So Far I Like Everything About The New Olympus E-M1 Mark II With Two Exceptions

OM-D E-M1 Mark II with universal L-bracket on ball head (click to enlarge)

The new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II is a remarkable camera in so many ways.  It really is a computer with a lens.  I've only had mine for a few weeks and have enjoyed taking it out and making photographs.  The camera is capable of creating beautiful images. However, I found two issues with it that are troublesome.

First, the camera seems to take a very long time to turn on and be ready to make a photograph.  Turning on the camera and being able to take that first photograph takes considerably longer than the time it takes my Fuji X-T2 to be ready to photograph.  In a few rudimentary tests, I was able to turn on the X-T2 and fire a frame in under a second. The E-M1 Mark II took about 2 1/2 seconds before I was able to fire a frame.  I am having a hard time believing that something is not exactly right as just about any point and shoot camera made today has a faster "turn on until first photograph time" than that.

I'll be looking into this issue to see if there is a way to reduce the "on" time.  I haven't read anything about this timing, but it is still early and many of the review sites don't have comprehensive reviews published yet.  This long turn on time might come down to allowing the camera to go to "sleep" and then awakening it with a half-shutter push rather than turning it off and on.  But this is the minor of the two issues for me and my kinds of photography.  

Tell me what I'm missing or doing wrong with this next issue?  Again, I don't believe I've seen anything written about this so I must be missing something as I believe it affects any photographer who uses a camera with the swing out articulating LCD feature with a tripod.  This feature has been available with other cameras for a few years now.

The major issue I have found has been created by individuals who cry out for a fully articulating and swiveling LCD.  These are mainly video people.  I have no interest in video.  I guess this feature is a good thing for the movie people as they don't create movies with vertical compositions, but not so good for us still photography people, especially landscape photographers.  It really screws things up.  Let me explain.

Typical tripod mounted position for a horizontal composition (click to enlarge)
In order to tilt the LCD, one has to swivel it out and rotate it.  The mounted L-bracket
allows the swivel but prevents any rotation beyond about 10 degrees.

I use L-brackets on all of my cameras and have for years.  L-brackets give the photographer some nice advantages.  They allow us to mount (and remove) a camera to the tripod very quickly and securely.  Place the bracket on the tripod head, snap it or screw it closed, and you are ready to photograph with a very securely attached camera. That quick.  No extended time fiddling with screwing the tripod mount screw into the bottom of the camera. 

L-brackets also allow you to center your lens directly over the axis of your tripod head as the plate allows you to slide left or right to change the horizontal position of the camera to ensure it is centered.  Many cameras manufactured today don't have the tripod mounting hole directly in line with the lens axis.  That makes a difference when trying to level your camera for panoramas, etc. 

Third, L-brackets allow you to quickly switch from horizontal position to a vertical position, keeping your lens centered over the tripod head and foregoing the need to adjust your tripod head or even move your tripod to achieve the exact same composition. No tilting the tripod over to the side 90 degrees to move from horizontal to vertical.

However.....with a fully articulating and swiveling LCD, you can't do those things with an L-bracket.  You can do those things with only the bottom part of the L-bracket attached to the bottom of the camera but not with the vertical part of the bracket that parallels the left side of your camera attached, which makes it an L-bracket.  Two issues arise.

Maximum downward tilt with camera mounted on L-bracket and LCD swung out (click to enlarge)

Maximum upward tilt with camera mounted on L-bracket and LCD swung out (click to enlarge)

First, if you have the LCD in what I'll call the "home" position, that position where it is nestled into the back of the camera body, and you have the LCD facing out toward you, you can't tilt the LCD up or down.  It is nestled into the back of the camera body and can't tilt up or down as it can on the X-T2 or other cameras with an LCD that doesn't swivel. Oh, but just swing it out.  Won't work.  As you swing the LCD out toward the left side of the camera the LCD now faces forward and the vertical piece of the L-bracket won't allow you to tilt the LCD more than a 10 degree angle up or down. Additionally, you cannot rotate the LCD 180 degrees so you can see it.  You have now essentially lost your tilting LCD function.   If you want to switch to a vertical composition, you are out of luck as now your LCD is facing down and you can't swivel it to see it.

