Olympus OMd 5 mark III (1 Viewer)

Hello Olympus people.

Olympus got all excited about this and kept us waiting so long for it. but now as it came out there are two points that concerns me.

1- the battery, are you serious Olympus? that little pack for this fast camera.

2- the plastic feel, and the fact that it made of plastic in many part, this really something very bad to me as i frequently trip and fall down, all my previous OMd's and the pen f has survived, will this plastic body be that durable, also will it tolerate temperatures as high as 45 c and above.

Seemingly DPReview give it the same battery life as the MkII which was noted as being about 14% less than the MkI, or 6% less than the PEN F. As you indicate, a lot depends on how you use it.

As for plastic, depends on the plastic, as a Zeiss FL user I don't seem to have noticed anything different in terms of survivability to my more conventional metal bodied bins. I must admit that I havn't handled one yet, but with these small bodied cameras I don't really notice this as much as bigger cameras. My usual concern is the strength of cover doors etc.

Considering temperature, the Olympus published maximum temperatures are 40 deg operating and 60 deg storage as with the previous model. Heat has always been a problem with high performing digital cameras, especially when shooting video, and the designers were pretty well stuck with using a lot of metal initially just for heat dissipation.

Whether I upgrade from my EM5 Mk IIs at some stage is a decision I will take after they have been in the field for a bit. (I still prefer my EM10 Mk IIs over the Mk III, so stuck with them, but the Mk III EM5 is hopefully a different story.)

As a plus point I own Some BLS-50 batteries for my EP-5, EM10s etc., so for once an upgraded camera doesn't use yet another new type of battery. I may be in a minority (again?) but I would sacrifice a relatively small improvement in battery life, rather than have to buy a stock of a new battery.

I believe that the outer shell of my Pana G80 (G85 or whatever you want to call it) is plastic even though there is a mention of a magnesium front plate. On a recent trip to Ecuador, I had a fall where my legs completely disappeared under me, and the camera landed between my ribs and a wooden plank. My ribs were pretty sore, but the camera was unscratched. The lens (PL100-400) was on, but seemingly at an angle so that my body did not land on it.

I would hope that the new Oly is equally tough.

Niels

My respect for plastic components in cameras goes back to the late 1950s where my first 35mm camera was a Kodak Colorsnap 35, the fixed 40th second shutter speed was more than fast enough for the 10 ISO Kodachrome that it was designed to use, but the lens was incredibly sharp and correctly registered and produced some of the best detail of any camera I owned in that era. (I used to amuse myself putting the slides under a microscope as the only way of seeing how good they were, domestic projection lenses were not as good). It ended its days looking extremely battered, but still taking the same incredibly sharp photos. The main body was precision moulded plastic, with the optical and mechanical parts in glass and metal, attached to the moulded body.

Now, 60 years after its introduction, I hope current 'plastics' have progressed, so that they are even tougher and more stable. I suspect that it can depend on the accountants rather than the engineers.

ammadoux said:

Hello Olympus people.

Olympus got all excited about this and kept us waiting so long for it. but now as it came out there are two points that concerns me.

1- the battery, are you serious Olympus? that little pack for this fast camera.

2- the plastic feel, and the fact that it made of plastic in many part, this really something very bad to me as i frequently trip and fall down, all my previous OMd's and the pen f has survived, will this plastic body be that durable, also will it tolerate temperatures as high as 45 c and above.

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Hi Doux,

1. That's mirrorless cameras unfortunately - easy enough to carry a spare charged battery. Good piece of mind. I note that Nikon's new Z50 also annoyingly uses another different battery size (which is smaller with lower capacity).

2. I wouldn't worry so much about the plastics in a high ambient temperature as I would about the effects on electronics life. As the temperature increases it becomes increasingly harder for the electronics to reject (or dissipate) the heat generated in operation. You may have noticed something similar with a mobile phone. Depending on manufacturer recommendations (no doubt buried in the operating manual somewhere) I would avoid extended or even any operation in 45°C temperatures - and certainly not in direct sunlight which will push those temperatures way above that ! :eek!:

And please take care not to trip and fall ! o

This little OM-D 5 MKIII looks like a nifty compact system with appropriate lenses :t:





Chosun :gh:

ammadoux said:

Hello Olympus people.

Olympus got all excited about this and kept us waiting so long for it. but now as it came out there are two points that concerns me.

1- the battery, are you serious Olympus? that little pack for this fast camera.

2- the plastic feel, and the fact that it made of plastic in many part, this really something very bad to me as i frequently trip and fall down, all my previous OMd's and the pen f has survived, will this plastic body be that durable, also will it tolerate temperatures as high as 45 c and above.

Click to expand...

I would say to look past the negatives and look at all the positives. This camera surely has one of the best IS systems in place compared to other makes and models, some of the photographic tools for focus and exposure control are phenomenal in what they offer.

The plastic body brings a couple hundred grams less to carry around than metal alternatives. On balance, I'm happy about that. The ability to charge off a power brick must surely balance out the issues of small battery size? I guess I'm less concerned about the temperature limits given I don't live in Saudi - how much bird photography / filming would you do in those conditions?

I'm very impressed by my switch from Canon DSLR to this baby. It's going to make a big difference to my photography.

And if you still cannot live with it, then a EM-1-iii is going to be announced soon ...

Niels

njlarsen said:

And if you still cannot live with it, then a EM-1-iii is going to be announced soon ...

Niels

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had a chance to use the 5 iii for two days, i can say these are my first impressions.

1- certainly you will not feel the plastic when you hold it in your hands, but the bottom of it is 100% plastic you notice that when change the battery.

2- focus is way better and faster then the 5 mark II and the pen f and offcurse the om 1 i.

3- the EVF is WOW compared to the old models i have used.

4- will take me time to get use to the new positioning of the buttons, if i decided to get it.

5- tried the pro-capture two times, personally i never like the silent e shutter, and this function works on the e shutter so i was not tempted to try it more and also i am not good at tall with action in birds, but i think this will help slow people like me.

i guess it also needs to be mature a bit and will be another great addition to the world of photography. and maybe we will see it in Nikon cameras in ten year form now :king:

6- i think the focus stacking is another great thing for wildlife photographer but i did not use it.

so as Niels said, waiting for the new 1 mark III, it might make the 1 mark II cheaper, or WOW enough to make me get it.

wonder what lens will accompany it, the long promised 150-400mm f4.5 of the more affordable 100-400 mm f6.3.

btw when used with the 300mm f4 prime the 50 grams difference between it and the mark II is not felt, so i guess there was not point in using those small battery packs for it.

guess this is the case with all the pro grade lenses.

I guess Oly are listening to all those who feel a camera cannot be small and light enough and who never put on anything heavier than a kit-lens or a pancake prime. Economically, I will bet that birdwatchers are a small minority of those buying m43

Niels

Olympus have an excellent range of lightweight high grade prime lenses, not just the pancakes and kit lenses, which basically correspond to the typical Leica style photographers needs for a high grade lightweight photographic system. For all these people it makes perfect sense.

The OMD EM10 series is primarily the starter body for the kit lens users. ... And yes - most of them aren't bird photographers.

The 14-42 EZ lens with Auto lens cap is perfect for fast reaction shooting, Cartier Bresson would have loved it!

Just horses for courses.