Olympus E-M1X Hands On Preview | Should Sony, Nikon & Canon Be Worried? 

"A photographer went to a socialite party in New York. As he entered the front door, the host said 'I love your pictures - they're wonderful; you must have a fantastic camera.' He said nothing until dinner was finished, then: 'That was a wonderful dinner; you must have a terrific stove.' " Sam Haskins

"Who is this camera for?" Nature photographers love it. Especially those shooting birds. Its portability, amazing weather proofing, and ability to record 35 frames before you even press the shutter, etc. And there are countless sample images of "blown out" backgrounds with small birds at least. So, yes, there is a user in mind.

"this shoots 18 fps, good until you consider the a9 shoots 20 in full frame. Way better." -Jared Polin "I turned it down to 12 fps, because I didn't want to overshoot any more is way too much" - Also Jared Polin Okay maybe putting quotes on it is a bit of a stretch.

Sometimes I think people get too caught up on the whole DOF 'blownout" thing. Having this look does not make you a professional. Sorry it does not. Use the tool that works best for your style of shooting. I use everything from m43 cameras to medium format film cameras. I use the best tool for the giving situation. I've seen some photographers who exclusively use m43 systems produce outstanding work with beautifully blurred backgrounds. They do this because they understand their chosen system and know how to work with and around it's limitations. You know what makes you "professional'? It's producing consistent quality work, understanding composition, lighting, telling a story with you images, and having some type of connection with your subject. Anyone can buy a camera regardless of it's capabilities but it does not make you a Pro. Bottomline, use what works best for you, create outstanding images and tell stories.

Good af, weather sealed, fast, no bokeh (a lot of details), compact, great ibis for video etc . what pros will use it? One word: photojournalists

They have now dropped the price to 2000 dollars 😊 so I purchased and I don’t regret it 👍🏻 The camera is awesome 👏🏻 and the quality is fantastic, portability fantastic, ergonomics fantastic, speed excellent. Someone once said the best camera in the world is the one you have with you and with all things considered the Olympus wins hands down. To end I think it was a great review 😊👍🏻

And again, you can shoot with a USD 10’000.- 600mm F4 lens weighing 4kg (+ the 2-3 kg tripod that goes with it) to get that picture of a motorcycle with a shallow DOF with FF camera but not everybody wants that..

Stop with the whole “small sensors can’t do narrow DOF”..... it’s completely untrue. That’s a function of the optics. Calling a 300 a 600 does not make it one. You have a reduced field of view, sure, and that may mean you change your camera to subject distance to get the composition you want and that will certainly have an effect on DOF..... but adapt a fast “full frame” lens and keep camera to subject distances the same you’ll get similar bokeh to the full frame sensor.... The rest of the info was great.

Id like to say I shot at iso 3200 on my Canon 7dmk2 and I shot iso 6400 on an Olympus omd e m1 mk2 and can you guess which one had more noise in the image? The canon 7dmk2 did at half the iso!!! So I think there is a HUGE biased from Jared and with that does he know photo or is it just opinions and biases? Im looking for a huge reason not to trade in my canon for an olympus but I cant find one. Its lighter, faster, smaller and the image quality is on par if not better in some situations. The depth of field is one stop different but as a wildlife photographer I shoot at f/8 to get the entire subject in focus anyways, again cant find a reason, Each camera will have its strengths and weaknesses and each one will do a job better than the other. For traveling, wildlife and people that are tired of carting around 50+ pounds of camera gear for those just in case situations then the Olympus wins every spot

Regarding lack of shallow DOF - in my line of work (photojournalism) I'm more or less always required to provide context, i.e. a totally blown-out background isn't the greatest idea ever. I do need subject separation, but the context of when / where the picture was taken is important, too. On full-frame, I usually need to stop down to f/4-5.6 @ 50mm for this reason. But of course - it’s better to have the option between full-blowout and less-shallowness than to be forced to work with less blurry backgrounds in ALL situations. Options are good. It's also why I still use FX in some situations (headshots for interviews and the like), even though I mostly shoot Olympus nowadays.

So I'm guessing that was your first and final Olympus trip.

just wanna ask, since it can stack several photos to make it like 50mp photo.. can that rival something like Z7? or a7R3 with pixel shift stacking multiple photos even on RAW? thanks!

Totally convinced. I've bought one right now...

Honesty is always good! I'm not a pro shooter, and I really like my OM-D EM-5 MkII, and I'm REALLY hoping Olympus updates it this year. I'll stick with the platform as I have glass for it, and I'm not a pro. I like that the E-M1X has some pretty badass features, but some of those negatives are pretty bad. Oh well, it's not a camera I would have ever bought anyway. I do hope some of the badassness filters down into the EM-5 MkIII, though.

