Testseek.com have collected 169 expert reviews of the Olympus OM-D E-M5 and the average rating is 85%. Scroll down and see all reviews for Olympus OM-D E-M5.
April 2012
(85%)
169 Reviews
Average score from experts who have reviewed this product.
Users
(92%)
164 Reviews
Average score from owners of the product.
850100169
The editors liked
Very good photo quality (though best results are achieved by shooting RAW)
Wellbuilt
Weathersealed metal body with a retro flair
Fiveaxis
Sensorshift image stabilization system
Beautiful 3inch articulating touchscreen OLED display with 610
000 pixels
Plus a large and sharp EVF
Full manual controls
With lots of white balance options
Five kinds of bracketing
Realtime tone curve adjustment
A cute little camera that's packed with features and offers excellent image quality
Appealing body design
Smaller camera is easy to hold and quite small
Battery grip makes the E-M5 feel like a tiny professional camera
EVF works well
Tilting OLED touchpanel display
Water resistant body
Advanced in-body image stabilization
Excell...
A dust-and-weather-sealed design distinguishes the Olympus OM-D E-M5 from the rest of the interchangeable-lens crowd
And its class-leading performance doesn't hurt
Either. Plus
It's got an interesting
Relatively streamlined shooting design
Excellent image quality
Very good metering
Reliable Automatic WhiteBalance
Superb builtin stabilization
Virtually no shutterlag
Fast contrastdetect AF
Good shottoshot speed
Very responsive
Excellent automatic Manual Focus Assist
Unique LiveBulb m
Outstanding image quality
* Highly customizable feature set
* Compact design
* Wide selection of accessories and lenses
* Weather resistant body
* Art Filters add fun factor
* Good macro mode on 12-50mm zoom
* Fast autofocus and burst mode
Good images and video
DSLRlike feature set
Compact
Stylish form factor
Compact body. Fully weather sealed. Crisp LCD EVF. Articulating rear display. Sharp kit lens. Impressive high ISO performance. Fast autofocus. Shoots at 9 frames per second. In-body stabilization. Large native lens library. Optional grip available.
Go Back to Top. Skip To
Start of Article
Cameras
Digital cameras
Micro Four Thirds
Mirrorless Cameras
Olympus
Top3
Excellent image and video quality
Blistering performance
Extremely attractive
Great battery life
Superior image quality
Even in low light
You can really push ISO without sacrificing resolution
Durability
Very powerful auto-focus and image stabilization technology
Very good image quality
Even at high ISO
Bright
Punchy JPEGs make the most of camera's capability
Very fast autofocus with most Micro Four Thirds lenses
Weather-sealed body
Built-in image stabilization helps increase number of sharp shots (in single-frame mode)
Good level of direct control despite small body
Tilting OLED screen very good
Large amount of control over image parameters
A
Incredibly fast autofocus5-axis image stabilizationManual/auto-zoom kit lens
Tough weather-sealed build quality
Outstanding High ISO noise performance
Great quality viewfinder and tilting OLED touch-screen
5-axis image stabilisation which works with any lens
2
3
5 and 7-frame auto bracketing.
Lovely design
Premium build
Solid performance and great images
The editors didn't like
Occasional underexposure and highlight clipping
Tiny
Cluttered button layout makes it way too easy to accidentally press the wrong one
OLED display difficult to see outdoors
AF system tends to "hunt" when recording movies
"Hiss" from IS system may bother some folks
No builtin flash (though included external flash is pretty good)
Movies cannot be edited incamera
Full manual on CDROM
Just never felt comfortable shooting with it
Price
$999 (body only
In black or silver)
$1
299 (black or silver body with black M.ZUIKO Digital ED 1250 mm f3.56.3 EZ lens)
Www.olympusamerica.com
Odd power switch location
Exposure compensation dial changes easily
Can't be turned off
Small buttons
EVF proximity sensor sometimes activates unexpectedly
Moderately high chromatic aberration from 12-50mm kit lens
No in-camera chromatic aberrati...
