A Year With The Olympus E-M1 Mark II; My Thoughts And Wishes For The Mark III

 All images made with the Olympus E-M1 Mark II (click to enlarge)

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A few thoughts, not a review, about the Olympus E-M1 Mark II and my experience with it over the past year.  I'm going to write this from the perspective of how it is different from the Fujifilm X-T2 in its handling and operation.

Although I have been primarily using my Fujifilm X-T2 camera over the past year, which is substantially different from the Olympus E-M1 Mark II, I have used my Mark II enough to get a good feel for its features, handling, controls, menus and image quality under a wide variety of circumstances.  I made over 9000 exposures with it over the past 12 months.  Before owning the Mark II, I owned the original E-M1 for a couple of years, and before that the original E-M5, both of which are very much like this camera.  Between the three of them, I feel I have substantial time in the field with Olympus M4/3 cameras.

The Mark II is an excellent camera in every sense of the word, in my opinion.  I have no real complaints with it but I have some suggestions below for some improvements for its successor.  My suggestions are my opinions and maybe not yours because we all have different ways of working, differing needs and practice different types of photography.

There are huge differences between the Fujifilm X-T2 and the Mark II.  The X-T2 is a very straightforward camera with limited features when compared to the E-M1 Mark II (thus being easier to use in my humble opinion).  The X-T2's controls, haptics and limited features, I believe, make the camera more useful to me.  That is because I don't normally have a need for a lot of sophisticated electronic features and they kind of complicate things for me when I'm working with the camera.  I find, when wanting to quickly change settings or find a particular feature, the X-T2 allows me to do that easier when compared to the Mark II.  The Mark II is much more feature rich thus, by definition, more complicated and to me, as I mentioned a bit harder to use quickly.

What I am not saying is that the X-T2 is a better camera.   It is just a much different camera, engineered with a much different philosophy of features, controls and menus.  Both produce excellent image quality.  In fact, in my direct tests of the same subjects, same equivalent focal lengths, equivalent apertures, shutter speeds, etc., I had to really look as hard as I could to tell any differences in resolution or detail.  My test images were essentially identical.  Where I do see a difference is in high ISOs.  The X-T2 has a very slight edge in that respect, but with modern software tools, that can easily be negated.

Previously, I had written a detailed post on my thoughts of the fundamental differences between these two cameras.  If you are interested, you can read it here. 

The main complaint I hear and read is about the Mark II's menus.  I find I don't have an issue with them.  Once I fully familiarized myself with them (I guess they imprinted into my feeble brain!), I had no trouble finding what I needed, even if I hadn't used the camera for a month.  They make sense to me.  But, again, it takes a bit of time to find for what you are looking as the extensive features cause extensive menu items.

(click to enlarge)

My top three favorite features of the E-M1 Mark II are:

1) In-Body-Image-Stabilization (IBIS)  I can't say enough about what this feature allows me to photograph that previously I would have either had to have a tripod or use a very high ISO.  My Mark II with the 12-100mm f/4 lens is my "grab and go" kit.  Whenever I leave the house, I grab it and place it on the floorboard of my vehicle.  Often times, I am out, see something of interest, stop to photograph it and circumstances dictate a slower than I would want to use shutter speed, if I didn't have IBIS.  Since this camera's (and lens') IBIS is almost unbelievable, I am able to make images that I couldn't formerly make without having to bring a tripod, get it out, set it up, mount my L-bracket onto my camera, compose and make the image.  I love this technology.  IBIS opens the doors to make images where in the past I might have passed them by.

2) a Tie a) The ultra fast S-AF.  It is almost instantaneous.  I've never lost a shot because the focus wasn't quick enough or inaccurate.  This really is a salute to Olympus focus module engineers along with the lens designers.  You have to have both working optimally together to get really fast, accurate focus.  b) Tied with this is the Pro Capture feature as I have been able to capture some images that in other cameras I would never have been fast enough to photograph the critical moment of action. (a function of age and out of practice, I suspect!).  By buffering as many as 14 images upon half-press of the shutter, when a bird alights or a subject reaches peak action, the image I really want is already in the camera.  And, I can record it as a RAW image, which is a nice bonus.  Many electronic features in these wondrous "computers with lenses," as I call them, force you to accept a JPEG image when invoking digital magic.

3) The three Custom settings modes (C1, C2, C3)  I had never used these on any camera I had owned in the past.  Boy, was I missing something valuable!  I can set my camera up for specific circumstances and instantly change tens of settings and preferences with a short rotation of the dial.  This really comes in handy when you have so many choices with the Mark II.  I have C1 set up for my everyday walk around settings, which is ISO 200, aperture priority, f/5.6, S-AF, etc., etc., etc.  I guess I must have 30 parameters programmed in.  I have C2 set up for action, flying birds, etc. when I need C-AF, higher ISOs and fast shutter speeds.  I have it programmed for Auto ISO, 1/1600th sec., C-AF, etc., etc., etc.  Again, probably 30 total camera settings which I can instantly access by one turn of the top dial.  I have C3 set up so if I hand the camera to a person who knows nothing about photography and ask that person to take a photo of my wife and me, it is almost guaranteed to be technically good.  I wish there was a C4, however, but I'm not greedy.

