES, a setting for LEFT eye and a setting for RIGHT eye. The left eye - right eye thing is terrific for portrait-like photos that require which nearest eye to be in sharp focus. Portraits usually rely on sharp eyes, or one sharp eye.
I’m having another flashback: My original Olympus experiences go back to the whopping 4 & 5MP days of the E-10/E20, and the C5050Z cameras, circa 2000 and on. They were menu diving cameras then and the OM-D might not be much different. I survived those days so I figured once into the OM-D today I could do the same.
I’m a lighting guy from the dinosaur analog days of film photography, so it stands to reason that I would require some sort of flash gear to include in my own digital Olympus OM-D kit. True that. My needs are basic these days; shoe mount flash units that offer TTL and Auto and Manual while adding the feature for remote control (Olympus calls it RC) off-camera wireless lighting. Bingo! Both my FL600R and FL50R hot shoe flash whackers offer me these features. The FL50R is the larger and more powerful version. Both use 4 AA’s for faster recycling. Off-camera wireless flashing (single or multiple flash units) is a couple of simple menu settings away. Multi-channel / multi-group RC operation does require the use of the supplied pop up accessory flash (the trigger) that Olympus includes in the box. For regular flash photography it’s pretty ineffective beyond five feet in the no-no direct flash way. Available 3rd party diffusion domes, flash bounce cards and “reinventing the wheel” light controls are flash accessories easily adapted to my units. The flashes are not weather sealed as far as I know.
Flashes eat batteries, AA’s in this case. Rechargeable NiMH’s drive me nuts because of their tendency to lose charge when sitting unused. There is a new-to-me rechargeable AA flash battery from Sanyo called Eneloop. It’s a new formula NiMH that suffers way less drain while sitting on the shelf or going unused in a flash. My Eneloop batteries and chargers came from B&H Photo in NYC. So far a great idea and good deal.
The OM-D is weather sealed. What good is that if the lenses aren’t? Well, it just so happens that they make one, a 12-50mm (x2) variable aperture weather sealed zoom lens that will at least provide a way to shoot a bit or move around outdoors in inclement conditions. This would be another situation where boosting the ISO a bit will come in handy to defeat the slow speed of the lens on darker days. It is very sharp.
Everyone shoots, travels, packs and chooses gear differently and for different reasons. I’m no different so I do things usually three ways; haul it all in a ThinkTank Airport Airstream (carry-on) roller (includes 15” Macbook Pro laptop and external back up hard drive), or the Airstream goes into the car trunk. Sometimes I carry next to nothing in a small LowePro S&F Utility belt case. Finally, I stuff a selected and evolving OM-D system into my ThinkTank Retrospective 7 black shoulder bag that also holds my 2+ pound 11” MacBook Air (real) computer but no back up hard drive. Backing up these photos is accomplished by copying camera cards to small size but large capacity USB thumb drives and then for sure not erasing the camera cards while on the road. The thumb drive method encourages a coffee break or quick shower while the crunching goes on. My Photoshop lifeline, Internet broadband & e-mail (via Verizon) access are all part of the T T R 7 package. This has turned out to be a pretty sweet way to do photography near and far and then bring it all back home, standing tall and not on Advil.
Can You Give An Old Man A Break?
A full but lightweight and compact system of Olympus OM-D toys in the ThinkTank shoulder bag, capable of meeting the goals set out in paragraph #3, turns out to weigh half of what the previous big gear did. All this while including nearly twice the actual gear (spare body, more lenses and support accessories). I M O the more the mirrorless micro4/3 as a format catches on the better.
I own several lenses and bodies but always pack just necessary pieces of the inventory when engaged in a shooting adventure. I try to match purposefully what I have with where I will be going and what I’ll be doing. Others can go with one lens all day and come up with good stuff. So can I (see E-PM2 notion below) but on other days I’ll need a couple of bodies and a different lens or three to make things work. Choosing gear for a purpose works better than the confusion of hauling too much.
In The Mean Time
Truth be told I have abandoned the notion of integrating a pocket digi cam into my realm. Having owned several I can say that the tiny sensor but attractively small cameras have enough drawbacks to cause me to seek another approach to the compact camera (take it everywhere just in case and it doesn’t have to fit in a pants pocket) approach. Since embracing micro4/3 I have just carried a plain OM-D body and one lens or another for those “walking around” episodes when a photo opportunity might knock.
Then along comes the Olympus E-PM2 (“M” for mini) 16MP micro4/3 mirrorless d-SLR camera with the same interchangeable lens mount the OM-D offers. Say what . . . a smaller camera that offers the same sensor as the OM-D, the same Olympus image processing engine, a camera that loves every MFT lens I own in a stabilized way? Well, the thrill of slipping a tiny but under-performing super small camera into a jeans pocket has just taken a sharp step backward at my house. I’ll settle for a jacket pocket size
E-PM2 or simply use this camera in hand on a wrist loop. There is no reason for me to use a tiny sensor pocket camera compared to a huge sensor camera like the E-PM2. This pocket camera fetish thing has been diminished here in favor of performance. Go figure.
Hhhhmmmmm. Digging an eye level VF-2 Olympus electronic viewfinder from my E-P3 days out of storage and clipping it to the little Olympus E-PM2 is going to be a hoot. This also adds the vertical flip up viewfinder eyepiece for eyeballing low down shooting angles or going the ever fun square 2-1/4 x 2-1/4 Retro-Rollei approach with the little camera set to shoot in this still useful square format. Life is mostly good. Maybe not so good for Leica users. Turns out the Leica branded EVF that has turned up in their toy line-up is rumored to be identical to the Olympus version, just twice the price!
http://leicarumors.com/2012/05/31/leica-x2-evf2-viewfinder-is-made-by-olympus.aspx/
Well, maybe the VF-2 AND the new compact E-PM2 camera with a lens is not going into my coat or jacket pocket at the same time. A stretch maybe. Might just have to settle for the “both-arms-straight-out-camera-in-two-hands “stinky baby diaper” way of shooting with the little E-PM2.
Wait. This Just In......
I have just been handed a pal’s excellent 8 x 24” panorama print made by shooting an iPhone 5 with an auto-stitch feature built-in. Gasp! Seems there is no end in sight to this photography magic.
(editor's note: iPhone photography.....hmmmmmmmm.)
Jon Falk -
underdog-battery@comcast.net
Who The Hell Is Jon Falk?
The author here was once somebody. On June 28, 2001 at noon, after 35 years with four newspapers as a photographer and picture editing, he retired. He now lives in a peaceful work and play environment where no bosses, no editors, no art director, no boss, no second guessers or phony evangelists are allowed. His deadlines are self imposed. He’s busier now than he ever was (traveling with “The Queen” and shooting (she said) all the time, remains engaged in personal photo projects and documents the life and times of 9 grand kids (one great grand son on the way). Royalties from his funky 90’s book Adventures In Location Lighting, published for six editions by Kodak, put a son through medical school. It turned out to be an analog viral event, his fifteen minutes of fame : > ) For almost 14 years he produced and sold UnderDog flash batteries. If anyone wants to chime in now don’t be mean or call names.
Jon Falk.
©2012 and beyond. Kirk Tuck. Please do not re-post without full attribution. Please use the Amazon Links on the site to help me finance this site. See my work at www.kirktuck.com