EM1mII + 12-40 2.8

Disclaimer 1
I know that since PEN shipments started, posts like “My baby finally arrived!” (photo of the camera box attached) and “My first PEN photos!” (photo of a backyard fence attached) are popping up everywhere. So on the one hand, my review, forgive me, won’t be original and won’t add anything new. On the other hand, what’s the difference? One more review or one less, the internet has seen worse. At least I have no photos of cardboard boxes or fences.

Disclaimer 2
Everyone has their own preferences and criteria for choosing gear. What is a perfect upgrade for one person is a waste of money for another. I’m not going to look at this camera through every possible use case or hand out uncompromising recommendations. These are just my personal impressions and a few photos from it. I’m not pushing them on anyone.

Background and use cases
Over my photo life I’ve owned many cameras, including film and medium format, so I have plenty to compare with. Thank God, I don’t make a living shooting weddings, family events or food from the nearest food court. For the last few years I’ve used a camera only for travel photography, just for fun. Mostly on bikepacking trips and hikes, and less often on city walks. I have a long history with Olympus/OM System cameras. For the last couple of years, my main setup, and later my only one, was the OM-5 Mk1 with the 8-25/4 Pro. It’s an almost perfect travel kit, actually.

To be honest, I missed the PEN announcement. I had never considered cameras of this class for myself, and the OM-5 worked well for me. The idea of replacing the OM-5 and the Pro zoom with a PEN and a set of primes came up spontaneously. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.

So I placed an order and got the camera last week with the 14-42/3.5-5.6 Mk3 kit lens. I don’t really need a kit lens. But the retailer had a promo price on the camera with the kit lens. It cost less than the body alone, and it was available for immediate shipping. So I charged the camera and took it on a two-day bikepacking trip in northern Czechia.

Besides the kit zoom, I shot with the 9mm/8 body cap lens, which covers my ultrawide range. Not everyone considers it a real lens. Olympus bashfully called it an “accessory”, and OM System seems to have discontinued it altogether. But I can’t help it. The BCL 9mm/8 is one of the funniest and most creative lenses in the system that I’ve seen. I love it. It’s tiny and cheap. And it’s incredibly convenient and flexible if you know how to use it.

Results

What I liked

Size and weight
Many will say the difference between the PEN and the OM-5 (or even the OM-3, or modern compact full frame cameras) isn’t that big. But it depends on the use case and the context. When you pack for hiking or bikepacking, this small difference suddenly matters a lot. The PEN is smaller and lighter, so for me it’s better. Of course, if you go out with a backpack holding ten kilos of glass and metal, plus a tripod, lights and a laptop for editing on location, this won’t be an argument. But for me and my back on a trip, it is.

Longer battery life
The PEN uses a different battery than the OM-5. It gives about 400 shots per charge instead of 300. In many cases this means I don’t need to carry a spare battery or think about where to charge the camera on the road. Spoiler: charging anything on a trip can be a real challenge, and extra batteries mean extra weight and cost. 30% more endurance is a significant plus.

Better menu
Basically, the PEN uses the same sensor and processor as the OM-5, so I didn’t expect a breakthrough in image quality. But the menu is new, like on the OM-5 Mk2, and it really is more convenient. That means less time searching for a setting and less chance of missing a shot while digging through the old menu. Few things are as annoying as this: you know a mode exists, you vaguely remember where it is, but you can’t find it right now. Meanwhile your subject is gone while you scroll through all those A1, A2 and so on.

What I didn’t like

The CP button is awkward. I understand why it’s designed this way and placed there, and I like the idea itself: a separate button to call up a set of functions and a dial to choose the one you need. But about half the times I tried to press CP and turn the front dial, I just changed the exposure compensation. It would be much better if the menu appeared right after pressing the button, not when you turn the dial. For my fingers, the CP button is sunk too deep into the body. It’s hard to find by feel and hard to tell whether it’s pressed.

The power switch is too stiff. It seems everyone has already written about this. I was tempted to switch the camera on once and never touch this damn switch again. But it’s better to turn the camera off when changing lenses...

