The Olympus E-M1 compared to the E-M5

E Seale · Sep 12, 2013

Gang,

Since it'll be a while before most of us get to lay our hands on an E-M1 for real, I thought it'd be helpful (in the meantime) to compare the user's manuals for the E-M1 and the E-M5 side-by-side -- read all about it here.

Eric

Brian Wadie · Sep 12, 2013

an interesting read

Guy Parsons · Sep 12, 2013

E Seale said:
E Seale wrote:

Gang,

Since it'll be a while before most of us get to lay our hands on an E-M1 for real, I thought it'd be helpful (in the meantime) to compare the user's manuals for the E-M1 and the E-M5 side-by-side -- read all about it here.

Eric

You definitely need to add Custom Menu B - Mode Dial Function, where you can assign the MySets to any spots on the Mode dial.

In E-M1 Custom Menu B

Works a dream on the E-PL5 as the MySet is applied at turn on, or at a twist of the dial. In my case I've MySetted the PASM spots to be custom AAAM spots to better do what I need.

Regards..... Guy

Paul De Bra · Sep 13, 2013

There's a good reason Olympus keeps the E-M5 on the market next to the E-M1. The somewhat less expensive E-M5 offers most "prosumer" users already everything they want. It's hard to improve on a winner. The E-M1 does offer PDAF, larger grip, faster max shutter speed, larger EVF. I'm happy with the smaller size of the E-M5 (no grip, thanks), I hit 1/4000s once in over a year I believe, the EVF is already large for me (coming from much smaller on my previous Canon 450D), I never missed PDAF except in video where the E-M1 apparently does not use it either... and I like silver.

The E-M1 will be a fine camera for people wanting a step up, but for many the E-M5 will do just fine. The great big news is the new 12-40 f/2.8 lens. Can't wait to put that on my E-M5.

djbrom · Sep 13, 2013

Thanks Eric. A great effort put in to make things clear and concise. Good on ya

E Seale · Sep 13, 2013

Guy Parsons said:
Guy Parsons wrote:

Guy Parsons said:

E Seale wrote:

Gang,

Since it'll be a while before most of us get to lay our hands on an E-M1 for real, I thought it'd be helpful (in the meantime) to compare the user's manuals for the E-M1 and the E-M5 side-by-side -- read all about it here.

Eric

Click to expand...

You definitely need to add Custom Menu B - Mode Dial Function, where you can assign the MySets to any spots on the Mode dial.

In E-M1 Custom Menu B

Works a dream on the E-PL5 as the MySet is applied at turn on, or at a twist of the dial. In my case I've MySetted the PASM spots to be custom AAAM spots to better do what I need.

Regards..... Guy

Good point, this seemed (from just the manual) to be a pretty minor thing at first blush.

Eric

Rens · Sep 13, 2013

It would be good if the CDAF could work with a smaller box than does the E-M5.

Martin.au · Sep 13, 2013

Rens said:
Rens wrote:

It would be good if the CDAF could work with a smaller box than does the E-M5.

rrr_hhh · Sep 13, 2013

E Seale said:
E Seale wrote:

Gang,

Since it'll be a while before most of us get to lay our hands on an E-M1 for real, I thought it'd be helpful (in the meantime) to compare the user's manuals for the E-M1 and the E-M5 side-by-side -- read all about it here.

Eric

Not sure why, but I'm only seeing a completely blank page on my iPad2. Anyone has that problem ?

brentbrent · Sep 13, 2013

rrr_hhh said:
rrr_hhh wrote:

Not sure why, but I'm only seeing a completely blank page on my iPad2. Anyone has that problem ?

+1, on my PC.

Advent1sam · Sep 13, 2013

Paul De Bra said:
Paul De Bra wrote:

There's a good reason Olympus keeps the E-M5 on the market next to the E-M1. The somewhat less expensive E-M5 offers most "prosumer" users already everything they want. It's hard to improve on a winner. The E-M1 does offer PDAF, larger grip, faster max shutter speed, larger EVF. I'm happy with the smaller size of the E-M5 (no grip, thanks), I hit 1/4000s once in over a year I believe, the EVF is already large for me (coming from much smaller on my previous Canon 450D), I never missed PDAF except in video where the E-M1 apparently does not use it either... and I like silver.

