Olympus Menus

sigala1 wrote:

MayaTlab0 wrote:

sigala1 wrote:

Todd3608 wrote:

I am looking for a new camera and have narrowed down my choices to the E-M10, E-M1 or GX7. I have owned Olympus cameras in the past like the E-PL5 and E-PM2. I honestly sold them due to the horrible menus. They are the worst I have ever seen on any camera and I have tried lots of them from Fuji, Pentax,Sony, etc. Maybe it's just a personal thing. I was wondering if anything has changed with the menu system on either the E-M1 or E-M10? I would love to see one locally but all that's around here is chain stores that do not carry cool cameras like these. Not trying to start a debate...Just hoping maybe the menus have changed to not be so confusing...

I don't see Olympus menus being any worse than any other brand of camera that offers a lot of customizations. Although I've never used a modern Nikon DSLR so maybe Nikon is better?

My opinion is that of all the cameras I've used over the years, Olympus menus are the worst. Frankly, they're rubbish. Calling an option "burst + IS OFF" (meaning that you have to set this option off to actually turn IS on in burst mode) is insanely idiotic, for example. It's been there since Olympus had image stabilisation and they never bothered to address this stupid double negative in a decade even though removing a few characters from a menu title must be one of the easiest things to do for a software engineer. Menu items are, in general, badly named in biblical proportions (what does "rec. mode" means to normal human beings ?).

Case in point : my mother, who is my yardstick for technologically challenged people (a TV remote already challenges her - granted, they're all mostly badly designed), understands 90% of the menus items on my 5DIII. She struggled a bit more on the Nikon D700, again a little more on Fuji cameras, and on Olympus ones, she's all at sea.

Olympus tries to group related functions together under the same sub-menu, so it seems reasonably laid out to me.

I don't think they're particularly well organised. For example, is there a reason why Wifi settings are in the general settings menu, but actually activating Wifi connection is in the playback menu (even though you can still shoot in wifi ) ? Of course, you can still activate Wifi via the touch screen, but then why do we need a menu item in the menus ?

However, I wouldn't exclude Olympus cameras just because of their menus. Like all cameras, it usually is a set and forget thing. Still, fully understanding what every single option does and configuring a Canon 5DIII or a Nikon D800 is a matter of 30 min max for me, but several hours for the EM1 (and it's not because it's more configurable, far from it).

I still say that Olympus is better than Panasonic. And the menus are organized better than on the Ricoh GR as well.

You probably only think Canon is easier because you are more familiar with it.

That you have to set "Burst + IS OFF" to "off" in order to have IS on is a perfectly logical reading of the name of the menu item.

Olympus better than Panasonic? Well, that is certainly debatable. I've had my GH3 about 12 months longer than my E-M1 so it's only natural having used my GH3 almost daily the camera would be very very familiar, but IMO the Panasonic menu system runs circles around what Olympus created. The Olympus system does get easier to use with study and practice, but Panasonic's menu system us far more user friendly and intuitive. I also prefer The GH3's extensive and friendly customization - once setup, it is very quick and easy to go from one unique setup to another in a few seconds.

I also found the class presentation on the E-M1 by John Greengo of Creative Live quite helpful and answered a few questions that dreadful Olympus manual never began to figure out. I also just added the E-M1 battery grip and got the benefit of 2 more customized buttons quite helpful too.

In spite of the fact the E-M1 is a great stills camera, when I am in a rush and one to get a quick set of photos, it is the GH3 the camera I tend to reach for and use. Maybe with time and regular use that will change. It won't be because of anything Olympus did with their setup or menu system, that is for certain.

Dale