Shortcomings noted by others but ignored by me

Grip
Many people complain that the PEN is uncomfortable to hold with a big heavy lens. I tend to agree, with one caveat: the OM-5 and the OM-3 aren’t great for big heavy lenses either. Taking the big heavy OM-1 (almost the only camera in the system with a proper grip) just to mount a big heavy lens on it, and then trying to use that on trips with minimal gear, seems crazy to me. It’s just not my option and not my use case. So from the start I planned to use the PEN with a set of compact, light (non-Pro) primes.

Giving up the zoom for primes is a separate topic, not really related to the PEN itself. But I analyzed all my shots from the last couple of years with Excire Foto (the best money ever spent on photo software). About half of my shots were taken at around 17mm. The rest are spread more or less evenly between 25 and 12. I covered 45 and 60 with primes. I love 8, but I don’t like using the 8-25/4 at that focal length. A simple calculation with such a high-tech scientific instrument as a calculator showed that a set of primes for my preferences (17/1.8 + 25/1.8) will be lighter and take up less space than the 8-25/4.

Small viewfinder that doesn’t show colors and details accurately
Honestly, I don’t understand how anyone can expect an accurate view of colors and details in an EVF. If I need that, I’ll take my medium format Bronica film camera out of the closet and look at every detail and color with perfect accuracy. In all other cases I use the EVF only to judge the composition. I know there are cameras with better EVFs. But they cost more, too. For this price and these tasks (shooting literally on the move), it’s a perfectly adequate solution.

Weaker dust and moisture protection than OM cameras
I don’t shoot in pouring rain, underwater or in night storms. In fact, I avoid walks, trips and hikes in bad weather. I usually plan trips so that the weather is good, if possible. So weather sealing is more of a bonus than a real need. The PEN does have some dust and moisture protection. Even if I get caught in a downpour, the chance of drowning the camera is low, since it’s already in a waterproof case.

The body feels plastic and cheap
For me, a camera is a tool, not a fetish. When choosing a camera, I care least about how premium it feels in the hand and how cool I look with it. What I do care about is budget and weight for travel. If engineering plastic gives me the reliability I need and lowers the price, why not? That works for me.

Summary
Overall, I’m happy. The kit really is lighter and more compact. The camera is simpler to operate and a pleasure to shoot with. It’s a different philosophy: the PEN is for travel notes and impressions. It’s good to have such a tool always at hand. The PEN with the BCL spent a big part of the trip in my jersey back pocket, ready to shoot at any moment. Fantastic.

I’m happy with the image quality. It’s definitely no worse than the OM-5. With the same sensor and processor, it would be strange to expect otherwise.

A few kind words about the kit lens itself. I’m used to thinking of a kit lens as a body cap, a premium one compared to a regular plastic cover. It’s still a plastic cap, just one you can take pictures with. Like the BCL, but a zoom. But this particular kit lens is actually not bad. Of course, it’s not a Pro lens and not a “real” prime. But compared to earlier versions, it’s really good. I’ll hardly use it, but I won’t throw it away either.

One more note on whether the upgrade makes sense. Again, for some people this swap really makes no sense. For a long time I assumed the OM-5 covered all my needs and the only justified upgrade was the OM-3. But the OM-3 costs almost twice as much as the PEN. I’m comparing prices of new cameras in my region. I think that’s fair, because PEN shipments have just started and there are no used ones yet. Even a used OM-3 would cost much more, about 1.5 times more judging by MPB prices, and you’d still have to catch one. Would it improve my photos twice over? Definitely not. Would the price difference be justified by the extra features of the higher-end cameras? I doubt it. Would I gain in weight and size? Definitely not. So, again, for my use case, replacing the OM-5 with the PEN really was an upgrade. In my opinion, the PEN is now one of the best cameras in the OM System lineup.

I hope this helps someone.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some help figuring out the value of my dad’s Olympus camera collection. I’d like to get a better understanding of what the cameras and accessories are worth before deciding on a fair selling price.

I’m not very knowledgeable about cameras myself, so I don’t want to accidentally undervalue something or ask for unrealistic prices. I’d really appreciate any help identifying the individual models, estimating their current market value, and pointing out anything that might be particularly interesting or collectible.

Thank you so much for your help!

Hi everyone,

I'm using the Olympus OM-D E-M10 with the ECG-1 Grip attached to the camera.

