Olympus E-M1 MarkII: OH MY! (1 Viewer)

[njlarsen]

I tried looking around a little. The APC Canon 7d-II seems to have a list price of $1800 body only, probably unchanged from when it came out in 2014. It is my impression that the Yen exchange rate probably became worse for Japanese companies since then, so I would not be surprised if that camera would have a list price of around $2000 if it came out today.

So Oly might be at the right level in price, IF - and that is a big if -- AF works as well in the mark ii as it does in a camera like the 7d. I will sit back and hear what actual users have to say once they get their hands on this camera.

Niels

 

[Jim M.]

For me, price has never really been a factor in deciding between m4/3 and DSLRs. The reason I opted for the former is lower weight of the body and lenses combined. So the high price of the EM-1 mk II doesn't make DSLRs more attractive to me.

However, it is making me take a closer look at other m4/3 camera bodies; will also be interesting to see how the GH-5 is priced. If I do decide to go for the mk II, I may wait until the price declines.

 

[Vespobuteo]

I tried looking around a little. The APC Canon 7d-II seems to have a list price of $1800 body only, probably unchanged from when it came out in 2014. It is my impression that the Yen exchange rate probably became worse for Japanese companies since then, so I would not be surprised if that camera would have a list price of around $2000 if it came out today.

So Oly might be at the right level in price, IF - and that is a big if -- AF works as well in the mark ii as it does in a camera like the 7d. I will sit back and hear what actual users have to say once they get their hands on this camera.

Niels

7D II is more like $1300 around here, the Nikon D7200 is $1000 which is the same as the new Panasonic G85/G80.

The new G85/G80 looks pretty nice actually. weather sealed, 4K, 16MP with no AA-filter and shutter shock problems have been fixed. Also C-AF seem to have been improved. Dual IS with the 100-400mm panaleica.

Is the E-M1 II worth 100%/$1000 extra?
Perhaps it's like comparing the D7200 and the D500.
And Olympus seem to target professionals with the E-M1 II in the video below.
1 stop better noise performance is claimed (and better dynamic range).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y56zaMP0ggQ

I guess we'll see if any Olympic sports shooters will move to Olympus.

 

[njlarsen]

7D II is more like $1300 around here,

That is why I bolded "list" in list price. I also expect that 2 years after introduction, the oly mkII is going to be considerably cheaper than at introduction, just like the Canon seems to have fallen several hundred $$ since its introduction.

Niels

 

[Adey Baker]

I also expect that 2 years after introduction, the oly mkII is going to be considerably cheaper than at introduction, just like the Canon seems to have fallen several hundred $$ since its introduction.

Niels

Depends how well it sells. The Pen F came out at the start of this year and is still the same price (£999 body only, UK), so presumably, that's still selling well enough at that price.

An Olympus 'rep' at Photokina did the EM1 MkII no favours by stating that it would be slightly higher in price compared to the original price of the MkI - and Olympus themselves introduced the MkII EM5 the previous year without loading the price up over the original MkI.

In the end, it will all depend on how much better certain features are than the MkI EM1.It's all well and good taking people off to Iceland because of the excellent possibilities of great landscape shots, but soon someone will be testing it at fast-action sport events or challenging wildlife situations which will test the continuous focus of the camrea to the full (and possibly the reduced 'rolling-shutter' effects in silent mode).

Then we'll know whether it's worth the price - if there's no great benefits then you can always get, for the same price (£1849, UK), an EM1 MkI body together with both the !2-40mm Pro and 40-150mm Pro F2.8 lenses (http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-...-12-40mm-pro-and-40-150mm-pro-lenses/p1570115 (£1999 less £150 discount until November 10th)

 

[Vespobuteo]

That is why I bolded "list" in list price. I also expect that 2 years after introduction, the oly mkII is going to be considerably cheaper than at introduction, just like the Canon seems to have fallen several hundred $$ since its introduction.

Niels

Yes, but the 7D MkII was not 43% more expensive than the MkI-model at introduction. More like 10%. To me it looks like a change in pricing strategy from Olympus due to the focus on the pro-segment.
Time will tell how fast the price-drop will be.

 

[Vespobuteo]

Not sure if this have been posted, but there are samples from the E-M1 MK II,
not full res. but right click on image and open in other window to see it larger.
Here is one example with the 300/4 IS pro, biting sharpness IMO.

http://cameras.olympus.com/assets/img/omd/pro-gallery/photographers/koji_nakano/03.jpg

http://cameras.olympus.com/assets/img/omd/pro-gallery/photographers/victoria_rogotneva/05.jpg

And more here:

http://cameras.olympus.com/omd/en/pro-gallery/photographers/koji_nakano/

http://cameras.olympus.com/omd/en/pro-gallery/

 

[Vespobuteo]

Brand new E-M1 II IQ "review".
Includes interesting comparisons with 7D MkII, X-T2, D500, GX8 and E-M1 MkI:

"The Canon 7D Mark II does well at base ISO, but the Olympus E-M1 II actually does better as ISO rises, with better detail, similar contrast and fewer false colors."

http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2016/11/05/olympus-e-m1-ii-in-depth-image-quality-analysis

 

[Hermann]

Brand new E-M1 II IQ "review".
Includes interesting comparisons with 7D MkII, X-T2, D500, GX8 and E-M1 MkI:

"The Canon 7D Mark II does well at base ISO, but the Olympus E-M1 II actually does better as ISO rises, with better detail, similar contrast and fewer false colors."

http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2016/11/05/olympus-e-m1-ii-in-depth-image-quality-analysis

That "comparison" is a bit of a joke because they're comparing JPEGs SOOC, so in effect they're looking more at the quality of the JPEG-engine than anything else. Things will only get interesting when people start looking at the RAWS. I've yet to see a camera where one can't get better results than the in-built JPEG-engine when working on the RAWs.

