E-M5 > E-M5ii Question

[Sup Mylo]

Is the Olympus E-M5ii a natural progression from the E-M5i or are they two entirely different beasts?

Cheers

Sup Mylo

 

[Donald B]

Its a very good progression. I've had mine for 1 month now and its very refined.

Cheers don

 

[jb89100]

I have EM5II (and EM5I).
The main improvements of the EM5II imo are:
Consistency and easiness of adjustments, more direct access, better EVF, rotating screen,
The new functions:
Especially for me HDR in RAW in the body,
And HRes, focus peaking, focus bracketing

--
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jb89100/albums
http://jb89100.jimdo.com/

 

[traveler_101]

I have EM5II (and EM5I).
The main improvements of the EM5II imo are:
Consistency and easiness of adjustments, more direct access, better EVF, rotating screen,
The new functions:
Especially for me HDR in RAW in the body,
And HRes, focus peaking, focus bracketing

On the other hand, the E-M5 has a flip screen rather than a FAS. It is also considerably cheaper. Is the EVF on the mark 2 in a completely different league or just an improvement?

 

[Donald B]

I have EM5II (and EM5I).
The main improvements of the EM5II imo are:
Consistency and easiness of adjustments, more direct access, better EVF, rotating screen,
The new functions:
Especially for me HDR in RAW in the body,
And HRes, focus peaking, focus bracketing

On the other hand, the E-M5 has a flip screen rather than a FAS. It is also considerably cheaper. Is the EVF on the mark 2 in a completely different league or just an improvement?

the evf on the em5 is great, but the em5mk2 is huge like looking into an old ovf 35mm film camera vf its that big.

cheers don

 

[zuikowesty]

Is the Olympus E-M5ii a natural progression from the E-M5i or are they two entirely different beasts?

Cheers

Sup Mylo

I was about to post a new question, but yours is so on topic that I thought I'd just add it here...

My new E-M5ii arrived in the mail a few hours ago, but the weather is dreadful, so I haven't left the house with it. (I'm also not certain I will keep it, which is another reason).

After about 20 minutes going through the menus, I got it set up pretty much like my E-M5 (I prefer the dials swapped in A mode). Then I decided to try comparing the EVFs in my den, and noticed something strange - the E-M5ii EVF (which is LED) has a strange behaviour which does not appear on the the E-M5 (OLED I think):

When setting both cameras to manual mode, same exposure settings, and pointing the camera at the bright north facing window, the E-M5ii EVF changes the brightness of the wall which is in shadow depending on how much of the window fills the frame. I have checked the menus, and S-OVF, is Off, LV Boost is off, and everything else I can think of that could contribute to this is off. There must be something I am missing, because the EVF brightness is clearly changing based on scene, instead of being locked in based on my Manual exposure settings. My E-M5 behaves as expected.

Any ideas?

To answer the OP's question, I ordered the E-M5ii after using a friend's for a week, and liked the EVF and the 0sec antishock, along with some other new features like HR and focus bracketing. But I'm still not sure if they are enough to make me keep it yet.

It does feel like a natural progression from my E-M5, but without a clear increase in IQ (aside from in HR mode), it's harder to justify the $900 price, when I could a few primes, or maybe upgrade to the 12-100 for similar cost.

 

[zuikowesty]

I have EM5II (and EM5I).
The main improvements of the EM5II imo are:
Consistency and easiness of adjustments, more direct access, better EVF, rotating screen,
The new functions:
Especially for me HDR in RAW in the body,
And HRes, focus peaking, focus bracketing

On the other hand, the E-M5 has a flip screen rather than a FAS. It is also considerably cheaper. Is the EVF on the mark 2 in a completely different league or just an improvement?

the evf on the em5 is great, but the em5mk2 is huge like looking into an old ovf 35mm film camera vf its that big.

I would agree here - it is the same size as the E-M1, and is a pleasure to use. I suspect that this combined with focus peaking will mean I can actually manually focus my legacy glass with decent speed an accuracy without needing to magnify.

