Are you going OM-D?

Are you going OM-D?

  • O yeah, here's my pre-order confirmation!

    Votes: 36 10.4%

  • You bet! just have to de-GAS a few gears to fund it

    Votes: 23 6.7%

  • Positively, but only when it hits street price level

    Votes: 65 18.8%

  • I don't know, I like it, but won't my APS-C buddies shun me?

    Votes: 50 14.5%

  • Heck no! I won't be caught dead with a dinky m4/3rd camera

    Votes: 110 31.9%

  • OMD? Are they coming out with a new album?

    Votes: 61 17.7%
  • Total voters
    345
  • Poll closed .
larry i'm going om-d, but i am always curious at the philosophy of putting huge slr lenses on mirrorless cams. it always seemed to me CEVIL cams have 2 'advantages': theyre small, unobtrusive & thus nonthreatening, and you can mount most any lens ever made to very nice effect. but the negatives are crop factors of 1.5 to 2x. imo, when i wanted to mount huge lenses, i had a FF 5d. i left that cam/lens combo--and with it the advantages of shooting great lenses FF--for a compact CEVIL rig, then to be coupled with similarly compact lenses, in my case RF and kodak retina dkl. i am always confused about why one would choose CEVIL and then destroy its primary advantage? if one loves BIG lenses, why not pair them with a BIG FF cam?
 
rbelyell said:
larry i'm going om-d, but i am always curious at the philosophy of putting huge slr lenses on mirrorless cams. it always seemed to me CEVIL cams have 2 'advantages': theyre small, unobtrusive & thus nonthreatening, and you can mount most any lens ever made to very nice effect. but the negatives are crop factors of 1.5 to 2x. imo, when i wanted to mount huge lenses, i had a FF 5d. i left that cam/lens combo--and with it the advantages of shooting great lenses FF--for a compact CEVIL rig, then to be coupled with similarly compact lenses, in my case RF and kodak retina dkl. i am always confused about why one would choose CEVIL and then destroy its primary advantage? if one loves BIG lenses, why not pair them with a BIG FF cam?
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Everything you've said is true. For me, one big advantage is that I already have a very extensive collection of OM Zuiko lenses. I have used them with my E-510 which like the E-M5, has in-body IS (and both of these cameras have IS settings for the OM lenses). Putting my 300/f4.5 on, I am able to use it hand held with great results. I will definitely be getting M43 lenses, but at the same time I can use it with my Leica and even my Contax G's. I'm not buying the E-M5 for my other lenses, but at the same time will be taking advantage of what I currently have. 😎
 
And if you're a bird/wildlife photographer, the crop factor/magnification gives you advantages beyond what you've been able to achieve previously.

rbelyell said:
larry i'm going om-d, but i am always curious at the philosophy of putting huge slr lenses on mirrorless cams. it always seemed to me CEVIL cams have 2 'advantages': theyre small, unobtrusive & thus nonthreatening, and you can mount most any lens ever made to very nice effect. but the negatives are crop factors of 1.5 to 2x. imo, when i wanted to mount huge lenses, i had a FF 5d. i left that cam/lens combo--and with it the advantages of shooting great lenses FF--for a compact CEVIL rig, then to be coupled with similarly compact lenses, in my case RF and kodak retina dkl. i am always confused about why one would choose CEVIL and then destroy its primary advantage? if one loves BIG lenses, why not pair them with a BIG FF cam?
Click to expand...
 
I really wanted one of these up until I got to test one out in Tin Cheung Cameras last week. They only had black ones in stock but here are my thoughts (and saying "hell no, no dinky 4/3 camera for me" wasn't really what I was thinking):

PROS:
-small and very light, portable enough to sling over your shoulder and forget about
-very fast AF (but still not sure it's up to my (rather) fading memories of my D700 + 70-200 VRII)
-EVF is surprisingly bright and easy to focus in low light
-12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 lens is pretty impressive during video. Not much of a video man myself but the new focus mechanism is quite intuitive - just don't forget to turn it back to Normal for stills photography!
-16Mp? Fairly clean ISO 3200 and quite impressive 1600 in a tiny body? Yes!

CONS:
-construction and design look and feel a little cheap. Yes, it may be weatherproof but it certainly doesn't look or feel like it could stand much abuse. I personally think it is a little tacky in the hand and quite far off the comparisons to the beautiful simplicity of the OM-1.
-controls are fiddly, particularly the playback button.
-the rear feels cramped - I don't have sausage fingers but even with my fingers I found myself getting frustrated. One for small hands and fingers for sure.
-new 12-50mm kit lens is disappointingly slow at f/6.3 at the long end.
-EVF is still...an EVF. Refresh rate is still not where I'm happy enough to buy or recommend it.
-the m4/3 AF lens lineup still has a lot of gaps in it. Once Olympus and Panasonic start releasing fast f/2 or f/2.8 12-35mm and 35-100mm lenses the system will be much more attractive.

With some music and photojournalist gigs coming up in the next few months, I'm on the lookout for a complete digital system (again).

Now onto the D7000, followed by the X-Pro 1 and if all else fails...a D800.
 
I think whether the size is an issue or not depends on what you're used to. I've had an EP3 since they first came out, and got to play with a (pre-production) EM5 a month or so back. Control layout felt fine to me, but I've been using the PEN for a while, so I'm more or less used to the setup and size. The little thumb rest on the back definitely makes it easy to grip. I think I'd be more worried about it getting to BIG if I put the grip on. I'm just not used to shooting SLR's anymore.

But size is going to be a personal preference- some people will like it, some won't.