Thanks for the review. One question- how would you say the image quality is compared to the EM1M2 or Pen F, which have essentially the same sensor?

Hello, with the 50Mpx feature, could you really print a 48 foot wide by 14 foot tall or would you need some gimmick not available to the "average" shooter? Thanks.

The only thing I love about this is that weather sealing, that needs to be in more cameras!

I have never seen any cinematic footage from your RU-vid but I know a lot of cinematic footage from black magic cinema 4k that have m43

Jared, why can't I find your Olympus Trip video anywhere? I watched it the other day on my mobile, but now can't find it. Thought I'd watch it again on my PC. Have Olympus dumped you?

Is this the 1DX II Great Value version?

bokeh= cinematic.. hmmm i geuss thats 1 part but isnt everything could you imagine if every movie had a blown out backround how the hell would you know where their at

Good video. I'm an Olympus and Nikon owner. Each camera system has their advantages and disadvantages that we have to accept. I think the video highlighted that well and will allow a consumer to make an informed choice. Cheers

How fast is the glass? With 2 stop faster "equivalent" lenses you could in theory make up for the DOF and keep iso 2 stops lower resulting in simila FF quality? But this would make lenses huge? Would be nice to hear your thoughts

As an aside - do they use their feet with the football? (I'm used to the round-ball variant) ;-)

13:10 If you'd just say "blurred out" instead of "blown out" then you wouldn't have to explain it...

3 grand? Pretty painful.

What lenses for Sony a7 III do you use, please?

"Great Photography is about Depth of FEELING, not Depth of Field." (Peter Adams)

Finally an Olympus review. I can see this camera and other Olympus micro43 for people who do underwater and surf photography.

Hmm, a large, pretty expensive and really well built SUV with an old(ish) 90hp engine.. Probably clever of Olympus to go niche in a crowded marketplace though?

I agree a small amount of people have a use for this camera but I can see this being a professionals second camera that they would use for group shots for let’s say a wedding or Mitzvah. It could be a good choice for them because they could get a group more in focus while still being able to be wide open on the aperture for darker situations.

Olympus make great camera, but sadly it's too expensive for just a micro 4/3 camera... cause the mid level camera something like EM 5 just did the job very well... but for your statement about the depth of field is must be "blown" im disagree about that.... sport photography it's about moment..

Now we have to watch some other reviews to see how to shoot with m4/3 with higher ISO with no issue, how Pro-Capture actually works and how great and improved it is and so on. I mean constructive criticism is always good for improvement but here I see Jared did not spend enough time to learn the camera or did not want to do so.

Not every photo need to have a blurred background even being a portrait photographer like your self, it all depends on the story your telling with that photo. If I went to the Grand Canyon I don't think a blurred background would be wanted there why even go. All of the brand cameras today are equal matching full frame to full frame, apsc to apsc. Pick a camera learn it stop chasing cameras.

As an Olympus fan this video makes me mad because you are 100% right. Sony is looking like a great option right now. 😒

Brutal. Next up...Panasonic. What will they bring? A case study in diverging strategies.

You spoke constantly, "FULL FRAME CAMERAS" ! My film days it was hard to beat my LEICA R 8 with 14 lenses. (late 70s) Try to understand what you're talking about. You are talking about a 4/3rds format not a full frame 35mm formate which is much more expensive. You also mention the background is blown-out! Once again, you mentioned not being sharp in the background no depth as full frame cameras. Maybe the 4/3rds is indeed better in that respect than full-frame 35mm format cameras. Take my LEICA R8 with my 80mm f1.4, shot a portrait 4 feet away at f1.4, the background is soft with no sharpness no depth. It is way blown out, as you mentioned in 4/3rds formate. Maybe it is more pleasing, more attractive to the viewer. Why don't you compare full frame 35mm format to 4x5 format ? You are not doing the correct homework! Try to understand the making of a photograph with the equipment used. AP

You went easy on them :) Good vid.

Hey Jared, how are you. Do you have any thoughts on this camera being used for landscapes where you as much in focus as possible and not blown out.

what happened to the VLOG of the trip to Olympus?

Those evf lines must be horizontal guidelines

"Cinematic" is more about lighting than shallow depth of field. Feature films rarely use F1.4 full frame equivalent.

Have u reviewed Fujifilm xh1??... If yes please share the link

Thanks for a good honest preview. I shot the high-end Olympus cameras for years until switching to Canon. I learned to like the Olympus menu system and found it was quick to use once you were familiar with it.