The jury's still out on the flip vs. twisty FAS screen - I don't use it much, but the flip is certainly quicker for street shooting, etc., while the twisty FAS is nicer for tripod & macro use I would imagine, especially in portrait mode.

 

[Michael Meissner]

On the other hand, the E-M5 has a flip screen rather than a FAS. It is also considerably cheaper. Is the EVF on the mark 2 in a completely different league or just an improvement?

For me, the EVF on the E-M5 mark II was unusable compared to the E-M5 mark I. When I'm outdoors in bright lights, I need to wear polarized sunglasses to reduce glare, which is one of my migraine triggers.

The E-M5 mark I and E-M1 mark 1 both have a similar viewfinder, and it is usable, but not great with polarized sunglasses when shooting in landscape orientation. In particular, there are parts of the screen that are not visible, but enough of the screen is visible that I can frame the shot.

Unfortunately, when I tried the E-M5 mark II, the electronic viewfinder is completely opaque (or nearly so) on the E-M5 mark II.

As I recall, when I tried it briefly in the store, the E-M1 mark II's viewfinder was similar to the E-M1 mark I.

The E-M10 mark II, Pen-F, and Panasonic G85 all have OLED viewfinders, which does not suffer from polarization effects with polarized sunglasses. I would up buying the G85 because of the viewfinder, plus with its weather sealing and sensor shift image stabilization.

The Panasonic GH5 and GX85 have a TFT LCD viewfinder similar to the E-M1/E-M5, so I would expect the EVF for these cameras would be hard to read with polarized sunglasses (or impossible).

In terms of the back LCD (tilting on the E-M5 mark 1/E-M1 mark I vs. fully swiveling on the E-M5 mark II/E-M1 mark II/G85/Pen-F), for many this is a serious issue, and guides their camera purchases. I am on the fence. I've had times where I preferred the tilting LCD such as shooting with the camera overhead to go over a crowd, and I've had times when I prefer the LCD to move in other directions, or to be folded back inside the camera.

The E-M5 mark II got a bunch of new video features.

Olympus has put out some updates for the E-M5 mark II but hasn't updated the E-M5 mark I for a bit.

 

[Michael Meissner]

Is the Olympus E-M5ii a natural progression from the E-M5i or are they two entirely different beasts?

Cheers

Sup Mylo

I was about to post a new question, but yours is so on topic that I thought I'd just add it here...

My new E-M5ii arrived in the mail a few hours ago, but the weather is dreadful, so I haven't left the house with it. (I'm also not certain I will keep it, which is another reason).

Unless you are planning to send it back or don't have weather sealed lenses, dreadful weather is not a reason to leave the E-M5 mark II at home. It loves the rain.

After about 20 minutes going through the menus, I got it set up pretty much like my E-M5 (I prefer the dials swapped in A mode). Then I decided to try comparing the EVFs in my den, and noticed something strange - the E-M5ii EVF (which is LED) has a strange behaviour which does not appear on the the E-M5 (OLED I think):

No, the E-M5 mark I is not OLED. The E-M10 mark II, Pen-F and Panasonic G85 have OLED viewfinders. Both E-M5's and E-M1's have TFT LCD viewfinders. But the viewfinder on the E-M5 mark II is different from the viewfinder on the E-M5 mark I.

When setting both cameras to manual mode, same exposure settings, and pointing the camera at the bright north facing window, the E-M5ii EVF changes the brightness of the wall which is in shadow depending on how much of the window fills the frame. I have checked the menus, and S-OVF, is Off, LV Boost is off, and everything else I can think of that could contribute to this is off. There must be something I am missing, because the EVF brightness is clearly changing based on scene, instead of being locked in based on my Manual exposure settings. My E-M5 behaves as expected.

IIRC, in the newer cameras, there is a new option (EVF Auto Luminance). Quoting from page 109 of the fine manual:

Adjust viewfinder brightness and hue. Brightness is automatically adjusted when [EVF Auto Luminance] is set to [On].