The E-M1 will be a fine camera for people wanting a step up, but for many the E-M5 will do just fine. The great big news is the new 12-40 f/2.8 lens. Can't wait to put that on my E-M5.

E Seale · Sep 13, 2013

brentbrent said:
brentbrent wrote:

brentbrent said:

rrr_hhh wrote:

Not sure why, but I'm only seeing a completely blank page on my iPad2. Anyone has that problem ?

Click to expand...

+1, on my PC.

Hmmm... I can't recreate that symptom on my iPad (Retina / Safari) or wife's PC (Win 7 / Firefox).

What browsers are you two using?

brentbrent · Sep 13, 2013

4th time is the charm, it just opened up for me. Win7/Firefox.

tkelly11 · Sep 13, 2013

Advent1sam said:
Advent1sam wrote:

Advent1sam said:

Paul De Bra wrote:

There's a good reason Olympus keeps the E-M5 on the market next to the E-M1. The somewhat less expensive E-M5 offers most "prosumer" users already everything they want. It's hard to improve on a winner. The E-M1 does offer PDAF, larger grip, faster max shutter speed, larger EVF. I'm happy with the smaller size of the E-M5 (no grip, thanks), I hit 1/4000s once in over a year I believe, the EVF is already large for me (coming from much smaller on my previous Canon 450D), I never missed PDAF except in video where the E-M1 apparently does not use it either... and I like silver.

The E-M1 will be a fine camera for people wanting a step up, but for many the E-M5 will do just fine. The great big news is the new 12-40 f/2.8 lens. Can't wait to put that on my E-M5.

Click to expand...

ChromeDome · Sep 13, 2013

Paul De Bra said:
Paul De Bra wrote:

There's a good reason Olympus keeps the E-M5 on the market next to the E-M1. The somewhat less expensive E-M5 offers most "prosumer" users already everything they want. It's hard to improve on a winner. The E-M1 does offer PDAF, larger grip, faster max shutter speed, larger EVF. I'm happy with the smaller size of the E-M5 (no grip, thanks), I hit 1/4000s once in over a year I believe, the EVF is already large for me (coming from much smaller on my previous Canon 450D), I never missed PDAF except in video where the E-M1 apparently does not use it either... and I like silver.

The E-M1 will be a fine camera for people wanting a step up, but for many the E-M5 will do just fine. The great big news is the new 12-40 f/2.8 lens. Can't wait to put that on my E-M5.

--
Slowly learning to use the Olympus OM-D E-M5.
Public pictures at http://debra.zenfolio.com/.

I'm really struggling not to go for the pre-order. Part of me (The rational bit) says I don't need it - "Yet". But another part of me says get it before it's too late.

I've been debating whether or not to get rid of all my Canon Glass (some of it L grade) and my Canon APS-C for a while now. My original plan would have been to supplement my E-M5 and three zooms with some of the really stellar little primes. Thinks 12mm, 17mm 1.8, 25mm Pan, 45mm 1.8 and possibly the 75mm. Depending upon how much I could sell all my other kit for.

The only thing stopping me selling the Canon gear is that I like to do quite a bit of motor sport shooting (think F1 and Le-Mans 24 sports car) and occasionally a bit of wildlife too. The E-M5 hasn't really been up to the job (for me least-ways) I've seen that others have had success, but I've just found it too difficult for that task and even if I have the e-m5 with me I still revert to my Canon for a better chance of getting the shot.

The new e-m1 appears to have mostly solved the tracking problems by implementing CDAF+PDAF for M43 lenses. I have never owned full sized Oly 43rds, so the compatability thing doesn't enter my thinking.

The E-M1 AF may not be as good as the 7D but I have a Canon 50D and that's probably nowhere near as good as a new Canon 70D the E-M1's been compared with; the 50D's always been fine for my needs.

