Back to Olympus
18 October 2024
A few months ago I sold the first camera I bought when I was seriously thinking about getting into photography - the Olympus OM-D E-M1.
It was released in 2013, and I got my copy in 2015, back when camera companies didn’t feel the need to release a new camera every 18 months.
I’ve probably written about the E-M1 before (somewhere) but in 2024 it would probably be seen as a bit of a dinosaur. I’ve had a few cameras since 2014 (embarrasingly so I might add): five Nikons, three Ricoh (which all broke), four Fuji’s, one Blackmagic and three Lumix’s - and all the while I held onto to the E-M1.
Every now and then I’d take it out of the draw and take it for a walk. After using Nikons and the new Lumix S cameras it felt like it weighed nothing. But I dropped it for any serious use in a mindless quest for better image quality. Yes, all of the cameras I currently have surpass the E-M1 in terms of resolution, dynamic range and all the crap YouTuber reviewers like to bang on about, but none of them are as small and easy to handle. But it’s not only the size of the camera that makes it compelling to take out: the micro four thirds sensor is half that of a full frame camera so lenses are miniscule in comparison (example here).
Eventually, upon surveying my ridiculous collection of cameras, I relented and sold all my Olympus gear. Not long after I had this nagging feeling that I was going to miss it. Tick.
I’ve worked out what kind of photographer I am. I work spontaneously 95% of the time, whether it’s out walking or second-shooting a wedding. Having a tiny camera with four lenses that weighs the same as one full frame unit with one lens is extremely attractive to me. Sure, for the paying jobs the full frames come out. They’re fine for being purposeful with, handle low-light better (weddings), can handle some huge cropping and shadow recovery, but that’s where their advantage stops (for me at least).
Things I missed that made this camera work for me for my style of photography:
- The spot metering is so vastly different to any other camera - it’s almost brutal and more like highlight-weighted metering on more modern cameras - except you really are losing the shadows on this thing.
- The simplifed menu system
- Yes, it has video but this is a photographic-centric camera.
- Did I mention this weighs almost nothing compared to even the lightest of my full frame cameras (the Lumix S5), and there’s a negligable increase in that weight with either the 25mm or 45mm f/1.8.
- The noise at high-ish ISOs (say ISO 640 to ISO 1600) is there but it’s pleasing, even by today’s standards. My Lumix S1 has new-fangled dual-gain ISO and it’s very clean at ISO 4000 or thereabouts. The E-M1 at ISO 4000 would be appalling. This is a daylight camera.
One last thing: If it was good enough for Saul Leiter to use a m43 camera it’s more than good enough for me.
Further reading: