Olympus Air A01 16MP Micro Four Thirds Lens-Style Mirrorless Digital Camera Body, Black

2018-05-29T20:00:00

Interesting concept, but in the end, until this is up and connected to my iphone - it takes me too long and the entire setup is a bit to cumbersome and is lacking some of the advantages you are used to have with olympus like the IBIS.

Torsten

Originally posted at

2016-10-19T14:02:03

Excellent 16MP pics. I've had intermittent connection loss to phone and tablet now and then, but not frequent. Wish I could swap out batteries (not customer accessible), or be able to use USB. power (camera must be off to charge thru USB). Longer exposure than 4 secs would be nice, or a bulb mode. Being an open platform is a plus I guess. Fairly useless without a tablet or smart phone. All in all a nice simple very compact micro 4/3 camera.

CLY R.

2015-08-16T21:00:00

The first thing to note is the camera does not (at this time) come with an instruction manual. Nor did I find one online. That being said, the camera was relatively easy to figure out without one. These are just some of the highlights from my experience with the AIR. There are several good in-depth reviews on other websites. The concept of this camera is a good one—using your smartphone as a viewing screen and control panel for your camera. And while the execution is very good for a first attempt, I think there are a few improvements that could be made. The build quality on this camera is excellent. The body is metal and feels sturdy. The plastic phone bracket that snaps onto the back feels sturdy enough as well. The oversized shutter button is easy to find. The setup process with your phone is fairly easy. The setup wizard does a good job of walking you through the process, and I was up and running in just a few minutes. The camera creates its own WiFi that your phone connects to. This means that in order to use your phone for other things, you'll have to consume your data or disconnect from the camera. The other thing to note is the startup time. The camera's WiFi shuts down when the camera goes to sleep. Starting the camera back up means you may have to reconnect to the camera's network. It's best to use it with a micro SD card. It takes a few seconds to transfer a raw image from the camera to your phone. Reportedly, it doesn't have the greatest battery life. I didn't run the battery out completely, so I don't want to speculate. But considering that you're consuming the camera and phone batteries, a dual port charger may be in order if you're going to be out all day. Sadly, it does not have in-camera image stabilization. So I paired it with a Panasonic Lumix lens that has in-lens stabilization. The combination appeared to work great. While the phone bracket did accommodate the OtterBox case on my iPhone 6, it felt like I was stretching the springs to the breaking point. The camera recognizes horizontal and vertical orientations when you turn it. Shooting with the camera and phone held horizontally is great. Turning the pair vertically presents a problem. With the phone clipped in at an angle, finding your subject becomes a little awkward because you're no longer looking "straight" through the camera. The OA. Central App is fairly user friendly. The ability to shoot in Program (P), Aperture Priority (A), Shutter Priority (S), and Manual (M) mode was a big plus to me. I like the ability to choose the settings myself. Most of the settings are easy to understand can be adjusted quickly. You have the option of touch to focus or touch to focus + shoot. I think it is mostly personal preference. There were times that focusing and shooting in one action was useful. At other times, I didn't want to snap a picture each time I touched the screen. I did not play with the Amazon Cloud functionality. Overall, I think the Olympus AIR is a good camera for what it is. Like any first generation idea, I think it needs a little refining. For someone who has not invested in a system, this may be a great option. It certainly presents more creative options than your phone. And the image quality is clearly better. If you're looking for an alternative to your Micro Four Thirds body, this may not be for you. Honestly, the experience is unique enough that you have to decide for yourself.

ANDREW P.