Olympus OM-D E-M1 – 1st Quick test JPEG’s!

September 26, 2013 First Looks, High ISO, Just for fun, Mirrorless, Travel 38

Olympus OM-D E-M1  – 1st Quick test JPEG’s!

EM1

Hey guys! I am in Dublin Ireland at Castle Leslie and having an AMAZING time shooting the Olympus OM-D E-M1. Weather has been dreary and rainy but can’t complain. I have only 5 minutes before I have to get back down to the group for a pre-dinner meet so I am throwing up a few out of camera JPEGS shot today. I will follow this with many more thoughts, a video, and more images of course. So for now, just four quick JPEGS (all I have time for right now). Much more to come!

The 12-40 Lens at 2.8, ISO 400

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17 1.8 at 1/20s

JUST ADDED:

Same shot as above but from RAW

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The 12-40 using Live Time – LONG exposure with light painting and yes, that is me as an Angel

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The 75 1.8 at 1.8

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38 Comments

  1. Thanks Steve!
    VIVID mode makes sense. Appreciate it (and adding the RAW shot)
    This looks like a really nice camera.
    I wish I never sold my OM-4 back in the day…

  4. sharpening level may be somewhat personal. And you said that seeing RAW output will show if that is true or not….and what you said is not generally true because ther nothing like an absolute RAW, that is what you will se on the screen purely depends on the sharpening level you applied in the pos-processing.

  5. You make a great angel Steve 🙂

    I’ll have a chance to get my hands on the camera next Thursday and very much look forward to it. In my opinion the main strength of micro four thirds is in using (very) long focal lengths from 200mm onwards, where you have a significant gain in size and weight compared to other formats. My only concern is that the micro four thirds is still a game played by small players in photo industry, mainly Panasonic and Olympus. So the future of this system is kind of shaky because it may get squeezed between the one inch sensor promoted by Sony and Nikon and the APS-C market.

    Quality wise I seriously doubt that anyone can tell apart a micro four thirds image from a full frame image for ISOs below 800 these days. To me this is just like people who claim they can hear whether a HiFi equipment uses copper or gold cables 🙂

  6. I’m in a dilemma…. I absolutely LOVE this new OMD. Played with it in Melbourne a few weeks ago and found it goes like a Ferrari. It does feel small, but the added grip made it feel a lot better. My problem is, I own a D7000 and a D3200 with a few lenses, so it would make sense to upgrade to a D600 (which I think is a fantastic camera also). I am shooting portraits and plan to shoot weddings as well once I feel that my technique is good enough. Will the OMD be enough camera for this line of work, or should I just go FF and get the D600??? Will the OMD work with my Cactus flash triggers and flashes like the Nikons do? Will prints from the OMD be able to be printed large and clear like a D600’s??? As I don’t print any of my photos from either Nikon, I really have no clue what they are capable of as far as printing goes. Plus I think my shots still stink at the moment, but they are improving 🙂 If anyone can answer these questions, I will hold them in high regards and would try and remember them in my will also. However, I’m broke at the moment, so don’t expect much 🙁 lol. Cheers… Jason

    • About your questions:
      1- Many pros shoots wedding also with medium format or digital Fuji rangefinders, it depends on your style… I’ve shot wedding parties in b/w with my Panasonic G3 and vintage lens, everyone was very happy with results…
      2-AFAIK, you will have TTL capability only with Oly compatibles strobes. And sometimes, Nikon-type triggers don’t even work on other camera brands. Check by yourself.
      3- With OM-D, you can happily print up to A4 size (I haven’t seen bigger examples firsthand, but many says even bigger is VERY good) and not noticing any difference in IQ terms (DoF is different, but you can compare shots and see for yourself).

      Hope this helps.

    • Hi, I think if more people printed their work they maybe kept their gear a little longer. Most cameras look (a lot) better in print. I have printed the OMD A3+ and with the 75mm f1,8 and it looks good printed on a Epson 2200. Not that different from my Canon 5dlll or the Sony A850 but it depends also on the optics and motiv AND flashes etc. One great thing with Olympus is the color. You can of course also tweak the Sony and the Canons color but it takes some time and to me its not as good.
      After a shoot this summer I thought getting rid of my other gear and keep the OMD only but I need the full frame for making line art, posters and ads where I need a lot of detail in the files when tweaking them (to only black and white with maybe 2 extra nuances of grey)
      If you want to go pro it is good to have both.

  8. Too few blades, this is definitely a no-no…
    [sarcasm mode: Off]
    I think that someone just had to turn the computer off, go outside and shoot photographs a little more 😉

  12. Increasing the number of blades is not always the answer. Blade shape is equally important and it doesn’t look like 7 blades negatively affects it in any way. Of course, I haven’t seem lens flare shapes, etc.

  18. Can’t wait to get mine. Got a call from Olympus today, needed to verify my billing/shipping address. She told me my body + adapter are in stock and I’ll receive it tomorrow. Ordered it on 9/10 in the morning about 7 hours after the announcement. B&H are closed for the holiday and Amazon says 10/14.

  21. Hmm.. looking at the skin surface on the second image it seems that the JPEG has excessive sharpening applied (a default setting). I guess seeing RAW output will show if that is true or not.
    Clicking on the horse riders photo (to enlarge it) shows, well, absolutely terrible skin tones. Unless the riders faces and arms are really deep red. Or is it my lousy monitor at work that I am viewing the site with?!

    Steve, is the autofocus on the new OMD really fast enough for sports? Dpreview says it does not compare to the top flight DSLRs but seeing that you are actually using one…

    • These are OOC JPEGS, some at higher ISO and we know what OOC JPEGS look like at higher ISO. 🙂 Also, the horse riders was shot as a JPEG in VIVID mode. So do not judge skin tones from that, you should know better 🙂 My review will have RAW files, etc. Soon.

  22. I really wish Olympus had made the 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens with 9 aperture blades (like most other pro zoom lenses) instead of just 7… Why cheap out on that?!

    • Axel…I think the blades are curved to create a circular aperture…so perhaps that is adequate on a f/2.8 lens on a MFT sensor for good bokeh…but I am no expert…just guessing because it would seem that Olympus took pains to make a top-notch lens here. I doubt that they overlooked it.

  23. Thanks, Steve. As a first generation OM-D E-M5 user, I’m eager to see and hear more! That first studio shot is awesome. As for your “Angel” shot, you sure you got the right spiritual entity? (WINK)

  25. Reading the specs I know I want to get one but it would be good to hear more from you. Hurry hurry give me the honey!

  27. Very nice. Could you pleas post some landscpae pictures to look at the dynamic range?
    Greetings from Germany
    jonas

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