It is under Menu -> Gears -> J (Built-in EVF)

 

[RSSrsvp]

I have EM5II (and EM5I).
The main improvements of the EM5II imo are:
Consistency and easiness of adjustments, more direct access, better EVF, rotating screen,
The new functions:
Especially for me HDR in RAW in the body,
And HRes, focus peaking, focus bracketing

They improved the 5 axis IBIS on the Mark ll, in fact IIRC it is even better than the IBIS found in the E-M1. Also there are more focus points and it has builtin wifi.

The minor improvements are a slightly better grip and the dials on top are made of metal.

 

[zuikowesty]

Is the Olympus E-M5ii a natural progression from the E-M5i or are they two entirely different beasts?

Cheers

Sup Mylo

I was about to post a new question, but yours is so on topic that I thought I'd just add it here...

My new E-M5ii arrived in the mail a few hours ago, but the weather is dreadful, so I haven't left the house with it. (I'm also not certain I will keep it, which is another reason).

Unless you are planning to send it back or don't have weather sealed lenses, dreadful weather is not a reason to leave the E-M5 mark II at home. It loves the rain.

Oh, I know that well, my E-M5 has seen plenty of rain... but we've been having snow/sleet for a few days, along with wind, so it's pretty miserable and not much good for photos. I did manage to get out about an hour after writing though, when the sun came out...

After about 20 minutes going through the menus, I got it set up pretty much like my E-M5 (I prefer the dials swapped in A mode). Then I decided to try comparing the EVFs in my den, and noticed something strange - the E-M5ii EVF (which is LED) has a strange behaviour which does not appear on the the E-M5 (OLED I think):

No, the E-M5 mark I is not OLED. The E-M10 mark II, Pen-F and Panasonic G85 have OLED viewfinders. Both E-M5's and E-M1's have TFT LCD viewfinders. But the viewfinder on the E-M5 mark II is different from the viewfinder on the E-M5 mark I.

I didn't think it was OLED either, but it's definitely quite different from the E-M5ii. I've noticed some differences in the sky, but it may be the auto luminance setting at play.

When setting both cameras to manual mode, same exposure settings, and pointing the camera at the bright north facing window, the E-M5ii EVF changes the brightness of the wall which is in shadow depending on how much of the window fills the frame. I have checked the menus, and S-OVF, is Off, LV Boost is off, and everything else I can think of that could contribute to this is off. There must be something I am missing, because the EVF brightness is clearly changing based on scene, instead of being locked in based on my Manual exposure settings. My E-M5 behaves as expected.

IIRC, in the newer cameras, there is a new option (EVF Auto Luminance). Quoting from page 109 of the fine manual:

Adjust viewfinder brightness and hue. Brightness is automatically adjusted when [EVF Auto Luminance] is set to [On].

It is under Menu -> Gears -> J (Built-in EVF)

Thanks, missed that menu. I didn't expect to find it there, and not sure how it differs from LV Boost, but I don't want either of them in normal use!

 

[Donald B]

On the other hand, the E-M5 has a flip screen rather than a FAS. It is also considerably cheaper. Is the EVF on the mark 2 in a completely different league or just an improvement?

For me, the EVF on the E-M5 mark II was unusable compared to the E-M5 mark I. When I'm outdoors in bright lights, I need to wear polarized sunglasses to reduce glare, which is one of my migraine triggers.

I don't know how that is ? because both my mk1 and mk2 are the same when wearing polarized sunnies, I just use portrait composition to solve the problem.

The E-M5 mark I and E-M1 mark 1 both have a similar viewfinder, and it is usable, but not great with polarized sunglasses when shooting in landscape orientation. In particular, there are parts of the screen that are not visible, but enough of the screen is visible that I can frame the shot.

Unfortunately, when I tried the E-M5 mark II, the electronic viewfinder is completely opaque (or nearly so) on the E-M5 mark II.

As I recall, when I tried it briefly in the store, the E-M1 mark II's viewfinder was similar to the E-M1 mark I.

The E-M10 mark II, Pen-F, and Panasonic G85 all have OLED viewfinders, which does not suffer from polarization effects with polarized sunglasses. I would up buying the G85 because of the viewfinder, plus with its weather sealing and sensor shift image stabilization.

