Mindsets; Getting Used To An Olympus OM-D Camera Again

Riding a hopper Car on a very cold, heavily overcast day (click to enlarge)
E-M1 Mark II, 12-40mm f/2.8 lens @ 30mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 400

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently bought the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II. (Could they have made the name longer?  LOL)

I owned and used Olympus OM-D cameras for the past 3 1/2 years, with the exception of the past several months after I sold my E-M1.  Since then I had gotten used to how easy the Fuji X-T1 and X-T2 are to set up and somewhat forgotten how different the Olympus is from the Fujis.

I want to make clear that I don't intend to write a series of comparisons of the Fuji versus the Olympus.  I bought the Olympus to use and enjoy.  I bought it to explore the features it possesses that are not available on the X-T2.  However, I will write and comment on specifics about the camera that I think of interest and you should know.  That being the case, I don't think the Olympus E-M1 Mark II (hereto which I will refer it as the MKII) and the Fuji X-T2 (hereto which I will refer it as the T2) could be more different in operational philosophy.  They are very different cameras, but both excellent in producing images.  And, I'm talking about things in general with these two cameras.

The T2 has dials and many fewer features than the MKII.  The dials and buttons are easy to just look at, instantly see where they are set, then quickly figure what those settings do and change them if necessary. The T2 has a very nice Q-menu where, with one push, you see 16 of your most used settings which can be highlighted with the "joystick" and changed with the rear command dial. 

The MKII has many more features, thus many more menu items, also with lots of buttons and dials. Because it is so feature rich, by definition more of the settings are found in the menus.  However, the Olympus engineers have done a marvelous job getting as many of those settings on dials and buttons.  The MK II's version of the Q-menu is the Super Control Panel (SCP).  The SCP has 28 menu settings, which is very nice.  The LCD is also a touch screen but the problem with squeezing so many functions onto the SCP, each is contained in a very small block and I have a very difficult time touching just the right one with my finger.  So, I often resort to using the two command wheels and "OK" button to change settings. 

Both camera companies are trying to do the same thing but differently.  Sixteen functions with no touch screen versus 28 functions on a touch screen.  The point is, however, to get those functions in front of your eyes quickly and both succeed in this aspect.

The MKII provides more features and operational options that depend upon electronics while the T2 seems to be more mechanical in nature.  For example, the MKII provides focus bracketing, focus stacking, a "Pro Capture" mode, 50mp JPEG (or 80mp RAW) high resolution mode accomplished by minutely moving the sensor and merging multiple images into one, in-body-image-stabilization (IBIS) and 60 fps with the electronic shutter. 

The T2 has dials to change shutter speed, aperture rings on the lenses, a dial to change metering patterns, fps, and ISOs, a battery grip with 2 extra batteries, etc.  Lots of mechanical features.

One thing of note is that the color palette of the MKII is very different than the color palette of the T2.  Very different. I'm sure you could replicate either when editing your images and maybe even when setting up your cameras, but the T2's colors are generally more pleasing to me than the MKII's.  Not better, just different.  Again, I think with the software tools we are given for editing images, you could produce exactly what you desire with either camera.

I could go on and on about the differences, but lots of others have already written about them.  What I will say, however, is that I think both cameras, with their different features, will nicely complement each other.  Both are capable of producing excellent images and both are of a professional caliber as both are used by many professional photographers for their work.  Both companies produce a wide variety of excellent lenses to complement their camera offerings.

I'm excited and plan to have fun and make excellent images with both cameras.  I still plan on the T2 being my everyday camera, but I will have the option of the MKII if I have some slow shutter speed work with which IBIS will be helpful, where focus stacking on close-up work will help or where I may want to try a 50mp image for a landscape or two.  

Variety is good.  I'm really thankful we have these marvelous tools to use to create our art.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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