opticoholic
Well-known member
I think the E-M1 MarkII sounds like an impressive, bold step forward. Of course you are right that we have to reserve final judgement and not believe all the marketing hype, but still...
The AF system has been entirely re-worked. I am confident it will be a big step forward on tracking with BIF. How big a step, cannot say for sure. My bet is it will at least be getting close enough to DSLR systems that it will start to become a more accepted viable option.
I am impressed by the 18fps speed with full res 20MP raw files with continuous AF, and 60fps full res raw files without AF. That is really amazing. And I particularly like the "Pro Capture mode that starts shooting full-res images when you half-press the shutter and retains the last 14 shots leading up to you fully depressing the shutter." I just can't believe Olympus would put out such a fast camera without an AF system that can keep up with such speed, at least some of the time...
The slight increase in weight was explained as having to do with making the grip a little larger to work better ergonomically with the larger lenses, also perhaps the longer-lasting battery could be heavier and the dual cards might have necessitated a little larger grip. But yes, it is a little heavier with a bigger grip. I would not worry about the "size/weight advantage of the m4/3 system slowly seeping away." In the press event for the announcement of the new body, the presenters including the CEO reiterated up front and more than once, Olympus' Imaging vision of smaller, more portable gear. Some of the features in the EM-1 MkII will trickle down into the smaller bodies they make. Indeed, Olympus has demonstrated that they won't hold back in that regard (e.g., the E-M5II introduced the high res mode).
The EVF is not any higher resolution, but they did improve it with a faster "frame rate of 120 fps and a minimum six-millisecond display time lag." That makes sense to me. Sure more resolution is always welcome, but the enhanced speed may be even more noticeable/important.
I'm with you on the swiveling LCD; I would prefer the simple tilting design most of the time. There are definitely 2 camps on that. Some people really wanted a fully articulating LCD. It isn't all bad, but the only time I would appreciate it is when setting up very low to the ground in vertical/portrait orientation.
As for the 50MP high resolution mode, it will be included. I think they had to downplay that in this "pre-announcement" because they are still tweaking it. Personally for me, the 50MP high resolution mode is not the most important feature, and I am a little doubtful how well it could possibly work hand held, particularly with telephoto lenses, on top of image stabilization? But if it works at all even under some limited scenarios, it will be a bonus.
Anyway, I'm an enthusiastic Olympus owner and I want to believe their products will be good, so take it for what its worth--just my 2 cents--but I was not "underwhelmed" but rather impressed and surprised by how many significant improvements Olympus is building into the new E-M1. Pretty bold stuff if you ask me, not at all an "incremental" update like Nikon tends to do.
I haven't even studied the Panasonic GH5 improvements, but I have an idea these 2 bodies may mark a "turning point" for mirrorless and micro-4/3.
Dave
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