The only audience I can think of for this camera is people who already are invested in the Olympus system and want those extra video features. This camera is, unfortunately, Olympus doing the best they can with the tech they already have. As an em1 mk2 owner, i would have loved a second body that could outperform it for wildlife and landscapes so that I could keep it as a backup. For that price point, it just won't cut it since you could compensate for all of the other features with a bit of extra user effort. If it drops to about 2000$, I might consider it down the line. Olympus badly needs new sensor tech though.

Just downloaded your raw files and I have to say I’m actually quite impressed with the image quality from such a small sensor! I just don’t see many people going this option though but wish Olympus good luck.

Something about this camera just makes me want to get it. Saving up for it

I get your point regarding the weak high iso performance, however, the DOF, did you shoot with the aperture (e.g. f 1.2) wide open? Because that what you do with M43 lenses and the DOF is fine. The EVF looks very disappointing indeed. Nice review!

The depth-of-field (DOF)-debate is exaggerated. I have not seen many photos by professional portrait-, landscape-, or street-photographers or photojournalists with an extremely shallow DOF (not to mention all the classical photos of photographers like Yousuf Karsh, Ansel Adams, or Henri-Cartier Bresson). DOF is just one of many tools a photographer can use to express what he/she wants to express through his/her art. A skilled photographer knows how to create sufficient DOF also with a micro four thirds (MFT)-system.

I really don't get the issue with the menu! I had the em1 mk i and I just took to it, panasonic and Sony menus, I just got lost, but olympus was great, maybe it's just me!

So I have been shooting with Olympus for a good 4 years now, and my biggest question/thoughts on the Shallow Depth of Field is to use an adapter from Metabones, or other manufactures. Of course, I know that Canon AF on an adapter is going to be slower than native glass, but for portrait use, it should theoretically deliver similar results to crop sensor cameras.

I never miss one of your show. I like and learn a lot watching it. Continue the good work Jared!

Sir can you suggest me Can you please tell me which zoom lens I buy for my Sony 6300 which is cheaper and better

Somebody mentioned in a clip that all famous photographers in the past never used shallow DOF for their photography and they used primarily full and middle formats. They even considered it to be a bad practice for a composition purposes, because you get away easy by blurring the background and avoiding more complex composition. Just saying...

But what about the 7.5 stop IS advantage in lieu of higher ISO?

Can you give some updates on Nikon d5700 or successor of D5600

I can't see enough here to upgrade from my em1 ii.

Why don't you spend a little time researching some of the functions of this camera before you criticize that particular feature (i.e., ProCapture)?

I'm a travel RU-vidr, build my carrier on small sensor cameras, now I shoot with full frame, I have the holy trinity (wide, medium, long, all telephotos all f2.8) let me tell you, carrying the lenses around is a backbreaker, I miss my 80D and being light

I wonder how it is compared to the Fuji X systems cameras?

Seems like an excellent camera, which is more than can be said for the review.

A giant body with a tiny m4/3 sensor that costs $3,000? And it has a terrible evf, screen & menu system? 🤨

Nice review. I've owned Olympus camera for couple years, and loved it mainly because of its size and how easy it is to carry it around, because being a casual user it is hectic to carry bulky body and few lenses. Yet this one, given it's price point and the size, I'll go with OM-D E-M1.

I've been shooting with Olympus for a good 3 years, the original reason I wanted to move into Olympus was the fact that Olympus is one of the best cameras for underwater photography. You have made a solid point regarding depth of field, though my favourite lenses for the micro 4/3 is the wide angle and the Ultra wide angle/fisheye. Now days I use the E-M5II with a Samyang/Rokinon/Bower 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye (15mm Full Frame) and a Samyang/Rokinon/Bower 12mm f/2 (24mm Full Frame), and I regularly use them for music gigs. I'm fully aware of the ISO limitations, but that being said I am aware that Voigtlander has 3 prime lenses that are f/0.95 which [in theory] increases the depth of field to a Full Frame camera, and allows enough light to avoid too much noise. In terms of the E-M1X, I have to say it does fit into a unusual set, since micro 4/3s are supposed to be light and compact. And it looks like a mini D5 or 1DX.

I am a long term micro43 user and fan, and I completely agree with your review.

In Jared’s defense, everything he says about micro four thirds is true. I shoot full frame nikons for photo and micro four thirds for video. MFT can be frustrating because of its very limiting usable ISO range and lots of depth of field. When it comes to hiking, sports, and wildlife, which I shot about 50% of the time, I still find myself using my nikons. I love olympus! They feel amazing in the hand and they look great! Just the pictures don’t. I was hopeful they would figure out how to lower the base ISO and make more innovations in reducing noise. If you are going to use MFT try using Sigma f1.4 glass ... it’s reasonable and fast enough to make MFT a solid middle ground.

