In summary
With its promises of improved performance and functionality, the OM-D E-M1 will be a welcome addition to Olympus’s offerings when it goes on sale next month. The new camera certainly has plenty to excite photo enthusiasts and it’s good to see the same battery carry over from the earlier camera, making it easy for E-M5 owners to upgrade or add an E-M1 body to their kit without having to buy extra batteries.
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Specs
- Image sensor: 17.3 x 13.0 mm LiveMOS sensor with approx. 16.3 megapixels effective
- Image processor: TruePic VII
- A/D processing: 12-bit lossless compression
- Lens mount: Micro Four Thirds
- Focal length crop factor: 2x
- Image formats: Stills ““ ORF.RAW, JPEG, RAW+JPEG, MPO (3D still); Movies ““ MOV (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264), AVI (Motion JPEG)
- Image Sizes: Stills ““ 4608 x 3456, 2560 x1920, 1280 x 960; 3:2 aspect: 4608 x 3072, 2544 x 1696, 1296 x 864;16:9 aspect: 4608 x 2592, 2560 x 1440, 1280 x 720; 1:1 aspect: 3456 x 3456, 1920 x 1920, 960 x 960; 3:4 aspect: 2592 x 3456, 1440 x 1920, 3216 x 2144, 2400 x 2400, 1824 x 2432, 2560 x 1440, 2544 x 1696, 1920 x 1920, 1440 x 1920, 720 x 960; Movies: 1920 x 1080, 30p at 20Mbps or 17 Mbps; HD: 1280 x 720 at 30fps, 640 x 480 at 30 fps
- Image Stabilisation: 5-axis sensor-shift type (yaw/pitch/vertical shift/horizontal shift/lens-axis roll); up to 5EV shake compensation
- Dust removal: Supersonic Wave Filter
- Shutter speed range: 1/8000 to 60 seconds plus Bulb/Time (default 8 min.; up to 30 min. selectable), X-sync at 1/320 sec. for built-in flash
- Exposure Compensation: +/- 5 EV in 1/3-, 1/2- or 1EV increments
- Exposure bracketing: +/-3 EV in 1/3- or 1/2-EV increments (can be combined with manual exposure compensation)
- Self-timer: 2 or 12 seconds delay
- Focus system: 81-area contrast-detection AF plus 37-area phase difference detection AF with All target and group target (9 area) modes; AF illuminator available
- Focus modes: Single AF (S-AF) / Continuous AF (C-AF) / Manual Focus (MF) / S-AF + MF / AF tracking (C-AF + TR) modes; magnify and focus peaking assists for manual focusing
- Exposure metering: TTL Image Sensor metering system with Digital ESP metering (324-area multi pattern metering), Centre weighted average metering and Spot metering (approx. 1% of the viewfinder screen. Highlight / shadow bias spot metering are available)
- Shooting modes: iAuto, Program AE (Program shift available), Aperture priority AE, Shutter priority AE, Manual, Bulb, Time, Scene select AE (Portrait, e-Portrait, Landscape, Landscape + Portrait, Sport, Night, Night + Portrait, Children, High Key, Low Key, DIS mode, Macro, Nature Macro, Candle, Sunset, Documents, Panorama, Fireworks, Beach & Snow, Fisheye Effect, Wide-Angle, Macro, 3D)
- Art Filters: Pop Art, Soft Focus, Pale & Colour, Light Tone, Grainy Film, Pin Hole, Diorama, Gentle Sepia, Cross Process, Dramatic Tone, Key Line, Watercolour
- Art Effects: Soft Focus, Pin Hole, White Edge, Frame, Star Light, B&W Effect, Picture Tone (Sepia, Blue, Purple, Green)
- Picture Modes: i-Enhance, Vivid, Natural, Muted, Portrait, Monotone, Custom, Art Filter; Neutral, Sepia, Blue, Purple, Green for Monotone Picture Tones; Gradation adjustments of Auto, Normal, High Key, Low Key (except Art Filters); Neutral, Yellow, Orange, Red, Green B&W filter effects
- Photo Story: 4 standard frames, 4 fun frames, 4 window patterns
- Colour space options: sRGB, Adobe RGB
- ISO range: Auto: ISO 100 – 1600 set automatically (default); Manual: ISO L (100 equivalent), 200 to 25600 selectable in 1/3 or 1EV steps
- White balance: Auto, Sunny (5300K), Shadow (7500K), Cloudy (6000K), Incandescent (3000K), Fluorescent (4000K), Flash (5500K), Underwater; Custom, Color temperature setting (Approx. 2000-14000K); WB bracketing of 3 frames in 2, 4 or 6 steps in A-B and G-M axes
- Flash: Bundled TTL flash, GN=7 (ISO100/m), Olympus Wireless RC Flash system compatible; X-synch at 1/320 second or slower
- Flash modes: Auto, Redeye, Fill-in, Flash Off, Slow sync. (1st/2nd curtain), Manual (1/1 (Full)~1/64)
- Flash exposure adjustment: +/-3 EV in 1/3 , 1/2 or 1 EV increments
- Sequence shooting: Max. approx. 10 shots/sec. for up to 36 ORF.RAW files with a UHS-I certified SDHC or SDXC card
- Other features: HDR1/2 (4-shot auto composite) available with P, A, S and M mode plus bracketing of 3, 5 or 7 frames in post-process; built-in Wi-Fi
- Storage Media: Single slot for SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards; UHS-1 and Eye-Fi compatible
- Viewfinder: Eye-level EVF with approx 2.63 million dots; 100% FOV coverage, 21 mm eye point, -4 to +2 dpt adjustment
- LCD monitor: 3-inch tilting TFT colour LCD with approx. 1037 million dots; capacitance touch-screen controls
- Live View shooting: Live previews for exposure compensation, white balance, gradation, face detection (up to 8 faces) plus grid line, histogram and magnification (5x, 7x, 10x, 14x) displays, Level gauge
- Playback functions: Single-frame, Information display (Histogram – independent luminance / RGB available, Highlight/Shadow point warning, AF frame, Photographic information), Index display (4/9/25/100 frames), Calendar, Enlargement (2x – 14x), Movie (with sound, FF/REW/Pause), Picture rotation (auto), Slideshow (with BGM/BGM+Sound/Sound)
- Interface terminals: Dedicated multi-connector; USB 2.0, HDMI (Type D), external microphone IN (3.5 mm stereo jack), terminal for RM-UC1 remote controller; Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b/g/n)
- Power supply: BLN-1 rechargeable lithium-ion battery; CIPA rated for approx. 330shots/charge
- Dimensions (wxhxd): Approx. 130.4 x 93.5 x 63.1 mm
- Weight: Approx. 443 grams (body only)
See full review and test results