I'm now worried that so-many APS-C shooters looking to downsize will bite the bullet and offload there APS-C kit that there will be a glut of FF Lenses all over e-bay in the coming months. So I kind-of wish I'd stopped fence-sitting and sold off the Canon gear a month or two ago after the last Motor sport event that I'll probably attend this year. The other part of me thinks. If it was going to be that bad Canon and Nikon would be scaling down there manufacturing base in a hurry or at least ramping up there mirrorless division.

The differences aren't so inconsequential to me. Approx one stop better noise control than e-m5 and PDAF on M43 lenses. (And I love the look of that new 12-40F2.8 too)

TLDR: I want it (geek). Might need it (practical). Cannot predict future (coward) ;-)

--
.

Michael Kaufman · Sep 13, 2013

E Seale said:
E Seale wrote:

E Seale said:
Good point, this seemed (from just the manual) to be a pretty minor thing at first blush.

Eric

To my mind, this is a huge improvement. I rarely used Mysets on my EM5 because it was such a pain to change them. I expect to use them all the time on the EM1.

This change and the improved controls (for people who use the grip) make this a no-brainer upgrade for me. Everything else is just gravy.

--

Michael Kaufman

Explore Michael Kaufman’s 1,682 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

Guy Parsons · Sep 13, 2013

Michael Kaufman said:
Michael Kaufman wrote:

Michael Kaufman said:

E Seale wrote:

Good point, this seemed (from just the manual) to be a pretty minor thing at first blush.

Eric

Click to expand...

To my mind, this is a huge improvement. I rarely used Mysets on my EM5 because it was such a pain to change them. I expect to use them all the time on the EM1.

This change and the improved controls (for people who use the grip) make this a no-brainer upgrade for me. Everything else is just gravy.

This MySets to Mode dial feature is exactly why I bypassed the E-M5 and bought the E-PL5 instead. Makes a world of difference and less silly mistakes with the camera always ready to use with known setups.

I got used to the C1-C2-1/2/3 setup of my Panasonic LX3 and always wished Oly would wake up, and they did at last with the E-PL5 and onwards and made it way better than the Panasonic method.

Regards..... Guy

dv312 · Sep 13, 2013

http://www.sansmirror.com/newsviews/the-e-m1-versus-the-e-m5.html

cheers ;-)

Guy Parsons · Sep 13, 2013

Martin.au said:
Mjankor wrote:

Martin.au said:

Rens wrote:

It would be good if the CDAF could work with a smaller box than does the E-M5.

--
Rens
There are optimists and there are realists

Click to expand...

Pretty sure it does. There's 81 focus points, as compared to 'only' 35 in the E-M5.

That means an individual focus box in the E-M1 must be substantially smaller.

You can also use the smaller PDAF sensors too I think, which are quite small.

On the E-PL5 I can press Left -Info then dial or up/down with the AF setup, including a smaller than default focus box that stays there at turn on. The E-M1 manual page 52 seems to read the same way.

Looks to be the same as E-PL5 to me....

With my E-PL5 I use the single Small Target always at the centre, unless on tripod with macro, and then I slide it around via the LCD.

Regards...... Guy

[edit... darn it, images not appearing again, need to click on 'original size' to see it.]

MPA1 · Sep 13, 2013

Advent1sam said:
Advent1sam wrote:

Advent1sam said:

Paul De Bra wrote:

There's a good reason Olympus keeps the E-M5 on the market next to the E-M1. The somewhat less expensive E-M5 offers most "prosumer" users already everything they want. It's hard to improve on a winner. The E-M1 does offer PDAF, larger grip, faster max shutter speed, larger EVF. I'm happy with the smaller size of the E-M5 (no grip, thanks), I hit 1/4000s once in over a year I believe, the EVF is already large for me (coming from much smaller on my previous Canon 450D), I never missed PDAF except in video where the E-M1 apparently does not use it either... and I like silver.

The E-M1 will be a fine camera for people wanting a step up, but for many the E-M5 will do just fine. The great big news is the new 12-40 f/2.8 lens. Can't wait to put that on my E-M5.

Click to expand...

The Olympus E-M1 compared to the E-M5

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