Always glad to hear and see test and review on product that has both positive and negative aspects instead of just fluff designed to make the product look better than it is.

I wonder in what scenario the 60fps will become practical. The noise in high iso looks like my friend's D3400 entry dx camera.

Jared are you able to say the word Panasonic without throwing up... probably not!

What people forget is that to get a full frame equivalent you have to multiply your APERTURE as well. So, a 200mm f2 on a 4/3 is equivalent to 400mm f4 in full frame. Same goes for APS-C, only you'd multiply by 1.5x.

After watching another review I can see that this camera has some impressive features that make a MFT sensor a little better to use, but at the $3K price point I can't help but think that you get the same quality without the extra steps that this camera requires by going with something else. Olympus has a good name and deserves praise for making a huge leap with an existing sensor size, but bless their hearts, I just don't see a lot of these being sold, especially at that price point, and certainly not to new photographers, or photographers who have other choices. What else can I say but good luck to them?

I'm shooting wildlife on an E-M1 MkII with a grip these days largely because my back won't let me spend a day in the field with my D500+prime combination. I think the E-M1X has a lot going for it, though I also agree about the EVF and the other issues. Will I be upgrading? No, not at that price point (£2.8k in the UK). If it was sub £2k I might think about it but I'd still be looking for a good trade in deal.

Well, my D7100 gets 6 years old in 2019 and it has the same or maybe better noise performance. Of course my old DSLR with that tiny buffer cannot keep up with the speed of this Olympus, but I had to pay only a thousand bucks in 2013. Anyway it's good to hear that Olympus is still there and tries its best.

The first thing came across my mind was: who the heck at Olympus sent Jared a M4/3 camera to review?! Because it's known Jared hates M4/3 and he will be harsh on this camera for sure. So, from the marketing point of view, Olympus harms itself doing this! Maybe they sent him a pre-production camera so that they can claim later on that all drawbacks Jared talked about are fixed., but I think they con nobody by such a claim.

well, in m4/3 you not asking for shallow DOF, in smaller sensor you will have less heavy variable lens you can get in a one bag.

Why did they skimp on the evf and the lcd on a freaki'n flagship model?

Man this was a serious beating! Olympus will never send you anything EVER again 😂

and you say you need a "blown out background" for a professional photo? is that a joke?

Did you drop the cheat code for Contra?!

Would love to see more! Please make a full review! I travel, vlog, and do lifestyle fashion. This is very interesting to me.

Wow, lots of very negative comments.. but I nevertheless think this is an excellent camera (ok let me just mention that I am no Olympus employee and not sponsored by them either ;-) but am a big fan of the shooting experience offered by the E-M1 Mk II) : best ergonomics, best IBIS and best weather-sealing/built in the mirrorless world, all things that are not really denied in the video. Plus a rather low weight given the fact that the grip is integrated. And otherwise excellent image quality thanks to IBIS for lots of specific situations: light painting, cities with traffic at night, water flowing, fireworks also I guess, etc etc.. without the need to carry an extra tripod and even a ND filter. Superb image quality for still subjects thanks to Hi Res mode and no anti-alias filter... Plus Pro capture mode, live bulb function and so on... So ok, image quality will not be on par with FF but, although it is still really very good (and totally sufficient for me), I find this happens mainly in one situation: color photography of moving subjects in low light. However I find this FF quality comes at a price: regarding this, 2 photos in the video actually intrigued me: the football player at ISO 5000 and the motorcycle with a depth of field described as being not shallow enough. In the 1st case, I guess the lens used is the Olympus 300mm F4. Now if you want equivalent focal length in FF, ok you can use a 600mm F4 lens (10'000 USD lens / 4 kg + 2-3kg tripod) or let's say a 500mm lens F5.6 lens (3.5- 4'000 USD / 1.5 kg) that would need a little cropping but then as it is 1 stop slower you need to shoot at something like 10'000 ISO which is not the same as 5000 ISO. And in the second case (the motorcycle), AFAIK depth of field depends on things like the focal length, distance between you and the subject .. but not really on the size of the sensor. So yes depth of field is bigger on a MFT due to the fact that a wider focal length will be used for the same effect (eg 25mm on MFT is the equivalent of 50mm on FF etc..). But again if you want to shoot at 600mm on FF and have that very shallow DOF (which I agree is pleasant) you would need to use the 600mm F4 I guess To use for example a Nikon 300mm F4 on a Nikon Z7 and then heavily crop would still give you the depth of field of a .. 300mm F4, no? I mean maybe some of my comments (although too long..!) are totally wrong and not appropriate but then I would be happy to read any thoughts about this..

