As people upgrade to OM-1 this seemed to me like a good time to maybe grab a bargain and upgrade my ageing E-M1 Mark II, the main reason being my current camera now has a lot of mileage on it (still working perfectly though) and also according to the reviews at least the AF on the Mark III has improved (my only minor gripe with the Mark II was that tracking AF was pretty much unusable for me)
After a week or so with my new Mark III these are my initial thoughts for what it's worth.
E-M1 III
This camera is almost identical to the E-M1 II physically with the main difference being the addition of a new joystick, and to accommodate this they have moved the Menu button to the left hand side(unfortunately now like the Sony) and have relocated the Info button where the Menu button was on the E-M1 II. On the plus side the camera now has an extra Custom Memory (C4) but instead of inserting it between C3 and Movie on the dial, they have put the B option between C1 and M, which has changed the whole feel of the camera for me.
Likes so far
1 Button assignments now includes C1-C4 as an option for most buttons which means you can get to your custom memories with a simple button push, ie without moving the dial. I think this is brilliant!
Currently I have assigned my front buttons to call up Custom memory 1 and 2, eg with the dial set to M just hitting the top button puts you straight into Custom Memory 1 config etc without having to move the dial, this almost makes up for putting B in the wrong place.
This feature was a nice surprise as I hadn't seen it mentioned here or in any of the reviews I'd read.
2 Tracking focus seems much more sticky than the E-M1 II, still not perfect (one of the main reason for purchase) but very usable now.
3 Adding a fourth Custom Memory C4 is a very welcome addition.
4 There is now an option to create your own AF Target Mode so you can shape your target with as many af points as you want, could be useful?
5 Face and Eye detection works much better now (short test worked brilliantly at the weekend)
6 Hand Held High Resolution Mode looks interesting, needs testing but not sure if it’s any use to me?
7 Live ND. also looks good but, needs testing
8 USB Power at last!
Dislikes/Anomalies or just not sure about yet
1 Putting B between M1 and M on the dial means you now have 3 steps between Manual and C1, in practise this just feels wrong imo, for me it was much better as it was before as I normally have the camera in M as default position, then just move the dial one position into M1 (my most used Custom memory) as and when needed. Worse still with the new layout if B happens to be set for composite shooting (default)then whenever you move the dial from C1 to M (through B) you now get an annoying popup telling you “Press shutter bla bla for composite shooting”
2 The joystick is totally unnecessary and just duplicates what the control pad does as far as I can see. I can't see what use this will be for me. Maybe I am missing something here but I just can't see exactly what it can do that the control pad can’t apart from giving you a sore thumb. Feels like it was added just because other manufacturers now fit them to me?
3 What adding the unnecessary joystick has done is to ruin the feel of the camera, the button layout was perfect for me as it was, for instance with a heavy lens attached you now have to take the camera from your eye to select menu, but worse than that to get to the Info button now you have to reposition your right hand to reach down for it whereas before it was right under the thumb perfect for turning on/off blinkies, also frustrating is that the info button is now so close to the play button it’s all too easy to hit the play button by mistake whilst looking through the view finder, very irritating when you have something in focus waiting for it to move and you go to turn blinkies on/off just to make a quick check and hit the play button directly underneath it instead, this it getting on my nerves at the moment, let's hope my thumb learns to locate it accurately soon.
4 It seems like the thumb grip has less rubber now (maybe my old worn out E-M1 II thumb grip rubber has just expanded with age?)
5 EVF seems to blow out highlights more than my E-M1 II? (needs further testing)
6 Feels like it’s possibly more battery hungry than E-M1 II, (could just be me taking time to get setup/playing with it etc more than usual, need to check further)
7 Camera is no longer supplied with the useful little fl-lm3 flash unit.
(Also noted some of the buttons seem to be less responsive than the old model, particularly the EC button under the thumb seems to either take a couple of pushes or my thumb needs to be at a certain angle for it to work, (same with the two front buttons which sometimes need a second stab?)hopefully this will improve with use
These are all minor gripes I know and tbh just like the Mark II this camera is still a joy to use especially with the addition of the new button assignment options for those Custom Memories, it's just a shame that for my purpose at least they have spoilt the handling of this camera for the sake of change imo, if it ain't broke....
