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OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark II, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ, 1/10000, F5.6, ISO 400, Photo by Naz

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark II / SHOOTING REPORT

The OM-D E-M10 Mark II is the second generation of the OM-D entry mirrorless line. Yet, it's technically a mid-range model because it's ranked as high as the advanced PEN models. The small and thin body realized by the small sensor has a retro appearance like the old OM series for films. The built-in EVF helps us engage in shooting and the analogue operating system allows intuitive operation. This is quite a well-balanced camera and I was curious to test its image quality.

( Photography & Text : Naz )

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark II, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ, 1/1600, F4, ISO 400, Photo by Naz

Every time I use an Olympus digital camera, I'm amazed by the accuracy of the white balance. All sample shots for this shooting report are in-camera JPEG images shot with auto white balance. However, by "accurate" I don't mean "white looks white." I mean, this camera doesn't get funny color-shifting. The extent to which it realizes colors is just right.

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark II, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ, 1/250, F5, ISO 400, Photo by Naz

Another thing that amazes me is the quality of JPEG outputs straight from the camera. The contrast is high and the colors are clear. Unless you're making high enlargement prints, you'll be just all right with the JPEG images. And, those who transmit images to smartphones through Wi-Fi know the quality of the in-camera JPEG images counts. Personally, I feel it's a bit too sharp, but you can always adjust the setting. Of course, to fully enjoy photography, you can create images from the RAW data, too.


OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark II, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ, 1/800, F4, ISO 400, Photo by Naz

The forest is humid when it stopped raining and the sun started to shine on it. The rendition of the shrine gate has some dignity and I was quite impressed by the depth because it used to be an exclusive feature of cameras with larger sensors.

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark II, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ, 1/30, F5, ISO 400, Photo by Naz

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark II, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ, 1/200, F4.5, ISO 800, Photo by Naz

Because of the bad weather, I was forced to shoot images with fewer colors. Yet, the reproduction of green colors is wonderful and I kept shooting green subjects... I focused manually and I found the high-resolution EVF with 2,360,000 dots was so clear that I didn't feel it necessary to magnify it.

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark II, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ, 1/60, F4.4, ISO 400, Photo by Naz

The collapsible 14-42mm kit zoom lens is very tiny for a 3X zoom lens and it has a great balance with the compact body. Thanks to the 5-axis image stabilization, I could get close to the subject without worrying about camera shake.


OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark II, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ, 1/50, F3.6, ISO 800, Photo by Naz

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark II, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ, 1/80, F5.1, ISO 800, Photo by Naz

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark II, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ, 1/640, F5.6, ISO 1600, Photo by Naz

The above three images were shot with ISO800, 800, 1600 respectively. High sensitivity is a tough condition for a tiny pixel pitch of a 16-megapixel micro four-thirds sensor. As the sensitivity goes up, the image quality falls off in a strict sense. However, thanks to the clever noise handling, images still look natural. Actually, I took another shot of the aquarium with ISO 3200, but I found no major difference between 1600 and 3200. With this high sensitivity performance and the powerful image stabilizer, I even feel it can shoot just about everything.


OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark II, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ, 1/200, F5.6, ISO 400, Photo by Naz

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark II, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ, 1/100, F4.9, ISO 400, Photo by Naz

The amount of bokeh is inevitably smaller than the cameras with larger sensors. This one was shot at F4.9 around the middle range 28mm equivalent. By getting close to subjects, you can get big bokeh like this. With this lens, the background doesn't get dissolved completely, but this amount of bokeh works to express the atmosphere of the background very well.

OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark II, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ, 1/800, F5, ISO 400, Photo by Naz


PHOTO YODOBASHI

In a car world, this camera is a responsive lightweight sports car.

In the sense that the size of the sensor determines the image quality of a digital camera, a small micro four-thirds sensor has drawbacks. However, I believe no one will complain about the image quality of this camera. Of course, we'll find differences if we make side-by-side comparisons at their original images as well as 100% crop images. But as long as we view in regular sizes, I think the image quality is necessary and sufficient.

The data size, which is about 14MB in RAW and 3MB in JPEG is easy to handle. The burst speed is as fast as 8.5fps. The analogue operation system features two dials and controlling exposure is very intuitive. The 5-axis image stabilizer provides up to 4 stops of shake correction and the Live MOS sensor has an excellent high sensitivity performance. And, you have high-performance dedicated lenses to choose from. The E-M10 Mark II is such a well0made camera. Start photography with this camera and use it for a long time. Or, add it as a sub-camera to work with a higher model.

( 04.09.2015 )