The Panasonic GH5 and GX85 have a TFT LCD viewfinder similar to the E-M1/E-M5, so I would expect the EVF for these cameras would be hard to read with polarized sunglasses (or impossible).

In terms of the back LCD (tilting on the E-M5 mark 1/E-M1 mark I vs. fully swiveling on the E-M5 mark II/E-M1 mark II/G85/Pen-F), for many this is a serious issue, and guides their camera purchases. I am on the fence. I've had times where I preferred the tilting LCD such as shooting with the camera overhead to go over a crowd, and I've had times when I prefer the LCD to move in other directions, or to be folded back inside the camera.

The E-M5 mark II got a bunch of new video features.

Olympus has put out some updates for the E-M5 mark II but hasn't updated the E-M5 mark I for a bit.

 

[JudyN]

Adjust viewfinder brightness and hue. Brightness is automatically adjusted when [EVF Auto Luminance] is set to [On].

It is under Menu -> Gears -> J (Built-in EVF)

Thanks for that tip. I was confused by what I was seeing sometimes as well... I hope this makes it behave more like I expect...

 

[n3eg]

I have EM5II (and EM5I).
The main improvements of the EM5II imo are:
Consistency and easiness of adjustments, more direct access, better EVF, rotating screen,
The new functions:
Especially for me HDR in RAW in the body,
And HRes, focus peaking, focus bracketing

On the other hand, the E-M5 has a flip screen rather than a FAS. It is also considerably cheaper. Is the EVF on the mark 2 in a completely different league or just an improvement?

the evf on the em5 is great, but the em5mk2 is huge like looking into an old ovf 35mm film camera vf its that big.

Let me just say that the E-M5 II is the first viewfinder I could even stand to use in my lifetime.

 

[Michael Meissner]

For me, the EVF on the E-M5 mark II was unusable compared to the E-M5 mark I. When I'm outdoors in bright lights, I need to wear polarized sunglasses to reduce glare, which is one of my migraine triggers.

I don't know how that is ? because both my mk1 and mk2 are the same when wearing polarized sunnies, I just use portrait composition to solve the problem.

I only tried it out for a few minutes in the store with my polarized sunglasses on, so maybe something was awry with the store's demo unit.

In any case, I bought my camera for the year (Panasonic G85) and I'm happy with it.

 

[zuikowesty]

Is the Olympus E-M5ii a natural progression from the E-M5i or are they two entirely different beasts?

Cheers

Sup Mylo

Just a few things I've noticed so far:

1. When borrowing a friend's E-M5II for a week, I had to swap in one of my batteries one day, and was concerned that it didn't pop out smoothly at the end of the day. It turns out the aftermarket battery has a slightly raised plastic section between the labels which catches on the battery release latch. So the battery latch is slightly tighter on the E-M5ii it seems. On checking tonight, all three of these batteries are starting to bulge slightly, and are now catching on the E-M5 also, so I think it's time to retire them - they are 3 years old, and saw a lot of us in the last 3 months.

2. I assumed that setting RAW mode would be enough, but found that choosing HiRes mode requires that you also choose RAW in that mode also. It appears that HiRes is not available on a button, so I guess I'll need to play with MySets and create one for it.

I'm hoping to see a bit of blue sky tomorrow, so I can see if turning off the auto luminance will change the EVF behaviour, which seems a bit off at times on really bright skies.

 

[RSSrsvp]

I have EM5II (and EM5I).
The main improvements of the EM5II imo are:
Consistency and easiness of adjustments, more direct access, better EVF, rotating screen,
The new functions:
Especially for me HDR in RAW in the body,
And HRes, focus peaking, focus bracketing

On the other hand, the E-M5 has a flip screen rather than a FAS. It is also considerably cheaper. Is the EVF on the mark 2 in a completely different league or just an improvement?

the evf on the em5 is great, but the em5mk2 is huge like looking into an old ovf 35mm film camera vf its that big.

Let me just say that the E-M5 II is the first viewfinder I could even stand to use in my lifetime.

Don't forget that you can also put the EP-16 eyecup on the Mark ll which is larger in size.