After a week or so with my new Mark III these are my initial thoughts for what it's worth.
E-M1 III
This camera is almost identical to the E-M1 II physically with the main difference being the addition of a new joystick, and to accommodate this they have moved the Menu button to the left hand side(unfortunately now like the Sony) and have relocated the Info button where the Menu button was on the E-M1 II. On the plus side the camera now has an extra Custom Memory (C4) but instead of inserting it between C3 and Movie on the dial, they have put the B option between C1 and M, which has changed the whole feel of the camera for me.
Likes so far
1 Button assignments now includes C1-C4 as an option for most buttons which means you can get to your custom memories with a simple button push, ie without moving the dial. I think this is brilliant!
Currently I have assigned my front buttons to call up Custom memory 1 and 2, eg with the dial set to M just hitting the top button puts you straight into Custom Memory 1 config etc without having to move the dial, this almost makes up for putting B in the wrong place.
This feature was a nice surprise as I hadn't seen it mentioned here or in any of the reviews I'd read.
2 Tracking focus seems much more sticky than the E-M1 II, still not perfect (one of the main reason for purchase) but very usable now.
3 Adding a fourth Custom Memory C4 is a very welcome addition.
4 There is now an option to create your own AF Target Mode so you can shape your target with as many af points as you want, could be useful?
5 Face and Eye detection works much better now (short test worked brilliantly at the weekend)
6 Hand Held High Resolution Mode looks interesting, needs testing but not sure if it’s any use to me?
7 Live ND. also looks good but, needs testing
8 USB Power at last!
Dislikes/Anomalies or just not sure about yet
1 Putting B between M1 and M on the dial means you now have 3 steps between Manual and C1, in practise this just feels wrong imo, for me it was much better as it was before as I normally have the camera in M as default position, then just move the dial one position into M1 (my most used Custom memory) as and when needed. Worse still with the new layout if B happens to be set for composite shooting (default)then whenever you move the dial from C1 to M (through B) you now get an annoying popup telling you “Press shutter bla bla for composite shooting”
2 The joystick is totally unnecessary and just duplicates what the control pad does as far as I can see. I can't see what use this will be for me. Maybe I am missing something here but I just can't see exactly what it can do that the control pad can’t apart from giving you a sore thumb. Feels like it was added just because other manufacturers now fit them to me?
3 What adding the unnecessary joystick has done is to ruin the feel of the camera, the button layout was perfect for me as it was, for instance with a heavy lens attached you now have to take the camera from your eye to select menu, but worse than that to get to the Info button now you have to reposition your right hand to reach down for it whereas before it was right under the thumb perfect for turning on/off blinkies, also frustrating is that the info button is now so close to the play button it’s all too easy to hit the play button by mistake whilst looking through the view finder, very irritating when you have something in focus waiting for it to move and you go to turn blinkies on/off just to make a quick check and hit the play button directly underneath it instead, this it getting on my nerves at the moment, let's hope my thumb learns to locate it accurately soon.
4 It seems like the thumb grip has less rubber now (maybe my old worn out E-M1 II thumb grip rubber has just expanded with age?)
5 EVF seems to blow out highlights more than my E-M1 II? (needs further testing)
6 Feels like it’s possibly more battery hungry than E-M1 II, (could just be me taking time to get setup/playing with it etc more than usual, need to check further)
7 Camera is no longer supplied with the useful little fl-lm3 flash unit.
(Also noted some of the buttons seem to be less responsive than the old model, particularly the EC button under the thumb seems to either take a couple of pushes or my thumb needs to be at a certain angle for it to work, (same with the two front buttons which sometimes need a second stab?)hopefully this will improve with use
These are all minor gripes I know and tbh just like the Mark II this camera is still a joy to use especially with the addition of the new button assignment options for those Custom Memories, it's just a shame that for my purpose at least they have spoilt the handling of this camera for the sake of change imo, if it ain't broke....
