Q&A with DPReview editors about the Olympus E-M1X

Important Camera. Mystery solved.

I may be leaving Olympus, but your claims are absurd.

Step 1: Literally any camera company releases a major camera

Step 2: We cover it with news articles, opinion pieces, video and, when we're lucky, we have a camera long enough to do a portion of a review

Step 3: Someone, somewhere, assumes that our covering of new gear - as a digital photography and gear site - is somehow motivated by something other than the fact that a major new camera has been released, and we are a digital photography and gear site, and it's our job to report on it for a variety of different audiences who consume information in a variety of different ways

Right.....like Sony, Nikon, and Canon barely get any coverage here. :-)

This new Olympus should be a welcome change in that it allows DPR to focus for a few days on something other than Sony or Nikon, Sony or Canon or just...Sony.

so you dont think anyone is making money from the em1mk2 or em52 in a studio as well ? think again

Then they shouldn't have added pro video features like that OMD-LOG

Yep. But then Olympus has always emphasized their main concern is still images.

ewelch,
that looks like a perfect epitaph.

@jonby - exactly.
I never shoot video either -- but they have to appeal to a broader audience, excellent video would've helped that, and made the price more palatable. They have no excuse not to have done it. They can't say the camera is too small to do 4K60, or doesn't have enough processing power. I can't understand what the barrier is now? are there contracts with Panasonic or Sony that they cant have top level video specs? Its just baffling .

if they don't add 4K60 and improve their AF with firmware update, I'm afraid this camera can only be considered a disaster @3K

They said they listened to Pro's I cannot believe the Pro's didnt ask for better?

They are no FF options with those specs at that price. And the IQ of FF is not the only consideration. Especially when it's nor meaningfully better in any scenario other than shooting in very low. Light.

Past 10 frames per second, the extra frame rate will make the user have to delete most of the frame. 60 FPS is an overkill for photography. Any of the new FF models priced around 2K and 2.5K will be fast enough, and the large sensor will allow better images indoors. For indoor sport shooting, I'm afraid the E-MX1 will struggle to deliver good images at ISO6400/12800 with an f4/5.6 lens. With that kind of 4/3 sensor, you need f2 lens.

They have quiet a lot of f2.8 zoom and f1.7 zoom announced

Seriously? Educate yourself. The entire focal range fro. 7mm through 150mm is covered with Pro f2.8 constant aperture glass. Even the Pro 300mm is f4.

Dear Lord.

I don´t get these questions. What FF with these specs? What specs? 60 fps but no AF? Ask Sony, they will help you even with a high res model.
The announced Zoom is F4.5.
And the statement that FF is not meaningful better except in very low light? Yandrosxx, did you ever made a comparison with the 1mII? You can't be serious or you are defending your investment, what is not necessary. MFT can deliver good pictures in certain situations of course, but its nearly as good as a new FF camera, not dynamic range, not the clear color areas like the Sky. No way. Does not make MFT a bad thing, especially the smaller cameras and the tiny lenses, but be true to yourself and just look at the pictures.

You can have a FF Leica for twice the price, but there's a catch. Just a rangefinder camera, no IBIS, no electronic shutter, 24MP only, no weather sealing, etc etc.

Thorgrem,
sounds like Oly succeeded in keeping you as a customer.

@Thorgrem Yes, it will possibly serve its purpose for pros operating in more extreme weather and save them some weight on system as a whole. But does not compare very well to G9 which is almost 1/3 price now. However if you are invested in Olympus Pro lenses then it makes sense I guess. :-)

For those who want to spend less money Olympus has the E-M1 Mark II. Still a great body at a nice price point.

True

@Thorgrem those are great features, but according to early reviewers the EVF and Screen are awful for a $3,000 PRO camera, that's not good. Also, the 7.5 stops IBIS is only compatible with one lens. I agree with you on everything else. The virtual ND seems useful. Looking forward to see an update of the E-M1 Mark II.

Lol @awefull. People who actually worked with this new camera for months say it's a joy to use with 120 fps refresh rate and outstanding optical design. If it's not for your taste than don't buy it. 7.5 stops is compatible with all Olympus IS lenses. At the moment 2, the 3th is announced and naturally others will follow.
Also looking forward for an update of the E-M5 Mark II and PEN-F.

Nearly every single reviewer but 1 has stated the EVF is significantly improved and most have indicated its excellent to use with zero lag.

A camera cannot be judged by the sensor size alone. It is a system camera and build for pros, not amateurs like yourself.

well I doubt if Pany gonna match or surpass all of these offerings .. but they gonna excel on their own front i.e video and maybe on ibis too G9 is pretty close
saying that its impossible is just plan, narrow-mindedness .. in plan simple words

Not a chance. Theyll still to excelling in video. But they won't beat this feature sett.