And for bird photography the main question will be how well AF-C works. The 7DII is pretty good, the D500 is class-leading, and if the Olympus can get to at least the level of the Canon they may well make some inroads into bird photography.

If they don't most people won't be bothered at that price level.

Hermann

 

[njlarsen]

As stated in the comment section, you can download the Raw images and play around yourself.

Niels

 

[Vespobuteo]

That "comparison" is a bit of a joke because they're comparing JPEGs SOOC, so in effect they're looking more at the quality of the JPEG-engine than anything else. Things will only get interesting when people start looking at the RAWS. I've yet to see a camera where one can't get better results than the in-built JPEG-engine when working on the RAWs.

And for bird photography the main question will be how well AF-C works. The 7DII is pretty good, the D500 is class-leading, and if the Olympus can get to at least the level of the Canon they may well make some inroads into bird photography.

If they don't most people won't be bothered at that price level.

Hermann

Many people actually shoot JPG:s so it's not a joke.
Studio lighting is not that demanding though. IRL low light shots might be more revealing.

AF performance seem to be very good, it needs to be at 18 fps.
Haven't heard much on AF low light performance though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4rz6f3d6-4

 

[hoodlum]

AF performance seem to be very good, it needs to be at 18 fps.
Haven't heard much on AF low light performance though.

Low light AF seems to improved.

https://translate.google.ca/transla...rkii-ein-bisschen-was-zum-af.html&prev=search

 

[mdb2]

Jpgs and raw apart I have read that the jpgs are sot in RGB. There's so much to take into account.
Kind regards mike

 

[opticoholic]

The image samples look to me like what I expected, i.e., comparing 100% pixels from the old vs. new cameras, we see only a very small improvement to image quality--it might even be so small it is hard to see when pixel peeping, BUT they are delivering this with smaller pixels, so after the larger E-M1 MarkII images are reduced to the same size as the E-M1, the image quality difference will probably be more apparent. But even with that, I don't expect a night and day difference, just an incremental improvement, including a tiny bit more detail.

And of course the camera offers a number of other improved features, but like others, I'm most anxious to see objective real world tests to assess how much better the C-AF tracking is... On that I'm still hopeful we will see be a bigger step forward.

Dave

 

[hoodlum]

Some good information here on C-AF.

http://www.mirrorlessons.com/2016/1...ark-ii-extended-second-impressions-andalucia/

 

[Vespobuteo]

Some good information here on C-AF.

http://www.mirrorlessons.com/2016/1...ark-ii-extended-second-impressions-andalucia/

Indeed a lot of interesting info:

"The continuous autofocus gave me a positive impression as well but I need more time with the camera to understand how good it is. I think it is on the same level as other mirrorless such as the Fuji X-T2 and a6300/a6500 except for video where the focus is slower.

I don’t expect the image quality to be much better than what we’ve seen from the latest Micro Four Thirds cameras. From what I’ve seen so far, it seems to be at the top of its class, especially in terms of dynamic range and low-light performance."

 

[Vespobuteo]

More raw-examples here (also ACR processed examples to compare with Jpg):

https://www.dpreview.com/samples/7322513115/olympus-om-d-e-m1-mark-ii-samples-gallery

Much better details retained in the ACR processed examples. It's not a Nikon D5 but
up to ISO1600 it looks pretty good. Even ISO3200 looks fairly usable.

 

[DanC.Licks]

... but is it a D500??? That would be a better comparison.

 

[njlarsen]

I have not seen mention of the Robin Wong review here (or I overlooked it). https://robinwong.blogspot.my/2016/11/olympus-om-d-e-m1-mark-ii-review.html

In there he 1) admits to be a nob regarding c-AF, and 2) he shows a series at a moto-GP shot with the 300 mm lens. The other series I have seen have been with shorter lenses.

In his follow up blog, he mentioned that it is now possible to shoot manual with auto-iso with exposure compensation, something people have complained about in the past.

Niels

Niels

 

[Vespobuteo]

I have not seen mention of the Robin Wong review here (or I overlooked it). https://robinwong.blogspot.my/2016/11/olympus-om-d-e-m1-mark-ii-review.html

In there he 1) admits to be a nob regarding c-AF, and 2) he shows a series at a moto-GP shot with the 300 mm lens. The other series I have seen have been with shorter lenses.

In his follow up blog, he mentioned that it is now possible to shoot manual with auto-iso with exposure compensation, something people have complained about in the past.

Niels

Niels

The fast sequence shots look sharp, the parrot for example, small format samples though.