And none of us will know till we try...

And by all means- no matter how good the camera is, if you're not comfortable with it,
buy something else- people get too caught up in the newest latest greatest thing now, and forget how rewarding it is to shoot with something that just FITS, that you can forget you have in your hand and just use it as an extension of yourself. If the camera is too big for you, or too small, or weighted wrong, or smells funny or whatever, you won't be comfortable, you won't want to take it out, and you won't want to shoot.

-Brian
 
Trius said:
Yes, interesting. The size has been a concern for me, and I have the growing feeling that it might be a deal-killer.
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The E-M5 is roughly the size of the OM-1. In the digital SLR(like) world, your choice is this or something more along the lines of your usual DSLR. I'll take the E-M5 in a heartbeat. I already have an E-510, and I know the E-M5 is going to much appreciated by myself. The waiting is becoming intolerable.
 
I've already weighed in on the size question.

I've already weighed in on the size question.

For anyone who used the OM camera's in the 70's, the EM-5 will be like picking up an old friend. I was an early adopter of the OM-1, and currently have two OM-1's and three OM-2 variants. I also use them with the grip winder.

I've checked the size specs and looked at the grip/body configuration.

I fully expect this new Olympus to be near identiical to picking up one of my OM's. The bonus is that I get to use my OM glass, as I have on my Oly DSLR 4/3 camera's.

Not looking for shirt pocket transport.
 
I really want my E-M5, like today. But, since I have to wait let's take a tounge in cheek look at the Pros and Cons of the cameras as identified at 42rumors.com from recent reviews.

Pros:
1. The battery grip is a exellent add-on. Featuring complete sets of function buttons, scroll wheels. But still keeps the size rather comapct (Way too big and expensive. $300, really?)
2. Weathersealed. Magnesium alloy body (And no attractive weathersealed lenses)
3. Customizable real-time curve (sounds cool)
4. Lots of customizable buttons, both scroll wheel are customizable. (as long as things don't get too confusing, this is a camera, not a Home Entertainment System. I don't want to think I need a remote control to work the thing.)
5. The revolutionary 5-axis IS (sounds cool)
6. 17 art filters (Meh)
7. Tilt screen (sounds cool)
8. E-M5 plus 12-50 (Macro, motor zoom, weathersealed) are perfect match (for shooting on clear sunny days because it is way to slow to use on rainy grey ones)

Cons:
1. The camera suffers of minor lags, starting up, button, scroll wheels are not as reponsive as Panasonic cameras. Especially the exposure compensation. (Hmmm, will have to check this out)
2. When recording, E-M5 does not support touch-toggle-focus. (Meh)
3. Lowest ISO-value is 200. (Oly has overstated the ISO sensitivity, so 200 is the new 125 apparently)
4. The flash is external. (Meh)
 
Trius said:
Yes, interesting. The size has been a concern for me, and I have the growing feeling that it might be a deal-killer.
Click to expand...

It is taller than an OM4, and 11mm shorter, and few mm's thinner, but with a nice thumb grip on the back and finger grip in the front.... So Very similar in size to the OM line.....

I Pre-Ordered a Black one This month from B&H, The 12th is the expected date that they get their 1st shipment.
 
I am a big, longtime OM shooter and now collector of an M system (I guess), and so the EM-5 was the holy grail I'd been waiting many years for. I had an Olympus E-1 and then later an E-620 but there were many weaknesses of each camera which never quite got resolved in the Four Thirds system or (so far) in the new PEN system (I use the EP-3 for product photography.

The size and shape is very much like an OM camera, indeed I had my M-1 with 100/2.8 M.Zuiko with me that day when I tested out the EM-5, and they are very similar in size. However, I very strongly feel the build quality is not on the same par. Of course the addition of a movable LCD and numerous rubber and plastic buttons makes it impossible to compare to the simplicity and ruggedness of an OM body, but there are other notable design traits to the EM-5 which make it appear and feel slightly flimsy.

It is much more angular than the PEN or OM cameras. Under close scrutiny I could only think of the differences in design lines between a WW2 cruiser (the OM) and the new stealth missile destroyers of the UK / USA (EM-5). Both unique and elegant in their own ways, but I couldn't help but think of the words "tacky" and then later, "flimsy", as I kept turning the EM-5 over in my hands under strong light. Design-wise, it's not for me - particularly as the lens line-up isn't compelling enough to balance things out. At the end of the day, I want f/2.8 normal and telephoto zoom lenses if I'm going to be shooting digital - as well as excellent primes (as Olympus is slowly building up).

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I feel like Olympus has a few design kinks to work out with the EM-5, sort of like how the EP-1, groundbreaking as it was at the time, also suffered from several faults (though mainly hardware rather than design).

They come very close to the perfect small interchangeable lens camera with the EM-5 (I have to disregard the PEN cameras and most other CSC cameras here: I simply am not a compose-on-LCD kind of shooter) but in the meantime, I need to look elsewhere as it doesn't quite do what I want a camera to do.
 
Still waiting, BUT, B&H will reopen April 15....Believing for an email soon after with a Tracking #....

I have assume that a limited staff is there to accept Deliveries, and maybe get the "Pre-Orders" separated out for shipping on the 15th....
 
Still waiting to hear from Amazon on my black body only preorder. 43rumors saying USA shipments are happening so I'm assuming (hoping) I'll get mine sometime next week. I didn't go for lens combos, and I completely got out of m43 sometime ago so I need to start over. I hope Leica/Panny 25/1.4 comes back in stock soon...
 
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