The photo quality is solid
But not outstanding
Especially if you shoot only JPEG
Poor color accuracy
Lowcontrast EVF
Not always ExposurePriority and frequently wrong LiveHistogram
Modal ExposureCompensation
Some tiny buttons
Uncomfortable eyelets
Poorly placed tripod mount
Low battery life
Rear controldial uncomfortably high
Menu system can be daunting
* No built-in mic adapter
* Small buttons can be difficult for large fingers
* Soft humming noise when powered up
Price when rated
$1000 (body only)
$1300 with 12-50mm 1
3.5-6.3 zoom lens
Costly bodyonly configuration
Grip and lenses add expense
A 2x crop factor doesn't lend itself to wide angle shooting
External flash. Lacks a standard mic input
No builtin popup flash. Can't change exposure settings while shooting video. Shallow eye cup diminishes the EVF's effectiveness in bright outdoor situations
Expensive for a Micro Four Thirds camera
Smaller sensor than most $1
000-plus cameras
Button design
No pop-up flash – accessory only
There can be some in-camera digging before you get your customized settings up and running
Focus tracking distinctly unreliable
Image stabilization not effective for continuous shooting
Small controls sometimes awkward (especially with cold/gloved hands)
No in-camera correction of CA (which can be problematic with 12-50mm kit zoom)
Default JPEG settings a bit keen to blur detail away
Several useful features hidden in obscure and confusingly-named menu options
Otherwise useful H
ExpensiveBattery meter issues at launchPoor focus accuracy in low-contrast scenes
Screen only tilts and there's no touch functions in movie modes
Distracting whirring noise from stabilisation motor
No built-in mic socket
Flash unit clips-on rather then being built-in
Continuous AF not as consistent as a phase-detect system.
ProsBuilt in image stabilization Most brands have image stabilization built into the lens. Disadvantage of that choice is that it makes a lens more expensive and you do not have image stabilization available to you when using lenses without built-in image...
Abstract: One of the most significant developments in digital photography has been the introduction of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. By removing the mirror and optical viewfinder, manufacturers are able to make their cameras smaller, without compromising...
Since its debut last year, the Olympus OM-D E-M5 has won many accolades and numerous awards – and it's easy to see why: this is a camera with a wealth of features, catering to ambitious photographers who are looking to reduce the size and weight of their...
Abstract: Video Review: The Olympus OM-D E-M5 micro four thirds digital camera comes with a 16 megapixel sensor, 1080p video recording and a 3" OLED touch display packed in a stylish retro design for $1,000. Matt Mira and John Barrowman go hands on with the came...
With such knock-out features like 5-axis stabilization in such a tiny body as this, you’ve got one heck of a mobile-minded shooter on your hands. This device is great for those of you out there looking to amp up your game with your old OM, and with Ol...
Abstract: Photoxels Editor’s Choice 2012 – Interchangeable Lens Camera Impressions. The Olympus OM-D E-M5 makes a big impression with lightning fast AF, excellent image quality and manual controls that make the camera fast and enjoyable to use. It’s an int...
Published: 2012-06-19, Author: Dan , review by: pdnonline.com
A cute little camera that's packed with features and offers excellent image quality
Just never felt comfortable shooting with it, Price: $999 (body only, in black or silver), $1,299 (black or silver body with black M.ZUIKO Digital ED 1250 mm f3.56.3 EZ lens), www.olympusamerica.com
Maybe, in the end, that's the best thing I can say about the Olympus OM-D E-M5. It's a cute-looking, retro-style camera that's capable of taking some fantastic quality images and HD video but like its awkward-sounding model name, it just never felt comfor...
Abstract: Olympus is known to stay true to its heritage, and the new OM-D EM-5 is a sparkling example. The company debuted its first film OM model 40 years ago in 1972, and I actually shot with an Olympus OM-1N a decade ago in my high school photography class. Much...
Appealing body design, Smaller camera is easy to hold and quite small, Battery grip makes the E-M5 feel like a tiny professional camera, EVF works well, Tilting OLED touchpanel display, Water resistant body, Advanced in-body image stabilization, Excell...
Odd power switch location, Exposure compensation dial changes easily, can't be turned off, Small buttons, EVF proximity sensor sometimes activates unexpectedly, Moderately high chromatic aberration from 12-50mm kit lens, No in-camera chromatic aberrati...
Olympus' new Micro Four Thirds flagship has made quite an impression. Not just enthusiasts, but pro photographers are taking the OM-D E-M5 and the platform's latest optics quite a bit more seriously. Our time with the OM-D E-M5 was pure fun. There was ...
Quality: very satisfying colour rendition; pin sharp!Why you'd buy the OM-D EM-5: you long for the old days! You want to shoot RAW.Why you wouldn't: you may hanker for a full frame DSLR!Overall, I found the camera to be very simple to use with very few co...