Pro Capture. Fourteen images buffered as you half-press the shutter so you
don't miss peak action.  Great feature! (click to enlarge)

There are many more things I really like about this camera and I could write several more paragraphs but, as I said, this is not a review but only my thoughts after using it for a year.


On my wishlist (so far) for whatever Olympus creates as the successor to the E-M1 Mark II:

1) A joystick to move focus points.  I have come to really like the joystick function to move focus points.  This single feature has made a really big difference in the handling of my X-T2 and I'm sure it would as well on a successor to this camera.  I'd much prefer using a joystick rather than trying to slide my thumb around on the LCD to change focus points.  The "thumb slide" I find is not as accurate and I often overshoot the spot I want.  That slows me down, breaks my concentration and negates having the feature at all.  A joystick, which many camera manufacturers are now including (Nikon and Sony the last two I can think of), would be an asset, not only for sports, wildlife or bird photographers, but every photographer.

2) The ability to change the size of the single focus point much more easily.  Now, one has to enable the "Touch to Focus" feature on the LCD, after which a vertical sliding scale appears on the right side of the LCD.  Then one has to manually slide the scale up or down to change the size of the single AF point.  It would be much easier to be able to assign a function button and use the command dial to accomplish the same.  Much easier and straightforward.  Often times, I find myself out photographing a very small subject at a distance and want to quickly reduce the size of the focusing rectangle so ensure accurate focus, but doing so becomes a bit cumbersome.  In fact, I've missed a few shots while fiddling with this feature.  Again, it should be easier and straightforward by pushing and/or holding in a custom function button with a simultaneous turn of a dial to change the size.

3) Two UHS II cards instead of one UHS II cards and one UHS I card.  I don't understand why Olympus only included one slot that will accommodate the faster cards unless there is a space issue and it just wouldn't fit.  For a professional level camera as is the E-M1 Mark II and its capabilities, both slots need to be the faster of the two standards.  This is especially concerning when using the up to 60fps high speed image recording and you want to automatically back up your images to the second card.

(Click to enlarge)

4) A return to the tilting LCD screen.  I'm sure some of you like the hinged fully rotating LCD screen.  It is counterproductive to me and aggravating.  The current hinged, articulating screen serves the video crowd well but is a real disservice to the still photography crowd, most of whom use an L-bracket.  I've written about this before.  You can find it here.  I won't repeat here all of the problems a hinged, articulated LCD causes for the still photographer, but an LCD that tilts both horizontally and vertically, such as the one on the Fujifilm X-T2 would be a perfect solution.  Fujifilm nailed it and their system would work well for videographers with the exception of the screen facing the front of the camera, selfie mode. Some of you will certainly disagree and that is fine.

5) I would like to see a more sophisticated tracking settings in the continuous autofocus implemented.  Now, Olympus only allows us to move a sliding scale for one parameter.  Again, in the vein of the Fujifilm X-T2, or even a better one than that, would serve Olympus' photographers who specialize in wildlife, birds and sports—even family events where people are moving around quite a bit.  After all, Olympus has developed and marketed two superb lenses that are the primary tools for sports, wildlife and bird photographers—the 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO and the 300mm f/4 PRO lenses.  Give us more control over how the continuous tracking autofocus works so our "hit rate" maximizes.

6) I think everyone would like to have Olympus and Panasonic work together and engineer both of their respective camera bodies to work with each others' lenses for Dual Image Stabilization.  That benefits everyone and may attract more buyers from the ranks of APS-C or similar formats.  I know both companies are competitors, but Panasonic makes some lenses Olympus does not and vice versa.  It is wonderful that we can use each company's lenses on the other company's cameras, but I would like to see "all" features enabled when using each others' gear.  I think it would benefit both companies' users to have Dual IS for each others' lenses.  Cooperation + Competition = Coopetition!  Good for customers.

(click to enlarge)

The Olympus E-M1 Mark II is an extraordinary picture taking machine.  If I didn't think so highly of the original E-M1, I wouldn't have purchased the Mark II.  This camera provides the user with the capability to produce images with excellent image quality and an array of features that can cover just about any circumstance one would ever want to do with their photography.  I can't say enough good things about it.  As I said, it has become my "grab and go" camera and it hasn't let me down yet.  And...I haven't really mentioned the variety and quality of the lenses Olympus provides for their cameras!  That is an entirely another post.

That is my list.  If you have additional ideas for improvements in the next generation E-M1 Mark III, please leave them in the comments so Olympus and the rest of us can benefit.

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Dennis A. Mook 

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