Is an Olympus E-M 10 Mark II with Zuiko 14-150 any good for close photos ?

[Perseidas]

Hi everyone,

I acquiered recently two cameras, a Nikon D7200 with 35mm f/2D and 18-105 VR, and an Olympus EM10MarkII. I wanted to give the Olympus as a gift for a dermatologist who only used his smartphone and the pictures were not that good.

I thought this Olympus can be cool since it's small size and has some good lens etc, anyway it's better than a smartphone. The problem is that I'm now very disappointed :

-The focusing distance is really big even at 14mm, which is not practical.

- Even if the surface is far enought, the focus is laggy, not consistent, and not stable (even when there is much light) so every picture is hit and miss when I zoom on it to see details..

- The menus are just... a pain in the ass, too complexe and not user friendly at all, same for the buttons, which complicate any adjustment..

It's true that I'm comparing this to DSLRs which I use and which I used before, but francly, I think that with even a Nikon D300 which now costs half the price used comparing it to this Olympus, the latter loses in image quality and speed and friendly usage.

When all works good on this Olympus, giving the price of this and the price f my D7200 (used) the image quality must be half the image quality of the d7200.. but really it's not even the 1/4th..

So, I'm planning to sell it and never use a compact one again (maybe I should only try the sony ones ?). I think that besides the size and portability there is nothing so good.

Here is a demonstration video, but it only shows one aspect of the problems.

 

[John McCormack]

This is a forum for Oly point and shoot cameras, mainly. You may get more helpful info. in this forum: Olympus SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

or the Macro forum: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/1054

 

[Mittskitts]

I have a E-M10 Mark I, and I thought your complaint was not my usual experience with the camera. So I I tried a close-up auto focus in P mode with my Zuiko 14-150 on a stuffed animal in low light. It did seem to do some searching. I then went to the Super Control Panel and set the focus box to the center of the screen, and it grabbed the focus instantly. Then I tried it with a little better light, and it grabbed the focus instantly and repeatedly, in P and Auto mode.

I have found in the 6 years I have owned mine that the focus is usually tack sharp and very fast. But you have to know how to set up the camera. The touch screen on the back is a big, big help as you can set it to focus on where you touch and take the picture. The Super Control Panel is a fantastic help with changing settings on the fly without having to dig through the menus. I would enable that. You can then summon it by pushing the OK button and change the focus settings, ISO, white balance, etc.

The owner's manual is not the easiest thing to understand, but I'd make sure to read the Super Control Panel part. The controls and knobs and dials have incredible range of settings, but sometimes it is hard to find what you want. Olympus has a bunch of educational videos on their web site that are worth viewing. The micro 4/3 forum is also full of help.

If you like astrophotography, there is a setting called Live Composite which you access in the manual mode in the exposure time range (it's past the Bulb setting) which will composite photos in the camera (no computer needed). It is beyond awesome. I live in a city where you can't see most of the stars, and I have been able to set up a tripod in my yard and get the Orion Nebula, the Beehive Cluster in Cancer, dim constellations, and all kinds of otherwise totally invisible stuff with that Live Composite setting. I wish I'd known about it when the Neowise Comet was up. I successfully got the comet with a very high ISO, a short time exposure, and believe it or not, that 14-150 lens you are using, but I bet the Live Composite would have done a better job. I now use it mainly with the 12mm f2 lens. I used the 14-150 to get the Orion Nebula last week.

Don't give up yet--it's a really capable camera (and very portable). Good luck!

 

[tomhongkong]

Hi everyone,

I acquiered recently two cameras, a Nikon D7200 with 35mm f/2D and 18-105 VR, and an Olympus EM10MarkII. I wanted to give the Olympus as a gift for a dermatologist who only used his smartphone and the pictures were not that good.

I thought this Olympus can be cool since it's small size and has some good lens etc, anyway it's better than a smartphone. The problem is that I'm now very disappointed :

-The focusing distance is really big even at 14mm, which is not practical.

• Even if the surface is far enought, the focus is laggy, not consistent, and not stable (even when there is much light) so every picture is hit and miss when I zoom on it to see details..
• The menus are just... a pain in the ass, too complexe and not user friendly at all, same for the buttons, which complicate any adjustment..

It's true that I'm comparing this to DSLRs which I use and which I used before, but francly, I think that with even a Nikon D300 which now costs half the price used comparing it to this Olympus, the latter loses in image quality and speed and friendly usage.

When all works good on this Olympus, giving the price of this and the price f my D7200 (used) the image quality must be half the image quality of the d7200.. but really it's not even the 1/4th..

So, I'm planning to sell it and never use a compact one again (maybe I should only try the sony ones ?). I think that besides the size and portability there is nothing so good.

Here is a demonstration video, but it only shows one aspect of the problems.

Hi

I am going to suggest that you should try the proper forum, which is the 'M4/3 forum' on dpreview, That is the one for m4/3 Olympus and Panasonic cameras. This forum is for compact cameras. I hang out on both as I have models in both camps. The Olympus SLR forum will only give you limited information as it is mostly for an older range of Olympus cameras.

I have an M10Mk2 with 14-150 attached in front of me and will check close focus.....

At 14mm, minimum focus is 9inch, at 150mm it is 13 inch. In both cases focus is acquires instantaneously with no hesitancy or hunting.

I post below a shot at 150mm so you can decide if that is close enough for you, or if you would need to change to a macro lens...the 12-50 would give you a closer image and is the cheapest option (but gets a pretty mixed review...you need to check that out, I find it is good enough for a kit, w/r and semi macro option) Do not judge image quality on this shot, it is simply to show you the image size. Lighting is poor, it's Jpeg, sooc and all sorts of other things are degrading the quality.

I don't know if your camera came with some odd settings. It sounds as though you are not interested in the more advanced photography features of the M10 so I would simply reset it, and use it as a point and shoot in iAUTO setting. That should give you what you need. Unless you have a faulty camera, you should be very happy with the results from the camera and 14-150.

The M10Mk2 is a proper camera with options to change many settings via the function buttons and dials, and the menus are well set out to support that mode of operation. If you don't understand that level of complexity it can be pretty daunting. Unfortunately, flexibility comes with complexity.





Good luck

tom

 

[Perseidas]

Truth I only have it for a week, and I mostly throw it after some experiments with my wife, I tried to shoot her while she changed the position of her face and the focusing wasn't that good. I think I read somewhere that this cam is better mainly for still photography (?), and the second tests were in slow light in manual mode.

I'll search for the Super Control Menu and give it a try with the modes you mentioned, and with the focus in the centre area. And I will also experiment the other functions which looks nice like astrophotography.

Thanks you so much, I'll give it a try and cancel the selling, I was thinking about testing a Sony from a friend. I think he has a Nex 7.

As you said, maybe I didn't give it enough time and compared it with better camera but it's a DSLR.

Thanks !

 

[Perseidas]

Thank you Tom,

I'm giving it time to try understand it more. I'm used to shoot always in manual mode in DSLRs so no problem with understanding things.

I reset it, and I think that the problem is the low light, it has limits in low light due to the sensor size. The other way is to increase the iso to more than 2500 and degrain it using software. My working desk is has dimmed lights and there are some changing colors RGB's coming from the computer case, the keyboard, and from under a gaming screen. So I think it's too demanding for this camera and it's logical. I tried same experience in other scenarios and the focus was good at close distance. The problem is certainly is that I was testing it on objects on my desktop with complex changing light calculations for it.

Thanks !