I'm looking for a bit more hand support and stability so I've looked up options for clutches and found the Peak Design ones very interesting:

- Regular sized clutch

- Micro Clutch

Since the ECG-1 Grip is already attached to the tripod socket, I'm wondering if attaching the clutch is still possible/secure.

Has anyone tried already such a combination and can comment on mounting/compatibility issues?

Also, I'm wondering if anyone tried the micro Clutch on an Olympus body. According to the website it is not compatible with Olympus cameras but I found posts that say that they used to list them as compatible.

Does anyone know an alternative to the micro Clutch that's compatible with the em10 (and the grip I'm using)? I'm actually preferring the size (and price lol) of the micro Clutch as I think the full sized clutch is a bit overkill for my set-up.

Thanks!

Hey all,

I've gotten myself a TG-7 as a biking camera since I needed something durable for all terrains. Yes it's no Ricoh GR, but I have been rather satisfied with the pictures it produced. I think the key is to not let Iso get above 800, if you do Black and White can help a bit.

Do you use your camera for biking as well? What's some recommendations you have in terms of setup?

(Mostly JPEGs with light edits in LR)

Em1 mkii and 12_40 2.8

The last photo showing how he looks completely like a tree knob

Caerostris sp, a weird but cute orb weaver

OM SYSTEM OM-1 Mark I & OM SYSTEM M.Zuiko Digital ED 90mm F3.5 Macro 2:1 IS PRO + Godox V860 III O + Trần Thế Ngọc's MACRO Diffuser

Hi everyone!

I'm a bit overwhelmed searching for a lens for my E-500. I think what I'm after may not exist and I'm really confused by if there are mount adapters or not for MFT.

I'm after a wide angle lens with a fast F. My aim is create wide angle cinematic shots of the city at night (I'm going through a whole Cyberpunk 2077/Bladerunner thing) and I know my camera has x2 cropping. I've googled in lots of different ways '16mm for Four Thirds' but it just gets more and more confusing and I don't even know where to begin with other lenses being compatible.

I really love this camera and I've had it since I was 14, it just has this unreplaceable film-ness to it that I love so much. I was looking into buying a second hand Fujifilm X100S but I'd rather upgrade the lens I have now, or mainly the F. as I currently have 14-42mm lens that struggles in anything except bright sunlight. Thank you in advance!

** Thank you everyone, I ended up getting the recommended  Zuiko Digital 12-60 f/2.8-4 SWD lens, yay! **

The weekend can be summed up by Music, Mushrooms, Lizards, CCR, and Mortal Kombat. I enjoyed the camera along side me the entire time.

Just looking for a bit of common sense or a reality check. Once again, with trying out lenses, and swapping/trading gear, I find myself with overlapping kit. There's the 12-40 f/2.8 Pro and the 12-45 f/4 Pro lenses. I love the smaller size of the f/4 on my OM-5ii (which is where both are most likely to be used) and I don't always need the extra stop of light. The extra reach is marginally useful. I don't do portraiture, but neither is the ideal lens for that anyway. But I can't deny they are both nice lenses so I'm caught in the dilemma of which one to hold on to. There's really little sense in keeping both and selling one facilitates more gear to test and try. What one should I keep?

OM SYSTEM OM-1 Mark I & OM SYSTEM M.Zuiko Digital ED 90mm F3.5 Macro 2:1 IS PRO + Godox V860 III O + Trần Thế Ngọc’s MACRO Diffuser

Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV

40-150mm F4.0-5.6 R

Run through DxO photolab.

Found a good deal on this one ( used ) and hoping it's a great beginner friendly camera for hikes, trips and occasional street photography

I was having issues with the lens hood on my 14-150mm lens getting harder and harder to put on and take off. I decided to apply some ArmorAll to the mating surfaces with a Q-Tip. Now it goes on and off as easily as ever. Just sharing in case anyone else is having similar problems.

NOTE: I've partially removed the lens hood to show the thread area. It's not cross-threaded.

Shot on the OM-3 with the OM Systems 150-600mm lens and Lumix 12-35mm, post processed in Lightroom.

OM SYSTEM OM-1 Mark I & OM SYSTEM M.Zuiko Digital ED 90mm F3.5 Macro 2:1 IS PRO + Godox V860 III O + Trần Thế Ngọc’s MACRO Diffuser

Which crop do you prefer?