E-M5 vs E-M10 Mark II

sderdiarian wrote:

Helen wrote:

emossg wrote:

From price point, you can't really compare these. Used E-M5 is dirty cheap as E-M10 Mark II is new and cannot be found used yet. E-M10 Mark II costs twice as much.

The E-M10 is $549 through Monday; now, that's dirt cheap for a camera that has the latest technology/features at the sacrifice of a weathersealed body (the E-M5's one remaining plus).

In the UK (where I am) there's not all that much discounting on the OM-D's, even though we have had Black Friday.  Typical, and not relevant to the OP or yourself, just taking the opportunity to moan a bit.

I would like to get more into macro photography.

Focus bracketing in the E-M10 II will aid in this.

Definitely.  Great fun - even inspired me to dig the tripod out.

I shoot a a lot inside in low light, so image-stabilization is quite important for me.

Forgot to say to the OP that this is the same in both the cameras specifically mentioned as of interest.  The original E-M10 of course "only" has 3-axis stabilization, which is theoretically less good but seems good enough, actually, and better than the 2-axis system of the E-PM2 they are currently using.

Assuming you're talking about the original E-M5, the Olympus range has evolved quite a lot (sometimes beneath the surface) since then.

Both E-M10 models ARE noticeably smaller and lighter in the hand than the E-M5 models.

Not an advantage, IMHOP. There's small, and there's too small. I prefer the taller grip and more solid feel of the E-M5.

One of those personal things - the OP seems to be motivated towards smallness as they specifically highlight it.  So I suspect the smaller E-M10 models are an advantage for them.

Regarding feel, the E-M5 was often criticised for its button feel - the weatherproofing makes most of them "spongy" with no obvious click in their travel. This is not the case on the E-M10 II.

I've never noticed this as in any way an issue in 3 years of use, overblown IMOP. Instead, it's simply a comfort knowing that should any water get on my camera, it will not fry the electronics; great insurance.

Have to agree with you about the feel of the original E-M5 buttons - they don't click, but I don't find it bothersome.  Another thought: the placement of the playback button was arguably improved a bit on the original E-M10 and has got much more logically placed and consistent on the Mark II models (of both '5 and '10 varieties) - now positioned as on the E-M1.

Many people (myself included) find the main dials of the Mark II models (which are taller, lighter-clicked and slightly altered in lateral position relative to each other) a big improvement. Some will prefer the older layout, nevertheless.

Latter (i.e., in the E-M5), likely a victim of being used to it .

The E-M10 II has a much higher resolution LCD monitor, versus the OLED of the E-M5.

I've compared my E-M5's screen to that of a friends E-M10, and much prefer the brighter and better color in the OLED.

Can't say I've noticed that variation myself, though I can see more detail on the screens of more recent models.

The E-M10 II has a lot of new features through being more recent; here are those I can remember(!):

It has 0-second Anti Shock (electronic first curtain shutter - EFCS) operation as an option - this is absent from the E-M5. The E-M5 is sometimes (but not often) affected by shutter shock but has no EFCS option.

For an E-M5 user, I'd posit this is the singular greatest improvement offered by the E-M10 series.

It is a must-have for me.  Though the E-P5 and E-M1 were the ones to most benefit from its addition (in my experience).

It does however have a slightly softer-sounding shutter.

Yes, I still find myself noticing and enjoying it in my E-M5, a lovely soft sound of quality.

Though even it sounds loud if you hear an E-M5 Mark II.  Honestly, that takes the medal for nicest-sounding shutter ever (for me).  Almost as quiet as a Panasonic GM model, but with a much nicer, "proper shutter" timbre.  Lovely.

The E-M10 II also has the option of silent shooting (fully electronic shutter) which can be very useful in certain situations (this increases the top shutter speed available to 1/16,000). It has certain limitations - not usable with flash (except in focus bracketing), can show horizontal banding at certain shutter speeds under certain types of lighting, can skew very fast moving subjects.

See E-M5's already quiet shutter above, never an issue in a public space. And 1/16,000 sounds great, but it's not good for action - a head scratcher there.

Same with all the current iterations of silent shutters unfortunately.  But the silence is truly that, and that can be useful sometimes.

The E-M10 II's EVF is higher resolution but is OLED, which can be too contrasty for some and can draw attention to slight variations in its brightness. It has the option of automatic brightness adjustment (absent on the E-M5) and S-OVF mode which makes it much less contrasty (again, no such option on the E-M5, though arguably it doesn't need it). I do find the E-M10 II's EVF optics feel slightly more "tunnel like" for some reason, though it's still a good unit. The eyecup is less prone to coming off accidentally than on the E-M5.

Hadn't heard of the "tunnel view" in the E-M10 II's EVF, good to know. In any case, the change in magnification is so small as to be almost meaningless, IMOP.

It's slight, but I notice it.  It is very contrasty, I find, perhaps too much at times, though a quick Fn button press of the S-OVF feature instantly tames it.

The E-M10 II's proximity detector for the EVF seems a tad over-sensitive (a sin shared with the E-M5 II but none of the others). However, it is helpfully disabled with the screen tilted - not so on the original E-M5, so you could get the screen blanking as you touched it with that one.

Never had an issue here.

You can assign MySets to unused positions on the mode dial on the E-M10 II if you wish. You cannot on the E-M5.

A nice feature, for sure.

There are more Art Filters on the latest models, and you can do in-camera HDR shooting too with auto-alignment on the newer OM-D models like the E-M10 II; similarly, it offers keystone correction.

HDR, another nice feature I'd use as well.

You can use your thumb to move the AF point whilst looking through the EVF on the E-M10 II if required. Not possible on any other OM-D.

I believe this is now available on the E-M1 and E-M5 II via FW updates.

Strangely, it's not.  I guess they had to leave one unique selling point for the E-M10 II.