They do not have to kill it with a price, they can kill it with an APS-C or FF sensor. I do not see pros stepping down to a smaller sensor, no matter how much tech it contains.

In the US, a lot of tech is being put into small cars, but people are moving to larger cars because of the more comfortable driving experience. Small cars have been left behind. M43 still has its Achilles heal.
You can put a dress on a pig, but it is still a pig.

@myreality
I think you hit it spot on. Small cars are good, but the US isn't interested in what the rest of the world think of as medium sized cars, let alone small. In Japan a backyard garage can weld the front suspension of your skyline forward an inch for better balance, and rebuild the little 6 cylinder to run 700hp. The US sells mustangs with suspension from a wagon that spins tires and goes in a straight line.
Both cars are good but supply different markets. In Australia Ford sells a U.S. $80k sport sedan with an interior that can only challenge a base model Toyota.

I'm interested in how this focuses traditionally, using a stick to select focus. Canon's 1dxmk2 doesn't track very well either, the d5 kills it. The tracking war continues but it wasn't that long ago it might have been praised for incredible af-c accuracy.
I think Olympus would be proud of their little baby, but probably didn't know what sort of response they'd get from other markets

The new Pany GH6 with 4k at 120fps and 1080p at 240fps with an all new 24mp sensor and improved ibis and better phase detect af,all for less than $2000 certainly will kill the overpriced em1x!

What “pro” features exactly? You mean the price?
A tiny sensor compared to full frame. (Or even APS-c) Oh, it does have a massive body so that kinda makes you look like a “pro” when holding it. Low light is going to be bad and hardly something a pro will want when shooting sports.
Look, it’s a nice camera. It’s just not a $3000 camera! They’ve made a huge mistake going that route. $1200-1500 much more realistic. These camera prices should be going down and not up! Especially when you’re using the same updated sensor just thrown into a new body with a few cute gimmicks that “pros” don’t care about.

Not that high bitrate, behind Panasonic at least. And only 30p.

and yes, to be fair, I think it might be a variable one....like in the em1 mark 2. I guess I felt compelled to comment because the sensor size isn't the only determinant of price. Yes, if it was a super tiny sensor and it shot 4k, who cares. But this is micro four thirds. Smaller than full frame, but not tiny by any means.

And again, price should reflect features, not sensor size. Do I wish it was 500 to 1000 dollars cheaper though? Yup

Nikon D5's sensor has less resolution and lower dynamic range than even D600's sensor and D5 costs waaaaaaay more. Hell, even D3300's smaller sensor has more or equal dynamic range!
You got the point?

And 7.5stops ibis, AI tracking, ridiculous weather sealing, hi res, ND and on and on and on...

With the OVF, I can see the scene how it is an adjust the settings accordingly to my experience. With the EVF, I have to rely on it, trusting that it will show me the correct colors. Then I check on the display, colors are all off. It's very confusing. And no, so far, I have not been able to adjust the colors on the screens match. I've been on Photokina and tried them all. No service from Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Olympus, Leica, etc. was able to get the right setting. I wonder how nobody is seeing this as a problem, especially nobody at Dpreview.

@nabilon
Seeing that you can't really calibrate colour on a camera I don't think most people find it a problem. They just accept that they'll have to take it to a computer to look at on a nice big comfy screen, with a rough understanding of what they'll get. It's tedious enough to check focus for most than worry about colour they can't do anything about

That mad Nikon p1000 has a rather significant zoom lens in it

I agree. I enjoy using Olympus cameras, and my personal one is the em5 mark 2. But seeing that they didn't include a higher res EVF when those exist, at this price point....definitely a surprise and disappointment.

Sony A9 has a horrible LCD (and A7R III, and A7 III). I think A9 also has a similar EVF to EM1 X. The reason may be to be able to have 120hz refresh rate in EM1 X.

A9 has 3.6M dot EVF while EM1 X only has 2.36.

Dear Lord, it's a higher magnification and higher refresh rate which have distinct advantages. It's improved. It's Not the same EVF.

4sofnature, A9's EVF is 60fps at 3.69 M dots. Its number of dots decrease at 120fps.

a9 & a7 EVF is OLED! 9& R3 has improved brightness/contrast.
It's said EMX using LCD as its EVF?!

That’s interesting. Fuji introduced 5ms viewfinderlag in the X-T1 with oled evf and has since had the same lag on oleds in the t2 and t3.
I wonder how Olympus wouldn’t get this to work in 2019 with dual quadcore cpus

We've shot our DR test in High Res (tripod) mode as well as single shot, so we should be able to show the DR benefit of shooting multiple shots.

We've not shot the hand-held mode. And I wouldn't be confident that it uses all 16 images every time, so I wouldn't be confident you'd get an additional noise/DR benefit.