OM-D E-M10ii Field Report

Ok, so I know we have a lot of posts and discussions here about this m4/3 body vs. that one, or which of the new 20mp m4/3 cameras is "the one". Sometimes, though, it is about getting out and shooting, and nothing like being on the road to remind one why we love m4/3! Hopefully my opinions will be helpful to anyone considering the E-M10ii, as well, which I consider to be one of the top choices as a first m4/3 body or as a second body to an E-M1 or GH4.

I was originally going to bring my G7 as travel companion for a trip out to SoCal and Vegas, but lacking a spare battery for it I elected to grab my E-M10ii instead. I paired it with the Panasonic 12-35 f/2.8 for a flexible combination that I hoped would handle all my shooting needs.

This combo proved itself at theme parks, museums, a car show, and posed ballet shots. I love the control layout of the E-M10ii, those dials are in just the right place for my medium-sized hands. The 12-35 balanced well on it, and the zoom range, while not as flexible as say the 14-140, is still very useful. I love the performance of this lens compared to its size, and prefer it for that reason to the otherwise excellent Oly 12-40 Pro.

Some notes from the field:

- AF performance was generally pretty good, but I still struggle to understand sometimes where the camera will decide to focus when Face Detect is on in "i' mode. Overall it did better than I expected, I usually think of my G7 and E-M1 as being vastly superior but this trip sort of dispelled that idea a bit, at least for S-AF.

- Low light AF though is decidedly not up to the E-M1 or G7. When shooting in the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, for example, the camera would hunt more than I anticipated. I probably would have had better luck with my 25mm f/1.8 but I really needed the flexibility of the zoom.

- Dynamic range still surprises me, in real-world shooting it was quite near what I would get with my D7100 (I abandoned APS-C earlier this year for expanded m4/3). It is nowhere near what I get with my D610, but I don't expect it to be. I'm getting more comfortable every day with understanding how to shoot for the DR of the 16mp m4/3 sensors.

- I do feel that I get slightly better (?) color from my E-M1. I don't have an explanation for this other than it is likely more a matter of camera profiles than anything.

- I never felt that sharpness was something I had to think twice about with the E-M10ii and 12-35 combo. Every shot that was in focus (which was the majority of them) was acceptably sharp, regardless of aperture.

- I was not shooting where I needed super depth-of-field control, in fact I think the slightly deeper effective DOF was beneficial to the subjects I was photographing. That said, with the f/1.8 primes I can get as much shallow DOF as I ever really shoot with, especially if I pay attention to composition.

- Battery life exceeded expectations, I was able to shoot all day on two batteries.

Overall, the E-M10ii proved to be a great travel companion and I'm happy that it turned out to be the camera I brought with me this past week. Technically it accomplished everything I asked of it, and on top of that it is simply a fun camera to shoot with!