E-M5 vs E-M10 Mark II

Helen wrote:

Assuming you're talking about the original E-M5

Yes, I am talking about original E-M5. I was going to get E-M5 Mark II, but then Olympus released E-M10 Mark II and I have ever since been battling between these models and only recently I have started to consider E-M5 as in time it was released it was really good camera and still is.

So, the obvious differences between the specific models you mention, the E-M5 and E-M10 II, are that the earlier E-M5 is weatherproof and is compatible with the two-part power grip (you can opt to only use the grip portion, or add the compartment with extra battery space and controls for portrait orientation). The E-M10 II will only take a grip which extends the size of the camera and grip, but has no power or controls.
Speaking of power, the E-M10 and E-M10 II use the same battery as your E-PM2; the E-M5 uses a different battery and charger (shared with the E-M5 II and E-M1).

Weather sealing is nice, and I am planning to get Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 at some point for single lense setup, but I really doubt I will ever need weather sealing. My experience with cameras has shown that every body can take light rain, snow or random splashes.

I currently have 2 batteries and I carry extra one with me when traveling. E-PM2 has shorter battery life than E-M10 II, but still I have never run out of battery while on field. I doubt I will ever need battery grip for battery life. I want to keep my setup as light and small as possible so I douby I will ever get one for stability either. I had forgotten that E-M10 Mark II uses same battery, I knew it before but it had slipped from my mind. This one definitely saves some trouble of getting extra batteries.

Both E-M10 models ARE noticeably smaller and lighter in the hand than the E-M5 models, even if it isn't obvious in specs and photos.

This is good to know. Specs and photos make them look about same size, but then again when I look E-M10 Mark II photos on palm of someones hand, it looks incredible small.

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.
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.

This is one of my biggest fears. Small usability problems can be quite annoying. I use quite a lot Olympus OM-2 film camera. Older OM series has heavily inspired E-M10 Mark II layout so I guess I would be right at home with it.

The E-M10 II has a built in flash which is lacking on the E-M5; the latter comes with the FL-LM2, which is very like the FL-LM1 of your E-PM2 but slightly larger and more powerful, weatherproof and black. The E-M10 II however is compatible with the FL-LM3 of the E-M5 Mark II which is a very excellent little flash with a tilt and swivel head, powered by the camera - the FL-LM3 can be bought separately for a reasonable price. This little flash is NOT compatible with earlier models.

I had forgotten that E-PM2 came with flash. I have never used it. I still have my speedlite, transmitter and receivers from my Canon setup. I have been using that one as off-camera flash. I have never really got into using on-camera flash. It is something I should learn.

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

It has the wonderful Live Composite feature (recommend you read up about it to see if it is useful to you).

Oh, I didn't know about this feature. I watched few videos about it and it seems quite handy. I remember when I shot northern lights and fireworks for a first time. What a mess. I think I made out with single good image from fireworks and none from northern lights.

That reminded me about Olympus Image Share software, does it work well? I am mostly interested about using it as remote controller. I have shutter cable, but it would be one less device to carry if I could use my phone. I am also interested of sharing photos straight to my smartphone for instant sharing.

It has the focus bracketing feature which is great fun and very useful for macros.

This one could be handy, I currently have inexpensive macro rail and it is quite horrible to use.

It has 0-second Anti Shock (electronic first curtain shutter - EFCS) operation as an option - this is absent from the E-M5. You might have occasionally seen shutter shock on the E-PM2 - unexpected unsharp results in the 1/100 to 1/160 range typically, sometimes with a slight double-image of small, contrasty edges). EFCS eradicates this. The E-M5 is sometimes (but not often) affected by shutter shock but has no EFCS option. It does however have a slightly softer-sounding shutter.
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.

This is actually frequent problem for me. Its annoying. I have done every possible "fix" I have found on forums, but none of them work and to be honest I never expected them to work.

Silent shutter and softer-sounding shutter noise are good, because I shoot quite a lot of animals. They tend to hear the shutter noise and then come to inspect the camera. Quite hard to take candid photos of them if they are sniffing the front element of lense.

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.

I have never used Art Filters, but I guess they can be lot of fun. In-camera HDR is nice. I have done few HDR shots, and it is always hassle to combine photos on post-processing. I don't shoot HDR often, so I think this feature would be really useful for me because I have not mastered editing HDR photos and with my shooting rates I doubt I never will.

Keystone correction is a another feature I had no idea existed. It seems darn handy. Does it work with every lense?

I am bound to have missed something, but hopefully you see that there are a LOT of usability improvements on the later OM-D models. A lot came in with the E-M1 and E-M10 (and the E-M1 has had loads of big firmware updates too; the E-M5 only had one major update) with a whole swathe of other useful evolutions on the E-M5 II and E-M10 II.

Wow, that was quite a lot. It seems that I would greatly benefit from E-M10 II. It has useful features, it is smaller and usability of it is better than E-M5.

I will look more into what E-M10 II has to offer, but I think it will be my choice. Thanks!