If this camera had a Nikon logo on it this would be a completely different review.

So I guess if I want to be professional and get a shallow depth of field I should go medium format?

I myself use the m4/3 system and think that this (pre)-review really gets to the point. I also don't see the camera as a real competitor to the A9 or D5. I think this is an alternative for people who have already invested heavily in the m4/3 system and are looking for a better option for sports and wildlife photography. In the end, everyone has the choice to decide what compromise to make. Thank you for the fair and informative report. PS: The fact that Olympus hasn't installed the best possible components, at least in those components that are sensor-independent like EVF, surprises me a little.

I enjoyed watching that. I thought you were quite fair.

For ABOUT the same price of this body I got an A7III with 28, 50, and 85mm primes. I don't think they'll convert anyone with this release.

Interesting what you said about the LCD...a few years ago I researched small mirrorless cameras, went into Samy’s here in LA to try a few...one of the takeaways was the Olympus (5 mk II I think) had the most pleasing LCD screen I’ve seen, I remember blurting out to the salesperson how great it was. Since then I’ve been living under the assumption Olympus has some kind of LCD magic

thanks for this video and the files, great work ...

"technology you'd love to see in a Canon Nikon or Sony"

What is this video? 😂😂😂 So its the blurred out backround? Guess we should call some galleries and museums and tell them...

I'd love to see Jared try using the Em1 mark iii when it comes out (or even a pre 2020 olympus, whichever) with something like a 45mm F1.2 . Sadly thats the only way you'll get close to fullframe results as far as the background blur.

Fair review. I think m43 makes more sense in the videography world rather than the photography world. After all, the standard for sensor size in cinema is super35mm. I think Panasonic makes up the difference by adding ridiculously amazing video specs. Shallow depth of field is just one aspect in a hundred things to consider.

if i had the money, i'd buy it! i can create incredible images with my first gen em10. i wish we could add pictures to comments. Zuiko lenses are some of the best around.

Meh, you were pretty biased/harsh based on the sensor, which you admitted, but the GH5 crowd might find this a step up? You didn't mention colour science etc. Can it do 4:2:2 10 bit? Stabilization looks killer, better than GH5's. (Not GH5s) Programmable buttons? Log? How many stops of dynamic range?.. maybe you said it and I zoned out.

As a long time Olympus OM-D shooter I agree with you on several counts. For me as a retired photographer who has found himself driving a powered wheelchair I LOVE the Micro Four Thirds format! It's lightweight, compact and has excellent features. It will never be my beloved Canon 1 Series but I'm not asking it to be. I shoot landscapes and for that Olympus makes me very happy. As always YMMV. Oh, one thing that does make me sit up and take notice is the "personal Menu"! This feature allows one to create a personalized menu with all the commonly used items you use in one menu screen. And that Super Control Panel ROCKS! Olympus has had those for many years and I can't imagine life without it and it keeps me out of the menu system most of the time.

So I don't know a lot about the world of professional sports or wildlife photographers. What would be the comparable full frame kit at that price point (close to 6k)? 3k for the body is a lot, but I don't see many 600mm telephoto full frame lenses for the price point of the Olympus 300mm. Comparing the body alone seems a bit off, after all this isn't a camera you would use with a kit lens or the nifty fifty where the camera makes up most of the size/weight/price.

"Cinematic look" you keep using that phrase. I don't think it means what you think it means.

So I had an idea how this was going to go before I watched it. FF and DOF are king and if you are not shooting FF you are just getting bad pictures. NO, you didn't say it like that but that is the way it comes off. So like the 600 at the track on FF it would be 300 and the DOF at that distance would be the SAME and you would have to crop the daylights out of the image to get that framing, and on the A73 or Z6 you would loose half the image, so TINY files. It is called a tradeoff and how much does a 600mm or even a 400mm lens cost for FF? You almost make it sound like the bokeh is more important than the content of the photo. I love your work but I can usually guess how your reviews will go on anything not FF. The cost of FF is just TOO much for some people, and yes you can get shallower DOF with FF, but put a 1.2 or 1.4 on an APSC and the VAST majority of people will not care or notice that it isn't FF. Your reviews are great as long as price isn't a consideration and you value bokeh above all else.

That same capture before shutter pressure feature was on my galaxy s7 edge lol, except it was a short video clip

wow, real facts, i am on a $1200 budget and need a camera, i am into photography and videos, i wanted something that does both and am considering buying the Panasonic fz2500. what do you think i need advice before making this purchase