For the past three years or so, my two Olympus OMD E-M1 Mark II cameras have been my trusty companions on a wide range of shoots. I’ve used them for commercial work, casual snaps, and in many, many AdoramaTV videos as both my video and stills camera. So when I heard the company was about to release the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, I was super excited to see how it stacked up against my current cameras.
Key features:
- 20MP Live MOS Sensor
- New Image Processor TruePic IX
- Handheld High Res Shot Feature with 50MP equivalent, 80MP Tripod equivalent
- New Starry Sky AF algorithm for astrophotography
- In-body 5 Axis IS
- Dustproof/Slashproof/Freezeproof Magnesium Alloy Weathersealed Construction
- 400k Shutter Life
- New Control Panel Mode for essential settings
- 121-Point All Cross-type On-chip Phase Detection AF Sensor
- Maximum 18 fps AF/AE Tracking Sequential Shooting. Maximum 60 fps AF/AE Lock Sequential Shooting
- Multi-selector (Joystick) for easy on-screen selection
- Handheld 4K/Cinema 4K Shooting
- Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE for added connectivity
At first glance, the exterior looks nearly identical to its predecessor. It’s still a smaller camera with plenty of controls, the size is more or less unchanged, the build quality feels solid, and even the battery is the same. But look closer and you’ll find new dedicated buttons for ISO and exposure compensation, plus a joystick (or multi selector) around the back. Up top, the mode dial has an extra custom slot and a B setting for quick access to the long exposure settings.
On the inside, Olympus has added a new processor — the TruePic IX — and replaced the already excellent in-body image stabilization (IBIS) system with the unit from the bigger E-M1X. In day-to-day use, this new processor and IBIS team up to make a tangible difference to the performance of the camera, and overall bring some welcome new features.
As someone who mostly shoots portraits, it’s no surprise that I spent the majority of my short time with the E-M1 Mark III testing that area and asking “what’s in it for me?”. Well, as it turns out, quite a lot.
Face detection:
I’ll kick off the observations with the huge improvements Olympus has made to face detection. With face priority turned on, the camera found the face of my model pretty much instantly, even when they were small in the frame or turned to profile. It was a joy to watch the little rectangle follow my subject around the frame in a way I couldn’t rely on before. More then one face in the frame? No problem. Just tap the LCD to select which face to follow.
The real test of face detection technology is to trust it to get tack sharp eyes on extreme shallow depth of field shoots. For that I switched on Face & Eye Priority and let the camera do its thing. The end results were excellent (see the photo above) with a far higher hit rate then I can get using my usual method of manually moving a single, small focus point.
For anyone not shooting faces, the new joystick falls perfectly under the thumb and makes moving the focus points or navigating through menus a breeze. Speaking of menus, Olympus cameras have always been highly customizable, which often resulted in a complex menu experience. Thankfully, the E-M1 Mark III now gets “My Menu,” meaning you can collect preferred, go-to options from the full menu and make your own unique and easy-to-access mini menu.
Handheld high-res shooting:
For a lot of photographers, one of the highlights of the E-M1 Mark III will undoubtedly be the inclusion of handheld high-res shooting. This boosts the image resolution from the sensor’s native 20.4 million pixels, up to around 50 million pixels. It does it by taking 16 images, each with a tiny sensor shift and all in the blink of an eye. A little slower is the wait while the images are processed in camera to create the final high resolution file. I can see this being a big hit for anyone photographing static subjects such as landscape and product photographers (and you can see me put it into action in the photo above).
IBIS:
When it comes to image stabilization, there’s not much out there that can beat Olympus. My current E-M1 Mark II’s have an impressive 5.5 stops of image stabilization but the Mark III smashes that with 7 stops. Like all Olympus OMD cameras, that’s in-body stabilization, so it works on your roster of lenses, including image sync lenses (300mm and 12-100mm) which take you up to 7.5 stops.
I put that to a real world test on a cold and dark night. With a 12mm lens (24mm equivalent on a full frame) all my one-second hand held exposures were sharp. At 2.5 seconds they were mostly sharp and, pushing my luck, I even got a 4 second hand held shot that had decent sharpness. Of course, the IBIS helps not only with exposure but also with general use. If you use a long lens, the IBIS will steady the viewfinder, making compositions a lot more controllable.
Live ND shooting:
The final thing I wanted to test was another feature borrowed from the E-M1X. Live ND shooting promises the results of working with long exposures without using neutral density filters. True story: a few years back I visited Venice for AdoramaTV and spent many hours shooting long exposure shots with a 10-stop ND filter. Unfortunately, I lost my stepping ring and had to precariously balance the filter on the end of my lens. I certainly wish I had the E-M1 Mark III’s built-in ND filter effect on that trip.
Final thoughts:
I really enjoyed my time with the Olympus OMD E-M1 Mark III and was sorry to see it go back. It managed to pack the best bits of the bigger and more expensive E-M1X into a smaller, lighter body. It had things I now consider essential such as USB charging, Wi-Fi tethering, and excellent weather sealing. It even comes loaded with a few new features for astrophotography. No matter the type of photography you do, the E-M1 Mark III is worth looking into. You might just be surprised at what it can do.
The Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III is now available for preorder for at Adorama.
Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-45mm F4.0 PRO Lens:
In addition to the OMD E-M1 Mark III, Olympus has also launched the new M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-45mm F4.0 PRO lens. The ultra-portable and high resolution lens includes high-speed focusing to help you capture on-the-move subjects and produces sharp images from edge to edge.
Key features:
- 12-45mm focal length (24-90mm 35mm equivalent)
- 12 lens elements in 9 groups (2 HR lenses, 1 DSA lens, 1 Super HR lens, 2 Aspherical lenses, 2 ED lenses)
- 0.12m (wide) and 0.23m (tele) closest focusing distance
- 7 blades (Circular aperture diaphragm)
- Dust-proof and splash-proof
The new Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-45mm F4.0 PRO lens is available for preorder now for at Adorama.
