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.
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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.
Published: 2012-05-04, Author: Jeremy , review by: camcorderinfo.com
We took some gorgeous videos with the Olympus E-M5, and we found the camera was able to capture sharp, crisp details even in low light situations. The camera struggled in extreme low light, however, which may be a direct result of Olympus capping ...
Abstract: It doesn't take a genius to figure out which are the hot cameras at any one time. Last year it was the Fuji X100 and Sony NEX-7. So far this year been it's the Nikon D800/e, the Fuji X-Pro 1, and the subject of this review, the Olympus O...
Published: 2012-04-24, Author: Jim , review by: pcmag.com
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.
External flash. Lacks a standard mic input
The Olympus OM-D E-M5 is the best Micro Four Thirds camera we've tested. It's got a top-notch stabilization system, is fully weather sealed, can shoot in all types of light, and ships with a sharp and versatile kit lens. Add it all up, and you have our n...
Lovely design, premium build, solid performance and great images
Base ISO of 100 would be welcome
The Olympus OM-D E-M5 is a very impressive camera. The retro styling is very much a success, especially if you opt for the two-tone silver/black finish, while the materials and weather sealing deliver an excellent, high-end feel. There's plenty of feat...
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Published: 2012-02-08, Author: Dan , review by: pdnonline.com
Abstract: With a quite a few new camera models mimicking the retro look of classic rangefinders, Olympus has turned to old film single-lens-reflex cameras (remember those?) for inspiration on it's newest digital camera, the 16.1-megapixel E-M5.The mirrorless E-M5 i...
This is our First Look at a pre-production E-M5 sample. We were fortunate enough to get our hands on an E-M5 for about a day. Unfortunately, they didn't send out a battery with the camera due to the fact that Olympus America only had one battery and ch...
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
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
The high-resolution sensor of the E-M5 delivers quality that rivals DSLRs. It shows very low image noise until ISO 1600 and remains usable up to ISO 12800 for mid-size prints and 25600 for small ones. The exposure system is really good and automatic white...
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
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
The Olympus E-M5 is Olympus' eighth Micro Four Thirds camera and by far its most competitive. It combines the company's pleasing JPEG engine with a more modern sensor to create a photographic tool that lives up to the capabilities implied by its evoca...
