upgrade to Olympu OMD Em10?

I currently own an Olympus PEN EPM-2, my 2nd M4/3 camera, and am pretty pleased with it. Over teh years I've picked up a number of additional lenses, including the Olympus 150mm zoom, 45/f1.8, 14-42 EZ and the Panasonic 20/1.7.

I am considering upgrading to an OMD EM10. I understand this model is easier to handle, due to teh additional buttons etc and of course the zoomfinder could come in handy. Having said that, the camera is going to be slightly bigger (size is a big reason for me to stick with m4/3 instead of DSLR) and i wonder if I am going to get an better picture quality given that the sensor seems to be the same (16Mpix Live MOS - or is there a difference?)

what are your thoughts? I sit worth the 500 $/€ for the upgrade or am i not going to see a difference in my pictures?

You make a good point about the em10 using the same sensor as your epm2.  But, for me, the viewfinder on the em10 really improves the picture taking experience.  Two control dials is also an improvement.

HelloBamboo wrote:

I currently own an Olympus PEN EPM-2, my 2nd M4/3 camera, and am pretty pleased with it. Over teh years I've picked up a number of additional lenses, including the Olympus 150mm zoom, 45/f1.8, 14-42 EZ and the Panasonic 20/1.7.

I am considering upgrading to an OMD EM10. I understand this model is easier to handle, due to teh additional buttons etc and of course the zoomfinder could come in handy. Having said that, the camera is going to be slightly bigger (size is a big reason for me to stick with m4/3 instead of DSLR) and i wonder if I am going to get an better picture quality given that the sensor seems to be the same (16Mpix Live MOS - or is there a difference?)

what are your thoughts? I sit worth the 500 $/€ for the upgrade or am i not going to see a difference in my pictures?

The image's out of any of the Pens or OM-Ds are great, even the 12mp ones. But it's not just the Sony 16mp sensor that your EPM-2 shares with the newer OM=Ds and Pens, but it's also all the advanced improvements the E-M10 will deliver. You get the EVF, the latest processor, much better CDAF, 3-axis IBIS, 0-second anti shock setting, WiFi, a much better tilting LCD with a 4:3 format instead of the 16:9 format you have now, much better control setup and ergonomics, and a bunch of other stuff that's too long to list.

What will you loose? The very small size of the EPM-2 and the ability to stuff the camera in your pocket with your 20mm f1/7 or 14-42mm EZ on it, because the E-M10 is larger and you would need a pretty big pocket.

If you don't care about the EVF, you might want to look at the EPL-7. Under the hood, it's an E-M10, plus the ergonomics and control layout are much better than your EPM-2 or even my EPL-5 that I got as a backup for my E-M10. Size-wise, the EPL-7 is larger than the E-PM-2 and smaller than the E-M10. The EPL-7 the same size as my EPL-5 and with my 17mm f/1.8 or 12mm f/2.0 on my EPL=5, I can put it in my jacket pocket.