LCD at "home" positioned with plastic back exposed to protect LCD (click to enlarge)

Second, if you have the LCD facing inward in the "home" position (with the back plastic side visible for protection of the glass) and want to view it, you swivel it out and you can view it.  You can't tilt it up or down but at least you can see it.  Again, you lost your tilting LCD function. If you turn your camera vertically, great!  You have an LCD you can see if it is at eye height or below.  

In either position, you lose some critical functionality.  You can't have all functionality, it seems.

LCD swiveled out from the above position, but you cannot tilt it (click to enlarge)

Here is the rub.  You better figure out ahead of time if you want a horizontal or vertical composition before you mount your L-bracket because once it is on, you give up one of those abilities.  If you want to photograph both horizontally and vertically, well, you are going to have to take the bracket off, change the position of the LCD, then remount your bracket, which seriously defeats the purpose.  Or....you just give up tilting your LCD all together.

Vertical composition requires having the LCD set with
the plastic back out otherwise it will not be visible
if you swivel out for a better view (click to enlarge)

Thank you video people!

But what about mounting the L-bracket with the vertical piece out far enough to clear the LCD screen when it is swiveled out?  You would have to mount the bracket almost 3 1/2 inches from the side of the camera for that to work.  I don't know of a bracket made that allows you to do that.  Also, the negative side to that is that if you were switching from a horizontal to a vertical composition, your camera is now about 3 1/2 inches higher and probably a bit less stable.  Think of loss of stability when extending the center pole of your tripod.  Same thing.  You would have to lower the legs on your tripod and recompose the scene to regain the exact height at which you originally composed your image.  Not a satisfactory solution.

A second solution is to remove the vertical part of the L-bracket and only use the horizontal portion.  One would then have to tilt the tripod head over 90 degrees to achieve a vertical composition.  Not a good solution as, again, you would have to move your tripod and recompose the scene to regain your exact composition.  If you have a smaller tripod, there is the danger that the weight of the camera and lens may throw it off balance and possibly cause it to tumble over.

A third solution would be to attach a universal L-bracket in the opposite manner in which it is designed to attach, i.e., with the vertical portion of the plate on the right side of the camera instead of the left.  If it fits, and that is the key with this solution, it would block your ability to open the door to access your memory cards.  That is not a serious hindrance as I normally don't access memory cards until the end of the day.  However, it would allow you easy access to the doors that hide the connections for microphone, earpiece, electronic shutter release, etc.  This solution is a possibility.  The bottom plate of the one in the above illustrations is approximately 4 inches, which is just short of allowing me to attach it as described here.  If I were to try to implement this solution, I would purchase a universal L-bracket with the "under camera" horizontal piece no shorter than 5 inches.  The plate would have to also have the ability for the mounting bolt to slide left and right a good distance.

A fourth solution, again which to me is not acceptable, is to forego using an L-bracket all together and return to mounting the camera on the type of tripod head that has a 1/4" X 20 bolt.  Unfortunately, none of my tripod heads have those.  All have Arca Swiss compatible quick release heads.  Mounting and unmounting a camera with the tripod bolt takes quite a bit longer than a quick release plate.  You also run the risk of scratching up the bottom of your camera trying to place the bolt in the hole without looking directly at it.  Third, I always worried about the bolt being a bit too long and punching through the bottom of the camera.  I don't think that is an issue today as it was many years ago, but the worry remains.

What about using a tripod at all?  The Olympus has a world class in-body-image-stabilization (IBIS) capability that allows us to handhold a camera at amazing slow shutter speeds.  Yes, the camera's IBIS is excellent, but doesn't take the place of a tripod when a tripod is necessary.  

Again, what am I missing here?  This has had to arisen long before I acquired this camera.

Some sort of satisfactory solution must be found.  Yours may differ from mine according to your needs and preferences.  Any other suggestions? Please comment and share them with the other readers.

I'm not sure what to do about this second issue.  Right now I don't see an acceptable solution.  The bottom line is that the fully articulate swing out LCD screens are not conducive to tripod work when using a quick release type of head and an L-bracket.

Why couldn't Olympus just leave things alone?  It all worked well before.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

All content on this blog is © 2013-2017 Dennis A. Mook. All Rights Reserved. Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution. Permission may be granted for commercial use. Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.