Oly OM-D E-M5: What's quirky about it?

Well... I guess quirkiness is subjective, but it implies that something could be improved but isn't necessarily a deal-breaker. In fact it might just be a matter of learning to work with the design or feature.

I suppose the most obvious quirk is no built-in flash. A small clip-on flash is included, but you have to remove the hot-shoe cover and accessory cover to mount it (which isn't a big deal, but something to be aware of). I received a free Oly FL-300R flash with the E-M5 (early promotional offer), and I use it more often since it can be bounced. I usually use the included flash only as a trigger when I want to fire the FL-300R remotely. Of course one of the big advantages of the E-M5 is that you rarely absolutely need to use a flash since the image quality at high ISO is quite good.

Other quirks? Well some folks don't like the strap lug hardware, but I actually like it. You can always replace your strap though. Then there is the EVF eye-sensor, which is almost always a good thing (automatically switches from LCD to EVF when you put your eye to the EVF), but sometimes it gets triggered by your hand, the strap, or your shirt when you are composing with the LCD (especially when shooting at waist level), but you an easily toggle this auto-switching on and off.

I have owned some wonderful cameras over the years: Canon Powershot S30, Nikon D70, Nikon D200, Panasonic LX2, GF1, and now the E-M5. All of them have had what I would call "quirks" and even downright annoyances. I would say that the D200, GF1 and E-M5 are my favorite cameras, but the E-M5 is the overall winner. It's definitely the best camera I've owned.

I still shoot with both Nikon and m4/3, but the E-M5 has me selling off more of my Nikon lenses. The main reason I was drawn to m4/3 over Sony NEX is the lens selection. Lenses matter more to me than camera bodies, although it's nice when a camera system offers both excellent camera bodies and a comprehensive catalog of lenses that include excellent primes.

Sean